Is Burunking

Is Burunking
Is
Pronunciation	[[Help:IPA|is]]
Created by	Neil Whalley
Native to	Burung
Native speakers	? ()
Language family	language isolate
Official status
Official language in	Burung

Is Burunking (/is buɾˈunkiŋ/, literally 'Burungian language') is the language of Burung, an island in the north Atlantic Ocean.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n				ŋ
Plosive	p    b	t    d				k    g
Fricative	ɸ	s	ʃ	ʐ	ç		h
Affricate			t͡ʃ    d͡ʒ
Flap or tap		ɾ
Approximant	w				j
Lateral app.	l

Consonants generally do not occur in clusters, with some exceptions (see Phonotactics below). Any consonant except a fricative may occur as a geminate word-internally.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Open-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a

Vowels are considered to be short in all environments but may occur consecutively as in eekez 'left' /ɛːkɛz/.

Note: word-initial sequences of i + i and u + uu are written yi-, wu-.

Diphthongs

There are six diphthongs proper: ai /ai/, ei /ei/, oi /oi/, au /au/, eu /eu/ and ou /ou/, which may be considered sequences of vowels in measuring syllables. In addition, any vowel is permitted to occur following the 'glides' /w/ or /j/.

Phonotactics

Is Burunking has a relatively restrictive syllabic structure, with a maximal form CGVVC, in which C represents a consonant, G a glide and V a vowel or part of a diphthong. Of these, only the central vowel is essential but there are also restrictions on the other elements. The table below shows the rules governing each position in the syllable:

C1	G	V1	V2	C2
optional only b, g, d, z, f, j, h, x, l, n, ng or m word-initially any consonant word-medially	optional only y or w/u	mandatory any vowel	optional only i, u or the preceding vowel repeated	optional only s, sh, ng or z word-finally only n or m before a consonant, except in the case of geminates

The word-final consonants s, sh, ng and z are not permitted to occur before another consonant, so undergo changes in compounds or when consonant-initial endings are added:

• -s is lost, the preceding vowel is doubled and a following voiced plosive is devoiced:

is 'language, speech' + -do (pejorative) = yito 'curse'

os 'cold' + -pung (abstract) = oopung 'coldness'

• -sh becomes -i-, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel, and a following voiced plosive is devoiced:

banash 'fruit' + -to (diminutive) = banaito 'berry'

ush 'empty' + gyong 'person' = wikyong 'vain person'

• -ng becomes -m before p, b, f and n before any other consonant:

gyong 'person' + -zoi (collective) = gyonzoi 'team, band'

yong 'smooth' + -pung (abstract) = yompung 'smoothness'

• -z is lost and causes a following consonant to double (except s, z, f, x, h):

az 'man' + -chi (adjectival) = acchi 'masculine'

haaz 'old' + -ki (nominal) = haakki 'antique, relic'

Word-final vowels may also be altered or lost when they come into contact with initial vowels in compounds or endings:

• In words of three or more syllables, the vowel is always lost, e.g. arato 'food' + -oi (adjectival) = aratoi 'gluttonous', eshayo 'sea' + ugi 'bread' = eshayugi 'seaweed'.
• Words of two syllables usually lose their final vowel, e.g. binji 'mountain' + arate 'gap' = binjarate 'mountain pass', but when the second word is only one syllable the final vowel sometimes remains, forming a glide in the case of i or u e.g. bigi 'eye' + uz 'water' = bigyuz 'tear'.
• In reduplication, the final vowel usually remains in disyllables, but an epenthetic k (occasionally y) is inserted between the elements: azekaze 'very dark'.

Stress

Primary stress is generally on the penultimate syllable of polysyllables, e.g. berósu 'nine', esháyo 'sea', ázeng 'fish'.

In true verbs, primary stress is always placed on the first syllable of the root, e.g. eróz 'go down', isúru 'go past'.

In compounds, the primary stress is placed on the second element, with secondary stress on the first.

Orthography

Is Burunking was originally written in a syllabary called hookozoi, mainly carved into wood or, occasionally, stone.

When the language was initially discovered by Europeans the Greek alphabet was used in its transcription, but later studies preferred to use the Latin script, which is still used today.

