Jinnuiji- Speluvi Common

Natively known as: Jinnùj /ˈɟɪɲɲɨɟ/

 

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /d f j k kʼ p pʼ r tʼ z ǀ ǁ ǃ ɟ ɢ ɦ ɲ ɴ ʃ ʙ ʟ ʣ ʨ β θ χ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal							ɲ		ɴ
Stop	pʼ p			tʼ d			ɟ	kʼ k	ɢ
Affricate				ʣ		ʨ
Fricative	β	f	θ	z	ʃ				χ	ɦ
Approximant							j
Trill	ʙ			r
Lateral approximant								ʟ
Click			ǀ	ǃ
Lateral click				ǁ

Vowel inventory: /o u ɐ ɑ ɘ ə ɨ ɪ/

	Front	Central	Back
High		ɨ	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid		ɘ	o
Mid		ə
Near-low		ɐ
Low			ɑ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: d, df, dj, dr, dz, f, fʃ, j, k, kr, kʼ, p, pf, pʼ, r, tʼ, z, zj, ǀ, ǁ, ǃ, ɟ, ɦ, ɲj, ɴ, ʃ, ʙ, ʟ, ʨ, ʨj, β, θ, χ
Mid-word consonants: d, dd, df, dr, dʃ, f, fd, ff, fj, fʃ, j, jd, k, kd, kj, kkj, kr, kz, kʃ, kʼ, p, pdr, pj, pr, prj, pz, pʃ, pʼ, r, rf, rɦ, rɲ, tʼ, z, zj, zr, ǀ, ǁ, ǃ, ɟ, ɟr, ɟʃ, ɢ, ɦ, ɲ, ɲɟ, ɲɲ, ɴ, ʃ, ʃɲ, ʙ, ʟ, ʣ, ʨ, ʨk, β, θ, θf, θj, χ
Word final consonants: f, k, kʼ, pʼ, r, tʼ, ǀ, ǁ, ǃ, ɟ, ɢ, ɦ, ɲ, ɴ, ʙ, ʟ, ʣ, ʨ, β, θ, χ
  Phonological changes (in order of application):
 

• V → [+long] / _#

  Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʣ	dz
ɘ	e
ɪ	i
ɐ	a
ə	à
ɨ	ù
ɑ	ǎ
ʙ	b
β	v
θ	th
ʃ	sh
j	y
ɟ	j
ʨ	ch
ɲ	n
χ	kh
ʟ	l
ɢ	q
ɴ	ng

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Grammar

  Main word order: Verb Subject Object (Prepositional phrase). "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Opened Mary the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions
 

Nouns

  Nouns have seven cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

  Nouns have both a plural affix and dual affix for precisely two things.

Animate with sound

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	Prefix ɨ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɴ- Else: Prefix ɴɑ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θɨ-
Accusative	Prefix ɦɨ-	Prefix ǁo-	Prefix ɨ-
Genitive	Prefix βɘ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix dj- Else: Prefix djɐ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix kʼ- Else: Prefix kʼɐ-
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix zj- Else: Prefix zju-	If starts with vowel: Prefix fʃ- Else: Prefix fʃo-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɟ- Else: Prefix ɟɨ-
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix pf- Else: Prefix pfo-	Prefix ɨ-	Prefix zɑ-
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix dɪ-	Prefix ɪ-	Prefix ɐ-
Instrumental	Prefix ɟɪ-	Prefix ɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃɨ-

Animate with no sound

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɲj- Else: Prefix ɲjɨ-	Prefix ɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ro-
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɴ- Else: Prefix ɴɑ-	Prefix ro-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ǃ- Else: Prefix ǃɑ-
Genitive	Prefix ʃɨ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix dj- Else: Prefix djɐ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix kʼ- Else: Prefix kʼə-
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix f- Else: Prefix fə-	Prefix ʨɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃɨ-
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃɘ-	Prefix ʨɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ro-
Ablative	Prefix ɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʨ- Else: Prefix ʨɑ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jɪ-
Instrumental	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ro-	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jɨ-	Prefix ʙɘ-

Inanimate with sound

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	Prefix ɨ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʟ- Else: Prefix ʟɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix χ- Else: Prefix χɑ-
Accusative	Prefix jɪ-	Prefix ɪ-	Prefix ɪ-
Genitive	Prefix ɪ-	Prefix zu-	Prefix ʃɨ-
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʨ- Else: Prefix ʨɑ-	Prefix ǁu-	If starts with vowel: Prefix pf- Else: Prefix pfo-
Locative	Prefix ɑ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ǃ- Else: Prefix ǃu-	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ro-
Ablative	Prefix pʼə-	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jɘ-	Prefix fə-
Instrumental	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʙ- Else: Prefix ʙɘ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɟ- Else: Prefix ɟɪ-	Prefix βɘ-

