Kukʉp

Kukʉp is the native language of the Pineti, a Human culture that exists primarily at sea. The modern form is a creole of True Ongo and Old Kukʉp, with additional vocabulary from various favored port cities included as needed.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant inventory: /h k l m n p t v w ŋ ɾ ʔ/

		Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Stop		p		t1	k2		ʔ
Nasal		m		n	ŋ3
Fricative			v4				h
Approximant						w5
Tap				ɾ
Lateral approximant				l

1. /t/ turns into /k/ between vowels
2. /k/ turns into /t/ when ending a word
3. /ŋ/ turns into /k/ when beginning a word
4. /v/ turns into /w/ when beginning a word
5. /w/ turns into /v/ between vowels

Vowels

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u ɒ ɛ ʉ/

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ʉ	u
Close-mid	e		o
Open-mid	ɛ
Open	a		ɒ

Diphthongs: None

Phonotactics

Syllable structure for is, in most cases, (C)V(C). Stress pattern is normally penultimate, meaning stress is placed on the second to last syllable. Because of the extensive use of loan words, exceptions to this rule are relatively common.

• Word initial consonants: h, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, w, ŋ, ɾ
• Mid word consonants : h, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, w, ŋ, ɾ, ʔ
• Word final consonants : k, l, n, p, t, v, w, ɾ, ʔ

Grammar

Kukʉp uses Subject-Oblique-Object-Verb for word order, with adjectives placed before 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 wawʉt lil a'o vopuk 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)t /-(ɛ)t/ nevot /’nevɒt/
	Land	tree	erku /’ɛɾku/	trees	Suffix: -(u)ri /-(u)ɾi/ erkuri /ɛɾ’kuɾi/
	Sea	fish	ʉre /’ʉɾɛ/	fishes	Suffix: -(ʉ)p /-(ʉ)p/ ʉrep /’ʉɾɛp/
	Sky	bird	roi /’ɾoi/	birds	Suffix: -(u)re /uɾe/ roire /ɾo’iɾe/
Ergative	Person	child	Suffix: -a /-a/ nevoa /ne’vɒa/	children	Suffix: -(ʉ)re /ʉɾe/ nevore /ne’vɒɾe/
	Land	tree	Suffix: -(i)t /-(i)t/ erkut /ɛɾ’kut/	trees	Suffix: -(ʉ)t /-(ʉ)t/ erkut /ɛɾ’kut/
	Sea	fish	Suffix: -(o)v /-(ɒ)v/ ʉrev /’ʉɾɛv/	fishes	Suffix: -(ʉ)' /-(ʉ)ʔ/ ʉre’ /’ʉɾɛʔ/
	Sky	bird	Suffix: -i /-i/ roii /ɾo’ii/	birds	Suffix: -(u)p /-(u)p/ roip /’ɾoip/

Definite Article

		Singular		Plural
Absolutive	Person	the [child]	lil /lil/	the [children]	ril /ɾil/
	Land	the [tree]	hom /hɒm/	the [trees]	‘om /ʔɒm/
	Sea	the [fish]	nan /nan/	the [fishes]	nam /nam/
	Sky	the [bird]	kow /kow/	the [birds]	kuw /kuw/
Ergative	Person	the [child]	'ul /ʔul/	the [children]	hul /hul/
	Land	the [tree]	hup /hup/	the [trees]	rup /ɾup/
	Sea	the [fish]	kan /kan/	the [fishes]	kel /kɛl/
	Sky	the [bird]	tow /tow/	the [birds]	'aw /ʔaw/

Indefinite Article

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

Personal Pronouns

	Absolutive		Ergative		Genitive		Dative
1st. Singular	I	lo /lo/	me	lor /loɾ/	mine	le /le/	to me	lo e /lo ɛ/
2nd. Singular	you	let /let/	you	leh /leh/	yours	lep /lɛp/	to you	let e /let ɛ/
3rd. Singular	he/she/it	pu /pu/	him/her/it	pʉn /pʉn/	his/hers/its	pur /pur/	to him/her/it	pu e /pu ɛ/
1st. Plural	we	lʉ /lʉ/	us	lʉt /lʉt/	ours	lʉn /lʉn/	to us	lʉ e /lʉ ɛ/
2nd. Plural	you	ʉ /ʉ/	you	hʉ /hʉ/	yours	ʉp /ʉp/	to you	ʉ e /ʉ ɛ/
3rd. Plural	they	o /ɒ/	them	o' /ɒʔ/	theirs	ho' /hɒʔ/	to them	o e /ɒ ɛ/

Verbs

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

• Progressive aspect -- Suffix: -(i)r /-(i)ɾ/ -- "am studying" or petʉpir
• Imperative -- Suffix: -(e)ni /ɛni/ -- "study!" (as a command) or petʉpeni
• Negation -- Uses the particle u /u/ before main verb phrase

Vocabulary

See also

• Vocabulary