Gwaxol

Gwaxol
gwaxol⁵
xazat³ gwaxolsa⁵ in the Trheshemka script
Pronunciation	[gʷɑ˩xo˥ɮ̊]
Created by	Dillon Hartwig
Date	2022
Setting	Pollasena
Native to	N/A
Language family	Wasc, Nentammmi Gwaxol
Official status
Official language in	N/A
Range Map of Gwaxol (brown), alongside Khelaj (white), 'Oa (pink), Ku Te Kui (green), and Thuosha' (purple)

Gwaxol /ˈgwɑhoʊl/ (Gwaxol:  gwaxol⁵ [gʷɑ˩xo˥ɮ̊]) is a mixed Wasc-Nentammmi language spoken in the southeastern Thotthashnem Desert.

Etymology

Gwaxol⁵, the language's autonym, is inherited from the Wascotl autonym *wasc-otl.

Orthography

Gwaxol is written with the Trheshemka abugida. Its romanization is as follows.

Gwaxol script and romanization

initial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
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final	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
isolated	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
	A a	Ä ä	D d	E e	Ë ë	G g	Gw gw	Ğ ğ
	/ɑ/	/ɛ/	/d/	/e/	/ə/	/g/	/gʷ/	/ɣ/
initial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
medial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
final	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
isolated	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
	H h	I i	Ï ï	K k	Kw kw	L l	Ł ł	M m
	/h/	/i/	/ɨ/	/k/	/kʷ/	/ɮ/	/ɬ/	/m/
initial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
medial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
final	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
isolated	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
	N n	Ng ng	Nw nw	Nz nz	O o	Ö ö	R r	S s
	/n/	/ŋ/	/ŋʷ/	/z̃/	/o/	/ɵ/	/r/	/s/
initial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
medial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
final	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
isolated	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
	T t	Th th	U u	Ü ü	W w	X x	Xw xw	Y y
	/s/	/θ/	/u/	/ʉ/	/ɣʷ/	/x/	/xʷ/	/ʝ/
initial	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)	(img)
medial	(img)
final	(img)
isolated	(img)
	Z z	¹	²	³	⁴	⁵	⁶
	/z/	/˥-˥/	/˩-˩/	/˥-˧/	/˧-˩/	/˩-˥/	/˥-˩-˧/

• Hyphens disambiguate /Cʷ, θ, ŋ, z̃/ ⟨Cw, th, ng, nz⟩ from /Cw, th, ng, nz/ ⟨C'w, t'h, n'g, n'z⟩
• Tone numbers are written word-finally

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar		Palatal	Velar		Labialized velar		Glottal
Nasal stop	m	n				ŋ		ŋʷ
Nasal fricative			z̃
Stop			t	d		k	g	kʷ	gʷ
Fricative		θ	s	z	ʝ	x	ɣ	xʷ	ɣʷ	h
Lateral			ɬ	ɮ
Trill			r

• /ŋ, z̃, θ/ only occur in loanwords.
• All consonants can be geminated intervocalically
• All consonants assimilate in voicing to following consonants and all voiced consonants devoice word-finally, but this voicing change does not change fortition; for example /ɮ/ devoices to [ɮ̊] rather than [ɬ], and /ɬ/ voices to [ɬ̬] rather than [ɮ].

Vowels

Vowels

	Front	Central		Back
High	i	ɨ	ʉ	u
Close-mid	e		ɵ	o
Mid		ə
Open-mid	ɛ
Low				ɑ

• /ɛ/ only occurs in loanwords.

Tones

Gwaxol has six word tones.

Tones

High	Low	High falling	Low falling	Rising	Dipping
˥-˥	˩-˩	˥-˧	˧-˩	˩-˥	˥-˩-˧

• /˩-˩, ˧-˩/ only occur in loanwords.

Tones are realized with pitch shifting throughout the word from the first tone to the second; in words with dipping tone, pitch is lowest at the end of the penultimate syllable and rises in the final syllable.

