Kämpya
Kämpya is spoken is my far-future Antarctican conworld, where runaway global warming has melted the icecaps and made the continent habitable (while rendering most of the rest of the world uninhabitable).
It originated from the area around Ross Island, one of the first large-scale colonies on Antarctica. The founders of the settlement were a mostly either Burmese, Australian or Taiwanese, and as such Kämpya is most heavily influenced by the languages of those countries (especially Burmese). However, a later wave of Spanish speaking migrants from South America also had a large impact on the language.
It has since spread to other parts of the continent, aided by the spread of a religion called Laikyâr (although far from all Kämpya speakers follow the Laikyâr religion). Indeed there is a special register of the language that is only used in religious contexts. There are also a number of regional dialects. However, this page describes what could be termed the "standard" dialect.
Brief Description
Kämpya has topic comment syntax with isolating morphology. It belongs to category 4 in Milewski's typology [1] i.e. it uses the same marker (the clitic -i) to mark both possessors and ergative subjects. Possessors are marked for alienability [2] using tone, and come before the nouns they modify. Kämpya (at least in the standard dialect) uses postpositions rather than prepositions, and adjectives can come either before or after the nouns they modify if they are restrictive or non-restrictive respectively [3].
In terms of phonology, the most notable thing is a 3-way vowel phonation contrast on stressed syllables (which is not present on unstressed syllables). Kämpya distinguishes words with harsh voice (marked with a tilde e.g. /a̰/), from breathy voice (marked with a pair of dots either above or below the vowel e.g. /a̤/ or /ä/), from glottalisation (marked with a glottal stop after the vowel e.g. /aʔ/.
There are many minimal pairs of words that only contrast stress and phonation e.g. /síˈtâ̰/ - "wing" vs. /ˈsíʔtà/ - "guardian" vs. /ˈsì̤tà/ - "sister", or /áˈlôṵn/ - "that which is alone" vs. /áˈlòṳn/ - "everything / everyone".
In addition to this, there is also a tone contrast, but this is only used for grammatical purposes (e.g. to change between different parts of speech, or to mark alienable / inalienable possession), never for lexical purposes. For example, from the nouns /síˈtâ̰/ - "wing" and /áˈlôṵn/ - "that which is alone", which both have High Tone on the first syllable and Low Tone on the second (with harsh voice), we can derive the non-restrictive adjectives /sìˈtá̰/ - "wing" and /àˈlóṵn/ - "by itself / solitary", which both have Low Tone on the first syllable and High Tone on the second (with harsh voice).
It is usually written using a script based on the Burmese alphabet.
Phonology
Vowels
The vowel system is quite simple, with 5 monophthongs and 4 diphthongs.
Monophthongs
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | /i/ | /u/ | |
| Mid | /e/ | /o/ | |
| Low | /a/ |
Diphthongs
The following diphthongs are found /ai/, /au/, /ei/ and /ou/.
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Lateral | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | pʰ p b | tʰ t d | kʰ k g | ||||
| Nasal | m̥ m | n̥ n | ŋ | ||||
| Fricative | θ ð | sʰ s z | (ɬ) | (ç) | h | ||
| Semivowel | (ʍ) w | j | |||||
| Other Sonorants | ⱱ~ʋ | ɾ | l |
- /b/, /d/ and /g/ are often pronounced as slightly implosive.
- [ɬ] corresponds to Burmese */l̥/, and English */sl/. It is underlyingly /hl/.
- [ç] is underlyingly /hj/.
- [ʍ] is underlyingly /hw/.
- [ⱱ] and [ʋ] are in free variation.
Phonotactics
In the standard dialect, only syllables of the form (C) (C) V (C) are permitted.
Initial consonant clusters can consist of any non-semivowel consonant followed by /w/ or /j/, except that /ŋj/ syllable onsets are forbidden.
In writing and formal speech, syllables can also begin with /pʰl/, /pl/, /bl/, /kʰl/, /kl/ and /gl/ (i.e. any non-alveolar stop + /l/). But outside formal speech, the /l/ is usually replaced with /j/.
In unstressed syllables, the coda consonant can only be a stop or a nasal.
In stressed syllables, codas can also be /ⱱ/, /ɾ/ or /h/, as long as the vowel is a monophthong and not a diphthong.
Consonant Neutralisations
Voicing and aspiration distinctions are neutralised in syllable codas, though they are still present underlyingly e.g. /sjúˈðâ̰d/ - "city" is pronounced [sjúˈðâ̰t], but when combined with the genitive clitic /i/ to form /sjúˈðâ̰dì/ - "of the city (alienable)", it is pronounced [sjúˈðâ̰dì].