Graph	IPA
Consonants
b	/b/
ch	/t͡ʃ/
d	/d/
f	/ɸ/
g	/g/
h	/h/
j	/d͡ʒ/
k	/k/
l	/l/
m	/m/
n	/n/
ng	/ŋ/
p	/p/
r	/r/
s	/s/
sh	/ʃ/
t	/t/
w	/w/
x	/ç/
y	/j/
Vowels
a	/a/
e	/ɛ/
i	/i/
o	/ɔ/
u	/u/
Diphthongs
ai	/ai/
au	/au/
ei	/ei/
eu	/eu/
oi	/oi/
ou	/ou/

In word or syllable initial position the sequences ii, uu are written yi, wu. The glide /j/ is always written y but /w/ is written u following a consonant and w syllable initially.

Grammar

Nouns

Gender

Strictly speaking, Is Burunking, like English, does not have grammatical gender affecting the morphology of words. Their concept of natural gender, however, is substantially different from many other cultures and does influence language to certain extent. It is rooted in a more fundamental understanding of how things in the world are related and categorised.

At its most basic, all things (and the names that describe them) are considered either animate (bixi) or inanimate (es bixi). The primary distinction between these two groups is that animate nouns are capable of movement under their own power, but inanimate ones are not. Humans, animals and deities are therefore considered animate (as are some celestial bodies), whereas plants, rocks and abstract concepts are inanimate.

Within the class of animate nouns, a further distinction is made between three genders: masculine (acchi), feminine (buyachi) or middle (iriji). Inclusion within one of these three groups is based to some extent on biological sex, but also takes into account personality, strengths and a chosen role within society.

At birth, all human children are considered to be iriji and remain so throughout childhood until the onset of puberty. At some point during puberty, depending on the development of the individual, the child will be undergo an initiation into adulthood as either acchi, buyachi or iriji, taking a gendered form of their name and a byname to symbolise this important rite of passage. The choice of appropriate gender is made by the community elders, with input from the parents and/or foster parents, based on an understanding of the individual.

There are no hard and fast rules regarding gender, rather each has a series of complex associations. The table below shows some of the basic characteristics for each group:

	Bixi	Eipixi
Buyachi	Iriji	Achi
Element	Earth	Fire	Water	Air
Direction	East	South	West	North
Season	Spring	Summer	Autumn	Winter
Celestial Body	Moon	Sun	Moon	Sun
Lunar Phase	Waxing	Full	Waning	New
Solar Phase	Dawn	Day	Evening	Night
Temperature	Warm/Wet	Hot/Dry	Cool/Wet	Cold/Dry
Family	Mother	Child	Father	House
Aspect	Emotional	Intellectual	Physical	Material
Noun class	adult female humans some female animals female deities	human children adult iriji humans most animals iriji deities	adult male humans some male animals male deities	unmoving objects most materials abstracts

These gender distinctions have a limited effect on the morphology of nouns themselves but affect the way other words behave.

Case

Relationships between nouns in a sentence are marked by particles following the noun.

Case	Particle	Uses
Topicaliser	ba	marks a subject or object as the focus of the utterance
Nominative	az	marks the subject of a verb (where it is not the topic)
Accusative	ke	marks the direct object of a verb
Genitive	eng	marks the possessor of an object, 'of'
Dative	ni	marks the indirect object of a verb, 'to'
Allative	a	marks movement towards, 'to'
Ablative	chi	marks movement away from, 'from, of, through'
Locative	gang	marks location 'in, on, at'
Instrumental	ha	marks use of, 'with, by'

Number

Nouns are generally not marked for number and context is usually sufficient to show whether, e.g. heuji means 'horse' or 'horses'. Numerals or adjectives can be used to qualify the noun for number, e.g. bade oz 'one dog, a dog'.

There are two collective suffixes, which may sometimes translate the English plural:

• -zoi is used to refer to a discrete group of things, usually occupying a single location, e.g. gyonzoi 'band, group, team of people', heujizoi 'a herd of horses'.
• -bua is more abstract, referring to all things within a class collectively and also to the state of being an object within that class, similar in some ways to the English suffix '-hood' in a word like 'priesthood', e.g. gyombua 'everybody, humanity, humankind, population', binjibua 'mountains'.

Both of these suffixes are productive, though in some cases the noun with the suffix has taken on a specialised meaning as in azoi 'council, assembly' from az 'man'.

Reduplication may also be used to express a large group of something, often with an intensive meaning, e.g. gyongyong 'crowd, mass of people', yaiyai 'storm' (from yai 'wind').

Adjectives

Adjectives precede the noun they modify and are not altered for gender, number or case.

