Verse:Mwail/Qocwane

Qocwane (Qocwanet vŷŷxxŷcê) is the official language of Qocwane, located in our timeline's Hungary. It is inspired by Finnish, Wakashan languages, Salishan languages, and Nuosu.

Phonology

Suprasegmentals

Qocwane prosody is almost the same as Finnish; stress always falls on the first syllable.

Consonants

  • /m n l ʋ j w/ m n l v j w
  • /p t ts tɬ k kʷ ʔ/ p t z x c cw q
  • /f s ɬ x xʷ h/ f s ł ç çw h

/k x/ palatalize in words with ATR harmony and may uvularize in words with RTR harmony.

mm nn ll vv jj ww pp tt zz xx cc ccw qq are the only allowed geminates in native words.

Vowels

Qocwane has 8 vowel qualities, all with vowel length.

Front Non-front
unrounded rounded
Syllabic
consonant
loose ŷ
tight z̠̩ y
Close loose ê ə̟ â ô
Open-mid tight ɛ e ɔ o
Open ɑ a

Qocwane has loose/tight vowel harmony:

  • loose: ŷ ŵ ê â ô
  • tight: y w e a o

Diphthongs: ea êâ oa ôâ ae âê ao âô

â(â) /ə(:)/ is realized as [œ(:)] when stressed.

oa is often realized as [ɔ:]


Morphophonology

Qocwane words participate in consonant gradation:

strong -> weak

  • geminates -> nongeminates
  • p -> f
  • f -> v
  • t -> ł
  • ł -> l
  • z -> s
  • s -> h
  • x -> ł
  • c -> ç
  • cw -> çw
  • ç -> j
  • çw -> w
  • q -> 0

Grammar

Finnic-like

Nouns

8 to 10 cases, normal nom-acc alignment

TODO [weak grade]-l = nom pl [weak grade]-t = gen sg


naaqe 'human’, naaet 'human-GEN’, naael 'human-PL'