Knrawi
| Knrawi | |
|---|---|
| knrawi | |
 knrawìguaa, "Knrawi language" in the Wacag script | |
| Pronunciation | [k̠n̩˥ɹɔʍɛ] |
| Created by | Dillon Hartwig |
| Date | 2020 |
| Setting | Pollasena |
| Native to | Knrawi Isles |
Wasc
| |
| Official status | |
Official language in | Knrawi Empire |
 Range map of Knrawi (pink) and Soc'ul' (green) | |
Knrawi /kənˈrɑwi/ (standard Knrawi: [k̠n̩˥ɹɔʍɛ]) is an isolate spoken across the Knrawi Empire, with moderate influence from Soc'ul' and other languages of the Knrawi Isles.
Etymology
Knrawi is autonym of both the language and the Knrawi ethnic group. Its further etymology is not known.
Orthography
Knrawi is written with the Wacag logography. Its romanization is as follows.
| a | c | ch | cj | e | f | fh | fj |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| /a/ | /k̟/ | /k̟ʰ/ | /k̟ˣ/ | [ə] | [ɸ] | [ɸʰ] | [ɸˣ] |
| g | h | i | j | k | kh | kj | m |
| /ŋ/ | /h/ | /ɪ/ | /x̠/ | /k̠/ | /k̠ʰ/ | /k̠ˣ/ | /m/ |
| n | p | ph | pj | q | qh | qj | r |
| /n/ | [p] | [pʰ] | [pˣ] | /kʷ/ | /kʷʰ/ | /kʷˣ/ | /ɹ/ |
| s | sh | sj | t | th | tj | u | v |
| /x̟/ | /x̟ʰ/ | /x̟ˣ/ | /t/ | /tʰ/ | /tˣ/ | /ʊ/ | [β̞] |
| w | y | z | zh | zj | á | à | â |
| /ʍ/ | /ɉ/ | /θ/ | /θʰ/ | /θˣ/ | /a˥/ | /a˩/ | /a˥˩/ |
High tone in unmarked on a word's first vowel.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Prevelar | Postvelar | Labialized velar | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | (mʷ) | (n̪) | n | (n̠) (ŋ̟) | ŋ | (ŋ̠) | (ŋʷ) | ||||
| Stop | Plain | (p) | t | k̟ | k̠ | kʷ | ||||||
| Aspirated | (pʰ) | (pˣ) | tʰ | tˣ | k̟ʰ | t͡ʃˣ | k̠ʰ | k̠ˣ | kʷʰ | kʷˣ | ||
| Fricative | Plain | (ɸ) | (β) | θ | (ð) | x̟ | (ʒ) | x̠ | ʍ | |||
| Aspirated | (ɸʰ) | (ɸˣ) | θʰ | θˣ | x̟ʰ | ʃˣ | h | |||||
| Approximant | (β̞) | ɹ | (j) | ɉ | (w) | (ʔ̞) | ||||||
- All sonorants can be syllabic.
- Alveolar consonants become bilabial adjacent to /m/, /ʊ/, and labialized consonants.
- /n/ becomes what is notated here as [mʷ], but is merged into [m] in most regions and in standard Knrawi.
- /ŋ/ assimilates to following velar consonants, and /n/ assimilates to following dental and postalveolar consonants.
- /ɪ/, /ʊ/, and /a/ are realized as [j], [w], and [ʔ̞] postvocalically.
- In some regions this also applies across word boundaries.
- The conditions for approximants being realized as fricatives varies by region.
- In standard Knrawi they are realized as fricatives on word boundaries and after non-syllabic vowels.
- [β̞] and [w] (but not [β]) are merged in most regions and in standard Knrawi.
- In standard Knrawi the merged value is [w].
- In some regions,
- Bilabial fricatives are realized as labiodental.
- Alveolar consonants are realized as dental or vice versa.
- Prevelar stops and fricatives (or only aspirated ones) are realized as postalveolar affricates and fricatives.
- Prevelar and postvelar consonants are realized as palatal and velar, postalveolar (as above) and velar, or velar and uvular.
- In fewer of these regions /ŋ/ assimilates to following postalveolar consonants as [n̠], merging with /n/.
- [j] and [ɉ] are merged.
- /m/ and [mʷ] are realized as [ŋʷ] and [m].
- non-labial /ɹ/ is realized as [l] or [r].
- /ʍ/ is realized as [xʷ], [hʷ], [ɸʷ], [w], or others.
- [ʔ̞] is realized as [ʔ], [ɦ], or [∅].
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | ɪ | ʊ | |
| Mid | (ə) | ||
| Low mid | (ɛ) | (ɔ) | |
| Low | a |
- [ɛ] and [ɔ] are unstressed allophones of /ɪ/ or /a/ and /ʊ/ or /a/ respectively.
- The conditions in which unstressed /a/ becomes [ɛ] or [ɔ] varies by region.
- In standard Knrawi [ɛ] is the realization adjacent to coronal and glottal consonants or when the previous vowel is [ɔ], and [ɔ] is the realization otherwise.
- In Royal Knrawi unstressed /a/ is instead realized as [ə] in all environments.
- The conditions in which unstressed /a/ becomes [ɛ] or [ɔ] varies by region.
- /ɪ/, /ʊ/, and /a/ are realized as [j], [w], and [ʔ̞] postvocalically (not including syllabic consonants).
- In some regions this also applies across word boundaries.
- Epenthetic [ə] is placed between
- voiceless consonants and /h/ or /x̠/ (except /hh/ and /x̠x̠/).
- In standard Knrawi an exception is /hx̠/ and /x̠h/ clusters.
- aspirated consonants and non-nasal consonants.
- C₁CC₁, #CC₁, and C₁C# clusters with the C₁ being less sonorous than C (not including syllabic consonants).
- voiceless consonants and /h/ or /x̠/ (except /hh/ and /x̠x̠/).
- In some regions,
- Unstressed /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ are realized as [e] and [o] (with /a/ still having [ɛ] and [ɔ] realizations).
- Stressed /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ are realized as [i] and [u] or [ə] and [u].
- [ɛ] and [ɔ] are realized as [e̞] and [o̞].
Pitch accent
| High | Low | Falling |
|---|---|---|
| ˥ | ˩ | ˥˩ |
Only a word's stressed syllable is tonal.
Lexical falling tone in native words is rare, but grammatical falling tone is more common.
Prosody
Stress
Stress is root-final in native verbs, root-initial in native nouns, and variable in all other words but tending toward root-initial.
Most affixes shift stress by one syllable toward them, and due to this most words have mobile stress.
Intonation
Rhythm
Phonotactics
Syllables are at most (C(C₁))V((C₁)C), with C₁ being more sonorous than the adjacent consonant and syllabic consonants functioning as V.
Clusters with syllabic consonants are as onset-heavy as possible unless a stress shift occurs (and in most regions syllabicity is lost next to vowels unless a stress shift occurs).
Morphology
Alignment
Knrawi has nominative-accusative morphosyntactic alignment.
First and third person
First and third person are treated as the same category; where disambiguation is needed, an unstressed form of it "head" is used as a first-person marker after the relevant verb or possessive.
Nouns and pronouns
Possession
Possession is marked with rn̂ and jîi following the possessed noun for first/third-person and second-person possessors respectively. These markers are optional with sufficient context.
Noun negation
Verbs
Copula
The copula su inflects as follows.
Serial verbs
Adjectives and adverbs
Adpositions
Numerals
Knrawi uses base-24 numerals.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| tì | qûat | càvu | shuga | kaau | fùch |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| m̀vis | khain | kàtiu | huc | chaua | ycham |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| tìm | quâpm | cavùm | shugám | kaáum | fuchm̀ |
| 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| mvìsm | khaímm | katìum | hucḿ | chaúam | ychámm |
| 25 | 48 | 576 | 13,824 | 331,776 | |
| ychámm hn tì | qûat ychámm | sûign | suîgmm | ychámm suîgmm | |
Nouns are not marked for number when using numerals.
Derivational morphology
Part-of-speech modifiers
Reduplication
Syntax
Constituent order
Word order is flexible with sufficient marking or context, but SOV order is most common in the western Knrawi Isles and VSO order is most common in the eastern Knrawi Isles.
Noun and verb phrases
Dependent clauses
Dependent clauses follow the head they modify after all other dependents, and their head noun is often backed to the end of its clause.
Example texts
Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1
Thaágg jua r yamúszaq ih r azjnázaq wuicsjḿjr ih r zauákejr. Gufḿqhvi ih guwúiri r̀ iaràm, quatîtg hu qakhúy sugkúkujr.
Thaag-g
person-NOM
jua
all
r
PASS
yamús-zaq
free-bear
ih
and
r
PASS
azjna-zaq
equal-bear
wuícsjm-jr
dignified-ADVZ
ih
and
r
PASS
zauak-jr.
own-ADVZ
Gu-fmqh-ri
NZ-think-NOM.PTV
ih
and
gu-wui-ri
NZ-good-NOM.PTV
r̀
PASS
iaràm,
give
quatît-g
RECP-NZ
hu
JUS.3>3
qa-khuy
do-toward
sug-kuku-jr.
brother-way-ADVZ