Bis Burunko

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Bis Burunko (/bɨs bʉˈɾʉnkɔ/, literally 'the Burungian language'), also known as Burunko or Burungian, is a language isolate spoken on the island of Burung in the north Atlantic.

Background

Phonology and Orthography

Bis Burunko has a relatively simple phonology with 21 consonants, 5 pure vowels and 6 true diphthongs. The orthography is almost entirely regular and predictable, based on a 1:1 spelling to pronunciation system.

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ ng /ŋ/
Plosive p /p/
b /b/
t /t/
d /d/
k /k/
g /g/
Sibilant s /s/ sh /ɕ/
z /ʑ/
Fricative f /ɸ/ x /ç/ h /h/
Affricate ch /t͡ɕ/
j /d͡ʑ/
Flap or tap r /ɾ/
Approximant w, u /w/ y /j/
Lateral app. l /l/

Notes:

  • n is realised as /ŋ/ before g, k, ng
  • medial h is often simply hiatus between vowels
  • /w/ is spelled u immediately after a consonant but w elsewhere
  • all consonants except fricatives and glides (w, y) may be doubled word-internally; note the trigraphs ssh, cch, nng

For consonant clusters, see Phonotactics below.

Vowels

Front Back
Close i /ɨ/ u /ʉ/
Open-mid e /ɛ/ o /ɔ/
Open a /a/

Vowels are considered to be short in all environments but may occur consecutively as in biitosh 'gender neutral person' /bɨ:'tɔɕ/.

Note: word-initial sequences of i + i and u + uu are written yi-, wu-.

Diphthongs

There are six diphthongs proper: ai /aɨ/, ei /ɛɨ/, oi /ɔɨ/, au /aʉ/, eu /ɛʉ/ and ou /ɔʉ/, which may be considered sequences of vowels in measuring syllables. In addition, any vowel is permitted to occur following the 'glides' /w/ or /j/.

Phonotactics

Bis Burunko has a relatively restrictive syllabic structure, with a maximal form CGVVC, in which C represents a consonant, G a glide and V a vowel or part of a diphthong. Of these, only the central vowel is essential but there are also restrictions on the other elements. The table below shows the rules governing each position in the syllable:

C1 G V1 V2 C2
  • optional
  • only b, g, d, z, f, j, h, x, l, n, ng or m word-initially
  • any consonant word-medially
  • optional
  • only y or w/u
  • mandatory
  • any vowel
  • optional
  • only i, u or the preceding vowel repeated
  • optional
  • only s, sh, ng or z word-finally
  • only n or m before a consonant, except in the case of geminates

The word-final consonants s, sh, ng and z are not permitted to occur before another consonant, so undergo changes in compounds or when consonant-initial endings are added:

  • -s is lost, the preceding vowel is doubled and a following voiced plosive or j is devoiced:
gis 'man' + -do (collective) = giito 'group, band'
  • -sh becomes -i-, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel, and a following voiced plosive is devoiced:
sush 'empty' + bupung 'person' = suipupung 'vain person'
arash 'night' + -te (time) = araite 'night-time'
  • -ng becomes -m before p, b, f and n before any other consonant:
gyong 'man' + -bu (collective) = gyombu 'warrior class'
yong 'foot' + -ko (adjectival) = yonko 'sock'
  • -z is lost and causes a following consonant to double, except x which becomes s and h which is lost, while z remains:
az 'male' + -chi (adjectival) = acchi 'masculine'
haz 'old' + kora 'bitch' = hakkora 'hag'
buaz 'sun' + xu 'fire' = buasu 'heat of the sun'
fuz 'tree' + HUZ 'lack' = fuzuz 'treeless'

In some cases a word ending in a vowel + -i will alter to vowel + -u when a suffix or the second element of a compound begins with a consonant:

mei 'dark' + kezi 'stone' = meukézi 'obsidian'

Word-final vowels may also be altered or lost when they come into contact with initial vowels in compounds or endings.

Stress

Syllables may be defined as either heavy or light:

  • a heavy syllable being either ends in a consonant (az, gyom-bu, ut-te)or contains a long vowel (bii, gii-to) or diphthong (mei, a-rai-te)
  • a light syllable ends in a single vowel (fa-be, xu).

Monosyllabic words carry stress. In polysyllables, stress is attracted to heavy syllables. In words containing more than one heavy syllable, primary stress is placed on the last such syllable, with secondary stress on the penultimate heavy syllable. In words with no heavy syllables, primary stress falls on the first syllable.

In some instances, stress does not follow these rules and is marked with an acute accent (e.g. béyong "knee", búrus "iriji person", ugáras "breast").

Grammar

Natural Gender on Burung

Grammatical gender does not occur in Bis Burunko, but natural gender is frequently marked on nominals, either by employing different words (e.g. az 'male' deme 'female') or by derivation. The concept of natural gender differs somewhat from the usual Western concept.

All things are considered to be either animate (bui) or inanimate (nabui), the primary distinction being whether a thing is capable of acting under its own power. This means humans, deities/spirits, most animals and some natural features, such as the sun and the sea, are considered bui while plants, rocks and most abstracts are nabui.

Within the category of animate nouns, all things are then considered to be masculine (acchi), feminine (demechi) or middle (iriji). The relevant gender is based partly on biological sex, partly on particular characteristics and partly on social roles. All children are considered iriji until puberty when they will be assigned one of the three genders.

Each of the four categories has a complex series of associations and is considered an equal part of a harmonious whole.

Case

ba Example Example
Topicaliser marks a subject or object as the focus of the utterance
ze Example Example
Nominative marks the subject of a verb (where it is not the topic)
ke Example Example
Accusative marks the direct object of a verb (where it is not the topic)
na Example Example
Possessive marks the (animate) possessor of an (inanimate) object. Used only for alienable possession.
le Example Example
Genitive marks the possessor of an inalienable object, or marks an object related to another.
i Example Example
Dative marks the indirect object of a verb (where it is not the topic)
la Example Example
Allative marks motion towards 'to'
chi Example Example
Ablative marks movement away 'from, of, through'
ang Example Example
Locative marks location 'in, on, at'
mi Example Example
Instrumental marks use of, 'with, by'.

Nouns

Nouns are uninflected for gender, number or case, though the latter is marked on the noun phrase as a whole, and they are unmarked for definiteness. The noun is immutable except by derivation, so e.g. puz can mean 'dog/dogs/a dog/(some) dogs/the dog/the dogs' and context is usually required to make the distinction if necessary.

Gender

Grammatical gender does not occur in Bis Burunko, but some parts of speech

Adjectives

Pronouns

Verbs

Vocabulary

Primary Verbs

Root Meanings Infinitive Gerundive Perfective
OZ move yoz yonna yozi
ARANG move back and forth, swing, sway yarang yaranna yarangi
GA go up; ascend, climb; improve ega egang egai
BE go down, descend; fall; deteriorate ebe ebeng ebei
IGI go past, pass; exceed; change state yigi yiging yigii
XAZ go in(to), enter; penetrate exaz exanna exai
ZUKI1 go out, exit, leave izuki izuking izukii
LIPU go ilipu ilipung ilipui
TOZ come etoz etonna etozi
ES approach; press yes yeena yeshi
ZUKI2 touch, come into contact; mention izuki izuking izukii