Suwáá

Suwáá is a language isolate of Hmøøh, spoken on the island country and archipelago of Suwáábíq. It is mainly inspired aesthetically by Burmese, Japanese, Navajo, and Ancient Greek, and its grammar is meant to be "Navajo-lite" (strongly head-final and head-marking, though not fully polysynthetic; noun incorporation is limited to certain formal styles).

The Suwáá dialect continuum is not known to be related to any other Hmøøhian language, but some have proposed a relation to the Quame languages based on lexical coincidences.

Lexicon

• su- = good
• wáá = person
• chhwen = house
• mɔ́ = blood
• weé = name
• maa = tree
• yań = water

Phonology

Initials

• k kh g ng ch chh j ny kw khw gw ngw chw chhw jw nyw
• t th d n s sh z ny tw thw dw nw sw zw nyw
• p ph b m py phy by my pw phw bw mw
• y r w h ry hy rw hw ryw yw hyw (r is [l] before /i j/)

Rimes

• Monomoraic: i e ɛ a ɔ o u n /i e ɛ a ɔ o u ɯ̃/
• Bimoraic, but q cannot bear tone: iq eq ɛq aq ɔq oq uq /ɪʔ eɪ̯ʔ aɪ̯ʔ aʔ aʊ̯ʔ oʊ̯ʔ ʊʔ/
• Bimoraic, both morae tone-bearing: ii ee ɛɛ aa ɔɔ oo uu in en ɛn an ɔn on un /iː eː ɛː aː ɔː oː uː ɪɰ̃ eɪ̯ɰ̃ aɪ̯ɰ̃ aɰ̃ aʊ̯ɰ̃ oʊ̯ɰ̃ uɰ̃/

Tone

High (acute) and low (unmarked)

Morphology

Nouns

Suwáá nouns are often monosyllabic, like mɔ́ 'blood'. Here is an example of a noun inflected for possession:

• namɔ́ = my blood
• himɔ́ = thy blood
• damɔ́ = his/her/their blood (Navajo bi-)
• wamɔ́ = his/her/their blood (Navajo yi-)
• hamɔ́ = one's blood
• chamɔ́ = our (exc.) blood
• yemɔ́ = our (inc.) blood
• erimɔ́ = your (pl.) blood

Possession is indicated by using the appropriate possessive form after the possessor: Eqsiq damɔ́ (E. 3-blood) 'Eqsiq's blood'.

Vocabulary

Purist