Speedlanging Challenge XI during the Christmas holiday

[Visions1]

Same.

[VaptuantaDoi]

Well, I decided halfway through I didn't like it and gave up, but here's what I started to make:

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Xre Pwheunha

Phonology

Xre Pwheunha [ʔai̯ feŋ͡mʷha] is a largely monosyllabic language which is best analysed in terms of initials vs. finals. There are 31 initials (~ consonants), three medials (~ semivowels) and five finals (~ vowels + permissible codas).

Initials:

/pʰ tʰ kʰ kʷʰ qʰ ʔ͡h/ <ph th kh kwh qh xh>
/p t k kʷ q ʔ ʔʷ/ <p t k kw q x xw>
/b d g gʷ h/ <b d g gw h>
/ɓ k’/ <bx kx>
/m n ŋ/ <m n ng>
/θ s ɕ x ʍ/ <sy s jy j jw>
/v ð ʑ/ <v z y>

Finals:

Two vowels, /e/ and /o/. Three semivowels, /ɹ j w/, which are considered ‘medials’ although in most cases metathesis has shifted them into post-vocalic position. Coda may be /p̚ t̚ k̚ m/, the stops only after /e/ and the nasal only after /e/ or /o/. Eastern dialects have a sixth set /ẽP̚/ which corresponds generally to standard /om/ (Ea. ngẽrp /ŋẽ̯ãp̚/ vs. Std. ngon /ŋun/ ‘household’).

Code: Select all

#=====#============+======+=============+========+======+========#
ǁ     ǁ Ø          | /e/  | /eP̚/        | /em/   | /o/  | /om/   ǁ
#=====#============+======+=============+========+======+========#
ǁ Ø   ǁ [ə]*       | [e]  | [eP̚]        | [em]   | [u]  | [um]   ǁ
ǁ     ǁ a/m/n/ng** | e    | ep/et/ek    | em     | o    | om     ǁ
+–––––+––––––––––––+––––––+–––––––––––––+––––––––+––––––+––––––––+
ǁ /ɹ/ ǁ [a]        | [ai̯] | [e̯aP̚]       | [en]   | [oɹ] | [un]   ǁ
ǁ     ǁ r          | re   | erp/ert/erk | en     | or   | on     ǁ
+–––––+––––––––––––+––––––+–––––––––––––+––––––––+––––––+––––––––+
ǁ /j/ ǁ [i]        | [ie̯] | [o̯ek̚]       | [eɲ]   | [oj] | [uɲ]   ǁ
ǁ     ǁ i          | ie   | oik         | ein    | oi   | oin    ǁ
+–––––+––––––––––––+––––––+–––––––––––––+––––––––+––––––+––––––––+
ǁ /w/ ǁ [y]        | [uo̯] | [e̯op̚]       | [eŋ͡mʷ] | [yø̯] | [uŋ͡mʷ] ǁ
ǁ     ǁ u          | ue   | eup         | eun    | uo   | oun    ǁ
#=====#============+======+=============+========+======+========#

* realised as a homorganic syllabic nasal after a nasal or glottal consonant
** /ŋŋ̩/ <nng>

• Before |j| (i.e. before /i ie̯ o̯ek eɲ oj uɲ/) alveolars become dentals (/tʰ t d n s/ → [t͡θʰ t͡θ d͡ð ⁿd͡ð θ]) and velars become alveolopalatals (/kʰ kʷʰ k kʷ g gʷ k’ ŋ x ʍ/ → [t͡ɕʰ t͡ɕᶣʰ t͡ɕ t͡ɕᶣ d͡ʑ d͡ʑᶣ t͡ɕ’ ȵ ɕ ɕᶣ])
• Before |w| (/y uo̯ e̯op̚ eŋ͡mʷ yø̯ uŋ͡mʷ/) rounded consonants are non-contrastive (written rounded before <e>, which introduces the new characters <xwh hw kwx ngw>, and unrounded before <u> or <o>). The remaining peripheral phonemes also have rounded allophones before [e̯op̚] and [eŋ͡mʷ] (/pʰ p b ɓ m v qʰ q/ → [f p̪͡f b̪͡v ɓʷ ɱ vʷ qʷʰ qʷ]) written <pwh pw bw bwx mw vw qwh qw>.

