So here's my first installment. It includes some vocabulary and some morphology
?Upata
?Upata was created for a long ago minimal phonology challenge on the ZBB, a few years before it was migrated to the new one.
The allowed phonemes were p t k ? (glottal stop) n s i a u
The only consonant unfamiliar in English is the glottal stop ?. It is articulated at the back of the throat like the fricative h, and occurs in some dialects when the speaker is speaking rapidly: “a bo??le of beer”.
Syllabic Constraints
(C)(i/u)V(n)(s)(C)
1. Where C is any consonant in the set {p t k ? n s} and V is {i a u}.
2. More rarely syllables of the type TsV(n)(s)(C) occur, where T is any stop, e.g. psatin.
3. Before vowels (i/u) are semivowels (as in the English words quick, cute) and are spelt y/w.
4. ? is rarely or never heard word-finally and does not appear after n or s. It may begin a word and precede semi vowels; i.e. ?yuta (dog), ?yuns (rain) which forms a minimal pair with yuns (lettuce).
Accent
The position of an accent indicates nominative / accusative case. In some dialects it is pronounced with raised pitch.
Morphosyntax
?upata is mostly agglutinating and concatenates prefixes and suffixes onto verb and noun roots.
Nominative / accusative accent
The position of the accent in the nominative (citation) case is on the final vowel of the root: tapín, puktá. In the accusative it shifts back one vowel: tápin, púkta.
Nouns of one syllable (?yuns, sant) do not accent, except when affixes are present.
The Affixes
-asta, -sta noun plural
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tapín (rabbit) tapínasta (rabbits)
?yutá (dog) ?yutásta (dogs)
puktá (wolf) puktásta (wolves)
sant (sky / heaven) santásta (skies / heavens)
-anya, -nya noun definiteness
Unlike English, French, Welsh and other Indo-European languages which indicate definite nouns with a particle (the, le/la/les, y) ?upata uses a suffix on the noun.
sant sky / heaven santánya (the sky) santástanya (the heavens)
In fact sant is rarely used without a suffix.
-a verb imperfective / progressive aspect marker
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tyus bring tyusa bringing
kans eat kansa eating
kwut help kwuta helping
kwas shame kwasa shaming
panpun pound panpuna pounding
usk step uska stepping
nyin blame nyina blaming
sini remember sinya remembering
twas- diminutive prefix (verbs and nouns)
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?yutá dog twas?yutá puppy
puktá wolf twaspuktá wolf cub
yuns lettuce twasyuns small lettuce / unripe lettuce
kansa eating twaskansa nibbling
uska stepping twasuska mincing, taking baby steps
-aksu, -sku nomilaliser (action, instance)
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kansa eating sinya remembering
kansaksú meal, dinner sinyaksú memory
kansanká diner sinyanká witness
tapín tyusik yuns
rabbit-NOM bring-PAST lettuce-ACC
A rabbit brought lettuce
-nu verb remote past suffix
tapínya tyusnu yúnsnya
rabbit-NOM-DEF bring-REM lettuce-ACC-DEF
The rabbit had brought the lettuce
tapínya tyusnwa yuns
rabbit-NOM-DEF bring-REM-IMP lettuce-ACC-DEF
The rabbit had been bringing lettuce
-swa verb desiderative marker
tapínya kanswa yuns
rabbit-NOM-DEF eat-DES lettuce-ACC
The rabbit wants to eat lettuce
?yutánya kanswa tápin
dog-NOM-DEF eat-DES rabbit-ACC
The dog wants to eat rabbit
An imperfective aspect marker may be added before the desiderative suffix to imply the desire is especially strong or urgent.
?yutánya kansaswa tápin
dog-NOM-DEF eat-IMP-DES rabbit-ACC
The dog wants to eat rabbit right now.
-ap verb future suffix
-pi verb conditional suffix
?yutánya kansapa tápin
dog-DEF eat-FUT-IMP rabbit-ACC
The dog will be eating rabbit
?yutánya kansapapi tápin
dog-DEF eat-FUT-IMP-COND rabbit-ACC
The dog will be eating rabbit if ….
-ut verb remote future suffix
Used for events far ahead. If a time is not specified, -ut implies an eternal verity
tapínasta kansut yuns
Rabbits eat lettuce
puktásta kansut tápinasta
Wolves eat rabbits
-sit verb evidential (speaker is eye-witness)
-kwit verb evidential (hearsay)
?yutánya upasikwit tápinya
dog-NOM-DEF kill-PAST-HEARSAY rabbit-ACC
The dog killed the rabbit (I’m told).
?yutánya nyiniksit púktanya
dog-NOM-DEF blame-PAST-SEEN wolf-ACC
The dog blamed the wolf (I heard him).