Duozynis

Duozynis is the oldest Shunfoh language recorded. There is little known about the people who spoke it, but current theories suggest that this language is actually the result of the combination of three or more cultures.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant inventory: /b d dz dʒ f g h j k m n r t tʃ z ɲ ŋ ɕ ɸ ɾ ʑ ʃ ʎ θ/

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop		b			t d				k g
Nasal		m			n			ɲ	ŋ
Affricative					dz	tʃ dʒ
Fricative		ɸ	f	θ	z	ʃ	ɕ ʑ			h
Approximant								j
Tap					ɾ
Trill					r
Lateral approximant								ʎ

Vowels

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u y ø ɯ ə/

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i y		ɯ u
Close-mid	e ø		o
Mid		ə
Open	a

Diphthongs: None

• It remains unclear if there were truly no dipthongs used in Duozynis, or if the knowledge of the diphthongs used has simply been lost.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure for is mostly (C)(C)V(C)(C) and stress pattern is not fixed, but exceptions to these rules appear common.

• bilabial consonants turn into /p/ after /l/
• /f/ turns into /w/ before (vowel)
• /z/ turns into /ts/ after (vowel)/j/
• /w/ becomes null between two vowels or between (vowel) and (word boundary)
• /ɾ/ turns into /s/ before /s/
• /u/ becomes null before /o/
• /u/ becomes /a/ after /a/
• /ɛ/ becomes /ə/ before (nasal consonant)
• /a/ becomes /ə/ before (consonant)/a/

Grammar

Word order is Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique, with adjectives placed after their nouns and suffixes used when adpositions are necessary.

• "Mary opened the red door with a key" = Mary with a key the red door opened. (or "Marya kep evo nihue lil a'o inu kutet.")

Nouns

Kukʉp uses gender (Person, Land, Sea, Sky) to indicate the source of nouns. While nouns will be assumed to have a particular gender (ee means wood and is normally Land gendered), gender can be changed to show that a specific noun came from a different source (Sea gendered wood might indicate drift wood, while Person gendered wood would imply that someone shaped or carved the wood in question).

Noun Morphology

Kukʉp is an ergative-absolutive language, meaning the object of a transitive verb and the single core argument of an intransitive verb are treated the same (absolutive), while the agent of a transitive verb is treated differently (ergative). In English, this would read as follows:

• He (agent) found me (object).
• Him (argument) traveled.

		Singular		Plural
Absolutive	Person	child	nevo /’nevɒ/	children	Suffix: -(e)v /-(ɛ)v/ nevov /’nevɒv/
	Land	tree	erku /’ɛɾku/	trees	Suffix: -a /-a/ erkua /ɛɾ’kua/
	Sea	fish	kure /’kuɾɛ/	fishes	Suffix: -i /-i/ kurei /’kuɾɛi/
	Sky	bird	roi /’ɾoi/	birds	Suffix: -ʉ /-ʉ/ roiʉ /ɾo’iʉ/
Ergative	Person	child	Suffix: -(o)t /-(ɒ)t/ nevot /'nevɒt/	children	Suffix: -(e)' /-(e)ʔ/ nevo' /'nevɒʔ/
	Land	tree	Suffix: -(e)v /-(e)v/ erkuv /'ɛɾkuv/	trees	Suffix: -(u)wi /-(u)wi/ erkuwi /ɛɾ’kuwi/
	Sea	fish	Suffix: -(o)t /-(o)t/ kuret /’kuɾɛt/	fishes	Suffix: -(o)'o /-(o)ʔo/ kure’o /ku'ɾɛʔo/
	Sky	bird	Suffix: -(u)p /-(u)p/ roip /'ɾoip/	birds	Suffix: -(ɒ)v /-(ɒ)v/ roiv /’ɾoiv/

Definite Article

		Singular		Plural
Absolutive	Person	the [child]	kit /kit/	the [children]	kit /kit/
	Land	the [tree]	men /men/	the [trees]	men /men/
	Sea	the [fish]	ket /kɛt/	the [fishes]	ket /kɛt/
	Sky	the [bird]	ting /tiŋ/	the [birds]	ting /tiŋ/
Ergative	Person	the [child]	wit /wit/	the [children]	vin /win/
	Land	the [tree]	man /man/	the [trees]	wen /wen/
	Sea	the [fish]	kow /kow/	the [fishes]	'ak /ʔat/
	Sky	the [bird]	tin /tin/	the [birds]	no' /noʔ/

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English's ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: English's ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Indefinite Article

The numeral for ‘one’, evo, is used as the indefinite article.

