Wyacker

From Linguifex
Jump to navigation Jump to search

In Angai, Wyacker (natively wi:akkarung; Thackish: Wỵạckẹr wụttle) is a head-final language inspired by Tamil, Pama-Nyungan languages, Polynesian languages, Danish, Arabic, and German. It belongs to the Pulchric (natively puLKarar yaDorLai; Thackish: Pụlkér yạzórlýe) family. It is spoken in the Wyacker Confederacy (wi:akkar ngauëNTung, Thackish: Wỵạckẹr Ngọwẹndíng) in the continent of Ghalki. Many Ghalkian languages in the area such as Thackish are Wyacker-xenic.

Pạtácọng Wạlạdóalẹen's romanization of Turkish: a e ı i o ö u ü -> <á ạ í ị ó ọ ú ụ>

Lexicon

  • ya:D - treble harp brought by Theic (chiefly Shei²¹ A¹¹Mi³⁵)-speaking immigrants
  • uppe: - all, every
  • yungkarL - human
  • i- / ingk- - (copula)

Phonology

Consonants

Wyacker has 18 phonemic consonants. It lacks fricatives.

Labial Coronal Palatal Dorsal
plain emph. plain emph. plain emph.
Nasal m /m/ M /mˤ/ n /n/ N /n̪ˤ/ ng /ŋ/ NG /ɴ/
Stop p /p/ P /pˤ/ t /t/ T /t̪ˤ/ k /k/ K /q/
Trill/Tap (rr /ʀː/)
Approximant central w /ʋ/ D /ð̞ˤ/ y /j/ r /ʕ/
lateral l /l/ L /l̪ˤ/

Initial emphatics (except in ideophones) and liquids are prohibited.

Vowels

i /i/ i: /iː/ e /e/ e: /eː/ a /a/ a: /aː/ o /o/ o: /oː/ u /u/ u: /uː/ ai /aj/ au /aw/

By default, these vowels sound like [i e æ o u ɛj ɛw]; in RTR environments, [ɪ ɛ ɑ ɔ ʊ ɑj ɑw]. An RTR envionment is any vowel adjacent to an emphatic consonant.

Hiatus is always indicated with a diaeresis over the second vowel.

Grammar

Head-final like Tamil

Nouns

Cases, plural marker

Gen. -ung

Verbs

Closed class, adjectives are verbs

Past and nonpast

Lots of converbs (Korean-style)

Wi:äkkar ingk-aDa:n (Wyacker_person be-3PL)

Particles

Complementizer =nga or =NGa (depending on the C it attaches to) (like Korean 고)

Numerals

nga:yu '1'

oLaNu '2'

we:NGu '3'

ingkutu '4'

ye:npu '5'

ka:Lu '6'

puDaTu '7'

yo:ku '8'

aimu '9'

ngaNTu '10'

Ideophones

Initial emphatics are allowed in ideophones; emphatic-nonemphatic alternation functions like Korean ideophone vowel harmony

  • tatu-tatu 'in regular rhythm, with smaller motions'; TaTu-TaTu 'in regular rhythm, with bigger motions'
  • pikku-pikku / PiKKu-PiKKu 'with mischief'
  • arangka 'flagrantly (doing wrong); in public view'
  • mukku mukku / MuKKu MuKKu 'wolfing down food'
  • wangkulu wangkulu / waNGKuLu waNGKuLu 'periodically'
  • yengu yengu 'slippery'
  • mingi mingi 'watery, bland'

Predicate ideophones are used with the 'be' verb i-