1:
Phonology
There are two alphabets – the old orthography, used by
Portuguese missionaries and explorers in the islands, and the new standard
orthography, used for the revived language.
Old
|
New
|
IPA
|
Old
|
New
|
IPA
|
Old
|
New
|
IPA
|
A a
|
/æ/ |
C c
|
K k
|
/k/
|
T t
|
/t/
|
||
B b
|
/b/
|
Cu cu
|
Kw kw
|
/kʷ/
|
Tu tu
|
Tw tw
|
/tʷ/
|
|
W w
|
Ḃ ḃ
|
/b͡β/
|
L l
|
/l/
|
X x
|
Ṫ ṫ
|
/θ/
|
|
Ch ch
|
C c
|
/ʧ/
|
M m
|
/m/
|
U
u
|
/u/
|
||
Chu chu
|
Cw cw
|
/ʧʷ/
|
N n
|
/n/
|
Iu
iu
|
Ụ
ụ
|
/y/
|
|
D d
|
/d/
|
O o
|
/o/
|
V v
|
/β/
|
|||
Ţ ţ
|
Ḋ ḋ
|
/ð/
|
Oo oo
|
Ȯ ȯ
|
/ɔ/
|
Y y
|
/j/
|
|
E e
|
/ɛ/
|
P p
|
/p/
|
Z z
|
/z/
|
|||
Ei ei
|
Ė ė
|
/eɪ/
|
Pu pu
|
Pw pw
|
/pʷ/
|
An apostrophe comes
after a vowel to show stress in a word, when it is contrastive.
|
||
F f
|
/f/
|
Ff ff
|
Ṗ ṗ
|
/p͡ɸ/
|
||||
G g
|
/g/
|
Gg gg
|
Q q
|
/ŋ/
|
||||
H h
|
/x/
|
R r
|
/r/
|
|||||
I i
|
/i/
|
S s
|
/s/
|
|||||
J j
|
/ʤ/
|
Ss ss
|
Ṡ ṡ
|
/ʃ/
|
2: Noun
morphology
2.1:
Sentence order
In all sentences, the order is
Subject-Verb-Object, or, more rarely (but still possible) Verb-Subject-Object.
2.2:
Case system
There are eight cases, divided into four
sets:
·
Syntactic set
o
Absolutive: Equivalent to
the subject and object in all basic sentences, for example “I hold the cat”,
“I” and “the cat” would take the absolutive.
o
Comitative: Often used to
show an noun that accompanies the subject or object, for example “I go to the
beach with my friend”, where “my friend” would be comitative. It also is used
for the subject and object of a subordinate clause, for example “I know that he
has a book”, “he” and “a book” would take the comitative
·
Locative set
o
Adessive: For something
that is “ahead of” the respective noun: for example, “above”, “on”, “over”, “in
front of”, “left”
o
Subessive: For something
that is “beneath” the respective noun: for example, “below”, “under”, “within”
(in some contexts), “behind”, “right”
·
Agitative set: showing a
kind of motion in action
o
Lative: “Towards”
o
Ablative: “away from”
·
Relative set: for
interactions between people and personified objects
o
Benefactive: “for”, or
more often, generally in favour of the respective noun
o
Instrumental: “with” or
“using”, or more often, generally where the respective noun is being controlled
by the other noun
2.3: Declension system
In Kacacwė, both the end and initial syllable of the noun is
subject to change. Since all nouns start and end in a consonant, they follow a
single system of changes. There is no plural form in nouns.
Here is an example, “kwes” (“breaker, a person who breaks an
object for work”)
Abs
|
Kwes
|
Com
|
Twes
|
Ade
|
Kweṗ
|
Sub
|
Tweṗ
|
Lat
|
Kwet
|
Abl
|
Twet
|
Ben
|
Kwel
|
Ins
|
Twel
|
2.4: First
syllable declension pattern
Type
1
|
Type
2
|
Type
1
|
Type
2
|
Kw
|
Tw
|
Ṗ
|
Ṫ
|
K
|
T
|
L
|
M
|
G
|
D
|
Q
|
N
|
Pw
|
Cw
|
S
|
Z
|
P
|
C
|
Ṡ
|
V
|
B
|
J
|
F
|
V
|
Ḃ
|
Ḋ
|
H
|
R
|
2.5: Second
syllable declension pattern
Syn
|
Loc
|
Agi
|
Rel
|
S
|
Ṗ
|
T
|
L
|
Z
|
Ḃ
|
D
|
M
|
K
|
C
|
N
|
H
|
G
|
J
|
Q
|
R
|
Ḋ
|
B
|
V
|
L
|
Ṫ
|
P
|
F
|
Ṡ
|
3: Verbs
3.1: Key features
of verbs
All verbs end in the vowel “o”. The 3rd person is also used
for the formal 2nd person.
3.2: Present tense
This example is “kweso”, “to break”.
Positive
|
Negative
|
|
1st
|
Kweso
|
Kwesi
|
2nd
|
Kwese
|
Kwesa
|
3rd
|
Kwesė
|
Kwesu
|
3.3: Past tense
Here, the first syllable changes, according to the same patterns
as shown in Section 2.4.
Positive
|
Negative
|
|
1st
|
Tweso
|
Twesi
|
2nd
|
Twese
|
Twesa
|
3rd
|
Twesė
|
Twesu
|
3.4 The particles
“e” and “ka”
The particle “e” comes after the verb, and makes the future
tense when used with the present form, and the perfect tense (“ to have done”)
with the past form.
The particle “ka” comes before the verb to indicate the
imperative.
3.5: Verb variants
Each verb has a potential form, expressing the modal verb
“can” – for example, with “kweso”, there is the verb “kweco”, which means “to
be able to melt”.
Other common modifications include “geso”, which means “to
re-break” or “to break again”, although this is not standard for all verbs.
4:
Adjectives
4.1: Adjectives
and numerals
Adjectives are generally indeclinable, including numerals.
The numbers from 1-10 are:
1
|
Kal
|
6
|
Cwe
|
2
|
Je
|
7
|
Kwe
|
3
|
Jayė
|
8
|
Il
|
4
|
In
|
9
|
Ima
|
5
|
Qar
|
10
|
Lar
|
No comments:
Post a Comment