Examples

	High	Low	High falling	Low falling	Rising	Dipping
Monosyllable	hën¹ "it is it" /ən˥˥/ [hə˥n̥]	gey² "it counts it" /geʝ˩˩/ [ge˩ʝ̊]	zis³ "it gives it" /zis˥˧/ [zi˥˧s]	dëy⁴ "it laughs at it" /dəʝ˧˩/ [də˧˩ʝ̊]	hëgw⁵ "it finds it" /əgʷ˩˥/ [hə˩˥g̊ʷ]	thöt⁶ "it savors it" /θɵt˥˩˧/ [θɵ˥˩˧t]
Disyllable	sekën¹ "I am it" /sekən˥˥/ [se˥kə˥n̥]	sekgey² "I count it" /sekgeʝ˩˩/ [se˩k̬ge˩ʝ̊]	sekzis³ "I give it" /sekzis˥˧/ [se˥k̬zi˧s]	sekdëy⁴ "I laugh at it" /sekdəʝ˧˩/ [se˧k̬də˩ʝ̊]	sekëgw⁵ "I find it" /sekəgʷ˩˥/ [se˩kə˥g̊ʷ]	sekthöt⁶ "I savor it" /sekθɵt˥˩˧/ [se˥˩kθɵ˧t]
Trisyllable	sekëni¹ "I was it" /sekəni˥˥/ [se˥kə˥ni˥]	sekgeyi² "I counted it" /sekgeʝi˩˩/ [se˩k̬ge˩ʝi˩]	sekzisi³ "I gave it" /sekzisi˥˧/ [se˥k̬zi˦si˧]	sekdëyi⁴ "I laughed at it" /sekdəʝi˧˩/ [se˧k̬də˨ʝi˩]	sekëgwi⁵ "I found it" /sekəgʷi˩˥/ [se˩kə˧gʷi˥]	sekthöti⁶ "I savored it" /sekθɵti˥˩˧/ [se˥kθɵ˩ti˧]
Quadrisyllable	sekënilen¹ "I was not it" /sekəniɮen˥˥/ [se˥kə˥ni˥ɮe˥n̥]	sekgeyilen² "I did not count it" /sekgeʝiɮen˩˩/ [se˩k̬ge˩ʝi˩ɮe˩n̥]	sekzisilen³ "I did not give it" /sekzisiɮen˥˧/ [se˥k̬zi˦si˦ɮe˧n̥]	sekdëyilen⁴ "I did not laugh at it" /sekdəʝiɮen˧˩/ [se˧k̬də˨ʝi˨ɮe˩n̥]	sekëgwilen⁵ "I did not find it" /sekəgʷiɮen˩˥/ [se˩kə˨gʷi˦ɮe˥n̥]	sekthötilen⁶ "I did not savor it" /sekθɵtiɮen˥˩˧/ [se˥kθɵ˧ti˩ɮe˧n̥]

• For some speakers non-monosyllable /˥-˥/ and /˩-˩/ are realized as weakly rising [V˦...V˥] and [V˩...V˨].

Atonal words bear the last tone in the preceding word, but word-initially either bear the first tone in the following word or have variable pitch.

Prosody

Stress

Stress is root-initial and is realized with increased volume and/or vowel length, the latter especially in contrastive stress.

Intonation

Emphasized words have more volume across the word and length in the word's stressed vowel. Emphasized atonal words in isolation have sharply falling pitch.

In semantically imperative and hortative sentences pitch starts higher than in declarative sentences.

In nonpolar questions and expressions of surprise or doubt pitch is lower before the most emphasized word and sharply rises after the word.

Phonotactics

Syllables are underlyingly (C)V(C). Obstruents except /z̃, θ, ʝ/ cannot occur before consonants of different voicing except on morpheme boundaries.

Epenthetic [h] is added before vowels word-initially and between vowels on morpheme boundaries.

Morphology

Alignment

Gwaxol has tripartite morphosyntactic alignment, but in informal speech may be ergative-absolutive.

Pronouns

Pronouns are marked for case, class, and number.

