Language/language.md

   1 The Language of Ujuian
   2 ======================
   3
   4 Natively known as Uju /ˈudʒu/
   5
   6 Copyright & Licensing
   7 ---------------------
   8
   9 You can redistribute and/or modify this file under the terms of the
  10 GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
  11 Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or at your option) any
  12 later version.
  13
  14 This file makes use of International Phonetic Alphabet:
  15 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet>
  16
  17 Uju is written in a left-to-right pattern, from the top to the bottom of
  18 the page. The alphabet uses the Latin script.
  19
  20 Phonology
  21 ---------
  22
  23 ### Phonological Inventory
  24
  25 Consonant inventory: /b dʒ h k l m n q r s v w x ð ħ ɣ ʃ ʔ ʕ θ/
  26
  27 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+------------+---------+
  28 | ↓Manner/Place→      | Dental | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Velar | Labio-velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
  29 +=====================+========+==========+=============+==========+==============+=======+=============+========+======================+
  30 | Stop                |        | b        |             |          |              | k     |             | q      |            | ʔ       |
  31 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  32 | Nasal               |        | m        |             | n        |              |       |             |        |            |         |
  33 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  34 | Affricate           |        |          |             |          | dʒ           |       |             |        |            |         |
  35 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  36 | Fricative           | θ ð    |          | v           | s        | ʃ            | x ɣ   |             |        | ħ          | h       |
  37 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  38 | Approximant         |        |          |             |          |              |       | w           |        | ʕ          |         |
  39 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  40 | Trill               |        |          |             | r        |              |       |             |        |            |         |
  41 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  42 | Lateral approximant |        |          |             | l        |              |       |             |        |            |         |
  43 +---------------------+--------+----------+-------------+----------+--------------+-------+-------------+--------+----------------------+
  44
  45 Vowel inventory: /a e i u ɨ ʊ/
  46
  47 Diphthongs: None
  48
  49 Vowel Chart:
  50
  51 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  52 |           | Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back |
  53 +===========+=======+============+=========+===========+======+
  54 | High      | i     |            | ɨ       |           | u    |
  55 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  56 | Near-high |       |            |         | ʊ         |      |
  57 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  58 | High-mid  |       | e          |         |           |      |
  59 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  60 | Mid       |       |            |         |           |      |
  61 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  62 | Low-mid   |       |            |         |           |      |
  63 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  64 | Near-Low  |       |            |         |           |      |
  65 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  66 | Low       |       |            | a       |           |      |
  67 +-----------+-------+------------+---------+-----------+------+
  68
  69 Syllable structure: Up to three consonants before and after a vowel:
  70 (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)
  71
  72 Word stress: No fixed stress
  73
  74 Word initial consonants: b, dʒ, h, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, v, w, x, ð,
  75                          ɣ, ʃ, θ
  76
  77 Mid-word consonants:     b, bl, dʒ, h, hw, k, ks, kw, l, m, mb, n,
  78                          nh, nl, ns, nv, r, rk, rm, rs, s, v, w, x,
  79                          ð, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, θ
  80
  81 Word final consonants:   b, dʒ, h, l, n, r, s, w, x, ð, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, θ
  82
  83 Phonological rules (in order of application):
  84
  85 * 'h' turns into 'g' before a 'b'.
  86
  87 Grammar
  88 -------
  89
  90 Sentence order: Sentence order is Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique.
  91
  92 Adjectives: Adjectives (and modifying nouns) occur to the left of
  93 the noun.
  94
  95 Gender in nouns: Nouns have no gender.
  96
  97 Adpositions: Postpositions. The preferential order of postpositional
  98 phrases is Time-Manner-Place:
  99
 100 > "I am travelling on Monday [time] by car [manner] to Seoul [place]."
 101
 102 ### Noun morphology
 103
 104 +------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
 105 |            | Singular               | Plural                  |
 106 +============+========================+=========================+
 107 | Nominative | man                    | men                     |
 108 |            | hu /hu/                | No plural marker        |
 109 |            |                        | hhu /hhu/               |
 110 +------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
 111 | Accusative | man                    | men                     |
 112 |            | Prefix: thu- /θɨ-/     | No plural marker        |
 113 |            | thuhu /ˈθɨhu/          | xhu /ɣhu/               |
 114 +------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
 115 | Genitive   | man's                  | men's                   |
 116 |            | Suffix: -(e)th /-(e)θ/ | No plural marker        |
 117 |            | huth /huθ/             | uhu /ˈuhu/              |
 118 +------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
 119 | Dative     | to [the/a] man         | to men                  |
 120 |            | Suffix: -(i)hu /ihʊ/   | No plural marker        |
 121 |            | huhu /ˈhuhʊ/           | jhu /dʒhu/              |
 122 +------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
 123 | Locative   | in/at/by [the/a] man   | in/at/by [the/some] men |
 124 |            | Prefix: u- /u-/        | No plural marker        |
 125 |            | uhu /ˈuhu/             | mbuhu /mbuˈhu/          |
 126 +------------+------------------------+-------------------------+
 127
 128 Plurals are optional for non-human nouns.
 129
 130 ### Morphological derivations
 131
 132 Entries follow the format of:
 133
 134 -   Pattern
 135 -   Prefix/Suffix
 136 -   /pronunciation/
 137
 138 Pronunciation is based on the International Phonetic Alphabet:
 139 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet>
 140
 141 Noun-to-verb: Prefix: j(u)- /dʒ(u)-/
 142 Verb-to-noun: Suffix: -(i)x /-(i)x/
 143 Noun-to-adjective: Prefix: lu- /lʊ-/
 144 Adjective-to-noun: Prefix: lu- /lʊ-/
 145 Adjective-to-adverb: Suffix: -(e)b /-(e)b/
 146 Verb-to-adjective: Suffix: -(u)sh /-(ɨ)ʃ/
 147
 148 Diminutive: Suffix: -(u)ne /ɨne/
 149 Augmentative: Suffix: -(e)hu /ehɨ/
 150
 151 Agent noun (e.g. paint to painter): Suffix: -(u)hu /uhʊ/
 152
 153 Place of (e.g. wine to winery): Suffix: -(u)kse /ɨkse/