Comparison is expressed by means of particles. The comparative uses the particle byang, somewhat equivalent to Eng. "than", with a noun (standard) of comparison and the positive adjective. Where English uses the pattern [Noun 1] is [Comparative] + than + [Noun 2] (e.g. Eric is bigger than Tom), Is Burunking uses the pattern [Noun 1] + [Noun 2] + byang + [Adjective] + da (e.g. Eric ba Tom byang enji da). There is no equivalent to the English attributive comparative adjective and phrases such as "Eric is the taller brother" would be translated best with the positive adjective, e.g. Eric ba enji angane da lit. "Eric is the tall sibling".

Superlatives are formed from the positive adjective with the suffix -na and precede the noun they modify, e.g. enjina az "biggest man", lashana ebaz "quietest river". The usual sentence structure follows the pattern [Topic] + ba (+ [Location] + gang) + [Superlative] + [Noun] + da, e.g. Eric ba (Burung gang) enjina az da "Eric is the tallest man (in Burung).

Numerals

	Cardinal	Ordinal
1	zu	leneng
2	hai	uzeng
3	gi	gichi
4	baka	bakachi
5	utu	utuchi
6	xa	xachi
7	gyeng	gyenchi
8	eileng	eilenchi
9	zuneng	zunenchi
10	haz	hachi
11	zu-haz	zu-hachi
20	hatorung	hatorunchi
21	zu-hatorung	zu-hatorunchi
30	gyauka	gyaukachi
40	bakauka	bakaukachi
50	utauka	utaukachi
60	xauka	xaukachi
70	gyengauka	gyengaukachi
80	eilengauka	eilengaukachi
90	zunengauka	zunengaukachi
100	inung	inunchi
101	zu-inung	zu-inunchi
121	zu-hatorung-inung	zu-hatorung-inunchi

Pronouns

Personal

		Singular	Plural
1	inclusive	ni	bua
	exclusive		bu
2		yi	fu
3	masculine	az	azoi
	feminine	buya	buyazoi
	common	xini	xinizoi

There are no inanimate forms, the demonstrative pronoun ong being used instead.

Possessives may be formed with the particle eng, e.g. ni eng yata "my father", xini eng eshe "its house".

Reflexive

The reflexive pronoun bera is used as the direct or indirect object of a verb, referring the action back to the subject. The pronoun doesn't change for person or number and simply fills the relevant object slot of the sentence, e.g. az ba bera ke bigiipush fong "he saw himself", ni eng asho ba bera ni inua da "my grandma talks to herself". It is usually only used with animate subjects.

Demonstratives

There are three series of demonstratives expressing three degrees of proximity:

• ong "this" denotes objects close to the speaker
• uri "that" (proximal) denotes objects close to the hearer
• ang "that" (distal) denotes objects at a distance or abstract

	this ong	that (prox.) uri	that (dist.) ang
Object (inan.)	ong this	uri that	ang that yonder
person	m	azong that man	azuri that man	azang that man yonder
f.	buyong this woman	buyuri that woman	buyang that woman yonder
c.	xinyong this xini	xinyuri that xini	xinyang that xini yonder
Place	ukyong here	ukyuri there	ukyang yonder
Way	bideung this way	bideuri that way	bideeng that way yonder
Time	eujong now	eujuri then (recent)	eujang then (distant)

These forms are all really pronouns, but they may perform adjectival or adverbial functions. The simple forms ong, uri, ang are used as adjectives following a noun, e.g. eshe uri "that house". As pronouns, these are used with inanimate objects and the 'person' forms are used with animates, agreeing in gender with the (natural) gender of the object, e.g. ang ba ni eng eshe da "that is my house", azong ba buya eng yata da "this (man) is her father".

The 'place', 'way' and 'time' forms function as adverbs when they take the appropriate case particle, e.g. andosh ba ukyong a etozi heng "the king came here", eujong gang ni ba yus zu "I am leaving now".

Interrogative

Interrogative pronouns and adverbs are formed with the prefix n(o)- and a nominal element:

what	nohez
who	nogyong
where	nuki
how	nobide
why	nonaze
when	neuji

These interrogatives may take postpositions such as nogyong go 'whose'

Indefinite

Indefinite pronouns are formed using the same nominal elements as the interrogative pronouns, but with different affixes.

	some- (-do)	any- (eno-)	every- (-bua)
-thing	hedo	enohez	hebua
-one, -body	gyondo	enogyong	gyombua
-where	ukido	enuki	ukibua
-how	bidedo	enobide	bidebua
(reason)	nazedo	enonaze	nazebua
-time	eujido	eneuji	eujibua

The 'any-' forms are also used as the equivalent of English pronouns with '-ever', e.g. enobide 'however', enogyong 'whoever'. They are also employed in negative sentences to mean 'no-one', 'nowhere' etc.

