Emutica
Introduction
Emutica [ɛˈmuːɾikə] (Emūtika [eˈmuːtika]) is a language isolate spoken primarily in the country of Emūtikamiŋō, being unrelated to any other known language. Emutica is an ergative–absolutive language. The subject of an intransitive verb is in the absolutive case (which is unmarked), and the same case is used for the direct object of a transitive verb. The subject of the transitive verb is marked differently, with the ergative case. Nouns are declined by 5 additional cases.. Verbs conjugate for 3 persons, 7 tenses, 7 moods, and 13 aspects. There are no adjectives in Emutica, instead taking the forms of verbs, similar to Korean.
It's morphology is split between fusional and agglutinative, with a healthy mix of both tendencies. Nouns, for example, can be either weak or strong nouns. Weak nouns are incredibly fusional in terms of their declension paradigm, and they are also more irregular in form. Strong nouns are more agglutinative and thus more regular and functional.
Phonology
Consonants
The following table showcases the consonant phonemes of the language, along with their orthographical representation.
| Consonants | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ɲ /ɲ/ | ŋ /ŋ/ | |
| Plosive | p /p/ b /b/ | t /t/ d /d/ | c /c/ j /ɟ/ | k /k/ g /g/ | |
| Fricative | f /f/ | s /s/ | ç /ç/ | h /x/ | |
| Approximant | l /l/ | y /j/ |
Allophonic Variation
- /x/ is realized as [ç] before /i/, /iː/, and /j/; as [h] before all other vowels.
- /m/ is realized as [ɱ] before /f/
- /l/ is realized as [ɫ] in coda
Vowels
Here are the vowels of Emutica, along with their orthographical representations.
| Vowels | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ ī /iː/ | u /u/ ū /uː/ |
| Mid | e /e/ ē /eː/ | o /o/ ō /oː/ |
| Mid-Open | õ, ũ /ɔ̃/ | |
| Open | a /a/ ā /aː/ | ã, ẽ, ĩ /ɑ̃/ |
Allophonic Variation
For the most part, the vowels are fairly stable, with the following exceptions:
- Adjacent to any palatal or when /i/ occupies the following syllable, /u uː/ and /o oː/ are fronted to [y yː] and [ø øː], respectively.
ɲūyuku "He will break it" [ˈɲyːjʏkʉ]; moli "sword" [ˈmøli]
- /e/ is lowered to /ɛ/ before nasals, but not /eː/
tenos "if" [ˈtɛnos]; tēnos "water" [ˈteːnos]
- When unstressed in words with 3 syllables or more, /a/, /i/, and /u/ reduce to [ɐ], [ɨ], and [ʉ], respectively. [y] is realized as [ʏ]
meçānika" "mechanic" [meçaːnɨkɐ]; ligosal "man" [lɨˈgosɐɫ]