Nkwu

Nkwu (endonym: tembadu yonkwu [tɛˈmbɐɾʊ ˈjɔŋkwʊ]) is a language spoken by the Nkwu people of Bū.

Phonology

Consonants

The usual phonemic analysis of Nkwu consonants devised by Trang (1958) comprises many phonemes that, on surface analysis, would appear to be clusters. These are analysed as phonemes for reasons of parsimony in describing phonotactics and morphophonology.

	Labial/ Labio-dental/ Labio-velar	Dental/ Alveolar	Post-Alveolar/ Palatal	Velar	Glottal	Romanisation (Krauss)/ Romanisation (Harlowe)
Nasal	m [m]	n [n]	ɲ [ɲ]	ŋ [ŋ]		⟨ m n ny ng ⟩ ⟨ m n ñ ŋ ⟩
Glottalised Prenasalised Nasal	ⁿˀm [m̆ʔm]	ⁿˀn [n̆ʔn]	ⁿˀɲ [ɲ̆ʔɲ]	ⁿˀŋ [ŋ̆ʔŋ]		⟨ mpm ntn ntny nkng ⟩ ⟨ mpm ntn ñcñ ŋkŋ ⟩
Plosive	p b [p] [b]	t d [t~t̪] [d~d̪]		k ɡ [k] [ɡ]	ʔ [ʔ]	⟨ p b t d k g q ⟩ ⟨ p b t d k g q ⟩
Prenasalised Plosive	ⁿp ⁿb [mp] [mb]	ⁿt ⁿd [nt] [nd]		ⁿk ⁿɡ [ŋk] [ŋɡ]		⟨ mp mb nt nd nk ngg ⟩ ⟨ mp mb nt nd ŋk ŋg ⟩
Glottalised Prenasalised Plosive	ⁿˀb [m̆ʔb]	ⁿˀd [n̆ʔd]		ⁿˀɡ [ŋ̆ʔɡ]		⟨ mpb ntd nkg ⟩ ⟨ mpb ntd ŋkg ⟩
Affricate		ts dz [t͡s] [d͡z]	tʃ dʒ [t͡ʃ] [d͡ʒ]			⟨ ts dz tx dj ⟩ ⟨ ts dz tš dž ⟩
Prenasalised Affricate		ⁿts ⁿdz [nt͡s] [nd͡z]	ⁿtʃ ⁿdʒ [nt͡ʃ] [nd͡ʒ]			⟨ nts ndz ntx ndj ⟩ ⟨ nts ndz ntš ndž ⟩
Glottalised Prenasalised Affricate		ⁿˀdz [n̆ʔd͡z]	ⁿˀdʒ [n̆ʔd͡ʒ]			⟨ ntdz ntdj ⟩ ⟨ ntdz ntdž ⟩
Fricative	f v [f] [v]	s z [s] [z]	ʃ ʒ [ʃ] [ʒ]		h [h~ɦ]	⟨ f v s z x j h ⟩ ⟨ f v s z š ž h ⟩
Prenasalised Fricative	ⁿf ⁿv [ɱf] [ɱv]	ⁿs ⁿz [ns~nt͡s] [nz~nd͡z]	ⁿʃ ⁿʒ [nʃ~nt͡ʃ] [nʒ~nd͡ʒ]		ⁿh [ŋh~ŋɦ]	⟨ mf mv ns nz nx nj ngh ⟩ ⟨ mf mv ns nz nš nž ŋh ⟩
Semivowel	w [w]		j [j]			⟨ w y ⟩ ⟨ w y ⟩
Glottalised Prenasalised Semivowel	ⁿˀw [ŋkʷw]		ⁿˀj [ŋkʲj~ɲcj]			⟨ nkw nky ⟩ ⟨ ŋkw ŋky ⟩
Lateral		l [l~ɫ]				⟨ l ⟩ ⟨ l ⟩
Prenasalised Lateral		ⁿl [nl~lː~l̃ː¨~ld~ɫd]				⟨ nl ⟩ ⟨ nl ⟩

Vowels

Nkwu has a simple system of five-vowels qualities as in Spanish and Swahili.

Single vowels

	front	central	back
high	i		u
mid	e		o
low		a

Some authors have described Nkwu as also having phonemic long vowels as well, however long vowels behave prosodically in an identical way to vowel sequences, encouraging the analysis of them as sequences of two identical vowels. Such sequences of two identical vowels are, however, generally written with a macron for traditional reasons and to save space, however when it is impossible to type a macron, the vowel is doubled.

