Kimow: Difference between revisions

| altname = Kimau<ref name="kimau">Original exonym of the language before widespread English-based romanisation, now only used in German in the form of *kimauisch*.</ref>

| pronunciation = ˈkʰím.ǒʊ]<br>[ˈkʰǐm.ɑ̄w

'''Kimow'''(/kiːmoʊ/, ''kimow''; <small>Kimow:</small> [[Help:IPA|[ˈkʰím.ǒʊ]]] or [[Help:IPA|[ˈkʰǐm.ɑ̄w]]]), also(but less commonly) called '''Kimau''',<ref name="kimau"></ref> is a language isolate that is notorious for the fact that the majority of its words are homonyms, meaning they have various meanings. For example, the name of the language, Kimow, can mean "Kimow"(adj.), "the Kimow language", "the Kimow people", "an ethnic Kimow", "a Kimow speaker(so not necessarily an ethnic Kimow)", "a member of the Kimow diaspora", "Kimow food" or "a Kimow city". There are also only two main dialects, the '''Kimo''' and the '''Wakki''', and their homonymic meanings differ greatly at times, making mutual understanding difficult. Tone and phonology vary slightly as well, though not as greatly and are thus more mutually intelligible.

| A a || B b || C  c || D d || E e || F f || G g || H h || Ḥ ḥ || I i || K k || Ḵ ḵ || L l || M m || N n || O o || P p || S s || T t || U u || W w || V v || Y y || Z z

| a || bʱ || c || dʱ || e<br><span style=color:green>ɘ</span> || f || gʱ<br>ʔ<ref>When placed before /k/.</ref> || h || ɦ || i || kʰ || q || l || m || n<br>ŋ<ref>Before a velar plosive only.</ref> || <span style=color:red>o</span><br><span style=color:blue>ɑ</span> || pʰ || s || tʰ ||  colspan=2 | u/ʊ<br><span style=color:blue>w</span>  || v || j || z

| || || || c ɟ || || q ɢ || ʔ

| pʰ bʱ || || tʰ dʱ || || ˈkʰ gʱ || ||  

! ejective/glottalised<ref name="ejective">See [[Kimow#Ejective controversy]].</ref>

| pʼ bʼ<br>p͡ʔ b͡ʔ || || tʼ<br>t͡ʔ|| || || qʼ ɢʼ<br>q͡ʔ ɢ͡ʔ ||  

| m || || n || ɲ || ŋ || ||

! ejective/glottalised<ref name="ejective"></ref>

| || fʼ vʼ<br>f͡ʔ v͡ʔ || sʼ zʼ <br>s͡ʔ z͡ʔ || || || ||  

| || || l || || ɫ ||  

====Ejective controversy====

There is an ongoing debate on whether the doubled consonants of Kimow(''kk'', ''gg'' and so forth) are [[w:Ejective consonant|'''ejective''']] consonants or '''diphthongs with a glottal stop'''. Previous studies have tried to link the two sets of different sounds to dialectical difference between Kimo and Wakki, but no correlation was found between use of glottal diphthongs or ejectives on dialectic differences alone. Subsequent studies on less spoken dialects, such as Kemhu Kka and Mukku found no correlation either. Thus, the theory that use of ejectives or glottal diphthongs depends on dialect is now generally considered outdated and disproven, though a replacement theory with substantial evidence has yet to be found. Until such a theory is proposed, the linguistic community has agreed that the differences are completely arbitrary and are sometimes up to the speaker.

| i || ||  || <span style="color:blue">ɯ</span><ref>Allophone of [m] in initial position.</ref> <span style="color: red">u</span><ref name="ʊ">In Wakki dialects, the [u]/[ʊ] is substituted by [w] in most cases.</ref>