Natwɔian

Natively known as: natwɔ /ˈnatwɔ/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
de mɛ fɔn mu ha ngkjam de di ha sɛkim rɛfow hu munɛ
Pronunciation: /de mɛ fɔn mʼu ha ŋkjam de di ha ˈsɛkim ˈɾɛfow hu ˈmunɛ/
Natwɔian 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 mʼ n nʼ p r s t w z ŋ ɦ ɲ ɾ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m mʼ		n nʼ	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	b p		d t		k g
Fricative		f	s z			h ɦ
Approximant				j
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: a ã e ẽ i o u y ɔ ɛ ɪ  

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid	e ẽ	o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a ã

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɪ	i
ẽ	e
ã	a
ɾ	r
ŋ	ng
ɲ	ny
nʼ	n
mʼ	m
ɦ	h

 

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?  

Nouns

 

Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix nn- Else: Prefix nna- nnasɛrɛ /nnaˈsɛɾɛ/ dog
Plural	Prefix a- asɛrɛ /aˈsɛɾɛ/ dogs

 

Articles

 

Definite	ba /ba/ the
Indefinite	wa /wa/ 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’

  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’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	nɛff /nɛff/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ha /ha/ you, yours
3rd singular	mɛ /mɛ/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	ma /ma/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	hu /hu/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	dɛ /dɛ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	nɛ /nɛ/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	nam /nam/ my
2nd singular	wa /wa/ your
3rd singular	ha /ha/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	wɛn /wɛn/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	bo /bo/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	sɛ /sɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ban /ban/ their

 

Verbs

 

Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix omm- Else: Prefix omma- ommagjan /omˈmagjan/ learn
Past	Prefix nɦwɛ- nhwɛgjan /ˈnɦwɛgjan/ learned
Future	Prefix a- agjan /ˈagjan/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Natwɔian has a base-12 number system:   1 - mun
2 - son
3 - mu
4 - nɛm
5 - ni
6 - mɔn
7 - nso
8 - niw
9 - mɛm
10 - ho
11 - wɛbjɔn
12 - tɛm
144 - nnɔ
1728 - kiw
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix ŋka-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix nn-
Else: Prefix nnɔ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sɛ
Else: Suffix -usɛ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nji
Else: Suffix -ɛnji
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛnt-
Else: Prefix ɛntɛ-
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -am
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ɛ
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ɛn
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nka
Else: Suffix -ɛnka
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɛ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -um
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ɛn
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -am