Duozynis
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Duozynis is the oldest Shunfoh language recorded. There is little known about the people who spoke it, but current theories suggest that this language is actually the result of the combination of three or more cultures.
Orthography
Phonology
Consonants
Consonant inventory: /b d dz dʒ f g h j k m n r t tʃ z ɲ ŋ ɕ ɸ ɾ ʑ ʃ ʎ θ/
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Alveolo-palatal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | b | t d | k g | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||||
| Affricative | dz | tʃ dʒ | ||||||||
| Fricative | ɸ | f | θ | z | ʃ | ɕ ʑ | h | |||
| Approximant | j | |||||||||
| Tap | ɾ | |||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||
| Lateral approximant | ʎ | |||||||||
Vowels
Vowel inventory: /a e i o u y ø ɯ ə/
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | ɯ u | |
| Close-mid | e ø | o | |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open | a |
Diphthongs: None
- It remains unclear if there were truly no dipthongs used in Duozynis, or if the knowledge of the diphthongs used has simply been lost.
Phonotactics
Syllable structure for is mostly (C)(C)(C)V(C) and stress pattern is not fixed.
- /t/ turns into /c/ before (front vowel)
- /o/ becomes null before /u/
- /z/ becomes /d/ after (vowel)
- (nasal consonant) become /h/ before (stop)
- /f/ turns into /w/ before (vowel)
- /w/ becomes null between two vowels or between (vowel) and (word boundary)
- /a/ becomes /ə/ before (consonant)/a/
Grammar
Word order is Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique, with adjectives placed before their nouns and suffixes used as adpositions.
- "Mary opened the red door with a key" = Mary opened the red door with a key
Nouns
Noun Morphology
| Singular | Plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | child | (a) | children | Suffix: -(e)t /-(e)t/ (at) |
| Accusative | child | Suffix: -(a)t /-(a)t/ (at) | children | Suffix: -(i)d /-(i)d/ (ad) |
| Genitive | child's | Suffix: -(u)g /-(u)g/ (ag) | children's | Suffix: -u /-u/ (au) |
Definite Article
Demonstrative word ('this' or 'that') used as marker of definiteness.
Uses of definite article that differ from English:
- Definite article can be omitted: 'I am going to jacuzzi'
- Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English's ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
- Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: English's ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’
- Used for personal names in the third person: 'The Maria has left for school'
- Used for languages: ‘The English’
- Used with place names: ‘The London’
Indefinite Article
The numeral for ‘one’ is used as indefinite article.
Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:
- Not used for non-specific uncountable nouns:
- Non-specific = 'Would you like some (any) tea?'
- Specific = 'Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck'
Personal Pronouns
| Absolutive | Ergative | Genitive | Dative | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st. Singular | I | lo /lɒ/ | me | le /lɛ/ | mine | li /li/ | to me | lo li /lɒ li/ |
| 2nd. Singular | you | po /po/ | you | pem /pem/ | yours | pep /pɛp/ | to you | po li /po li/ |
| 3rd. Singular | he/she/it | vit /wit/ | him/her/it | ven /wɛn/ | his/hers/its | vem /wem/ | to him/her/it | vit li /wit li/ |
| 1st. Plural | we | he /hɛ/ | us | hup /hup/ | ours | hu /hu/ | to us | he li /hɛ li/ |
| 2nd. Plural | you | rok /ɾot/ | you | rov /ɾov/ | yours | ro' /ɾoʔ/ | to you | rok li /ɾot li/ |
| 3rd. Plural | they | i /i/ | them | in /in/ | theirs | 'in /ʔin/ | to them | i li /i li/ |
Verbs
Kukʉp verbs don't use indicative mood (past, present, or future tense). Instead, those details are determined through context.
- Perfect aspect -- uses the word 'reletʉ' before the main verb -- "have studied" or reletʉ petʉp
- Progressive aspect -- uses the word 'tip' before the main verb -- "am studying" or tip petʉp
- Imperative -- uses the word ' ni' ' before the main verb -- "study!" (as a command) or ni' petʉp
- Negation -- adds the suffix -(ʉ)ho /-(ʉ)hɒ/ to the verb -- "do not study" or petʉpʉho
- Tense affixes come between the root verb and the progressive affix
Vocabulary
Useful phrases
| English | Duozynis | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Hello (General greeting) | * | /’evɒ/ |
| How are you? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Reply to "how are you?" | * ("Still alive") | /’evɒ/ |
| What's your name? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| My name is ... | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Where are you from? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| I'm from ... | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Pleased to meet you | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Good morning (Morning greeting) | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Good afternoon (Afternoon greeting) | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Good evening (Evening greeting) | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Goodbye (Parting phrase | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Good night | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Good luck! | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Cheers! Good health! (Toasts used when drinking) | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Bon appetit/ Have a nice meal | * | /’evɒ/ |
| I understand | * | /’evɒ/ |
| I don't understand | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Yes | * | /’evɒ/ |
| No | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Maybe | * | /’evɒ/ |
| I don't know | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Please speak more slowly | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Please write it down | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Do you speak English? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Do you speak Kukʉp? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Yes, a little (reply to "Do you speak...?") | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Speak to me in *** | * | /’evɒ/ |
| How do you say ... in ***? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Excuse me | * | /’evɒ/ |
| How much is this? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Sorry | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Please | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Thank you | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Reply to thank you | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Where's the toilet? | * | /’evɒ/ |
| I love you | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Get well soon | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Help! | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Fire! | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Stop! | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Christmas and New Year greetings | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Easter greetings | * | /’evɒ/ |
| Birthday greetings | * | /’evɒ/ |
| One language is never enough | * | /’evɒ/ |
| My hovercraft is full of eels | * | /’evɒ/ |