Burumbi
Background
Burumbi is made to sound how Anglophones think "African" languages sound. As I am rather unlearned when it comes to linguistics the result is likely to be sketchy and uninspiring to others, but it is mainly for generating names and short phrases.
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b (p b) | t d (t d) | k g (k g) | |
| Affricate | ts (t͡s) | |||
| Fricative | s z (s z) | |||
| Nasal | m (m) | n (n) | ny (ɲ) | ng (ŋ) |
| Approximant | r l (ɹ l) | y (j) | w (w) |
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | u /u/ | ||
| Mid | ə /ə/ | |||
| Open mid | e /ɛ/ | |||
| Open | a /ɑ/ | |||
In addition to these vowels the diphthong o (oʊ) is used.
Orthography
Phonotactics
Syllables can take the following forms:
- V(ŋ)
- CV(ŋ)
- NSV(ŋ)
- SwV(ŋ)
where V = vowel, C = consonant, N = the nasal vowels /m n/, and S = a stop or the consonants /s z ts/. Stress always falls on the penultimate syllable except in the case of ə, in which case it falls on the following one.
Grammar
Nouns
Burumbi has four genders: three "animate" genders and one inanimate.
| Gender | Form | Example | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | -ə | tsedə | ghost |
| Animate | -a | daya | midget |
| Vegetative | -i | burumbi | language |
| Inanimate | -o | kakumo | fort |
The first gender is used for natural phenomena such as lightning and storms in addition to supernatural entities. The vegetative gender is for weakly animate nouns such as plants and things which can move in a metaphorical way, like words and ideas.
Cases
| case | prefix |
|---|---|
| Nominative | Ø |
| Accusative | tsa- |
| Locative | ta- |
| Proximative | ba- |
Verbs
Verbs are inflected for gender, tenses, and the indicative, subjunctive, and imperative moods.
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | |||||
| Animate | |||||
| Vegetative | |||||
| Inanimate |
Indicative
The indicative is used to form simple factual statements.
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | -nyo | -no | -ng | -nga | -nya |
| Animate | -go | -go | -ge | -geng | -gong |
| Vegetative | -gola | -la | -lang | -le | -leng |
| Inanimate | -king | -ki | -kuo | -ko | -keng |
Imperative
The imperative is used not just when issuing commands, but also making emphatic statements. It is formed from the present indicative, e.g. komekuo "it eats" becomes komekuoəng "it eat!"
| Gender | Far past | Near past | Present | Near future | Far future |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spiritual | |||||
| Animate | |||||
| Vegetative | |||||
| Inanimate |