In colloquial speech, stops in the codas of unstressed syllables are debuccalised to glottal stops e.g. the city named /ˈkʰóʔnàt/ is often pronounced [ˈkʰóʔnàʔ].
If a nasal coda occurs before /h/, an approximant, or at the end of a word, it is simply pronounced as nasalisation of the preceding vowel e.g. /áˈtâṵŋ/ - "feather" is pronounced [áˈtâṵⁿ]. But likewise it is still present underlyingly, as can be seen when combined with the genitive clitic /i/ to form /áˈtâṵŋì/ - "of the feather (alienable)", which is pronounced [aˈtâːuŋi].
Stress and Phonation
One syllable in each word bears stress. Vowel phonation is phonemic on stressed syllables but not elsewhere. The phonations are harsh <â> [4], breathy <ä> [5], and glottalised <á>. Harsh and breathy vowels are pronounced long, glottalised vowels are pronounced short, and with glottalisation of the following consonant (or with a glottal stop [ʔ] in the case of word final syllables).
Allophones of /h/
Between two vowels, /h/ is voiced to [ɦ] e.g. /máháˈkáʔp/ - "eternity" is pronounced /máɦáˈkáʔp/
/h/ can occur in the coda of stressed syllables. It's realisation depends on the phonation of the previous vowel, but is always pharyngeal.
If the stressed vowel has breathy phonation, the /h/ manifests itself as a pharyngeal fricative [ħ] e.g. /à̤h/ - "question" is pronounced [à̤ħ]. Compare /ŋà̤/ - "fish" which is pronounced [ŋà̤].
If the stressed vowel has glottalised phonation, the /h/ manifests itself as a pharyngeal stop [ʡ] e.g. /dáʔh/ - "darkness" is pronounced [dáʡ]. Compare /táʔ/ - "a wish" (in a nostalgic context) which is pronounced with a glottal stop [táʔ].
/h/ never occurs after vowels with harsh phonation.
Of course, if a process such a cliticisation (e.g. with the genitive clitic /i/) means that the /h/ is no longer in coda position, then these process do not occur e.g.
/à̤h ì/ - "of the question (alienable)" is pronounced [ˈà̤ɦì].
/dáʔh ì/ - "of the darkness (alienable)" is pronounced [ˈdaʔhì].
Also, if a coda [ʡ] (i.e. /h/ after a glottalised stressed vowel) is followed by a consonant that can be aspirated (i.e. /p/, /t/, /k/, or /s/), there is a tendency to manifest this as aspiration on the consonant instead e.g.
/ˈbóhsòut/ - "bauxite", can be pronounced either [ˈbóʡsòut] or [ˈbósʰòut].
Tone Patterns
There are 4 phonemic tones: High á, Falling â, Low à and Rising ǎ. While it may seem that the pitch of each syllable is random, actually it is not. It changes regularly depending on how the word is being used in a sentence (e.g. restrictive vs. non-restrictive, alienable vs. inalienable possessor etc.), in conjuction with the phonation on the syllable (for stressed syllables) or the location of the syllable relative to the stressed syllable (for unstressed syllables).
In terms of assigning tone, there are three parts of speech:
Class 1 This is the default, catch-all class. It is used for most nouns and verbs.
Class 2 This is used for inalienable possessors, nouns used attributively, restrictive adjectives, and verbs used in compounds.
Class 3 This is used for adverbs and non-restrictive adjectives.
Stressed Syllables
This table shows how the tone of a stressed syllable (for each of the three phonations) depends on the tone class.
| Harsh Phonation a̰ | Breathy Phonation a̤ | Glottalised Phonation aʔ | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | (High) Falling Pitch + Harsh Voice | Low Pitch + Breathy Voice | High Pitch + Glottal Stop |
| Class 2 | Low Pitch + Harsh Voice | Low Pitch + Breathy Voice | Low Pitch + Glottal Stop |
| Class 3 | High Pitch + Tense Voice | Rising Pitch + Faucalised Voice | High Pitch + Glottal Stop |
Unstressed Syllables
Here the situation is simpler. For unstressed syllables, the tone can only be high or low, and does not depend on the phonation of the stressed syllable.
For Class 1 words, the tone is high before the stressed syllable, and low after it.
For Class 2 words, unstressed syllables always have high tone.
For Class 3 words, unstressed syllables always have low tone.
