Kimow

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Kimow
Kimau[1]
kimow
Pronunciation[ˈkʰím.ǒʊ]
[ˈkʰǐɯ.ɑ̄w]
Created byJukethatbox
Date2024
Native speakers7.7 million(total) (2024)
Kimo: 3.96 million
Wakki: 3.74 million
Dialects
  • Kimo dialects
    • Igkin dialects
      • Kemḥu Kka
    • Mukku (†)[2]
  • Wakki dialects
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.

Kimow(/kiːmoʊ/, kimow; Kimow: [ˈkʰím.ǒʊ] or [ˈkʰǐɯ.ɑ̄w]), also(but less commonly) called Kimau,[1] is a language isolate that is notorious for the fact that the majority of its words are homonyms, meaning they have various meanings. For example, the name of the language, Kimow, can mean "Kimow"(adj.), "the Kimow language", "the Kimow people", "an ethnic Kimow", "a Kimow speaker(so not necessarily an ethnic Kimow)", "a member of the Kimow diaspora", "Kimow food" or "a Kimow city". There are also only two main dialects, the Kimo and the Wakki, and their homonymic meanings differ greatly at times, making mutual understanding difficult. Tone and phonology vary slightly as well, though not as greatly and are thus more mutually intelligible.

Phonology

Orthography

Kimow uses its own version of the Latin alphabet for writing.

Vowels + pulmonic consonants
Letter
(Maj-min)
A a B b C c D d E e F f G g H h Ḥ ḥ I i J j K k Ḵ ḵ L l M m N n O o Ö ö P p S s T t U u W w V v Y y Z z
IPA a c e
ɘ
f
ʔ[3]
h ɦ i ɟ
q l m
ɯ[4]
n
ŋ[5]
o
ɑ
ø
ɵ/œ
s u/ʊ
w[6]
v j z

Consonants

Aside from Wakki dialects using [w] as a replacement for [u] and [ʊ], consonants do not vary at all between Kimow speakers.

Bilabial Labiodental Alveolar Palatal Velar/
Labial-velar
Uvular Glottal
Plosive pulmonic c ɟ q ʔ
aspirated pʰ bʱ tʰ dʱ kʰ gʱ
ejective pʼ bʼ kʼ gʼ
Nasal m[7] n ɲ ŋ
Fricative pulmonic f v s z ç h ɦ
ejective fʼ vʼ sʼ zʼ
Approximant normal j w[6]
lateral l ɫ

Dentalisation

When an alveolar plosive([t] or [d]) is behind a voiced fricative([z] or [v]), the plosive is dentalised, turning into [t̪] or [d̪]. This rule is present in all dialects apart from the moribund Mukku dialect.

Vowels

Red sounds are exclusive to Kimo dialects, while blue sounds are exclusive to Wakki dialects. Green sounds are exclusive to Igkin dialects, which although are a subset of Kimo dialects, do have some different sounds. Black sounds are in all sets of dialects.

Front Central Near-close Back
Close i ɯ[4] u[6]
Near-close ʊ[6]
Close-mid e ø ɘ[8] ɵ[8] o
Open a œ[9] ɑ[10]

Prosody

Stress

Across all dialects, stress has only one pattern: prototonic in most cases, oxytonic when there is a case marker.

Tone

Use of tone in Kimow is not indicated in the orthography and varies by Kimo and Wakki dialects, though within their own subsets they tend to conform to one standard tone system.

Tone
Kimo Wakki
high
[˦ ]
rising
[˩˥]
rising
[˩˥]
mid
[˧]
falling
[˥˩]
low rising
[˩˨]
rising-falling
[˧˦˧]
extra low
[˩]
low
[˨]
low
[˨]

Phonotactics

Morphophonology

Morphology

Homonyms

Kimow is notorious for the fact that many of its words are homonyms with various meanings that can differ greatly from each other. Additionally, these different meanings can sometimes be simply up to dialectic difference, such as in the word vesi(visi in Wakki dialects). To analyse the many meanings of a typical Kimow word, one can use the Itou table, as so:

Itou table for vesi
Kimo Wakki
Word vesi
Pronunciation [věsȉ]
[vɘ̌sȉ]
[vēsì]
Meaning
1...n
bicycle
vehicle
two-wheeled vehicle
two wheels
(coll.) Dutch/Netherlands
Amsterdam
bridge for bicycles
bicycle path
boat
ship
cargo ship
ship cargo
navy
sailor
(rare) United Kingdom
(rare) United States

Pronouns

Personal

Personal pronouns are only used in Kimo dialects. In Wakki dialects, the subject is inferred through verb conjugation alone.

Singular Plural
Person First ku
[kʰú]
sagku
[sáʔ.kʰȕ]
Second seḵ
[sèq]
[sɘ̀q]
iḵḵim
[íqʼǐm]
Third vu
[vù]
sutvu
[sút̪.vú]

Demonstrative

Demonstrative pronouns are placed after the noun they are describing.

Near Far
Singular ki
[kʰí]
[kʰǐ]
keḥki
[kʰé.ɦkì]
[kʰě.ɦkì]
Plural ka
[kʰà]
[kʰǎ]
keḥka
[kʰé.ɦkà]
[kʰě.ɦkà]

Syntax

Constituent order

The Kimo dialect mainly uses SOV, though in the Wakki dialect, the subject is inferred through verb conjugation, meaning the verb order is more like VO.

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources

Notes

  1. ^ a b Original exonym of the language before widespread English-based romanisation, now only used in German in the form of kimauisch.
  2. ^ Mostly extinct, some elderly speakers still exist.
  3. ^ When placed before /k/.
  4. ^ a b Allophone of [m]
  5. ^ Before a velar plosive only.
  6. ^ a b c d In Wakki dialects, the [u]/[ʊ] is substituted by [w] in most cases.
  7. ^ Pronounced as [ɯ] in Wakki dialects.
  8. ^ a b Both are variants of [e] and [ø] in Kimo and Wakki dialects.
  9. ^ Alternative allophone of /ø/, though [ø] is still more widely used.
  10. ^ Wakki variant of Kimo [o].