kunguian (kuŋgu)

Natively known as: kungu /ˈkuŋgu/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nu pun gun dekaku gisu konru nu reriki nu gun nuro senro gison
Pronunciation: /nu pun gun deˈkaku ˈgisu ˈkonɾu nu ɾeˈɾiki mu gun ˈnuɾo ˈsenɾo ˈgison/
Kunguian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g h j k m n p s t w z ŋ ɾ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Fricative		s z			h
Approximant			j
Tap		ɾ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ŋ	n
m	n
j	y
ɾ	r

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have three cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Nominative	No affix gikon /ˈgikon/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix e- egikon /eˈgikon/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ko- kogikon /koˈgikon/ dogʼs

Singular	No affix gikon /ˈgikon/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku- kugikon /kuˈgikon/ dogs

Articles

Kunguian has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	kon /kon/ I	hin /hin/ me	bu /bu/ mine
2nd singular	sa /sa/ you	na /na/ you	non /non/ yours
3rd singular	pun /pun/ he, she, it	e /e/ him, her, it	ri /ɾi/ his, hers, its
1st plural	ka /ka/ we	kun /kun/ us	zun /zun/ ours
2nd plural	pi /pi/ you all	ro /ɾo/ you all	gu /gu/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	nun /mun/ they	bi /bi/ them	wan /wan/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ka /ka/ my
2nd singular	ku /ku/ your
3rd singular	gun /gun/ his, her, its
1st plural	an /an/ our
2nd plural	te /te/ your (pl)
3rd plural	sa /sa/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku- kahyan /ˈkahjan/ (I) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix to- tahyan /ˈtahjan/ (I) learned
2nd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix po- pahyan /ˈpahjan/ (you) learn	Prefix he- heahyan /heˈahjan/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Prefix na- naahyan /naˈahjan/ (he/she/it) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ- Else: Prefix ɾe- rahyan /ˈɾahjan/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wa- wahyan /ˈwahjan/ (we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ke- kahyan /ˈkahjan/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma- nahyan /ˈmahjan/ (you all) learn	Prefix te- teahyan /teˈahjan/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jo- yahyan /ˈjahjan/ (they) learn	Prefix o- oahyan /oˈahjan/ (they) learned

Kunguian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: nan - nan ahyan /nan ˈahjan/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ben - ben ahyan /ben ˈahjan/ is 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).
Kunguian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix u- uahyan /uˈahjan/ learns

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Kunguian uses the word for ‘already’ izo for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Kunguian has a base-20 number system:
1 - yon
2 - nun
3 - bun
4 - ru
5 - henpeni
6 - ya
7 - pun
8 - ke
9 - de
10 - ahe
11 - nonpa
12 - zanson
13 - suryan
14 - banen
15 - nenyon
16 - nuripyan
17 - kura
18 - bungi
19 - yagu
20 - sogo
400 - non
8000 - hi

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
Else: Prefix wa-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nu-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ-
Else: Prefix ɾi-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix ne-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -on
Noun to verb = Suffix -i
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -un
Tending to = Suffix -in
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -en
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -en
Diminutive = Prefix o-
Augmentative = Prefix ki-

Dictionary

3123 Words.