Examples
Here is a table with examples of how roots change classes depending on what part of speech they belong to:
| English Translation | Class 1 | Class 2 | Class 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kämpya | ˈkà̤mpjà | ˈkà̤mpjá | ˈkǎ̤mpjà |
| wing | síˈtâ̰ | síˈtà̰ | sìˈtá̰ |
| guardian | áinˈsíʔtà | ˈsìʔtá | ˈsíʔtà |
| sister | ˈsì̤tà | ˈsì̤tá | ˈsǐ̤tà |
| alone | áˈlôṵn | áˈlòṵn | àˈlóṵn |
| alone + Genitive / Ergative clitic /i/ | áˈlôṵnì | áˈlòṵní | àˈlóṵnì |
| all | áˈlòṳn | áˈlòṳn | àˈlǒṳn |
| all + Genitive / Ergative clitic /i/ | áˈlòṳnì | áˈlòṳní | àˈlǒṳnì |
Morphology
Being an isolating language, Kämpya only has a few morphological processes.
Pronouns
Pronouns are not marked for singular or plural, but there are two words for "we" depending on whether the listener is included [6]. The pronouns that do not include the listener are also used to only talk about the speaker. Another way of looking at this is that Kämpya makes no distinction between "us not including you" and "me", but uses different forms for "us including you".
Tenses and aspects are marked on the pronoun rather than the verb (like Hausa). A sentence without a pronoun can thus be ambiguous as to when it happened. The 4 tenses are: Present Progressive (used for actions that are happening right now), Past Imperfect (also used for present habitual actions, or that are true in general), Perfect, and Future.
In each case, there is a different form of the word depending on whether they are immediately followed by a word beginning with a vowel. There is also an "emphatic" form, which is used to emphasise the subject. The emphatic form does not depend on whether the following word starts with a vowel or not. Each form is listed below, with the normal form listed first, the form before a vowel second, and the emphatic form last:
| 1st Person Exclusive | 1st Person Inclusive | 2nd Person | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Progressive | áim / ámj- / òṵm | wé / wézw- / wḛ̀ | jó / józw- / jò̰ |
| Past Imperfect | áu / ój- / ò̰ji | wéi / wéj- / wèḭ | jéi / jéw- / jèḭ |
| Perfect | áb / ábw- / ò̰b | wíb / wíbw- / wḭ̀b | jéb / jébw- / jṵ̀ⱱ |
| Future | óu / ál- / òṵ | wú / wúl- / wṵ̀ | jú / júl- / jṵ̀ |
As you can see above, the emphatic forms all have Low Tone with Harsh Phonation (i.e. belong to Tone Class 2), while all the other forms have High Tone with no phonation (i.e. modal phonation).
Transitivity
There is also a morphological process to derive transitive verbs from intransitive ones. It affects the onset of the stressed syllable. What exactly happens depends on the first consonant of the stressed syllable.
Aspirated Consonants
For intransitive verbs where the stressed syllable begins with an aspirated consonant, the consonant loses its aspiration and <áh> is infixed immediately after it (and before any second consonant in the cluster). So from /pʰláuʔt/ - "float (intransitive)", we can derive /páˈhláuʔt/ - "to float (transitive)".
Voiceless Nasals
If the stressed syllable begins with a voiceless nasal, then they behave similar to the aspirated consonants, losing their voicelessness and take the infix /áh/ immediately after them e.g. /m̥â̰n/ - "to be correct" -> /máˈhâ̰n/ - "to make something correct".
Unaspirated Obstruents
If the stressed syllable begins with unaspirated /p/, /t/, /k/ or /s/, then it is aspirated e.g. /sjáuʔk/ - "to walk (intransitive)" -> /sʰjáuʔk/ - "to walk (transitive)", or /pjḛ̂/ - "to come loose" -> /pʰjḛ̂/ - "to loosen".
Voiced Nasals and Approximants
If the stressed syllable begins with a voiced nasal, then the transitive form is derived by making it voiceless e.g. /ˈnwḛ̂bò/ - "to be new" -> /ˈn̥wḛ̂bò/ - "to make new, to refresh", or /mjíʔŋ/ - "to rise" -> /m̥jíʔŋ/ - "to raise".
Clusters of /h/ + Approximant
If the stressed syllable begins with /h/ followed by /l/, /w/ or /j/, then they rearrange to become sequences of Approximant + /áh/ e.g. /hwég/ - "to be fun" -> /wáˈhḛ̂g/ - "to make fun", or /hljḭ̂ŋ/ - "to be possible" -> /láˈhjḭ̂ŋ/ - "to make possible".
