Burumbi
Background
Burumbi is made to sound how Anglophones think "African" languages sound. As I am rather unlearned when it comes to linguistics the result is likely to be sketchy and uninspiring to others, but it is mainly for generating names and short phrases.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b (p b) | t d (t d) | k g (k g) | |
| Affricate | ts (t͡s) | |||
| Fricative | s z (s z) | |||
| Nasal | m (m) | n (n) | ny (ɲ) | ng (ŋ) |
| Approximant | r l (ɹ l) | y (j) | w (w) |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | u /u/ | ||
| Mid | é /ə/ | |||
| Open mid | e /ɛ/ | |||
| Open | a /ɑ/ | |||
In addition to these vowels the diphthong o (oʊ) is used.
Orthography
Phonotactics
Syllables can take the following forms:
- V(ŋ)
- CV(ŋ)
- NSV(ŋ)
- SwV(ŋ)
where V = vowel, C = consonant, N = the nasal vowels /m n/, and S = a stop or the consonants /s z ts/. Stress always falls on the penultimate syllable except in the case of é, in which case it falls on the following one.
Grammar
Nouns
Burumbi has four genders: three "animate" genders and one inanimate.
| Gender | Form | Example | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | -é | tsedé | ghost |
| Animate | -a | daya | midget |
| Vegetative | -i | burumbi | language |
| Inanimate | -o | kakumo | fort |
The first gender is used for natural phenomena such as lightning and storms in addition to supernatural entities. The vegetative gender is for weakly animate nouns such as plants and things which can move in a metaphorical way, like words and ideas.
Cases
| case | prefix |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Ø |
| Accusative | tsa- |
| Locative | ta- |
| Proximative | ba- |
Verbs
Verbs are inflected for gender, tenses, and the indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods. There are five tenses: the far past, near past, present, near future, and far future. While these are mostly straightforward, it should be noted that the far past and far future tenses are used heavily when mythical or supernatural events are being discussed, even if they happened on a time scale usually reserved for the near past or present.
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | |||||
| Animate | |||||
| Vegetative | |||||
| Inanimate |
Indicative
The indicative is used to form simple factual statements.
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | -nyo | -no | -ng | -nga | -nya |
| Animate | -go | -go | -ge | -geng | -gong |
| Vegetative | -gola | -la | -lang | -le | -leng |
| Inanimate | -king | -ki | -kuo | -ko | -keng |
Assertive
The assertive is used not just when issuing commands, but also making emphatic statements. It is formed from the present indicative, e.g. daga komege "the dog eats" becomes daga kometoge "the dog really eats!" The imperative is used in response to questions and conditional statements, e.g. daga se komegung, nu mpometege, "if the dog is eating, it will not be hungry."
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | -tingo | -ting | -tong | -teng | -tengo |
| Animate | -tigeo | -tige | -toge | -tege | -tegeo |
| Vegetative | -tilingo | -tiling | -lang | -leng | -lengo |
| Inanimate | -tikwong | -tikwo | -toguo | -teguo | -teguong |
Subjunctive
The subjunctive is used when the reality or factuality of something is not known. It is also used when forming questions. Unlike the imperative, the subjunctive is formed from the near future indicative, hence daga komege becomes daga komegung? "is the dog eating?"
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | |||||
| Animate | |||||
| Vegetative | |||||
| Inanimate |