Inanimate with no sound

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θɨ-	Prefix ʟɪ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jɪ-
Accusative	Prefix zju-	Prefix ɨ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix pf- Else: Prefix pfo-
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zu-	Prefix βɘ-	Prefix ɨ-
Dative	Prefix dɪ-	Prefix jɪ-	Prefix ɘ-
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix kr- Else: Prefix krɐ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pɐ-	Prefix o-
Ablative	Prefix zu-	Prefix βɘ-	If starts with vowel: Prefix dz- Else: Prefix dzɨ-
Instrumental	Prefix zu-	Prefix o-	Prefix ə-

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	dya /djɐ/ the	tʼǎ /tʼɑ/ a
Plural	kʼa /kʼɐ/ the	chyà /ʨjə/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

 

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Nominative	ngǎth /ɴɑθ/ I	ǃi /ǃɪ/ you (masc)	bà /ʙə/ he, it	ǃǎ /ǃɑ/ we	ing /ɪɴ/ you all	dǎq /dɑɢ/ they
Accusative	dǎkh /dɑχ/ me	be /ʙɘ/ you	pfoch /pfoʨ/ him, it	yi /jɪ/ us	nye /ɲjɘ/ you all	dipʼ /dɪpʼ/ them
Genitive	kʼà /kʼə/ mine	ka /kɐ/ yours	dzeǃ /dzɘǃ/ his, its	kʼa /kʼɐ/ ours	ɦeǁ /ɦɘǁ/ yours (pl)	ngi /ɴɪ/ theirs
Dative	pʼa /pʼɐ/ to me	ngǎr /ɴɑr/ to you	zu /zu/ to him, at it	fà /fə/ to us	zyu /zju/ to you all	zǎǁ /zɑǁ/ to them
Locative	ru /ru/ at me	dǎv /dɑβ/ at you	pʼo /pʼo/ at him, at it	ǀàkʼ /ǀəkʼ/ at us	pfu /pfu/ at you all	kʼàǁ /kʼəǁ/ at them
Ablative	kʼe /kʼɘ/ from me	fe /fɘ/ from you	ko /ko/ from him, from it	ɦe /ɦɘ/ from us	kʼàn /kʼəɲ/ from you all	và /βə/ from them
Instrumental	i /ɪ/ with/using me	dzù /dzɨ/ with/using you	po /po/ with/using him/it	fetʼ /fɘtʼ/ with/using us	ǁu /ǁu/ with/using you all	nyeb /ɲjɘʙ/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	jù /ɟɨ/ my
2nd singular	kʼà /kʼə/ your
3rd singular	pa /pɐ/
1st plural	khi /χɪ/ our
2nd plural	chi /ʨɪ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	zyu /zju/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix nyebǎnù /ˈɲjɘʙɑɲɨ/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix pf- Else: Prefix pfo- pfonyebǎnù /ˈpfoɲjɘˌʙɑɲɨ/ learned
Remote past	Prefix krə- krànyebǎnù /ˈkrəɲjɘˌʙɑɲɨ/ learned (long ago)

Jinnùjian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: zɑ - zǎ nyebǎnù /zɑ ˈɲjɘʙɑɲɨ/ will learn

Progressive aspect   The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
  Jinnùjian uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix f- Else: Prefix fɘ- fenyebǎnù /ˈfɘɲjɘˌʙɑɲɨ/ is learning

Habitual aspect   The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
  Jinnùjian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: kʼəǁ - kʼàǁ nyebǎnù /kʼəǁ ˈɲjɘʙɑɲɨ/ learns

Numbers

  Jinnùjian has a base-8 number system:
  1 - jich
2 - rof
3 - ve
4 - ǃǎjù
5 - pʼapuǀo
6 - ru
7 - fà
8 - yi
9 - yijich
10 - yirof
11 - yive “eight-three”
16 - rofyi
24 - veyi
100 - yiǃǎjùyiǃǎjù "Eight-four-eights and four"
 

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɨ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɦɨ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix df- Else: Prefix dfɑ-

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix zju-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ǁ- Else: Prefix ǁu-
Noun to verb = Prefix kʼɘ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix dr- Else: Prefix drɨ-
Tending to = Prefix ɦɨ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kʼ- Else: Prefix kʼɐ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɟɪ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃɨ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɘ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix pʼ- Else: Prefix pʼo-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jɪ-