...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
kʼu musii míí aari ii tirii kʼu yutíí ii mitsu mutʼaa wi yaapuu[alt]
Pronunciation: /kʼu muˈsiː mɨː aːˈɾi iː tiˈɾiː kʼu juˈtɨː iː miˈʦu muˈtʼaː wi jaːˈpuː/
Tsuuwi word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind[/alt]
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d g g͡b j k kʼ k͡p l m n p pʼ s t tʼ w ŋ ɾ ʃ ʔ ʦ
| ↓Manner/Place→ |
Bilabial |
Alveolar |
Palato-alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Glottal |
| Nasal |
m |
n |
|
|
ŋ |
|
| Stop |
p pʼ b |
t tʼ d |
|
|
k kʼ g |
ʔ |
| Affricate |
|
ʦ |
|
|
|
|
| Fricative |
|
s |
ʃ |
|
|
|
| Approximant |
|
|
|
j |
|
|
| Tap |
|
ɾ |
|
|
|
|
| Lateral approximant |
|
l |
|
|
|
|
Co-articulated phonemes
| ↓Manner/Place→ |
Labial-velar |
| Stop |
k͡p g͡b |
| Approximant |
w |
Vowel inventory: a aː i iː u uː ɨ ɨː
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
| High |
iː i |
ɨː ɨ |
u uː |
| Low |
a aː |
|
|
Syllable structure: (C)V
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: b g͡b j k kʼ k͡p m n p pʼ s t tʼ w ɾ ʃ ʦ
Mid-word consonants: b d g g͡b j k kʼ k͡p l m n p pʼ s t tʼ w ŋ ɾ ʃ ʔ ʦ
Word final consonants:
Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation |
Spelling |
| ʔ |
ʻ |
| ɨ |
í |
| g͡b |
gb |
| j |
y |
| k͡p |
kp |
| ŋ |
ng |
| ɾ |
r |
| ʃ |
sh |
| ʦ |
ts |
| Vː |
VV |
Grammar
Main word order: Verb Subject Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into
Opened Mary the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions
Nouns
Nouns have six cases:
- Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
- Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
- Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
- Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
- Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
- Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
| Ergative |
Prefix tʼɨ-
tʼíniilu /tʼɨˈniːlu/
dog (doing the verb to something) |
| Absolutive |
No affix
niilu /niːˈlu/
dog (doing the verb, but not to something) |
| Genitive |
Prefix mɨː-
mííniilu /mɨːˈniːlu/
dogʼs |
| Dative |
Prefix ʃuː-
shuuniilu /ʃuːˈniːlu/
to (the/a) dog |
| Locative |
Prefix wu-
wuniilu /wuˈniːlu/
near/at/by (the/a) dog |
| Ablative |
Prefix ta-
taniilu /taˈniːlu/
from (the/a) dog |
| Singular |
No affix
niilu /niːˈlu/
dog |
| Plural |
Prefix tʼɨː-
tʼííniilu /tʼɨːˈniːlu/
dogs |
Articles
Fareness has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.
Pronouns
|
Ergative |
Absolutive |
Genitive |
Dative |
Locative |
Ablative |
| 1st singular |
suu /suː/
I |
wu /wu/
me, I |
yaa /jaː/
mine |
bí /bɨ/
to me |
mii /miː/
at me |
kii /kiː/
from me |
| 2nd singular |
tʼu /tʼu/
you |
tsa /ʦa/
you |
wíí /wɨː/
yours |
ra /ɾa/
to you |
kʼa /kʼa/
at you |
gba /g͡ba/
from you |
| 3rd singular masc |
míí /mɨː/
he, it |
sa /sa/
him, it |
tsii /ʦiː/
his, its |
wí /wɨ/
to him, at it |
ti /ti/
at him, at it |
pʼa /pʼa/
from him, from it |
| 3rd singular fem |
pí /pɨ/
she, it |
ma /ma/
her, it |
bu /bu/
hers, its |
tsu /ʦu/
to her, at it |
tʼíí /tʼɨː/
at her, at it |
píí /pɨː/
from her, from it |
| 1st plural |
shuu /ʃuː/
we |
kʼu /kʼu/
us, we |
u /u/
ours |
mí /mɨ/
to us |
gbii /g͡biː/
at us |
mu /mu/
from us |
| 2nd plural |
bii /biː/
you all |
ii /iː/
you all |
tsuu /ʦuː/
yours (pl) |
kpíí /k͡pɨː/
to you all |
kíí /kɨː/
at you all |
kpaa /k͡paː/
from you all |
| 3rd plural |
paa /paː/
they |
yuu /juː/
them, they |
tíí /tɨː/
theirs |
gbíí /g͡bɨː/
to them |
muu /muː/
at them |
tu /tu/
from them |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular |
bí /bɨ/
my |
| 2nd singular |
bíí /bɨː/
your |
| 3rd singular masc |
ii /iː/
his |
| 3rd singular fem |
wu /wu/
her |
| 1st plural |
uu /uː/
our |
| 2nd plural |
kʼíí /kʼɨː/
your (pl) |
| 3rd plural |
tsí /ʦɨ/
their |
Verbs
| Present |
No affix
kʼapu /kʼaˈpu/
learn |
| Past |
Prefix jɨː-
yííkʼapu /jɨːˈkʼapu/
learned |
| Remote past |
Prefix g͡bɨː-
gbííkʼapu /g͡bɨːˈkʼapu/
learned (long ago) |
Fareness uses a standalone particle word for future tense:
| Future |
Particle before the verb: ʃɨ -
shí kʼapu /ʃɨ kʼaˈpu/
will learn |
Numbers
Fareness has a base-10 number system:
1 -
taa
2 -
ru
3 -
wii
4 -
kpuu
5 -
u
6 -
ungí
7 -
píí
8 -
níí
9 -
rii
10 -
tuu
11 -
tuutaa “ten-one”
100 -
winga “hundred”
101 -
winga kʼu taa “hundred and one”
200 -
ru winga
1000 -
wííkí “thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Suffix -luː
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix pʼiː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix kʼɨ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ʔiː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ma-
Noun to verb = Suffix -ŋɨː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ku
Tending to = Prefix kaː-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ku
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -nuː
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix mi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɾaː-
Diminutive = Suffix -ki
Augmentative = Prefix biː-
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