Ganwan

Natively known as: ganwa /gɑˈnwɑ/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ming nil ti midet bo mengacon ming mangil bo oling kil ki kima
Pronunciation: /ming nil ti miˈdet bo mengɑtˈʃon ming mɑnˈgil bo oˈling kil ki kiˈmɑ/
Ganwan word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p r t v w ɲ ʃ ʒ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d			k g
Fricative		f v		ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: e i o u ɑ  

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low		ɑ

  Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
i	i
u	u
e	e
o	o
ɑ	a
pf	pw
tʃ	c
bv	bw
j	y
dʒ	j
ɲ	ny

 

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?  

Nouns

 

Singular	Prefix e- egeno /egeˈno/ dog
Plural	Prefix nge- ngegeno /ngegeˈno/ dogs

 

Articles

 

Definite	mo /mo/ the
Indefinite	nin /nin/ a, some

  Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

  Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

 

Pronouns

 

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	pat /pɑt/ I	ngo /ngo/ me
2nd singular	lor /lor/ you	pa /pɑ/ you
3rd singular	nil /nil/ he, she, it	kad /kɑd/ his, her, it
1st plural	pur /pur/ we	lwor /lwor/ us
2nd plural	ur /ur/ you all	pel /pel/ you all
3rd plural	i /i/ they	got /got/ them

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	pi /pi/ my
2nd singular	e /e/ your
3rd singular	bo /bo/ his, her, its
1st plural	dwet /dwet/ our
2nd plural	a /ɑ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	po /po/ their

 

Verbs

 

Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɑ- makuny /mɑˈkuɲ/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix no- nokuny /noˈkuɲ/ learned

  Ganwan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: o - o kuny /o kuɲ/ will learn

 

Progressive aspect

  The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Ganwan uses a standalone particle word for progressive:  

Progressive

Particle before the verb: tin - tin kuny /tin kuɲ/ be 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).
Ganwan uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: kem - kem kuny /kem kuɲ/ learn (often, habitually)

 

Numbers

  Ganwan has a base-12 number system:   1 - ba
2 - ga
3 - lwen
4 - cac
5 - cat
6 - tya
7 - pen
8 - twodo
9 - o
10 - wodan
11 - nak
12 - cel
144 - worer
1728 - nikwi
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix tʃɑ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ko-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix mɑ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix gɑ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix mu-
Noun to verb = Prefix o-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix bo-
Tending to = Prefix o-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix me-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ke-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ki-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ib-
Else: Prefix ibe-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mɑ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix me-