Hal Tikwa

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ISHADIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 3.8M / #12
SPOKEN IN: Tifwa Akn - 1.7M / Shuri - 1M / Qildab - 500K / L'ai Alaq - 400K / Ek Jad - 200K
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: a ţīb nāq ism ī inda a ḩi’ ī bar uḩ qūʻ iɾtsha
Pronunciation: a tˤiːb naːq ism iː ˈinda a ħiʔ iː bar uħ quːʕ ˈiɾtʃa

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d dˤ f g h j k l m n n̪ p q r s sˤ t tˤ v w x z ð ħ ŋ ɣ ɫ ɰ ɾ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ ʧ β θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n̪	n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t tˤ d dˤ			k g	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative	β	f v	θ ð	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j	ɰ
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar	Velarized alveolar
Approximant	w
Lateral approximant		ɫ

Vowel inventory: /a aː i iː u uː/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, d, dˤ, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, sˤ, t, tˤ, w, x, z, ð, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʤ, θ Mid-word consonants: b, d, dd, dj, dʃ, g, h, hb, hl, ht, hv, j, jd, jg, jl, jm, jn, js, jv, k, kl, ks, kt, kɾ, kʃ, l, ld, lg, lk, lm, ln, ls, lt, lʤ, m, md, ml, mʤ, n, nd, nk, nl, nm, nn, ns, nsl, nt, nɾ, nʤ, n̪j, p, pɫ, pɾ, r, rk, rr, s, sk, sl, st, t, tb, tl, tm, ts, tt, tɾ, tʃ, tʃm, v, vl, z, zd, zg, zl, ŋg, ɣ, ɣm, ɣɾ, ɰl, ɰls, ɾ, ɾb, ɾd, ɾh, ɾk, ɾkl, ɾl, ɾm, ɾt, ɾtʃ, ɾʃ, ʃ, ʃk, ʃl, ʃm, ʃt, ʤ, ʧ, ʧk, ʧm, βg, βl
Word final consonants: b, d, f, fl, h, jj, k, l, ll, m, n, q, r, rdˤ, s, sm, t, tˤ, w, zʔ, ħ, ʔ, ʕ

Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → z / V_V

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	’
θ	th
ʤ	j
x	kh
ð	dh
ʃ	sh
sˤ	ş
dˤ	ḑ
tˤ	ţ
ʕ	ʻ
ɣ	gh
ħ	ḩ
aː	ā
iː	ī
uː	ū
j	y

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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

	Masculine=ā	Feminine=āo
Singular	No affix	No affix
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri-

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular	ba /ba/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	tī /tiː/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ţīb /tˤiːb/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	kan /kan/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	nāl /naːl/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	nā /naː/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ghūw /ɣuːw/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	tūr /tuːr/ my
2nd singular	thu /θu/ your
3rd singular masc	ī /iː/ his
3rd singular fem	u /u/ her
1st plural	hu /hu/ our
2nd plural	tūll /tuːll/ your (pl)
3rd plural	sha /ʃa/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -un unkāhun /ˈunkaːhun/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak unkāhak /ˈunkaːhak/ (I) learned	Prefix iː- īunkāh /ˈiːunkaːh/ (I) learned (long ago)
2nd singular	Prefix a- aunkāh /aˈunkaːh/ (you) learn	Suffix -uː unkāhū /unˈkaːhuː/ (you) learned	Suffix -iʕ unkāhiʻ /unˈkaːhiʕ/ (you) learned (long ago)
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -sm Else: Suffix -usm unkāhusm /ˈunkaːhusm/ (he/she/it) learns	Suffix -ik unkāhik /unˈkaːhik/ (he/she/it) learned	Prefix naː- nāunkāh /ˈnaːunkaːh/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)
1st plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- kunkāh /kunˈkaːh/ (we) learn	Prefix tuː- tūunkāh /ˈtuːunkaːh/ (we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tˤ Else: Suffix -iːtˤ unkāhīţ /ˈunkaːhiːtˤ/ (we) learned (long ago)
2nd plural	Suffix -aːf unkāhāf /ˈunkaːhaːf/ (you all) learn	Suffix -uːf unkāhūf /unˈkaːhuːf/ (you all) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -aːh unkāhāh /unˈkaːhaːh/ (you all) learned (long ago)
3rd plural	Suffix -atˤ unkāhaţ /ˈunkaːhatˤ/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -iːs unkāhīs /ˈunkaːhiːs/ (they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri- runkāh /ˈrunkaːh/ (they) learned (long ago)

Hal Tikwa uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mar - mar unkāh /mar unˈkaːh/ will learn

Numbers

Hal Tikwa has a base-10 number system:
1 - la
2 - dām
3 - sā
4 - ās
5 - ba
6 - a
7 - ḩi
8 - nā
9 - ’ī
10 - ā
11 - ā a la “ten and one”
100 - la bat “one hundred”
101 - la bat la “one hundred one”
200 - dām bat
1000 - la aʻ “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix aː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʤ- Else: Prefix ʤuː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix tˤ- Else: Prefix tˤiː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix maː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ði-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θiː-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix wiː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ð- Else: Prefix ðu-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix a-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʔ- Else: Prefix ʔiː-
Diminutive = Prefix daː-
Augmentative = Prefix ɣiː-

Dictionary

4411 Words.