Personal Pronouns

	Absolutive		Ergative		Genitive		Dative
1st. Singular	I	lo /lɒ/	me	le /lɛ/	mine	li /li/	to me	lo li /lɒ li/
2nd. Singular	you	po /po/	you	pem /pem/	yours	pep /pɛp/	to you	po li /po li/
3rd. Singular	he/she/it	vit /wit/	him/her/it	ven /wɛn/	his/hers/its	vem /wem/	to him/her/it	vit li /wit li/
1st. Plural	we	he /hɛ/	us	hup /hup/	ours	hu /hu/	to us	he li /hɛ li/
2nd. Plural	you	rok /ɾot/	you	rov /ɾov/	yours	ro' /ɾoʔ/	to you	rok li /ɾot li/
3rd. Plural	they	i /i/	them	in /in/	theirs	'in /ʔin/	to them	i li /i li/

Verbs

Kukʉp verbs don't use indicative mood (past, present, or future tense). Instead, those details are determined through context.

• Perfect aspect -- uses the word 'reletʉ' before the main verb -- "have studied" or reletʉ petʉp
• Progressive aspect -- uses the word 'tip' before the main verb -- "am studying" or tip petʉp
• Imperative -- uses the word ' ni' ' before the main verb -- "study!" (as a command) or ni' petʉp
• Negation -- adds the suffix -(ʉ)ho /-(ʉ)hɒ/ to the verb -- "do not study" or petʉpʉho
  • Tense affixes come between the root verb and the progressive affix

Vocabulary

Useful phrases

English	Duozynis	IPA
Welcome	*	/’evɒ/
Hello (General greeting)	*	/’evɒ/
How are you?	*	/’evɒ/
Reply to "how are you?"	* ("Still alive")	/’evɒ/
What's your name?	*	/’evɒ/
My name is ...	*	/’evɒ/
Where are you from?	*	/’evɒ/
I'm from ...	*	/’evɒ/
Pleased to meet you	*	/’evɒ/
Good morning (Morning greeting)	*	/’evɒ/
Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting)	*	/’evɒ/
Good evening (Evening greeting)	*	/’evɒ/
Goodbye (Parting phrase	*	/’evɒ/
Good night	*	/’evɒ/
Good luck!	*	/’evɒ/
Cheers! Good health! (Toasts used when drinking)	*	/’evɒ/
Bon appetit/ Have a nice meal	*	/’evɒ/
I understand	*	/’evɒ/
I don't understand	*	/’evɒ/
Yes	*	/’evɒ/
No	*	/’evɒ/
Maybe	*	/’evɒ/
I don't know	*	/’evɒ/
Please speak more slowly	*	/’evɒ/
Please write it down	*	/’evɒ/
Do you speak English?	*	/’evɒ/
Do you speak Kukʉp?	*	/’evɒ/
Yes, a little (reply to "Do you speak...?")	*	/’evɒ/
Speak to me in ***	*	/’evɒ/
How do you say ... in ***?	*	/’evɒ/
Excuse me	*	/’evɒ/
How much is this?	*	/’evɒ/
Sorry	*	/’evɒ/
Please	*	/’evɒ/
Thank you	*	/’evɒ/
Reply to thank you	*	/’evɒ/
Where's the toilet?	*	/’evɒ/
I love you	*	/’evɒ/
Get well soon	*	/’evɒ/
Help!	*	/’evɒ/
Fire!	*	/’evɒ/
Stop!	*	/’evɒ/
Christmas and New Year greetings	*	/’evɒ/
Easter greetings	*	/’evɒ/
Birthday greetings	*	/’evɒ/
One language is never enough	*	/’evɒ/
My hovercraft is full of eels	*	/’evɒ/

See also

• Vocabulary