Phonemic Analysis	Romanised (macrons possible)	Romanised (macrons impossible)
/a/	⟨ a ⟩	⟨ a ⟩
/aa/	⟨ ā ⟩	⟨ aa ⟩
/e/	⟨ e ⟩	⟨ e ⟩
/aa/	⟨ ē ⟩	⟨ ee ⟩
/i/	⟨ i ⟩	⟨ i ⟩
/ii/	⟨ ī ⟩	⟨ ii ⟩
/o/	⟨ o ⟩	⟨ o ⟩
/oo/	⟨ ō ⟩	⟨ oo ⟩
/u/	⟨ u ⟩	⟨ u ⟩
/uu/	⟨ ū ⟩	⟨ uu ⟩

Unstressed vowels tend to be pronounced laxly as [ɪ ɛ ɐ ɔ ʊ] for /i e a o u/. Some speakers pronounce stressed vowels more tensely, closer to their cardinal pronunciations of [i e a o u].

Morphology

The morphology of Nkwu is agglutinative, with syntactic relationships within a sentence marked by prefixes and lexical derivation achieved by prefixes, infixes and suffixes on bases.

Words are built on a stem called a base, which may consist of a single root morpheme or many morphemes together. Bases are neither inherently nominal nor verbal and can be used freely with either kind of morphology with no change in meaning.

Personal Prefixes

The first element added to both nominally and verbally inflected words is the personal prefix. These provide pronominal information about grammatical person, definiteness, specificity and rank, an inflectional dimension that will be further explained below.

Personal prefixes may be divided up into simple and compound prefixes. Simple prefixes are only used for singular referents in the first and second persons. In the 3rd person, personal prefixes do not give information about number. This means that n- and w- explicitly mean "I" and singular "you" respectively and cannot be used for "we" or plural "you", whereas l-, a third person prefix, could be used for either a singular referent ("he", "she" or "it") or plural referents ("they").

Simple Personal Prefixes

Prefix	Person	Rank	Definiteness	Specificity
n-	1st	-	definite	specific
w-	2nd	-	definite	specific
dj-	3rd	A: "noble"	definite	specific
j-	3rd	B: "dominant"	definite	specific
d-	3rd	C: "intermediate"	definite	specific
l-	3rd	D: "subordinate"	definite	specific
t-	3rd	E: "inanimate"	definite	specific
ng-	3rd	-	indefinite	specific
h-	3rd	-	indefinite	non-specific

First and second person plurals are indicated essentially by combination of two simple prefixes. For example, the inclusive first person plural "we (including you)" is formed by combining the first person prefix n- with the second person prefix w-, producing nw-. Exclusive first person plurals, "we (not including you)" are formed by combining the n- of the first person with the definite third person prefix of the appropriate rank, for example nj- means "we" in the sense of "he/they (dominant) and I". Second person plurals are similarly formed, with the exclusive 2nd person prefix vw- used only for cases when every member of the group referred to is being addressed. Additional members of the group being referred to who are not being addressed will be indicated instead with a combination involving the appropriately ranked third person definite prefix, such as dw- "you and he/they". Additionally, the prefix ndjw- combines both first and second persons with the third person, A-ranked prefix, thus referring to a large group of all grammatical persons and meaning roughly "we all", "people", "everyone" or "one".

The following table shows all personal prefixes.

Simple and Compound Personal Prefixes

Simple Person Prefixes:			Compounded with 1:			Compounded with 2:
Prefix	Gloss	Translation	Prefix	Gloss	Translation	Prefix	Gloss	Translation
n-	1	"I"
w-	2	"you"	nw-	1+2	"we", "you and I"	vw-	2+2	"you (all)"
dj-	3A	"he", "she", "it", "they"	ndj-	1+3A	"we", "they and I"	djw-	3A+2	"you (and they)"
j-	3B	"he", "she", "it", "they"	nj-	1+3B	"we", "they and I"	jw-	3B+2	"you (and they)"
d-	3C	"he", "she", "it", "they"	nd-	1+3C	"we", "they and I"	dw-	3C+2	"you (and they)"
l-	3D	"he", "she", "it", "they"	nl-	1+3D	"we", "they and I"	lw-	3D+2	"you (and they)"
t-	3E	"he", "she", "it", "they"	nt-	1+3E	"we", "they and I"	tw-	3E+2	"you (and they)"
ng-	SPEC	"something", "someone"
h-	NSPC	"anything", "anyone"
Supercompound:
ndjw-	1+3A+2	"we all", "everyone", "one", "people"

Speakers who merge /ⁿdʒ/ with /ⁿʒ/, pronouncing both as [nd͡ʒ] do not distinguish between ndj- (1+3A-) and 'nj- (1+3B-) in speech. Likewise, the small minority of speakers who pronounce /ⁿl/ as [nd] do not distinguish nd- (1+3C-) from nl- (1+3D). These distinctions are retained in writing and, where necessary, may also be carefully pronounced.

