Hwnic: Difference between revisions

{{Infobox language

| name=Hwnic

}}

Hwnic is a pitch-accent language. Connected speech is subject to a set of more complex rules involving use of non-modal phonation.

== Syntax ==

=== Noun phrase ===

=== Verb phrase ===

=== Dependent clause ===

== Lexicon ==

The lexicon is built around nouns. Generally, a nominal concept is expressed with a single word. Many scientific words are borrowings or calques from English, but also combined into one word and reordered, as in ''Axtosugul'' "covert aggression".

On the other hand, the lexicon lacks specific words (other than calqued scientific names) for many plants and animals. In Hwnic, "daffodil", "chrysanthemum", and "osmanthus" are all ''isalbunr'' "conspicuous flower". Some recognizable species may have unique names, such as ''isalibordal'' "rose; poet's flower". This is because flowers have become rare as a result of ecological events, and any allegorical or cultural meanings have been taken up by other terms.

== Example texts ==

=== Babel text ===

and LOCV-context GEN world-whole ACC-and language-single speak-nominalizer-common be.3Pl.PST.GNO

and ACC brick DAT stone ACC tar DAT mortar use.3Pl

and say.3Pl quote go EXCLM ACC-and-to_be city tower we-DAT build.HORT LOCV arriving-heaven top-to_be-this-GEN

and be_famous.HORT lest be_scattered.3Pl.SUBJ FUT.STATE LOC spreading-surface-earth-whole

and the_Lord come_down.3N REL sight-tower this the children-of-man build.3Pl PST.PFV

the_Lord say.3N quote look.HORT the people-united be_property.3Pl they-GEN language-singular be_property.3N and this-ACC-do.3Pl PRES.INCHO

go EXCLM go_down.HORT then ACC language-they-GEN confound.HORT REL purpose ACC speech each_other understand.3Pl.NEG

hence the_Lord ABL there LOC spreading-surface-earth they-ACC scatter.3N PST.PFV then construction-city.NEG stop.3Pl

hence name it-GEN Babel be_eqivalent.3N because_of confounding ABL the_Lord ACC language-earth-all

There ABL scatter.3N the_Lord they-ACC LOC spreading-surface-earth-whole

* ''Fnri'' is from ''fntu'' + ''-ri'', meaning "before the beginning"; ''nokr'' "chief, lord" is the name of a megacorporation and has negative connotations, and the native word ''cirom'' "gods" indicates polytheism.

* LOC, ACC, DAT all refer to particles.

* Nouns are not declined, but a particle may fuse with certain pronouns and other particles.

* Most nouns are by default plural, and the suffix -''is'' makes a noun singular.

* The two exclamation particles, ''nozn'' and ''zinbn'', come from two speech registers.

* LOCV or "virtual locative" is a concept I made up for the preposition ''ni'', meaning "in a specified context/situation/state".

* The "and ACC-and": the former is a conjunction that forms the parallel structure; the latter marks a list of items, in the form of "and X Y Z ..." until the next verb or particle.

** The latter "and", ''elo'', is further fused with the accusative particle ''u'', and here it means the accusative particle applies to each item in the list.

* The tense-aspect auxiliary verb is flexible: it can govern a full sentence, as shown here, or apply only to the one verb before it.

=== Digression ===