Shäkå̀wawan

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Shemtov
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Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

Shäkå̀wawan /ʃækɒwɐwɐn/ is the Southwest Wanian language of the Kingdom of Kå̀wawan, a long island and some border Islands in the Sea south pf Fuhe, below the equator, in the tropics.
Phonology:
/p t k / <p t k>
/m n ɲ ŋ/ <m n ñ ng>
/s ʃ x h/ <s sh c h>
/l/ <l>
/ɹ w j/ <r w y>

/i e u o ɐ æ ɒ/ <i e u o a ä å>
/ĩ ẽ ũ õ ɐ̃ æ̃ ɒ̃/ <ĩ ẽ ũ õ ã ä̃ å̃>

/˧ ˩ ˧˩/ <V V̀ V̂>

Phonotactics: (C)V(N)
Note that nasalized vowels coming before a nasal coda result in the coda being dropped, and the vowel undergoing " Nasal Coloration", which follow the following rules:
Ṽm:
ĩ>ỹ
ẽ >ø̃
ũ >ũ:
õ >õ:
ɐ̃ >ɞ̞̃
æ̃ >œ̞̃
ɒ̃>ɒ̃:

Vn:
ĩ>ĩ:
ẽ >ẽ:
ũ >ũə̃
õ >õə̃
ɐ̃ >ɐ̃:
æ̃ >æ̃:
ɒ̃>ɒ̃ə̃

Vɲ:
ĩ>ĩɪ̃
ẽ >ẽɪ̃
ũ >ʉ̃
õ >ɵ̃
ɐ̃ >ɜ̟̃
æ̃ >ɛ̃ɪ̃
ɒ̃>ɒ̈̃


ĩ>ɨ̃
ẽ >ɘ̃
ũ >ũɯ̃
õ >õɤ̃
ɐ̃ >ʌ̞̃
æ̃ >ä̃
ɒ̃>ɒ̃ɑ̃

Nouns:
Nouns have two Genders: Animate and Inanimate, which take different plural markers.
Animate noun:
Sing: Tuka "King"
Plr: Kåtuka

Inanimate noun:
Sing. Tunga "Boat"
Plr: Tutunga

All nouns can be made definite by the prefix Ngu:
Ngutuka
"The King"

The Verb:
Transitive Verbs
The verb does not inflect for TAM, this instead being done by Auxiliaries. However, it does inflect for voice, the unmarked Passive, and the Marked Active, which is marked by either the suffix -kåñ or the infix kä̀ before the penault, depending on the verb class.
The Active Voice is used when the subject is higher on the Actor Hierarchy then the object, the Passive when they are equal or lower.
The Actor Hirachy:
Def. Anim.>Indef. Anim>Def Inanim>Indef Inanim

The language follows a strict SVO word order.
Ngutuka kikengikåñ tutunga
"the King destroys boats"

Ngutuka matakä̀pa kåli
"the King kills a woman"

Ngutuka matapa kåli!
"the King was killed by a woman!"
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
DV82LECM
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by DV82LECM »

The nasal coloration phenomenon is amazing. Quite South American feeling.
𖥑𖧨𖣫𖦺𖣦𖢋𖤼𖥃𖣔𖣋𖢅𖡹𖡨𖡶𖡦𖡧𖡚𖠨
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eldin raigmore
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by eldin raigmore »

The voice system seems more like direct vs inverse voices than like active vs passive voices.
Coupled with the use of the animacy hierarchy, especially so.
Does this conlang have obviation in 3rd person?
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Shemtov
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

eldin raigmore wrote: 17 Jun 2018 01:21 The voice system seems more like direct vs inverse voices than like active vs passive voices.
Coupled with the use of the animacy hierarchy, especially so.
It is supposed to morphosyntacticly be Malayan-based (Various synchronic and diachronic varieties, with some Malay Pidgins involved), with a bit of Germanic and with an Animate/Inanimate system thrown in.
The Wanian languages are basically Austronesian- The South-Central Branch being being based on Javanese, The Northwest being a Mixture of Northern Philippine, Formosan and Malagasy and Polynesian , the Northeast, Oceanic (Especially Micronesian) and now the Southwest being Malayic.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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Shemtov
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

The Verbal noun is formed by the prefix mo- before the verb. For normal use as a verbal noun, it is always definite, but when used with an aux verb, it is indefinite.

Aux. Verbs take the voice marker, if there is any, and are immediately followed by the Verbal Noun, as the verb phrase is, in most cases, unified.

The past tense aux: Kàkĩñ "To hold"

Ngutuka kàkĩñkåñ matapa kåli
"The King killed a woman"


Past perfect aux. Põ̂li "To finish; to stand still"

Ngutuka põ̂likåñ matapa kåli
"The king has killed a woman"

Future aux. Tẽnghò "To want"

Ngutuka tẽnghòkåñ matapa kåli
"The king will kill a woman"

Future perf. Aux. Satẽnghò

Ngutuka satẽnghòkåñ matapa kåli

"The King will have killed a woman"

The continuous/Habitual aspect is not formed by an aux. but rather the postclitic <kè>

Ngutuka matakä̀pakè kåli
"The king is killing a woman"

"The king kills a woman [for fun]"

This can be combined with the past and future auxs:

Ngutuka kàkĩñkåñke matapa kåli
"The king was killing a woman"

Ngutuka tẽnghòkåñke matapa kåli
"The king will be killing a woman"
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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eldin raigmore
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by eldin raigmore »

Maybe it’s voice system isn’t derived from a language with a direct/vs/inverse voice system, but it has one anyway?

It’s been speculated in print (by reputable professional linguisticians), that if modern French were analyzed by someone with no knowledge of its diachronics nor its close relatives, it would be taken to be a language that incorporates into its verbs reduced forms of pronouns for up to three participants.

