Kẽ'alawa
Natively known as: Kẽ'alawa /ˌkẽʔæˈlæwæ/
Phonology
Phonemic Inventory
Vowel inventory: ẽ õ æ ɪ ʌ ɜː ɔː aː
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Near-high | ɪ | ||
| High-mid | ẽ | õ | |
| Low-mid | ɜː | ʌ ɔː | |
| Near-low | æ | ||
| Low | aː |
Consonant inventory: b d f g h k l m n p s t w ŋ ʃ ʔ
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Stop | p b | t d | k g | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | f | s | ʃ | h | ||
| Lateral approximant | l |
Co-articulated phonemes
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-velar |
|---|---|
| Approximant | w |
Syllable Structure
Kẽ'alawa prefers a simple yet flexible syllable structure:
- Native words tend to follow CV structures, ensuring phonetic clarity.
- Native words contain no consonant clusters. Loanwords do not retain consonant clusters.
Stress Pattern
Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable.
Sound Changes
- C₁æC₁æ → C₁æC₁aː
- C₁ẽC₁ẽ → C₁ẽC₁ɜː
- C₁õC₁õ → C₁õC₁ɔː
- C₁ɪC₁ɪ → C₁ɪC₁ɜː
- C₁ʌC₁ʌ → C₁ʌC₁ɔː
- /t/ and /k/ tend to merge to /c/ in some dialects, leading to variation in pronunciation across different Kẽ'alawa-speaking communities.
Morphology
Nouns
| Singular | No affix kina /ˈkɪnæ/ moon |
| Plural | Reduplicate the final syllable kinana /kɪˈnænaː/ moons |
Verbs
| Progressive | No affix shila /ˈʃɪlæ/ be danceing |
| Perfect | Change all æ to aː Change all {ẽ,ɪ} to ɜː Change all {õ,ʌ} to ɔː shurlaa /ˈʃɜːlaː/ have danced |
Syntax
Word Order
Subject-Direct object-Indirect object-Verb. “She gave the dog a bone” turns into She a bone the dog gave.
Adjective Placement
Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition
Prepositions.
Pronoun System
Pronouns are invariant and do not change based on grammatical case.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st person | na /næ/ I, me, mine | nana /ˈnænaː/ we, us, ours |
| 2nd person | ka /kæ/ you, yours | kaka /ˈkækaː/ you all, yours (pl) |
| 3rd person | lõ /lõ/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its | lõlõ /ˈlõlɔː/ they, them, theirs |
Question Formation
Questions use question words rather than changing word order or adding particles.
Yes/No Questions
Yes/no questions are indicated by a rising pitch at the end of the sentence.
Negation
The negation particle precedes the verb.
| Negation | wi /wɪ/ |
Possession
Possession is marked using preposed possessive markers (the possessor comes before the noun).
| Possessive | di /dɪ/ |
Relative Clauses
- Relative clauses follow the noun they modify.
- They are introduced by dedicated relative pronouns.
Verb Serialization
- Kẽ'alawa allows multiple verbs in sequence without conjunctions.
- Aspect applies only to the first verb in a sequence.
Comments