Kaikiwan
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| Kaikiwan | |
|---|---|
| káikwi/túlelù káikwi | |
| Pronunciation | [kái.kʷi] [ʔɤ́ʎɨ̯ʎù kái.kʷi] |
| Created by | Jukethatbox |
| Date | 2023-2024 |
| Native to | Kaikiwi Island |
| Native speakers | 5-10 (2023) L2: 6,000-10,000 |
Kaikiwi–Tol-Sun
| |
Standard form | OPKLC Standard Kaikiwan
|
Dialects |
|
| Official status | |
Recognised minority language in | New Zealand Hawai'i |
| Regulated by | OPKLC (Organisation for the Preservation of Kaikiwan Language and Culture) |
Kaikiwan is a Kaikiwi–Tol-Sun language spoken natively on the island of Kaikiwi. It is a critically endangered language with a native speaker population of around 10 at the highest estimates. Very few native Kaikiwans still inhabit Kaikiwi Island; instead, the vast majority of said native speakers live in New Zealand or Hawai'i; the youngest of these native speakers, 78-year-old Mániwamaé, was born and raised in Oahu.
Although there are not many remaining native speakers of the language, the L2(second-language) community is thriving. Thousands of non-native Kaikiwan speakers live in New Zealand, Hawai'i and Japan, with even the most conservative estimates putting the number of L2 speakers at around 6,000, with the most optimistic estimates putting it as high as 10,000.
Aesthetics
Kaikiwan is heavily aesthetically influenced by the Polynesian languages, mainly Hawaiian and Māori, and much of its vocabulary is borrowed from said languages as well as English and Japanese. However, its grammar is entirely unique and not based on any prevailing natlangs, and any similarities are coincidental unless specified otherwise.
Phonology
Orthography
Kaikiwan uses the Latin alphabet, although with 15 letters instead of the usual 26.
| Aa | Ee | Gg | Hh | Ii | Kk | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Pp | Ss | Tt | Uu | Ww |
The Kaikiwan alphabet distinguishes phonetic tone by putting accents on vowels.
| Áá | Àà | Éé | Èè | Íí | Ìì | Óó | Òò | Úú | Ùù |
Consonants
| Bilabial/ Labial-velar |
Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive[1] | p | t | k · g | ʔ | |
| Nasal[2] | m | ɲ | |||
| Fricative | s | ||||
| Approximant/ Lateral Approximant |
w | ʎ | |||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i | ɨ | u[3] |
| Close-mid | ɤ · o | ||
| Open | a | (ä)[4] | |
Prosody
Intonation
Kaikiwan has two types of tones: rising and falling, and they are only used on vowels.
Kaikiwan intonation is technically phonemic, meaning semantics can change based on tone pronunciation alone, though in practice very few words distinguish between themselves solely on tone. A commonly used example of this in the language itself would be the word for the islands of Hawai'i, húwui, and the word for "salmon", hùwui, although hùwui is an archaic term, and most modern speakers prefer the term sámo, based on the English term.