Pratsa

LANGUAGE FAMILY: KANNAI   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 600K / #41   SPOKEN IN: Pratsa - 600K   PERIOD OF USE:   SCRIPT USED:   PARENT LANGUAGE:  

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  "...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."   Translation: sha uo tren uo nnois sha uo vas ɗisis ʧe runpshius   Pronunciation: kɐ wɔ trẽ wɔ nnojs kɐ wɔ vɐs ɗĩjs ʧe ˈrũpkiwʃ     Pratsa word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w z ð ŋ ɓ ɗ ɠ ɣ ɲ ɾ ʁ ʃ ʄ ʤ ʧ θ/  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g	q
Implosive	ɓ			ɗ		ʄ	ɠ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ		ɣ	ʁ	h
Approximant						j
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: /a e ẽ i ĩ o õ u ũ ɐ ɐ̃ ɐ̃w̃ ɔ ɛ ɨ/   Diphthongs: ɐ̃w̃  

	Front	Central	Back
High	i ĩ	ɨ	u ũ
High-mid	e ẽ		o õ
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Near-low		ɐ ɐ̃
Low	a

  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: f, h, j, k, kr, kw, l, m, mb, mbw, mf, mk, ml, mp, mpj, mr, ms, mst, mt, mv, mw, mz, mɠ, mɲ, mʃ, mʄ, mʧ, n, nd, nn, nz, nʤ, nʧ, p, pr, pw, q, r, s, sw, t, tr, v, vj, w, z, ð, ŋg, ɓ, ɓl, ɓw, ɗ, ɠ, ɣ, ɲ, ɲw, ʃ, ʄ, ʧ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, bʤ, d, f, g, h, hk, j, k, kh, kk, ks, kt, kɲ, l, lk, m, mb, ml, mp, n, nd, nk, ns, nt, ntr, nɲ, nʤ, nʧ, p, pk, pt, r, rb, rd, rg, rh, rk, rl, rm, rn, rp, rs, rt, rʤ, rʧ, s, sk, st, str, t, tk, w, ŋ, ŋg, ŋh, ŋk, ŋl, ŋs, ɲ, ʤ, ʧ
Word final consonants: j, js, jʃ, l, s, w, wʃ, ɲ, ɲs, ɲʃ, ɾ, ʁ, ʃ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• i → ɪ / _CC
• p → b / m_
• θ → s / _k
• θ → s / _k
• b → ∅ / m_l
• {k,g} → [+alveolar] / {n,r}_r
• sk → kː / _a
• b → w / a_u
• [+velar] → ʔ / _s
• [+nasal] → n / _{v,k,s}
• u → o / _p
• ja → aː / C_
• e → o / w_ŋ
• l → n / #_
• j → ɲ / _[V +nasal]
• he → ə / _#
• g → x / _#
• s → ʃ / i_#
• w → b / V_V

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	k
k	k / _{i,e,ɛ}
k	sh
ʎ	ll
j	i
ʒ	gh
ɾ	rh
ʁ	rh
ʃ	s / _#
ʃ	s / _C
ʃ	ch
ɲ	nh
ɐ̃w̃	ão
w	u
ɨ	e
ɛ	e
ɔ	o
ĩ	in / _#
ĩ	in / _{p,b}
ĩ	is
ũ	un / _#
ũ	un / _{p,b}
ũ	ul
ẽ	en / _#
ẽ	en / _{p,b}
ẽ	el
ɐ̃	an / _#
ɐ̃	an / _{p,b}
ɐ̃	al
ɐ	a
õ	on / _#
õ	in / _{p,b}
õ	ol

 

Grammar

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

Nouns

 

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix ŋgoio /ˈŋgojo/ man	No affix
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix so- soŋgoio /ˈsoŋgojo/ men	If starts with vowel: Prefix ms- Else: Prefix msɐ̃w̃-

 

Articles

 

Definite	mɠe /mɠɨ/ the
Indefinite	mnhe /mɲɨ/ a, some

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	viels /vjẽʃ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	a /ɐ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	uo /wɔ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	mfi /mfi/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	mte /mte/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	uous /wɔwʃ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	ful /ful/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	mʄan /mʄɐ̃/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	viels /vjẽʃ/ my
2nd singular	a /ɐ/ your
3rd singular masc	uo /wɔ/ his
3rd singular fem	mfi /mfi/ her
1st plural	mte /mte/ our
2nd plural	uous /wɔwʃ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ful /ful/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	mʄan /mʄɐ̃/ their (fem)

 

Verbs

 

	Singular	Plural
Present	Prefix u- umloshhi /ˈumlokhi/ (I/you/he/she) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wɔ- uomloshhi /ˈwɔmlokhi/ (we/they) learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɐ- shamloshhi /kɐˈmlokhi/ (I/you/he/she) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɛ- semloshhi /ˈsɛmlokhi/ (we/they) learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix mɲ- Else: Prefix mɲɨ- mnhemloshhi /ˈmɲɨmlokhi/ (I/you/he/she) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʄ- Else: Prefix ʄɛ- ʄemloshhi /ˈʄɛmlokhi/ (we/they) learned (long ago)

  Pratsa uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mɠɨ - mɠe mloshhi /mɠɨ ˈmlokhi/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Pratsa has a base-20 number system:   1 - suos
2 - ((two))
3 - mbuu
4 - mstato
5 - ðulnʤãorgen
6 - ((six))
7 - ((seven))
8 - ia
9 - ((nine))
10 - nda
11 - ʄoŋo
12 - ((twelve))
13 - tanarh
14 - nʤaba
15 - uelstra
16 - ((sixteen))
17 - ((seventeen))
18 - mloʧo
19 - ((nineteen))
20 - ((twenty))
21 - ((twenty)) sha suos “twenty and one”
400 - suos vielme “one fourhundred”
401 - suos vielme suos “one fourhundred one”
800 - ((two)) vielme “two fourhundred”
8000 - suos sorʧenh “one eightthousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix mes-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix gog-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɠɛ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɐ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix e-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɛ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix um-
Tending to = Prefix ka-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix u-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θɐ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix e-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pɐ̃-
Diminutive = Prefix mo-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix mk- Else: Prefix mkẽ-