Nãwe

From KneeQuickie

Nãwe [nãɰe] is a conlang developed by Hakaku, which is also used for the fictional nation of Nokeo, Savukk. It is written using the ekteka script, though a romanized version has been adapted throughout this article.

Contents 1 Phonology 1.1 Consonants 1.2 Vowels 2 Pitch 3 Syllable and word structure 4 Grammar 5 Noun & verb phrase 6 Reduplication 7 Pronouns

Phonology

Nãwe has the following phonemes (written using the standard romanized orthography, with IPA equivalents in brackets):

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental-Alveolar	Postalveolar	Velar
Stops and affricate	p [p~b]³ [p̚]¹	t [t̚]¹ z [ʣ]² [z̪]³	t [ʦ]³	k [k]³ [k̚]¹
Fricatives				g [ɣ~g]³
Nasals	m [m]	n [n]		ng [ŋ]¹
Lateral		l [l]³
Approximant				w [ɰ~w]³

Notes

1. Syllable final only.

2. Word initial only.

3. Syllable initial only.

4. [k] may vary to [x] in rapid speech.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Non-low	e [e~ɛ]		o [o~ɤ]
Low		a [a]

The vowels a, e, and o may be distinguished for length [aː eː oː], indicated in the orthography by doubling the vowel, and nasalization [ã ẽ õ], indicated with a tilde over the vowel. Vowels may also be marked for high/rising (á), and low/falling (à) prosodic tones. Middle/flat tone is left unmarked.

Stress is not phonemic in Nãwe, however, it can occur to emphasize one or more words, though it is usually accompanied with intonation. Stress can be characterized by raising vowel height, so that <e> would become [ɪ], <o> becomes [u], etc.

Pitch

The language of Nãwe has recently developped both rising and falling tone, which are used for prosodic purposes similar to certain Korean dialects, or to the Japanese pitch accent system. There are only two distinguished tones : high/rising (á), and low/falling (à). These tones are generally only present on the final syllable, and are only found in less than 10% of words.

Examples include takwé (season), awó (I, me [inf.]), koá (frog), nń (intj. eh?), tóo (big, large), etc. Though pitch may also help distinguish minimal pairs such as taè (picture), vs. tae (leaf).

Syllable and word structure

Syllables can generally be defined as (C)V(F), that is consonant-vowel-final consonant. All consonants occur in initial position at the exception of [ŋ]. Final consonants include all nasal consonants, and consonants with no audible release, such as < p t k >. Vowels generally represent the nucleus of syllables: they may either be short or long, with a maximum of three consecutive vowels.

Word structure generally allows up to 3 syllables, whereas monosyllabic and disyllabic syllables are the most common. The only restriction is that a syllable with a final consonant, must be followed by an initial consonant in the following syllable. This leads to consonant assimilation for < p t > when placed before their nasal counterparts < m n >, and for < p k > when placed after their nasal counterparts < m ng >. So that < nengkat > (highland) is pronounced [neŋːat̚].

Grammar

Nãwe is primarily an analytic language with VSO order (verb-subject-object), that is, a language where syntax and meaning are shaped more by use of particles and word order rather than by inflection. Modifiers typically precede the word which they modify.

• tóo wata - large house
• lae mene (ota zen) - tomorrow (I) eat

Noun & verb phrase

Nãwe nouns are not marked for number, gender, or case. Number can be inferred from context or through such words as "some", "all", "two" which can be used to signal plural. Gender is likewise unmarked but distinctions can be made by using such words as "son," "daughter," "male," and "female". Verbs are also not marked for person, number, tense, aspect, or mood. The latter can generally be inferred by context, but if precision is needed, modifying adverbs or auxiliaries can be added before the verb.

Reduplication

In Nãwe, there are two main aspects of reduplication. The first consists of adjective and noun reduplication. Similar to Khmer, an adjective or noun may be reduplicated in order to intensify its meaning, or add emphasis to it. For example, "the beautiful beautiful flower" would best be translated as "the very beautiful flower", while "beautiful flower flower" could emphasize on the amount of flowers that are beautiful : "the many beautiful flowers". The second aspect is the reduplication of verbs. The reduplication of verbs serves to intensify & add emphasis, and/or act as an iterative aspect. For example "weep weep ota zan" (talk talk I) conveys the meaning of "I talk a lot", "I talk for a long time", or "I talk and talk...".

Pronouns

As with nouns, personal pronouns are generally left unmarked for number, or gender, however they do distinguish levels of politeness and familiarity. And while duplication may change a singular pronoun to a plural one, it may also render the sentence either boastful or derogatory, offending the listener, therefore it is best avoided. All pronouns may also act as either the subject or the object of a verb, though if previously known, the name or title of a person or object is preferred over the use of pronouns.

• Ota    - I, me, myself (polite - 1st person singular)
• Awó   - I, me, myself (familiar - 1st person singular)
• Wole  - You, yourself (neutral, very derogative when doubled - 2nd person singular)
• Kawa - You, yourself (familiar - 2nd person singular)
• Nom   - He, she, him, her, himself, herself (neutral - 3rd person singular)
• (To be completed...)