Rank

Third person definite referents are assigned a rank any time they are referred to. These ranks are not permanent attributes of the referents but are rather context-dependent assignments within a discourse that depends on the speaker's perceived and expressed relations between the referent and other third person referents. When a single 3rd person referent is mentioned, the rank depends only on the speaker's perception of the referent, however when there are two or more referents, ranks may be assigned that would otherwise not be used in order to differentiate between multiple referents within a discourse and express their ranks relative to one another.

From highest to lowest, the ranks are as follows.

Prefix	Gloss	Designation	Default Use in Isolation
dj-	A / NOB	"Noble"	Referents of great social, financial or political standing who are likely to be able to bring about significant hardships on others due to means other than physical strength
j-	B / DOM	"Dominant"	Large, physically imposing animate referents who are likely to be able to beat most others in physical combat
d-	C / INT	"Intermediate"	Animate referents of perceived average abilities in physical combat
l-	D / SUB	"Subordinate"	Weaker animate referents with perceived low combat abilities
t-	E / INAN	"Inanimate"	Inanimate referents and, hyperbolically, animate referents regarded as physically ineffectual

A useful way to conceptualise the typical assignment of ranks is with the question "who would win in a physical fight"? Physically larger, stronger and more active referents are assigned a higher rank. The highest rank, A, the "noble" rank, indicated with the prefix dj-, is an exception, dependent not on physical strength but rather social, financial or political power. A referent marked with dj- is not necessarily physically dominant over other referents, but a conflict with an A-ranked individual could lead to more significant consequences for lower ranked referents than the physical prowess of the A-ranked referent alone would afford them. "Weighty" abstract concepts may be referred to using dj- when there is no person in the discourse assigned to this rank.

When groups are referenced under one prefix, the highest rank within the group is used by default.

Nominal Morphology

Nouns are formed with the following structure: [personal prefix]-[case prefix]-[base]. The presence of a case prefix instead of a predicative prefix distinguishes nouns from verbs.

Other traditionally nominal categories such as number (plural and singular) are indicated by inflections of the base itself and thus apply equally to verbal morphology. These will be handled in the section on bases.

Case Prefixes

Nouns in Nkwu can inflect into four cases grammatical cases.

Case	Prefix	Example	Meaning
Absolutive	-e-	tembuda	"the house(s)"
Ergative	-a-	tambuda	"by the house(s)"
Dative	-ua-	tuambuda	"to the house(s)"
Genitive	-o-	tombuda	"of the house(s)"

Verbal Morphology

Finite verbs are formed with the following structure: [personal prefix]-[predicative prefix]-[base]. The presence of a predicative prefix instead of a case prefix distinguishes nouns from verbs.

Other traditionally verbal categories such as tense, aspect and mood are indicated by inflections of the base itself and thus apply equally to nominal morphology. These will be handled in the section on bases.

Predicative Prefixes

Finite verbs in Nkwu can carry one of four predicative prefixes as show in the table below.

	Independent	Adverbial
Absolutive	-i-	-u-
Ergative	-ai-	-au-

The independent forms are used in independent clauses and dependent clauses introduced by a complementiser. The dependent forms are used in adverbial clauses. For examble, the independent verb form timbuda' means "it is a house" whereas the adverbial tumbuda is more equivalent to "(with) it being a house".

The absolutive and ergative forms of of the predicative prefixes indicate the case of the preceding personal prefix. Compare the following examples

Nigu.
n-	i-	gu
1-	PRED-	be.eaten
"I get/got/will get eaten."

Naigu.
n-	a-	i-	gu
1-	ERG-	PRED-	be.eaten
"I eat / ate / will eat."

The ability to indicate either the absolutive or the ergative argument on the verb allows either one to be emphasised.

Tigu tembu langeu
t-	i-	gu	t-	e-	mbu	l-	a-	ngeu
3E-	PRED-	be.eaten	3E-	ABS-	bug	3D-	ERG-	cat
"The bug got eaten by the cat."

Laigu tembu langeu
l-	a-	i-	gu	t-	e-	mbu	l-	a-	ngeu
3D-	ā-	PRED-	be.eaten	3E-	ABS-	bug	3D-	ERG-	cat
"The cat ate the bug."