Kumpoian

Natively known as: kumpo /kumˈpo/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
de mot tak i baik kin de i jair yau jakand uptow kaul
Pronunciation: /de mot tak i bai̯k kin de i ʤai̯r jau̯ ʤaˈkand upˈtow kau̯l/
Kumpoian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p r s t w ŋ ɲ ʤ ʧ

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ e i o u
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ?

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʧ	c
ŋ	ng
j	y
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny
̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix mem /mem/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -oŋ memong /meˈmoŋ/ (verb done to) dog

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	gu /gu/ the	jo /ʤo/ a
Plural	wa /wa/ the	oh /oh/ 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’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• 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

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	na /na/ I	nyind /ɲind/ me
2nd singular	fra /fra/ you	mo /mo/ you
3rd singular	mot /mot/ he, she, it	si /si/ his, her, it
1st plural	ger /ger/ we	lai /lai̯/ us
2nd plural	ste /ste/ you all	frord /frord/ you all
3rd plural	laib /lai̯b/ they	sha /sha/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	graik /grai̯k/ my
2nd singular	mo /mo/ your
3rd singular	i /i/ his, her, its
1st plural	e /e/ our
2nd plural	di /di/ your (pl)
3rd plural	naird /nai̯rd/ their

Verbs

Future

Suffix -au̯ll gakaull /gaˈkau̯ll/ will learn

Kumpoian uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: rut - rut gak /rut gak/ learned

Numbers

Kumpoian has a base-10 number system:
1 - lul
2 - uk
3 - e
4 - ja
5 - ming
6 - na
7 - gru
8 - oh
9 - tra
10 - burd
100 - stah
1000 - plo

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ʃɯ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ʃa
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -jo
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ʒa
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ʒa
Noun to verb = Suffix -ti
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ka
Tending to = Suffix -jɯ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ho
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ʒi
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʒɯ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ʒa
Diminutive = Suffix -ʔɯ
Augmentative = Suffix -kɯ

Most desert peoples speak Kumpoian in various dialects. It is considered the oldest language in Keta, and many people learn Kumpoian as their second language if it isn't their first.

Dictionary

3020 Words.

Common Phrases

saul saul saul bi bi

Meaning "Sand on sand on sand", a phrase that loosely means that everything is the same in the end, or that history repeats itself while burying its past.

saul saul saul

"Sand sand sand", an alternate version of saul saul saul bi bi.

mot mo traiaull wa banta ba

"She will find you in the stars", a funerary prayer said to those who die of violence or disease.

Common Female Names

Baua, Nyehkent, Frairbi, Nyaul, Auknyu

Common Male Names

Yurde, Raill, Obju, Shaih, Aurbau

Common Unisex Names

Etkar, Junkam, Nermi, Airaiau, Eje

Common Family Names

Rangih, Lea, Annyair, Shengkaingko, Tecau