Approximants
If the stressed syllable begins with an approximant (or sequence of /l/ + another approximant, then /h/ is inserted immediately before the approximant(s) e.g. /là̤ⱱ/ - "to laugh" -> /hlà̤ⱱ/ - "to make laugh".
Plain /h/
If the stressed syllable begins with plain /h/, /á/ is inserted immediately before the /h/ e.g. /hàṳŋ/ - "to be old" -> /áˈhàṳŋ/ - "to age (transitive)".
No Onset
If there are no onset consonants in the stressed syllable, then /h/ is inserted e.g. /è̤/ - "to be cold" -> /hè̤/ - "to chill (transitive)".
Other cases
In other cases, /áh/ is infixed immediately after the first consonant of the stressed syllable e.g. /ˈdò̤mì/ - "to rest (intransitive)" -> /dáˈhò̤mì/ - "to rest (transitive)".
Syntax
Kämpya has topic comment syntax [7], and is also syntactically ergative [8] and secundative [9].
Copula
Kämpya has no verb meaning "to be" [10]. Instead, the two words are simply placed side by side in the sentence. If a pronoun is used, then tense can be marked on the pronoun e.g.
/jó ˈsíʔtà/ phonetically [jóˈsíʔtà]
2PS.PROG guardian
You are the guardian(s) (right now).
/jéi ˈsíʔtà/ phonetically [jéiˈsíʔtà]
2PS.PST guardian
You are / were the guardian(s).
/jò̰ ˈsíʔtà/ phonetically [jò̰ ˈsíʔtà]
2PS.PROG.EMP guardian
You are the guardian(s).
/józw ˈḛ̂nèmì/ phonetically [jóˈzwḛ̂nèmì]
2PS.PROG enemy
You're the enemy (right now).
/jò̰ ˈḛ̂nèmì/ phonetically [jò̰ ˈḛ̂nèmì]
2PS.PROG.EMP enemy
You are the enemy (right now).
If there is no pronoun in the sentence, then tense is not marked e.g.
/ˈsíʔtà ˈḛ̂nèmì/
guardian enemy
The guardian is / was / will be the enemy.
Intransitive Sentences
Intransitive sentences generally have free word order. If the verb is in focus [11], then it will come after the subject. If the subject is in focus, then it will come after the verb. So both of the following are grammatical:c
/ˈḛ̂nèmì áˈlôṵn/
enemy alone
The enemy is / was / will be alone.
as well as
/áˈlôṵn ˈḛ̂nèmì/
alone enemy
The enemy is / was / will be alone.
Note that intransitive sentences are not marked for TAM.
With Postpositional Phrases
Likewise, if we include a postpositional phrase in the sentence, word order is fairly free e.g. with the postpositional phrase /ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à/ - "from ˈkʰóʔnàt (a place name)", the verb /kúʔn/ - "to set off" and the noun /ˈḛ̂nèmì/ - "enemy", we can say:
/ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à ˈḛ̂nèmì kúʔn/
/ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à kúʔn ˈḛ̂nèmì/
/ˈḛ̂nèmì kúʔn ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à/
/ˈḛ̂nèmì ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à kúʔ/
/kúʔn ˈḛ̂nèmì ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à/
These all mean "The enemy set off / sets off / will set off from ˈkʰóʔnàt". However sentences like */kúʔ ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à ˈḛ̂nèmì/ are ungrammatical i.e. Kämpya does not permit the word order Intransitive Verb - Postpositional Phrase - Subject.
With Pronouns
The same tensed pronouns as before are also used for intransitive sentences e.g.
/jó kúʔn/
2PS.PROG depart
You are setting off.
Note that here TAM is marked (on the pronoun). So we can just as easily say:
/jú kúʔn/
2PS.FUT depart
You will set off
And we can use the emphatic forms of the pronouns to say things like:
/jò̰ kúʔn/
2PS.PROG.EMP depart
You will set off.
However, the pronoun must immediately precede the verb so */kúʔn jó/ is ungrammatical. And postpositional phrases cannot intervene between the pronoun and the verb, so */jó ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à kúʔn/ is ungrammatical (unlike sentences such as /ˈḛ̂nèmì ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à kúʔn/ which are grammatical). It is only grammatical to say:
/ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à jó kúʔn/
ˈkʰóʔnàt from 2PS.PROG depart
You are setting off from ˈkʰóʔnàt.
or
/jó kúʔn ˈkʰóʔnàt m̥à/
2PS.PROG depart ˈkʰóʔnàt from
You are departing from ˈkʰóʔnàt.