Makari

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Makari
Macári
Makari.png
Pronunciation[macçɐ:ri]
Created byAenil
Date2024
Native toLincai (Lićaí)
Early form
Proto-Kinavel

Makari (autoglossonym: Macári, Makari : /macçɐ:ri/) is a language spoken in the province of Lincai (Makari : Lićaí /liçaɪ:/). After the Kinavel language was brought to Lincai, the language underwent a small number of phonological changes, like the loss of the uvular sounds, and a fricatization of the plosives, that gave a fully-fledged affricate set, replacing the old Kinavel plosive set

Etymology

The language name is derived from the Proto-Kinavel word *n¹qarí /ɳ̩qerɪː/ meaning "language, speech", which gave the Kinavel word nŭkeri /nuˑkeri/ meaning "communication"

Orthography

Alphabet

The Makari alphabet is composed of 24 letters (20 "base letters" and 4 "diacritic letters") :

Makari alphabet (in order)
Letter Aa Áá Cc Ćć Ee Pp Ff Hh Ii Íí Jj Kk Xx Ll Mm Nn Qq Oo Rr Tt Ss Uu Úú Vv
IPA ä ɐ ç ə ɸ h i ɪ j kx x l m n ŋ ɒ r ts s u ʊ w

Phoneme type

During the rest of the article, and especially in grammar, the letters C, V and M will be referring to different type of phonemes. Here's a table of correspondence :

Letter Description
C All consonants
V Non-diacritical vowels
M Diacritical vowels

Phonology

Consonants

Labials Alveolars Palatals/
Velars
Glottals
Nasal m n ŋ
Affricate ts , kx
Fricative ɸ s ç, x h
Approximant (w) l j, w
Trill r

Notes :

  • /cç/ and /ç/ are pronounced /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ by some speakers
  • /kx/ and /x/ are pronounced /qχ/ and /χ/ after back vowels
  • Although the traditional pronounciation of <w> is /ʋ/, almost all speakers have shifted to /w/ or /β/

Vowels

Front Back
Close i, ɪː u, ʊː
Mid ə, ɐː
Open ä ɒ

Notes:

  • /ɪː/ and /ʊː/ are often realized as /i:/ and /u:/ in stressed syllables
  • /ə/ can be lengthened if it is the first component of a diphthong
  • /ɒ/ is raised to /ɔ/ by some speakers

Phonotactics and Stress

Syllable Shape

The maximum syllable shape of Makari is pretty strict, and the language prioritises open syllables : CV(C) word-finally and CV/VC anywhere else

Stress

Stress falls on the third-to-last syllable (or first syllable is the word has less than three syllables). For exemple, "tocája" is pronounced /ˈtɒcçɐjä/


Grammar

Nouns

Cases

Nouns in Makari are inflected using 7 cases :

Nominative

The nominative case in Makari is used to mark the subject of a sentence, or to mark both the subject and the predicate in copular sentences.

Genitive

The genitive case is used for alienable possession, and is used as the agent of verbs of experience.

For example: «Ćirát anícaúra» means "I am cold", and here, «ćirát» is the genitive form of «će»

Dative

The dative case is used to mark the indirect object of a sentence, the direct object of verbs of possession, is used with «já» to indicate inalienable possession and helps to convey the role of the lative case.

Accusative

The accusative case is used to indicate the direct object of a verb. It derived from the merging between the Accusative and the Partitive, loaned from the Kinavel case system

Paradigms

Declension of ári (V class)
Singular Plural
Nominative ári
Genitive árin árí
Dative árári áriqa
Accusative árić
Locative áli álitía
Vocative árin
Prepositional áliná álili