A reduced set of pronouns is used to mark possession on preceding nouns. In familial and very informal speech these pronouns are also used as ergative and intransitive pronouns.

Personal pronouns ERG ACC INTR GEN DAT 1SG lïm² lïn⁵ lön⁴ ye¹ yil² 1PL yäl⁴ lossa⁶ tön⁴ nwu⁴ yil⁵ 2SG ha³ hu⁴ ngäm³ mäy³ yil¹ 2PL nëm¹ kwon⁴ keng¹ mey¹ yil³ 3SG.HUM xo¹ xö¹ ngul¹ ngö¹ hox² 3PL.HUM thëm¹ thï⁵ yi¹ 3.ANIM1 ngex¹ rer¹ mäk⁶ kwon¹ küy¹ 3.ANIM2 ngel¹ rel¹ mäl⁶ kwol¹ kül¹ 3.INAN1 hus¹ tïnz⁴ xanz⁵ nzë² 3.INAN2 hut¹ hanz¹ NEG yinan⁴ yinön⁴ yinan⁴ yizzun⁶

Possessive pronouns SG PL 1 se¹ nes⁵ 2 kwës¹ gwës³ 3.HUM kwas¹ 3.ANIM1 nal³ 3.ANIM2 gi³ 3.INAN ho¹

Other pronouns INDEF REL/Q REFL RECP IMPRS HUM zakw-³ yïgw-⁵ sekw³ xas⁴ thëy² ANIM zil-³ ngügw-¹ mïllï⁶ INAN zat-³ hugw-²

When converbial suffixes are unused, subject referent switching is marked with the pronoun kang². Kang² is unused in non-subject referent switching.

Only personal and possessive pronouns cause agreement in verbs; if a non-personal/possessive is a core argument, the other argument causes intransitive agreement, and if there is no personal or possessive pronoun to cause agreement the verb is marked as impersonal.

Negative pronouns must be applied to negative verbs.

Nouns

Nouns are marked for class, case, number, and definiteness.