Zero onsets do not occur. Most roots have a maximum of one vowel, but bear in mind /ə/ does not count as a vowel so words such as /kʷe̯ak̚gʷəmm̩/ <kwerkgwamm> are permissible.

All syllables ending in /k̚/ (i.e. ek erk oik) and some ending in |om| (om on oin oun – specifically those which correspond to Easter XrPwh ẽk ẽrk iẽk uẽk, which I’ll mark outside of texts with +) trigger consonant gradation of the initial of the following word:

• Stops: ɓ > p > b > pʰ > p (chain shift; /ʔʷ/ becomes /ʍ/)
• Nasals: m n ŋ > mm nn ŋŋ (first element may be syllabic)
• Fricatives: v ð ʑ > b d g
  ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​f θ s ɕ x ʍ > ff θθ ss ɕɕ xx ʍʍ (some speakers have /ff/ in place of /ʍʍ/)

The final stop of the preceding word may then optionally be dropped. This process also takes place word-internally.


The verb phrase
The verb phrase is marked for mood (realis/irrealis), subject person and number, person/gender/number of direct and oblique objects, proximity, and tense. The first three of these are marked with proclitics, proximity with a suffix and tense with enclitics.

The unmarked mood is realis, while the irrealis is marked with the proclitic gwa. This also covers imperative constructions.

There are ten subject person/number proclitics which are as follows:

Code: Select all

     | unmod  +1     +many
–––––+––––––––––––––––––––––
1    | thoek  –      –
–––––+––––––––––––––––––––––
1+2  | dre    zoek   yu
1+3  | kwe    kwon+  mm
2    | zeun   zie    qi
3    | kue    hie    dre

(The syncretism between the 1in.du and 3pl is coincidental)
The basis of this system is the five ‘unmodified’ pronouns thoek ‘I’, dre ‘you and I’, kwe ‘he and I’, zeun ‘you’ and kue ‘he’. Apart from thoek, these can all be modified by the addition of one more person (zoek ‘you two and I’, kwon+ ‘they two and I’, zie ‘you two’, hie ‘they two’) or multiple people (yu ‘all of you and I’, mm ‘they and I’, qi ‘yous’, dre ‘they’). Alternatively this could be analysed as a single/dual/trial/plural system:

Code: Select all

    | sing   dual  trial  plur
––––+––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1ex | thoek  kwe   kwon+  mm
1in | –      dre   zoek   yu
2   | zeun   zie   –      qi
3   | kue    hie   –      dre

These form the basis for the independent/emphatic pronouns, which are just the verb thein ‘to be’ (almost obsolete otherwise) conjugated for person and univerbated (with loss of any vowel and/or coda in the pronouns)

Code: Select all

    | unmod	    +1        +many
––––+–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1   | thitein   –         –
––––+–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
1+2 | drthein   zitein    yuthein
1+3 | kwathein  kwrthein  mmthein
2   | zuthein   zithein   qithein
3   | kuthein   hithein   drthein

When used in subject position (primarily for focus marking) these require nominalisation of the clause which will be discussed later). Use in object position is not necessarily focussed (focus being marked in that case through passivisation) and does not require any special marking.

Object markers are as follows:

Code: Select all

       | masc     fem
–––––––+––––––––––––––––
1      |     tha
2      |      za
3      | ka       kxng
3dat   | jya      jyr
3instr |    kwanng
3ben   |      to
3recip |   kwhanng

Number is not marked. There are five ‘cases’ of the third person; accusative, dative, instrumental (also marking a passive agent), benefactive and reciprocal, the latter being a variant of any of the other cases, marking that the plural object or oblique argument is identical to the plural subject but no members of this set are performing the action to themselves. Some examples in oblique roles would be ‘they threw things at each other’, ‘they climbed up the wall using each other’ and ‘they gave presents for each other’. No more than one object marker can be used; the remaining object must be [...]

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At this point I just got bored and buggered off so there's nothing more to show. No translation of the thingy of human rights I'm afraid.