Borokaish

LANGUAGE FAMILY: KANNAI
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 80K / #68
SPOKEN IN: Miesz - 30K / Mersi - 20K / Albra - 10K / Galori - 10K / Jolim - 10K
Borokaish is the native language of a nomadic group living across southwestern Rela.
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: ke mumm fitto noʧ mä pfottʰ kä meʧ mä satti mecku micko uɮtʰ
Pronunciation: /kɛ mʊm fiˈto nɔʧ mɛ pfotʰ kɛ məʧ mɛ zaˈti meˈku miˈkɔ uɮtʰ

Borokaish word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f fː g h j k kʰ kː l lː m mː n nː p pː r rː s sː t tʰ tː v w wʲ x xʲ z ŋ ɮ ɮʲ ʁ ʃ ʋ ʔ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ ʧʰ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m mː		n nː			ŋ
Stop	p pː b		t tː tʰ d			k kː kʰ g		ʔ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ	ʧ ʧʰ
Fricative		f fː v	s sː z	ʃ		x xʲ	ʁ	h
Approximant		ʋ			j
Trill			r rː
Lateral fricative			ɮ ɮʲ
Lateral approximant			l lː

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w wʲ

Vowel inventory: /a aɪ aʊ aː e eː i iː o oː u uː y yː øː œ ɐ ɔ ɔʏ ə ɛ ɛː ɪ ʊ ʏ/
Diphthongs: aɪ, aʊ, ɔʏ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː y yː		u uː
Near-high	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
High-mid	e eː øː		o oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː œ		ɔ
Near-low		ɐ
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, bʁ, d, dʁ, f, fl, fʁ, g, gl, gʁ, h, j, k, kl, kn, kv, kʁ, l, m, n, p, pf, pl, pʁ, s, t, tʁ, v, z, ʁ, ʃ, ʃl, ʃm, ʃn, ʃp, ʃpʁ, ʃt, ʃtʁ, ʃv, ʃʁ, ʔ, ʦ, ʦv
Mid-word consonants: b, d, f, fː, h, hd, hj, hk, hm, ht, hʋ, j, k, ks, kː, l, lh, lj, lk, ll, lm, lp, lpː, lt, ltː, lʋ, lː, m, mp, mpː, mː, n, nh, np, nr, ns, nsː, nt, ntː, nː, p, ps, pt, pː, r, rh, rj, rk, rkː, rm, rp, rst, rt, rʋ, rː, s, sk, st, sː, t, tk, tn, ts, tː, ŋk, ŋkː, ʋ
Word final consonants: b, g, gtʰ, gʃ, gʦʰ, gʧ, gʧʰ, kʰ, kʰtʰ, m, mʧ, n, nt, nx, r, rt, rtʰ, rʧʰ, s, stʰ, t, tʰ, w, ws, wʧʰ, wʲ, x, xʲ, ɮ, ɮs, ɮtʰ, ɮʧ, ɮʲ, ʃ, ʦ, ʦʰ, ʧ, ʧʰ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• a → æ / i(C)_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
v	w
p	b / _#
t	dt / _#
ks	chs
x	ch
ç	ch
ʃ	sch
ʁ	r
z	s
ʦ	z
k	ck / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
{m,b,l,t,n,p,s}	@@ / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
ŋk	ntha
ŋ	ng
ʦj	ti
ʦ	zt / _#
ʦ	ts
iː	ie
ɛː	ä
ɛ	ä | e
œ	ö
aʊ	au
oː	o | oh | oo
ɔ	o
ɔʏ	eu
aɪ	ei | ai
yː	ü
ʏ	ü
uː	u | uh
ʊ	u
aː	a
ɐ	er / !_r
ɐ	e
ɪ	i
øː	ö
ø	ö
eː	ä | äh | e | eh | ee
ə	e
ʔ	∅

Grammar

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

Nouns

Singular	No affix mibbumm /miˈbum/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -ew mibbummew /mibuˈmew/ dogs

Articles

Definite	lien /liːn/ the
Indefinite	mi /mi/ a, some

Pronouns

1st singular	glä /glɛ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	missch /miʃ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	mumm /mʊm/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	mo /mɔ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	jeib /jaɪb/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	maɮs /maːɮs/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ma /ma/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	iss /is/ my
2nd singular	pew /pew/ your
3rd singular masc	me /mɛ/ his
3rd singular fem	ku /ku/ her
1st plural	a /a/ our
2nd plural	man /maːn/ your (pl)
3rd plural	mu /mu/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -aw ackiw /aˈkiw/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -ow ackiw /aˈkiw/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Suffix -i ackii /akiˈi/ (you) learn	Suffix -a ackia /akiˈa/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Suffix -ox ackioch /akiˈox/ (he/she/it) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -oʧ ackiʧ /aˈkiʧ/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -uːt ackidt /aˈkit/ (we) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an ackinn /aˈkin/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ib ackibb /aˈkib/ (you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -oːn ackinn /aˈkin/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -uw ackiw /aˈkiw/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -eʧ ackiʧ /aˈkiʧ/ (they) learned

Borokaish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: sis - siss acki /sis aˈki/ will learn

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: mu - mu acki /mu aˈki/ 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).
Borokaish uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: bɛ - be acki /bɛ aˈki/ 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.
Borokaish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -a ackia /akiˈa/ have learned

Numbers

Borokaish has a base-10 number system:
1 - a
2 - nu
3 - häm
4 - ta
5 - wumm
6 - fro
7 - scha
8 - podt
9 - pfonn
10 - ji
11 - ji kä a “ten and one”
100 - a ko “one hundred”
101 - a ko kä a “one hundred and one”
200 - nuh ko
1000 - a mew “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kʰ Else: Suffix -akʰ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -œr
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʰ Else: Suffix -atʰ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -oːm
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -an
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -uw
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -yr
Tending to = Suffix -os
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -i
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -u
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ib
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -it
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -im
Augmentative = Suffix -a

Dictionary

4451 Words.