I suspect that if your conlang’s voices are called “active” and “passive”, that’s an accidental historical survival; like calling so many Romance and Germanic languages’ dubitative or irrealis moods “subjunctive”.

OTOH you can call it anything you want as long as you explain it to us; and clearly you are indeed explaining it to us.

What it does is more important than what you call it.
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Shemtov
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

Derivational Morphology:
A doer of an action is formed by the verb stem followed by the suffix tì:
Matapatì
"Murderer"

Both verbs and nouns can be augmented by Kì and diminished by På̀:
Kìtunga
"Carrack"

På̀tunga
"Canoe"

Ngukåli kàkĩñkåñ mokikengi på̀på̀tunga
"The woman destroyed canoes"


Ngukåli kàkĩñkåñ mokìkikengi på̀på̀tunga
"The woman demolished canoes"

Ngukåli kàkĩñkåñ mopå̀kikengi på̀på̀tunga
"The woman slightly ruined canoes"
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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All4Ɇn
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by All4Ɇn »

DV82LECM wrote: 16 Jun 2018 05:49 The nasal coloration phenomenon is amazing. Quite South American feeling.
I definitely agree. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it in a conlang before!
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

All4Ɇn wrote: 18 Jun 2018 07:58
DV82LECM wrote: 16 Jun 2018 05:49 The nasal coloration phenomenon is amazing. Quite South American feeling.
I definitely agree. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it in a conlang before!
It actually comes from the fact that I cannot pronounce a ṼN sequence- I have trouble pronouncing nasalized vowels in general, usually there's a slight [ŋ] or a full [ɴ] after, so I, as a conlanger, would probably pronounce the sequence /kĩɲ/ as [kĩɴɲ], so to make my pronunciation close to what I imagine my conpeople's to be, I made it [kĩɪ̃] so I get the closer realization of [kĩɪ̃ɴ], as I had diachronically derived such sequences, but didn't want to neutralize the nasals after a nasal vowel so they're all Ṽ: or Ṽŋ.
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

Possesion differentiates between alienable and inalienable possesions.
Inalienable possesions:
Ngutuka ku låni
"The King's hand

Alienable:
Kìtunga ngutuka ku
"The king's carrack"

Numerals distinguish between Inanimate and animate:
Inanimate:
1. Shäki
2. Pĩna
3: Kätira
4. Kikì
5. Kãm
6. Pita
7. Pũtu
8. Kulu
9. Tũpi
10: Kåwañ


Animate:
1. Shäshäki
2. Mepĩna
3: Käkätira
4. Kekikì
5. Pãngam
6. Pepita
7. Pãmutu
8. Akulu
9. Tõnupi
10: Kåkåwañ

Kãm på̀på̀tunga
"Five canoes"

Pãngam kåli
"Five women"

Ordinals are created like this:
Akulu ngutuka ku
"The eighth king"
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Nachtuil »

eldin raigmore wrote: 17 Jun 2018 20:28 It’s been speculated in print (by reputable professional linguisticians), that if modern French were analyzed by someone with no knowledge of its diachronics nor its close relatives, it would be taken to be a language that incorporates into its verbs reduced forms of pronouns for up to three participants.
Hi Eldin, I have read this elsewhere before and am intensely curious about it. Are you able to provide a good paper on it? I'd love to read morea bout it.
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

Personal Pronouns come in two types: Those used by Peasents among themselves, and those used by nobles among themselves and peasents to nobles. Nobles to peasents can use either set, but the former ("Colloquial") set is considered insulting and dismissive. Peasents can also use the other set ("High") among themselves for irony or other jokes.
Colloquial Pronouns:
1p sing: Ngung
1p plr exclusive: Mum
1P plr inclusive: Mam
2P sing: Ñang
2P plr: Niñ
3p sing: Tàn
3P plr: Shin

High Pronouns:
1P singular: Kẽ
1p plr exclusive: Pũ
1P plr inclusive: Pã
2P sing Kä̃
2P plr: Tĩ
3p sing: Tã
3P plr: Shẽ


When the "High" set can be used, the pronouns have genitive forms, that differentiate between alienable and inalienable by requiring <ku> with the latter:
1p sing: Kũ
1p plr exclusive: Pũ
1P plr inclusive: Põ
2P sing: Kõ
2P plr: Kẽ
3p sing: Tõ
3P plr: Shõ

Kũ ku låni
"My hand"

Kẽ tunga
"My boat"

Peasents adressing Nobles may insert the title of the Noble for the 2P pronoun, like Kisuntà "Petty lord".
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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Re: Shäkå̀wawan

Post by Shemtov »

Deictic pronouns:
Hå "Prox."
Pẽ "Dist"

Intransitive verbs are simply in the undergoer voice:
Kẽ kàkĩñ matãpù
"I walked"

However, if they mean "To go somewhere" or "To come from" The verb sequence "MEANS-OF-GOING Mutu/Kä̀hunti" is used:

Kẽ kàkĩñ matãpù mamutu kũ tàsi
"I walked to my house"

Predicative Adjectives are treated like intransitive verbs:
Tunga pãrapã
"the boat is red"

Attributive adjectives are formed by placing the apropiate deictic after the NOM-ADJ phrase:

Ngukåli kàkĩñkåñ mokikengi på̀på̀tunga pãrapã pẽ.
"The woman destroyed red canoes"


Ngutuka tapù hå matakä̀pakè kåli
"the good king is killing a woman"

Adverbs are formed by reduplicating an adjective:

Tàn tapùtapù tãpu
"He walks well"
Many children make up, or begin to make up, imaginary languages. I have been at it since I could write.
-JRR Tolkien
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