Makari
| Makari | |
|---|---|
| Macári | |
 | |
| Pronunciation | [macçɐ:ri] |
| Created by | Aenil |
| Date | 2024 |
| Native to | Lincai (Lićaí) |
Language isolate
| |
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 | Oo | Rr | Tt | Ss | Uu | Úú | Vv | |
| IPA | ä | ɐ | cç | ç | ə | pɸ | 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 | pɸ | ts | cç, 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
Locative
The locative case is used to indicate a position in space, a motion away from a place, and can be used as a derivation method to derive names of places.
Ex: «heír» "tree" becomes «háritia» "forest"
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 |