Verbs

Burunking verbs are usually composed of two elements: the main verb which contains the semantic information and an auxiliary verb that contains most of the conjugation information. Verbs may be conjugated according to the following criteria:

• Tense: present or non-present
• Mood: indicative, hypothetical, hortative, imperative
• Aspect: imperfective or perfective
• Valency: transitive, intransitive, applicative or causative.

Main Verbs

Main verbs contain the primary semantic information of the Burunking verb form. At the heart of the main verb is a verbal root, one of a small closed class of elements denoting either basic physical processes (e.g. ANG "eat"), states (e.g. YEKI "stand") or types of movement (e.g. BII "move"). Verbal roots cannot occur independently and, at the most basic, must be accompanied by the prefix e-, i- or y- to create a simple non-finite verb stem, e.g. yang "eat", eyeki "stand", ibii "move".

Note: where verbal roots are shown alone in this article, they will be written in caps to indicate their dependent status, e.g. ANG

The meaning of the verbal root may be modified by one of three processes:

• Reduplication of the root creates an intensive or frequentative meaning, e.g. ibiibii "flit about", yangang "scoff, gobble", inuanua "chatter, babble" (< NUA "speak, make noise").
• The infix -na- may precede the root to create a pejorative verb indicating perversity, ill intent or action resulting in unfortunate circumstances, e.g. enaro "molest, chafe" < RO "touch", enaus "flee, escape" < US "move away".
• The suffix -ki may be added to the end of the root, creating an applicative whereby the direct object of the verb denotes the benefactor, malefactor, recipient, purpose or goal of the action, depending on context and the meaning of the verb, e.g. egonki "wait for" < GONG "wait, stay".

The majority of main verbs replace the prefix with a nominal element that alters the meaning of the root. The initial element may be:

• a noun denoting the direct object of the verb, e.g. burushigos "throw a spear" (< burushi "spear" + GOS "throw"), xennua "call by name" (< xeng "name" + NUA "speak"). These verbs may be intransitive, with the incorporated noun acting as the true direct object, or transitive taking a new direct object, e.g. az ba burushigos da "he throws a spear", Furiko ba ni eng yata az ni ke xennua zu "my father calls me Furiko".
• a verbal noun denoting the primary action or state of the verb, e.g. loging "sleep" (< lo "sleep, sleeping" + GING "do"), neilung "want, desire" (< nei "wanting, desire" + LUNG "have").
• an adjective to denote various senses of being or becoming the quality of the adjective, or to denote the subject's opinion depending on the verb used, furitoz "become white" (< furi "white" + TOZ "come"), onshi "like, approve" (< ong "good" + SHI "think, consider").
• an adverb indicating the method, direction or means of doing the action, e.g. wengeepii "walk" (< wenges "by foot" + BII "move"), laitekkibii "move quickly" (< laitekki "quickly" + BII).

Postpositions

Spatial relations are largely expressed by means of the case particles, but additional senses can be expressed by nominal elements in combination with the gentive eng and the locative gang. A concise list of forms expressing spatial relations is given below.

Simple Particles
a	to, towards, up to	buya ba ibya a ewangi heng "the woman went to the river"
chi	from, of, off, through	ni eng asho binji chi ewashi heng "my grandmother came down from the mountain"
gang	in, on, at	arato ba jibang gang da "the food is on the floor"
ha	with, by	eba byo aneeto ha "cut it with a knife!"
heez	across, over, beyond
ni	to (recipient), for (purpose, intent)
ta	with (comitative)
Compounds with eng ... gang
auda	beside, by
bee	under, below, beneath
beekaz	behind, at the back of, after
bozu	inside
geeng	outside
gyang	on top of, on
iriji	in the middle of, inside
waz	in front of, before

Derivation

Derivation is carried out using a number of suffixes and independent particles, and by compounding.

