Omonkwi

Omonkwi
Omokwi
Pronunciation	[o.ˈmoŋ.kʷi]
Created by	Nicolás Campi
Date	2003
Setting	Earth-like planet, alternate Earth
Language family	Omon Omonquian Omonkwi
Early forms	Ancient Omonkwi Classical Omonkwi

Omonkwi, [o.ˈmoŋ.kʷi], is a naturalistic a priori artlang loosely inspired by Mesoamerican aboriginal languages. It features ergative-absolutive alignment, and tends to form poetic compounds for words in a manner not unlike kennings. The construction of these new poetic compounds is often preferred and will even go on to replace a common word for an object. Speakers of Omonkwi are encouraged in this way to come up with new aesthetically pleasing new words and terms, being considered both an artistic practice as well as a learned pursuit.

Introduction

Inspiration

Omonkwi started as an early attempt to capture the sounds I liked from mesoamerican indigenous languages via a poorly pronounced (by my high-school teacher) version of deity names in the Popol Vuh. Names such as Vucub Caquix, Cabrakán, Zipacná and Chimalmat. It can be viewed as a weird kind of homage, trying to create a language out respect for it but not having the materials to know more about it, something common before the rise of the internet as we know it. As such it exhibits an odd mix of different features, many word choices reflect Quiché Maya (although the 'x' is pronounced as in English/Spanish, and 'v' as English), some others are reminiscent of Yucatec Maya and still parts resemble Nahuatl, such as the plural formations in -tin/-in. In particular names taken from Quiché such as Zipacná, Chimalmat and Xibalba are the most inspirational, as well as words like pipiltin, teotl, etc.

Phonology

The phonology is quite rich and includes more phonemes than either of its inspirational donors; including the distinction of š ž, s z, and the voiced stops.

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Labio-Velar	Glottal
Stop	p b	t d	t͡ʃ ⟨č⟩	k g	kʷ ɡʷ ⟨kw gw⟩
Fricative	f v			x	xʷ ⟨hw⟩	h
Sibilant		s z	ʃ ʒ ⟨š ž⟩
Nasal	m	n		(ŋ)	ŋʷ ⟨nw⟩
Liquid		l r
Approximant			j ⟨y⟩		w

Notes:

• The palatal č is not a stop though it is treated as one due to distribution.
• The velar nasal ŋ only appears preceding a velar as an allophone of n, but nw is always ŋ.

Vowels

The five vowels distinguish between long and short varieties.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː ⟨i ī⟩		u uː ⟨u ū⟩
Mid	e eː ⟨e ē⟩		o oː ⟨o ō⟩
Open		a aː ⟨a ā⟩

Grammar

Nouns

Omonkwi nouns inflect for number (plural and singular) and at least 5 cases (ergative, absolutive, dative, genitive and locative). The general word order is SOV with variations allowed for emphasis and focus. The verb "to be" is often ommited when context is clear.

Number

Omonkwi distinguishes singular from plural number. The Omonkwi plural has different forms that are quite predictable. All words ending in a vowel will take a reduced suffix -t, however, those that are only one syllable often take a -tin ending. This can include some irregular plurals that change the root.

ipāgna → ipāgnat ("mountain, mountains")

īpni → īpnit ("soul, souls")

gōkwi → gōkwit ("land, lands")

wui → witin ("day, days")

Words that end in a consonant take the suffix -tin. However, words ending in -m take -in.

teōp → teōptin ("eagle, eagles")

ix → ixtin ("house, houses")

šival → šivaltin ("jaw, jaws")

kum → kumin

Other irregular plurals are words ending with 'tl' in their final syllable; in those cases the '-tl' becomes -l but taking the -tin suffix. In addition to those, some animate nouns may take a suffix consisting of the reduplication of the first syllable.

atli → altin ("body, bodies")

teōp → teteōp ("eagle, eagles")

Ending	Plural	Example
-V	-t	ipāgna, ipāgnat
-V (one syl.)	-tin	wui, witin
-C (other than l or m)	-tin	teōp, teōptin
-l	-tin	šival, šivatlin
-m	-in	kum, kumin
-tlV	(l)-tin	atli, altin
some animate nouns	CV1- (redup.)	teōp, teteōp

Cases

Omonkwi nouns inflect for 5 cases, plurals of those are formed just like regular plurals but are marked after the case ending. Some cases depend on whether the noun is animate or inanimate.

Case	Ending	Form
Subjective	-n, -un	ipāgnan, teōpun
Absolutive	-Ø	teōp
Dative	na-	na-teōp
Genitive	ma-	ma-teōp
Locative	-ba, -pa	teōppa, šivalba

• ca šivalba, to the jaw
• in šivalba, from the jaw.

Verbs

pronoun erg + abs - verb - tense

• -in, present tense.
• -tzin,
• -eš, future tense
• -al, -ol, participles
• -ab, -ub?
• -ina, active participle?
• -iz, -iž
• -inca

Example sentences

• ipāgnatun šival magōkwillin. "The mountains (are) the jaws of the Earth".
• teteōpun maNungut atanab. "The eagles of the Gods have come".

Sample wordlist

• atli, body
• buip, face
• gōkwili, earth
• hib, arm
• inti, friend
• ipāgna, mountain
• ix, house
• ixīpni, body (poetic)
• ižki, mouth
• lohip, sky
• lupi, people
• nungistix, home of the gods
• pāwi, love
• teyi, water
• teōp, eagle
• wui, day
• xowi, city
• xīban, heart, organ
• zībun, head
• īpni, heart, soul
• šival, jaw, snout