Gwaxol

From Linguifex
Revision as of 09:31, 4 June 2023 by Dillon (talk | contribs) (→‎Phonology)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Gwaxol
gwaxol⁵
File:???
???
Pronunciation[gʷɑ˩xo˥ɮ̊]
Created byDillon Hartwig
Date2022
SettingPollasena
Native to???
Wasc
  • Gwaxol
Official status
Official language in
???
GwaxolMap.png
Range Map of Gwaxol (brown), alongside Kelajw (white), 'Oa (pink), and Thuosha' (purple)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Gwaxol /gwəˈhoʊl/ (Gwaxol:  gwaxol⁵ [gʷɑ˩xo˥ɮ̊]) is a mixed Wasc-Nentammmi language spoken south of the central Merizon Mountains.

Etymology

Gwaxol⁵, the language's autonym, is inherited from the Wascotl's autonym *wasc-otl.

Orthography

Gwaxol is written with ???. Its romanization is as follows.

Soc'ul' Romanization
A a Ä ä D d E e Ë ë G g Gw gw Ğ ğ
/ɑ/ /ɛ/ /d/ /e/ /ə/ /g/ /gʷ/ /ɣ/
H h I i Ï ï K k Kw kw L l Ł ł M m
/h/ /i/ /ɨ/ /k/ /kʷ/ /ɮ/ /ɬ/ /m/
N n Ng ng Nw nw Nz nz O o Ö ö R r S s
/n/ /ŋ/ /ŋʷ/ /z̃/ /o/ /ɵ/ /r/ /s/
T t Th th U u Ü ü W w X x Xw xw Y y
/s/ /θ/ /u/ /ʉ/ /ɣʷ/ /x/ /xʷ/ /ʝ/
Z z ¹ ² ³
/z/ /˥-˥/ /˩-˩/ /˥-˧/ /˧-˩/ /˩-˥/ /˥-˩-˧/
  • Hyphens disambiguate /Cʷ, θ, ŋ, z̃/ ⟨Cw, th, ng, nz⟩ from /Cw, th, ng, nz/ ⟨C'w, t'h, n'g, n'z⟩
  • Tone numbers are written word-finally

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Labialized velar Glottal
Nasal stop m n ŋ ŋʷ
Nasal fricative
Stop t d k g
Fricative θ s z ʝ x ɣ ɣʷ h
Lateral ɬ ɮ
Trill r
  • /ŋ, z̃, θ/ only occur in loanwords.
  • All consonants assimilate in voicing to following consonants and all voiced consonants devoice word-finally, but this voicing change does not change fortition; for example /ɮ/ devoices to [ɮ̊] rather than [ɬ], and /ɬ/ voices to [ɬ̬] rather than [ɮ].

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i ɨ ʉ u
Close-mid e ɵ o
Mid ə
Open-mid ɛ
Low ɑ
  • /ɛ/ only occurs in loanwords.

Tones

Gwaxol has six word tones.

Tones
High Low High falling Low falling Rising Dipping
˥-˥ ˩-˩ ˥-˧ ˧-˩ ˩-˥ ˥-˩-˧
  • /˩-˩, ˧-˩/ only occur in loanwords.

Tones are realized with pitch shifting throughout the word from the first tone to the second; in words with dipping tone, pitch is lowest at the end of the penultimate syllable and rises in the final syllable.

Examples
High Low High falling Low falling Rising Dipping
Monosyllable ën¹
"it is it"
/ən˥˥/
[ə˥n̥]
gey²
"it counts it"
/geʝ˩˩/
[ge˩ʝ̊]
zis³
"it gives it"
/zis˥˧/
[zi˥˧s]
dëy⁴
"it laughs at it"
/dəʝ˧˩/
[də˧˩ʝ̊]
hëgw⁵
"it finds it"
/həgʷ˩˥/
[hə˩˥g̊ʷ]
thöt⁶
"it savors it"
/θɵt˥˩˧/
[θɵ˥˩˧t]
Disyllable sekën¹
"I am it"
/sekən˥˥/
[se˥kə˥n̥]
sekgey²
"I count it"
/sekgeʝ˩˩/
[se˩k̬ge˩ʝ̊]
sekzis³
"I give it"
/sekzis˥˧/
[se˥k̬zi˧s]
sekdëy⁴
"I laugh at it"
/sekdəʝ˧˩/
[se˧k̬də˩ʝ̊]
sekhëgw⁵
"I find it"
/sekhəgʷ˩˥/
[se˩khə˥g̊ʷ]
sekthöt⁶
"I savor it"
/sekθɵt˥˩˧/
[se˥˩kθɵ˧t]
Trisyllable sekëni¹
"I was it"
/sekəni˥˥/
[se˥kə˥ni˥]
sekgeyi²
"I counted it"
/sekgeʝi˩˩/
[se˩k̬ge˩ʝi˩]
sekzisi³
"I gave it"
/sekzisi˥˧/
[se˥k̬zi˦si˧]
sekdëyi⁴
"I laughed at it"
/sekdəʝi˧˩/
[se˧k̬də˨ʝi˩]
sekhëgwi⁵
"I found it"
/sekhəgʷi˩˥/
[se˩khə˧gʷi˥]
sekthöti⁶
"I savored it"
/sekθɵti˥˩˧/
[se˥kθɵ˩ti˧]
Quadrisyllable sekënilen¹
"I was not it"
/sekəniɮen˥˥/
[se˥kə˥ni˥ɮe˥n̥]
sekgeyilen²
"I did not count it"
/sekgeʝiɮen˩˩/
[se˩k̬ge˩ʝi˩ɮe˩n̥]
sekzisilen³
"I did not give it"
/sekzisiɮen˥˧/
[se˥k̬zi˦si˦ɮe˧n̥]
sekdëyilen⁴
"I did not laugh at it"
/sekdəʝiɮen˧˩/
[se˧k̬də˨ʝi˨ɮe˩n̥]
sekhëgwilen⁵
"I did not find it"
/sekhəgʷiɮen˩˥/
[se˩khə˨gʷi˦ɮe˥n̥]
sekthötilen⁶
"I did not savor it"
/sekθɵtiɮen˥˩˧/
[se˥kθɵ˧ti˩ɮe˧n̥]
  • For some speakers non-monosyllable /˥-˥/ and /˩-˩/ are realized as weakly rising [V˦...V˥] and [V˩...V˨].

Atonal words bear the last tone in the preceding word, but word-initially either bear the first tone in the following word or have variable pitch.

Prosody

Stress

Stress is root-initial and is realized with increased volume and/or vowel length, the latter especially in contrastive stress.

Intonation

Emphasized words have more volume across the word and length in the word's stressed vowel. Emphasized atonal words in isolation have sharply falling pitch.

In semantically imperative and hortative sentences (whether or not the particle zi is used) pitch starts higher than in declarative sentences.

In nonpolar questions and expressions of surprise or doubt pitch is lower before the most emphasized word and sharply rises after the word.

Phonotactics

Syllables are CV(C). Obstruents except /ʝ/ cannot occur before consonants of different voicing except on morpheme boundaries.

Morphology

Derivational morphology

Reduplication

Full reduplication is used to broaden adjectives (for example töng² töng² "somewhat narrow" from töng² "narrow"), and to derive new iterative or reflexive meanings from some verbs (for example har³ har³ "it goes back to it" from har³ "it goes to it").