Enkesh

Enkesh
énnékoẃan
Pronunciation	['e.ɳe.koʃwan]
Created by	Jukethatbox
Date	2023
Native to	Enkophone communities
Ethnicity	Bawakhi, Nedeẃi, Yawayé, Nnibiteẃẃi
Native speakers	3 million (2023)
Language family	Nakna-Tiwaic Naknaic Enkesh
Standard form	Standard Urban Enkesh
Dialects	Bawakhi Seẃibawakhi Khuẃabawakhi Nedeẃi Inkhénedeẃi Mabhinedeẃi Yawayé Nnibiteẃẃi Khopatiẃẃaẃeni †
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Anéppia, Bawakyawan Confederacy
Recognised minority language in	Northern Republic

Enkesh(/ɛŋ.kɛʃ/, Enkesh: ['e.ɳe.koʃwan]) is a Nakna-Tiwaic language spoken natively on the river banks of the Anippa/Anéppa river, which is a major source of irrigation water for most pastures in the nation of Anéppia, as well as for the nomadic tribal confederacy of Bawakyawan.

The formation of the Enkesh language is actually an ongoing conversion of Nakna languages into a singular language of varied dialects throughout the centuries. The first records of linguistic converging among Nakna languages was recorded in 1889, when linguists discovered that the now extinct Bawak(bémékoẃanma) language and Yawa languages had grown similar enough to be considered dialects of a single language.

Phonology

Orthography

Enkesh uses a modified version of the Latin script.

Consonants

Enkesh consonants

		Bilabial/ Labiodental		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Retroflex		Palatal/ Palato-alveolar		Velar/ Labial-velar		Uvular
		voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced	voiceless	voiced
Plosive	standard	p	b	t	d			ʈ ⟨tt⟩	ɖ ⟨dd⟩	c		k	g	q
	aspirated	pʰ⟨ph⟩	bʱ⟨bh⟩	tʰ⟨th⟩	dʱ⟨dh⟩			ʈʰ ⟨tth⟩	ɖʱ ⟨ddh⟩			kʰ⟨kh⟩	gʱ⟨gh⟩	qʰ⟨qh⟩
	ejective	pʼ ⟨pp⟩	bʼ ⟨bb⟩									kʼ ⟨kk⟩	gʼ ⟨gg⟩	qʼ ⟨qq⟩
Nasal			m		n				ɳ ⟨nn⟩		ɲ ⟨ny⟩		ŋ ⟨ng⟩
Tap/Flap					ɾ ⟨r⟩
Fricative	standard	f	v	s	z	ʃ ⟨ś⟩	(ʒ)			ç ⟨cc⟩		x	ɣ ⟨xx⟩
	no audible release	fʼ ⟨ff⟩		sʼ ⟨ss⟩	zʼ ⟨zz⟩
Affricate	standard			t͡s ⟨ç⟩	d͡z⟨çç⟩					t͡ʃ ⟨ć⟩	d͡ʒ ⟨ćć⟩
	aspirated			t͡sʰ ⟨çh⟩	d͡zʱ⟨ççh⟩					t͡ʃʰ ⟨ćh⟩	d͡ʒʱ ⟨ććh⟩
Approximant/ Lateral Approximant					l			ɭ ⟨ll⟩			j ⟨y⟩	ʍ ⟨ẃẃ⟩	w

Vowels

Enkesh vowels

		Front		Back
		unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close		i		ɯ ⟨ú⟩	u
Mid	Close-mid	e ⟨é⟩	ø ⟨ö⟩		o
	Open-mid	ɛ ⟨e⟩		ʌ ⟨á⟩	ɔ ⟨ó⟩
Open		a

Prosody

Stress

Stress is prototonic in Enkesh, so stress is placed on the first syllable word of a word.

The use of stress in a Nakna-Tiwaic language is rare, as most other Nakna-Tiwaic and even Nakna languages in general tend to have a detailed tone system, although even Enkesh's use of stress closely resembles tone patterns in other Nakna-Tiwaic languages.

Phonotactics

Enkesh uses a (C)(C)V(V)(C)(C) syllable structure, which is descendant from Proto-Nakna-Tiwaic *(C)V(C).

Morphophonology

If a voiced plosive consonant(usually alveolar~retroflex) is in an outset position, then the consonant becomes voiceless, e.g.:

• /d/ in Adam → /t/ in otiqaöpinád.

Enkesh also extensively uses the sandhi phenomenon, e.g. the word śukullan("chocolate"), when in its accusative form, the outset and onset /n/s from śukullan and -né respectively turn said /n/s into a /ɳ/.

Morphology

Nouns

Enkesh nouns are agglutinates of basic words, a bit like how some German words are constructed(such as German Fernseher, "television", lit. "far-seer"). An Enkesh example of this would be a word like otiqaöpinád, meaning "front yard/lawn", which is comprised of the words otiqa(green), öpin(front, front-facing), and the locative case suffix -ád, so, a literal translation would be green-front-LOC.

Adjectives

Like verbs, adjectives have strong and weak forms. Weak forms end in -a, and strong forms have their own irregular ending. However, one thing they all have in common is that alongside their ending, they have a case ending correlating to the noun they describe, although this rule is null in agglutinate words. They are also always placed before the noun.

• Nawéiw Budhakiw ya. ("Big Buddha exists.")
• Khána döpazné śukullanné. ("I like little chocolates")

Cases

Enkesh uses noun case declensions to describe nouns. Of these, Enkesh has six noun cases: the nominative, ergative, accusative, dative, genitive and locative. All of them, excluding the nominative, are indicated using a distinct suffix.

Enkesh noun case declensions

		Suffix
		written form	pronunciation (phonetic)
Case
	Nominative	∅
	Ergative	-iw	iw
	Accusative	-né	ne
	Dative	-nyé	ɲe
	Genitive	-kö	kø
	Locative	-ád	ʌt

Verbs

Verbs in Enkesh have strong(irregular conjugation) and weak(strict conjugation pattern) forms.

Most verbs end in -a.

Weak verbs

Weak verbs always end in -a or -z, but if it ends in -a then it is inflected to -am if the subject is plural.

• Médda phulád. (I swim in the pool.)
• Myeddariw méddam phulád. (The swimmers swim in the pool.)

Strong verbs

Strong verbs do not have general grammatical patterns, and always end in -a, even in plural. It is then up to context to indicate the subject of the verb.

Syntax

Constituent order

Enkesh has a free word order, as both subjects and objects are indicated by ergative and accusative case declensions, although most sentences stick to an SVO format.