Suffix	Use	Example
Adjectives
-chi	(nouns) 'of, like, pertaining to; full of, covered with'	buyachi "feminine, female" (buya "woman"), busochi "shitty"
-dazi	(noun) 'of a person/thing from, -ian, -ese'	binjidazi 'of a mountain-dweller'
-i	(nouns) 'having the characteristics of' (verbs) perfective participle	eechii "sweet" (eechi "honey") inuai "said" (inua "say")
-jing	(nouns) 'resembling' (often pejorative)	ajing "man-like" (az "man")
-king	(nouns) 'of, relating to'	Burunking "of Burung"
-oi	(nouns) tending to, fond of	aratoi "gluttonous" (arato "food")
-ri	(nouns) forms colour adjectives	odouri "red" (odoi "blood")
Nouns
-bua	(nouns) collective, abstract	gyombua "people, population; humanity" (gyong "person")
-daz	(noun) person or thing from	eshayodaz 'foreigner' (eshayo "sea")
-do	(nouns) pejorative	bazedo "mocking laughter" (baze "laughter")
-iri	(nouns) thing connected with, found near	yipuiri "glove" (yipu "hand")
-ki	(adjectives) concrete noun	bixiki "living thing" (bixi "alive")
-ko	(nouns) instrument, person connected with (verbs) agent, instrument, tool	goudeko "ploughman" (goude "plough") exooko "creator"
-no	(nouns) diminutive (often pejorative)	ano "coward" (az "man")
-te	(adjectives) abstracts, states	bixite "life" (bixi "alive")
-to	(nouns) diminutive	hizito 'piglet' (hizi "pig")
-zoi	(nouns) collective, group	eshezoi "settlement" (eshe "house")
-zung	(nouns) possessor of	ombazung "parent" (omba "child")

Summary of Particles

a	allative "to, towards, up to"
Noun	az az	Example
au	interrogative, precedes auxiliary verb
Aux. Vb.	Example	Example
az	nominative
Noun	Example	Example
ba1	topicaliser
Noun	Example	Example
ba2	conditional "if"
Aux. Vb.	Example	Example
chi	ablative, "from, off, of, through"
Noun	Example	Example
eng	genitive, "of"
Noun	Example	Example
gang	locative, "in, on, at"
Aux. Vb.	Example	Example
ha	instrumental, "by, with", "in" (with languages)
Noun (language)	Lating ha	"in Latin"
heez	"across, over, beyond, past"
Noun	Example	Example
ke	accusative
Noun	Example	Example
meng	hearsay, precedes auxiliary verb
Aux. Vb.	Example	Example
ni	dative, "to" (recipient), "for" (purpose)
Aux. Vb.	Example	Example
ta	comitative, "with", "and"
Noun	ni az ni eng buya ta egong da	"I live with my wife"
Noun
te	uncertainty, precedes auxiliary verb
Aux. Vb.	Example	Example

Vocabulary

Kinship Terms

In Burungian society, each individual belongs to a broad group known as an yenu "tribe" and within that to a family group called an as "clan", the members of which claim matrilineal descent from a pair of common ancestors known as the heuji (male) and beus (female). A person belonging to the same clan is called a beraako, whilst anyone beyond the clan group is an ase.

Somewhat distinct from the clan group is an individual's close family group, known as osunka "kinsmen". While a person traces his clan group as a vertical line, descending through a series of individuals, his osunka is more like a network extending in every direction. Anyone who shares a common great-grandfather (araato) or great-grandmother (ashoto) with a person is considered his angade "relative, kinsman". Within this family group there are then three degrees of proximity, which restrict such things as marriage and are relevant in the inheritance of property:

1. Exoolaing, the direct line (lit. 'line of begetting'), includes a person and his direct ancestors (parents, grandparents and great-grandparents) and descendants (children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren). Marriage and sexual relationships are strictly prohibited within the exoolaing.
2. Yipugyong, the secondary line, includes a person's siblings and their children, their spouse and their spouse's parents and children, and their parent's siblings or spouses. Half-siblings are not distinguished from full siblings as they still contain one parent's blood. Step-parents are considered identical in relation to parents-in-law and step-children to children-in-law. Marriage within this line is prohibited (except in the case of spouses), but sexual relationships are not.
3. Audagyong, the side line, includes anyone descended from a great-grandparent not included in the above, and anyone within a spouse's secondary line. There are no prohibitions regarding marriage or sexual relationships between these people.

Within these three groups, distinctions are then made by generation, and, in some instances, by gender.

	1st Degree	2nd Degree	3rd Degree
Gen. -3	great-grandfather: araato great-grandmother: ashoto		other older collateral relative: asaba
Gen. -2	grandfather: aras grandmother: asho
Gen -1	father: yata mother: ama	parent's brother: xoba parent's sister: xeba parent's sibling (iriji): hanauba father-in-law, step-father: neba mother-in-law, step-mother: aneepa
Gen. 0	EGO: NI	husband: az, xengaz wife: buya, xengaz older sibling: angane younger sibling: azeba	other same-generation relative: xingangade
Gen. +1	child: omba	nephew/niece: yoba step-child, son/daughter-in-law: ezang	other younger collateral relative: xuni
Gen. +2	grandchild: xemba
Gen. +3	great-grandchild: xembato