Monoḳqak language

Orthography

A a	/a/	M m	/m/
B b	/b/	N n	/n/
C c	/t͡s/	O o	/o/
Ċ ċ	/t͡s’/	P p	/p/
D d	/d/	Ṗ ṗ	/p’/
Đ đ	/ð/	Q q	/t͡ʃ/
E e	/ɛ/	R r	/r/
Ė ė	/ə/	S s	/s/
F f	/f/	T t	/t/
Ḟ ḟ	/p͡ɸ/	Ṭ ṭ	/ǀ/
G g	/g/	Ŧ ŧ	/θ/
H h	/h/	U u	/u/
I i	/j/	V v	/v/
K k	/k/	X x	/ɣ/
Ḳ ḳ	/k’/	Y y	/y/
L l	/l/	Z z	/z/
Ł ł	/ɬ/	‘	/ʔ/

Sentence structure & basic verb forms

Sentences with transitive verbs (verbs which take a direct object) take Verb-Object-Subject order – for example:

-          Loŧo tė nup – Speakto.initial 3rd.sg 1st.sg – I (begin to) tell him (Tell him I)

Every verb has only two possible forms, initial and final – for instance, “loŧo” (“I begin to speak”) and “laaŧ” (“I finish speaking”). These forms can vary substantially, but generally substitute the final or penultimate “u” or “o” in the initial with the “aa” in the final.

Intransitive verbs can take subject pronouns as suffixes, such as “pem-“ (to sleep)

	Initial	Final
1st sg	Pemuuṗ(-iėk)	Pemaaṗ(-iėk)
2nd/3rd sg	Pemeeṭ(-iė)	Pemėṭ(-iė)
Plural	Pemoo(-iėk)	Piaam(-ė)

Those shown in brackets are the forms for interrogatives (asking whether something has occurred), which are added to the forms of intransitive and transitive verbs alike.

Imperative forms often use the suffix “-ṭu” (e.g. “pemṭu”, “sleep!”).

Use of post-sentence particles

Sentences without any particles following them are generally assumed to take place in the linear past. However, a number of particles can be added after sentences to give different connotations:

-          “ui” – in sentences consisting of multiple clauses, this comes after the first to show that they all take place in the same time frame

-          “’aḳ” – in multiple-clause sentences, this comes after a clause to signify the linear nature of the action – if on the second or final clause, it translates roughly to “after”, if on the first, “before”

-          “na” – comes after final clause to indicate the linear future

-          “na’e” – indicates either a far-future desire or a near-future want

-          “ke’” – indicates the event does not occur in a known period

Pre-sentence nouns and particles

Nouns that come at the start of the sentence, before the verb, are treated like nouns with the preposition “in”, for example:

-          “pe’ đa ċanuuṗ” – hill plural growup.1st.sg – I grew up in the hills

For non-locative nouns (locatives are discussed later), this can also refer to any generic physical location around which the action takes place.

A number of pre-sentence particles also serve functions to the verb:

-          “o’” – equivalent to “not”

-          “u’” – “there is”/”there was”, equivalent to a locative predicate (“is”)

-          “rab” – “need”

-          “me’” – “try”

-          “ła” – “can”

-          “ia” – “in order to”

Adjectives, plurals and numeral forms

All adjectives must follow the noun, and are often interchangeable with articles, such as the generic plural article “đa”, and the article “go”, often equivalent to “with”.

The way various nouns deal with counting is far more complicated, however; firstly, there are “unit nouns” – small, countable nouns such as “vołu” (“berry”). These all end in “-u” and take the following pattern:

-          1 – vołu

-          2 – vołe’

-          3 – vołep

-          4 – vołaai

-          5 – vołon

-          6 – ute vołu

-          7 – utai vołu

-          8 – utaq vołu

-          9 – auta vołu

-          10 – uton vołu

-          11 – ute vołe’

-          16 – ute vołep

-          21 – ute vołaai

-          26 – ute vołon

-          30 – voł

-          31 – voł vołu

-          36 – ute voł vołu

-          41 – ute voł vołe’

-          60 – uvoł

-          90 – aqvoł

-          120 – uton aqvoł vołon

-          120+ - đavoł

Non-unit nouns are split commonly into two groups – firstly, a straightforward group which uses the article “tė” in place of the unit noun, as following:

-          1 – tė

-          2 – tai

-          3 – taq

-          4 – aata

-          5 – ton

However, a second, “non-physical” non-unit group uses these as prefixes – for example, the noun for “year” (in its variable form “o’p”)

-          1 – to’p

-          2 – taia’p

-          3 – taqo’p

-          4 – aatio’p

-          5 – tono’p

Locative nouns

A sub-group of standard nouns are “locative” – those which are physical features such as mountains, hills and towns, as well as features of buildings like walls and tables. As well as taking “in” in the pre-sentence position, they also take three possible cases:

-          Subessive: “under” the noun, shown with the suffix “-ol”

-          Superessive: “above” or “on” the noun, shown with the suffix “-ul”

-          Adessive: “at” or “near to” the noun, shown with the suffix “-a” (“left” and “right” can here be shown with adjectives too)

Continual/permanent actions

It is very rare for an action to be described – the only noun considered to be permanent is “nok”, translating as “existence” or “time”, and a derived verb “noq” means “always be”. It is the only verb to be declined in a single form:

-          1^st person: noqoṗ

-          2^nd/3^rd person: noqoṭ

-          Plural: noqom

To convey a sense of completion or eternity to a standard verb, there is no straightforward way, but a contracted form of the verb can be reduplicated to indicate completion, e.g. “pemuuṗ ai pem” (“I continually sleep”).