Phonology
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Post Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
Plosive | p b | t d | | | | k g | ʔ |
Nasal | m | n | | | | | |
Fricative | | | s z | ʃ | | ɣ | h |
Lateral Fricative | | ɬ | | | | | |
Approximant | | | | | j | | |
Lateral Approximant | | l | | | | | |
Affricate | | tɬ dɮ | | | | | |
Vowels
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| Front | Back | Diphthongs |
Close | i | u | uj |
Close-Mid | e | | ej |
Open | a | | aj |
Tones
'Ináwah technically only has two tones (high and neutral), but adjacent, identical vowels with contrasting tones may produce rising or falling tones with long vowel length in lax speech. A high tone is the marked tone and is denoted in romanization by an acute acent above the vowel and by a bar in native orthography.
Phonotactics
Allowed Syllables
- CV(h,j)
- ʔ(syllabic nasal)
Phonological Rules
- nasal > ʔ + syllabic / $_$
- j > i / V_$
- g > ɣ / V$_
Stress
- High tones always get primary stress.
- If there is a word with all identical tones, the ultimate syllable receives primary stress.
- In the event that there are varying tones, the last high tone receives the primary stress.
Orthography
Romanization
Most sounds are represented with the IPA equivalent except for a few mentioned here.
IPA | Romanization |
ʔ | ' |
ɬ | lh |
tɬ | tl |
dɮ | dl |
j | y |
Other Orthographies
- Tlatá Logography
- Súdu Syllabary
Morphology
Verbs
Structure of the Verb
(negation) + (nominal prefix) + [stem] + (tense) + (mood)
Pronominal Prefixes
First Person
Number | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Singular | pe- | pemu | I walk. |
Dual Inclusive | peyé- | peyému | We both walk. |
Dual Exclusive | 'ipeyé- | 'ipeyému | We both walk, but not you. |
Plural Inclusive | té- | tému | We all walk. |
Plural Exclusive | 'ité- | 'itému | We all walk, but not you. |
Second Person
Number | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Singular | wa- | wamu | You walk. |
Dual | wayé- | wayému | You both walk. |
Plural | 'iwa- | 'iwamu | You all walk. |
Third Person
Number | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Singular | ma- | mamu | He, she, it walks. |
Dual | mayé- | mayému | They both walk. |
Plural | 'ima- | 'imamu | They all walk. |
Tense
Tense | Suffix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Present | n/a | pemu | I walk. |
Imperfect | -shú | pemushú | I was walking/I would walk. |
Simple Past | -she | pemushe | I walked/I had walked. |
Progressive | -weh | pemuweh | I am walking. |
Near Future | -hu | pemuhu | I am about to walk. |
Future | -tlí | pemutlí | I will walk. |
Negation
Negation | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Simple Negation | ba- | bakemu | I don't walk. |
Double Negation | 'úba-, ba'úba-, 'úba'úba-, … | 'úbakemu | I don't not walk. |
Intensified Negation | ba+ba-, … | babakemu | I definitely don't walk. |
Mood and Mode
Mood/Mode | Suffix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Indicative | n/a | wamu | You walk. |
Interrogative | -su | wamushesu | Did you walk? |
Imperative | -'alé | wamu'alé | (You) walk. |
Jussive | -sú'é | 'imamusú'é | They should walk. |
Potential | -bu | pemubu | I could walk. |
Hypothetical | -wi | wamushewi | You could have walked. (it was possible) |
Possibility | -ga | wamuga | You might walk. |
Opative | -'ubá | wamu'ubá | You want/wish to walk. |
Nouns
Structure of the Noun
(nominal prefix) + [stem] + (derivational morpheme) + (case suffix)
Pronouns
'Ináwah pronouns are formed by using pronominal prefixes attached to the noun "be" meaning "person" or "self".
First Person
Number | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Singular | pe- | pebe | I |
Dual Inclusive | peyé- | peyébe | We both |
Dual Exclusive | 'ipeyé- | 'ipeyébe | We both, but not you |
Plural Inclusive | té- | tébe | We all |
Plural Exclusive | 'ité- | 'itébe | We all, but not you |
Second Person
Number | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Singular | wa- | wabe | You |
Dual | wayé- | wayébe | You both |
Plural | 'iwa- | 'iwabe | You all |
Third Person
Number | Prefix | 'Ináwah Example | English |
Singular | ma- | mabe | He, she, it |
Dual | mayé- | mayébe | They both |
Plural | 'ima- | 'imabe | They all |
Postpositions
Postposition | 'Ináwah Example | Example |
sa'á | shali sa'á | in the dwelling |
'uni | shali 'uni | outside the dwelling |
té | shali té | of the dwelling |
lhú | wabe lhú | with you |
se | | at the dwelling |
gí | | with a hand, by means of a hand |
la | | as/like a cat |
hí | | to the dwelling |
Conjunctions
Interfixes
Syntax
Word Order
SOV
Noun Phrase
- Noun + Postposition
- Noun + Adjective Phrase
Verb Phrase
Sentence Phrase
Dependent Clauses
Sample Texts