Makari
| Makari | |
|---|---|
| Macári | |
 | |
| Pronunciation | [macçɐ:ri] |
| Created by | Aenil |
| Date | 2024 |
| Native to | Lincai (Lićaí) |
Language isolate
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Early form | Proto-Kinavel
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Makari (autoglossonym: Macári, Makari : /macçɐ:ri/) is a language spoken in the province of Lincai (Makari : Lićaí /liçaɪ:/). After the Kinavel language was brought to Lincai, the language underwent a small number of phonological changes, like the loss of the uvular sounds, and a fricatization of the plosives, that gave a fully-fledged affricate set, replacing the old Kinavel plosive set
Etymology
The language name is derived from the Proto-Kinavel word *n¹qarí /ɳ̩qerɪː/ meaning "language, speech", which gave the Kinavel word nŭkeri /nuˑkeri/ meaning "communication"
Orthography
Alphabet
The Makari alphabet is composed of 24 letters (20 "base letters" and 4 "diacritic letters") :
| Makari alphabet (in order) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Letter | Aa | Áá | Cc | Ćć | Ee | Pp | Ff | Hh | Ii | Íí | Jj | Kk | Xx | Ll | Mm | Nn | Oo | Rr | Tt | Ss | Uu | Úú | Vv | |
| IPA | ä | ɐ | cç | ç | ə | pɸ | ɸ | h | i | ɪ | j | kx | x | l | m | n | ŋ | ɒ | r | ts | s | u | ʊ | w |
Phoneme type
During the rest of the article, and especially in grammar, the letters C, V and M will be referring to different type of phonemes. Here's a table of correspondence :
| Letter | Description |
|---|---|
| C | All consonants |
| V | Non-diacritical vowels |
| M | Diacritical vowels |
Phonology
Consonants
| Labials | Alveolars | Palatals/ Velars |
Glottals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |
| Affricate | pɸ | ts | cç, kx | |
| Fricative | ɸ | s | ç, x | h |
| Approximant | (w) | l | j, w | |
| Trill | r |
Notes :
- /cç/ and /ç/ are pronounced /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ by some speakers
- /kx/ and /x/ are pronounced /qχ/ and /χ/ after back vowels
- Although the traditional pronounciation of <w> is /ʋ/, almost all speakers have shifted to /w/ or /β/
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i, ɪː | u, ʊː |
| Mid | ə, ɐː | |
| Open | ä | ɒ |
Notes:
- /ɪː/ and /ʊː/ are often realized as /i:/ and /u:/ in stressed syllables
- /ə/ can be lengthened if it is the first component of a diphthong
- /ɒ/ is raised to /ɔ/ by some speakers
Morphophonology
Apophony
As we will talk about later, verbs in Makari have 2 stems, the "normal" stem and the "apophonic" stem. The apophonic stem, as its name implies, is a verbal stem where apophony occured on the two last syllables (apophony is stopped by stress). To know how to deduce that stem, here is a table of vowel alternation :
| Initial | After apophony |
|---|---|
| a | áu |
| e | i |
| i | ío |
| o | ú |
| u | o |
| á, í, ú | a, i, u |
Phonotactics and Stress
Syllable Shape
The maximum syllable shape of Makari is pretty strict, as it is (C)V(C)
Stress
Stress falls on the third-to-last syllable (or first syllable is the word has less than three syllables). For example, "tocája" is pronounced /ˈtɒcçɐjä/
Grammar
Nouns
Cases
Nouns in Makari are inflected using 7 cases :
| Case | Usage |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Subject of a verb (+ predicate) |
| Genitive | Alienable possession, subject of verbs of experience |
| Dative | Indirect object, direct object of verbs of possession, inalienable possession (with «já»), lative case |
| Accusative | Direct object |
| Locative | Position in space, movement away from, derivation method |
| Vocative | Apostrophe |
| Prepositional | Objects of prepositions |
Numbers
In Makari, nouns are inflected using two numbers (or three depending on when the word was loaned) :
- Singular
- Paucal (Merged with the plural)
- Plural
Paradigms
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