Noun class endings SG PL HUM -kwë -e ANIM1 -la -il ANIM2 -ol INAN1 -xat INAN2 -at Case/definiteness markers INDEF DEF ERG -ng(ë) nas ACC -Ø yü INTR lö GEN -sa höx DAT -xu sënz Ergative -ngë is -ng after vowels Definite case particles can either precede or follow their nouns, but more often precede. Verbs Verbs agree with both agent and patient in class, and mark tense, aspect, and mood. Class agreement prefixes INTR >1 >2 >HUM >ANIM1 >ANIM2 >INAN1 >INAN2 1 seng- se- sekw- sel- sag- so- sek- 2 kwëng- kwër- kwës- kwëkw- kwël- kwën- kwo- kwës- HUM kwar- kwakw- kwas- kwan- kwag- kwas- ANIM1 nang- nas- nakw- nal- nan- no- nal- ANIM2 ging- ze- gwë- gikw- gin- gi- ho- gi- INAN1 hong- hos- hokw- gwil- gwag- ho- INAN2 xos- xokw- wil- wag- xo- Ø- TAM suffixes PST PRES FUT PFV REAL -i -Ø -si IRR -küm -köm -küz IMP -zi, -Ø PROH -xong IPFV REAL -mi -mï -mis IRR -kömi -kömï -kömis FREQ/ ITER REAL -xa IRR -köğ In infinitive and impersonal verbs a prefix si- is used in place of agreement marking. Interrogative verbs use preceding particles marked for tense, and tense is optionally double-marked in a second set of non-interrogative particles. These particles cannot be applied to imperative or prohibitive verbs. TAM suffixes PST PRES FUT lëh dïh sëh Q lënz dïs sës The tense of these particles can be mismatched with suffix tense for tenses with nonpresent reference points, with the tense of the particle determining the reference point. Mismatching with present reference point is generally used to indicate that the event is relevant to a current result or circumstance. Converbs and referent tracking A set of converbial suffixes marked for subject reference can be applied to verbs in place of agreement and TAM suffixes. Converb suffixes foreground additive background additive conditional counterfactual alternative abessive -ngä- -ne- -ra- -xi- -lë- -ngö- mediary comparative simultaneous causal purposive adverbial -nwa- -ki- -ha- -tï- -xa- -ro- Referent suffix coreferent -Ø switch-referent -ng See also Pronouns and the converbial uses of -käng and -ke. Voice Verbs are not marked for voice. For most verbs an ergative indefinite pronoun can be applied to further emphasize the patient. In some informal varieties rew³ "to take" can be used periphrastically to mark either middle voice or passive voice. Adjectives Adjectives agree with nouns in class Adjective class prefixes HUM ANIM1 ANIM2 INAN1 INAN2 kwa- hin- han- ho- Ø- Comparative and superlative adjectives are marked with nex following the adjective. Postnouns Some adjectives act as noun suffixes (slotted before class marking) and do not allow direct agreement or negation; these adjectives mark comparison with nex following their noun. Adverbs Adverbs are morphologically verbs and are treated and marked as such. Postpositions Most adpositional meanings are conveyed with the locative or lative cases (see -käng and -ke), with two exceptions: nem "from" and ze "past, beyond". When these two postpositions are used, their head noun takes intransitive marking. Numerals and classifiers Gwaxol uses base-60 and subbase-6 numerals, with non-compound words for one through twelve and multiples of six up to sixty. Numerals one through twelve agree in gender with their noun unless they modify another numeral, where the inanimate form is used. Numerals 1-12 HUM ANIM INAN 1 zal¹ mo² nëng¹ 2 hës¹ xwa³ më⁵ 3 ta¹ ngäx¹ 4 ham¹ ko³ 5 kwi¹ xü² 6 go¹ lïm⁵ 7 zal³ nëng³ 8 ğës³ më⁶ 9 ta³ ngäx³ 10 ğëm¹ ko⁶ 11 kwi³ xü⁴ 12 li¹ nux¹ Numerals 13+ HUM ANIM INAN 13 li¹ zal¹ nux¹ mo² nux¹ nëng¹ 18 ka¹ 19 ka¹ zal¹, li¹ zal³ ka¹ mo², li¹ nëng³ ka¹ nëng¹, li¹ nëng³ 24 nïs¹ 30 gwal⁵ 36 löy¹ 42 kwu² 48 tha² 54 nös¹ 60 küx⁵ 3,600 thï¹ 216,000 küx⁵ thï¹ Inanimate nouns require classifiers when numerated unless another unit word is applied (for example më⁵ yïy xwenxat¹ "two waters," but më⁵ łëkla³ xwenxat¹ "two bowls of water" rather than *më⁵ yïy łëkla³ xwenxat¹); when a unit word other than a classifier is used, numerals do not agree with the unit word (so më⁵ łëkla³ xwenxat¹ rather than *xwa³ łëkla³ xwenxat¹). Classifiers can also be applied without a numerator to nonhuman nouns as plural markers. Negation -len and kwör are used to negate verbs and nouns respectively. Non-comparative adjectives use kwör and comparative adjectives use -len. Double negative -len kwör and kwörkwör are emphatic. Derivational morphology Part of speech modifiers -hot and -hu derive nouns of quality from adjectives and verbs respectively; -gwe and -yi derives human agent nouns from adjectives and verbs respectively, and -tikw derives action nouns from both adjectives and verbs. Stative verbs can be zero-derived from nouns and adjectives, except when the verb would only have null marking (inanimate-2-agent inanimate-2-patient present indicative perfective, or inanimate-2-agent inanimate-2-patient imperative) where -mö disambiguates. In some varieties verbs cannot be zero-derived from adjectives, where -mö must always be applied. -ox and -ne derive adjectives of consistency and similarity respectively. hos and nwö- derive participles and adjectives of tendency respectively from verbs. Causative verbs The suffixes -löy and -möy derives causative verbs from verbs and adjectives respectively. -käng and -ke The main use of -käng and -ke is as (pro)noun locative and lative suffixes, with the (pro)noun's original case agreeing with the head the new locative/lative word modifies. Possessive/informal pronouns use -ha in place of -ke, and definite nouns use häng and he in place of -käng and -ke. These two suffixes can also be applied to verbs for "after" and "before" converbial meanings respectively (without requiring a lack of TAM suffix, unlike other converbial suffixes), and to numerals for ordinal and fractional meanings respectively. Reduplication Full stem reduplication is used to derive diminutive adjectives (for example töngtöng² "somewhat narrow" from töng² "narrow"), new iterative or reflexive meanings from some verbs (for example harar³ "it returns to it" from har³ "it goes to it" (stem -ar³-), collectivize nouns (for example kotkotol³ "fishes (collective)" from kotol³ "fish"), and generalize pronouns (for example xöxö¹ "one of them" from xö¹ "him/her/them"). Full reduplication (including any affixes) with dipping tone can be used to convey uncertainty, especially in response to questions. Initial CV reduplication and stem-initial gemination is used to derive augmentative words (for example xexxerkwë⁴ "great hunter" from xerkwë⁴ "hunter"). Non-productive reduplication also occurs in some words (for example tadakw⁵ "it bleeds it out, it empties it of blood" from takw⁵ "to bleed"). Syntax Constituent order Word order is flexible but predominantly VSO. Words are most often fronted for emphasis; relative/interrogative pronouns and heads of dependent clauses are generally backed. See also Dependent clauses. Noun and verb phrases Gwaxol is mostly head-initial; adjectives and possessors follow their head noun (though adjective position is more flexible), numerators precede their noun, and adverbs follow what they modify. Dependent clauses Dependent clauses directly follow the head they modify, and are marked with the particle ngë both before and after the clause; the head's other dependents then follow the clause. Converb clauses follow their verb, between their head verb and that verb's arguments if its arguments follow; often the head verb's arguments are fronted to precede the verb to separate them from converb arguments. Example texts Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1 Kwëngngur¹ rangä⁵ roxatro¹ käxtikwsa¹ käm rewaxxatsa³ xam⁴ mägwe¹. Xozis³ zatngë³ hëskwaxat¹ käm kwuxwxat⁵ hox² kwasmigwngä¹ xasxu⁴ zi thöngxatro³ güxetikwsa³. Kwëng-ngur¹ HUM.INTR-free ra⁵-ngä same-CVB rox¹-at-ro birth-INAN2-CVB käx¹-tikw-sa honorable-NZ-GEN.INDEF käm and rewax³-xat-sa right-INAN1.PL-GEN.INDEF xam⁴ all mägwe¹. mortal Kwëng-ngur¹ ra⁵-ngä rox¹-at-ro käx¹-tikw-sa käm rewax³-xat-sa xam⁴ mägwe¹. HUM.INTR-free same-CVB birth-INAN2-CVB honorable-NZ-GEN.INDEF and right-INAN1.PL-GEN.INDEF all mortal Xo-zis³ INAN2>INAN1-give zat³-ngë INAN.INDEF-ERG ëskwa¹-xat reason-INAN1 käm and kwuxw⁵-xat conscience-INAN1 hox² HUM.DAT kwas-migw¹-ngä HUM>HUM-do-CVB xas⁴-xu RECP-DAT.INDEF zi HORT thöng³-xat-ro method-INAN1-CVB güx³-e-tikw-sa. brother-HUM.PL-NZ-GEN.INDEF Xo-zis³ zat³-ngë ëskwa¹-xat käm kwuxw⁵-xat hox² kwas-migw¹-ngä xas⁴-xu zi thöng³-xat-ro güx³-e-tikw-sa. INAN2>INAN1-give INAN.INDEF-ERG reason-INAN1 and conscience-INAN1 HUM.DAT HUM>HUM-do-CVB RECP-DAT.INDEF HORT method-INAN1-CVB brother-HUM.PL-NZ-GEN.INDEF Linguifex-hosted translations Translated works in Gwaxol Gwaxol/Test Case Sentences Conlang Atlas of Language Structures-hosted translations CALS translations Other resources CALS Pollasena Wiki