Mwomish

Natively known as: mwom /mwoːm/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...

nyen it pyu tachi nak byade nyen bogup chit pyu bomcha maempyaek min

Pronunciation: /njen it pʰjuː tʰaˈʨʰi nak pjaˈde njen poˈgup ʨʰit pʰjuː pomˈʨʰa mɛːmˈpʰjɛk miːn/

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /d g h j k kʰ m n p pʰ s t tʰ w ŋ ɭ ɾ ʨ ʨʰ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ	t tʰ d				k kʰ g
Affricate				ʨ ʨʰ
Fricative		s					h
Approximant					j
Tap		ɾ
Lateral approximant			ɭ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ɛ ɛː ɯ ɯː ʌ/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	ɯ ɯː u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː	ʌ
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined

Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable

Word initial consonants: h, hj, j, k, kj, kw, kʰ, m, mj, mw, n, nj, p, pj, pʰ, pʰj, s, t, tʰ, w, ɾ, ʨ, ʨʰ, ʨʰw

Mid-word consonants: d, g, gj, gw, h, hj, j, k, kk, kkj, kpj, kpʰ, ks, kt, kw, kʨ, kʰ, m, md, mg, mh, mj, mm, mn, mnj, mp, mpʰj, ms, mt, mʨ, mʨʰ, n, nd, ng, ngj, nh, nj, nk, nm, nmj, nn, np, ns, nt, ntʰ, nʨ, nʨʰ, p, pj, pk, ps, pt, pʨ, pʨʰ, pʰ, pʰj, s, t, tk, tt, tʨ, tʨʰ, tʰ, w, ŋ, ŋd, ŋg, ŋgj, ŋh, ŋhj, ŋj, ŋk, ŋm, ŋmj, ŋn, ŋp, ŋpʰ, ŋpʰj, ŋs, ŋʨʰ, ɭd, ɭg, ɭgj, ɭgw, ɭk, ɭm, ɭp, ɭpʰ, ɭpʰj, ɭs, ɭt, ɭtʰ, ɭɭ, ɾ, ɾh, ɾj, ɾw, ʨ, ʨʰ

Word final consonants: k, m, n, p, t, ŋ, ɭ





Phonological changes (in order of application):

• w → m / #_
• j → ɹ / #_
• p → w / V_V
• i → ∅ / a_
• e → a / _t
• e → i / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
p	b / #_ !_ʰ
pʰ	p
ŋ	ng
ɭ	l
ɾ	r
ʌ	eo
ɯ(ː)	eu
ɛ(ː)	ae
j	y
ː
tʰ	t
kʰ	k
ʨʰ	ch
ʨ	j

---

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 seven 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.
• Dative is the recipeint 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.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nominative	No affix rok /ɾok/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -op rokop /ɾoˈkop/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɭ Else: Suffix -oɭ rokol /ɾoˈkoɭ/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -ʌŋ rokeong /ɾoˈkʌŋ/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɯk rokeuk /ɾoˈkɯk/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɭ Else: Suffix -uːɭ rokul /ɾoˈkuːɭ/ from (the/a) dog
Instrumental	Suffix -aːn rokan /ɾoˈkaːn/ with/using (the/a) dog

Singular	No affix rok /ɾok/ dog
Plural	Suffix -a roka /ɾoˈka/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative	Instrumental
1st singular	so /soː/ I	sel /seɭ/ me	yot /jot/ mine	chweut /ʨʰwɯːt/ to me	op /op/ at me	hyae /hjɛ/ from me	raeng /ɾɛːŋ/ with/using me
2nd singular	ip /ip/ you (masc)	ut /ut/ you	cheo /ʨʰʌ/ yours	uk /uk/ to you	chweun /ʨʰwɯːn/ at you	bim /pim/ from you	ta /ta/ with/using you
3rd singular masc	it /it/ he, it	jo /ʨoː/ him, it	pyu /pʰjuː/ his, its	he /heː/ to him, at it	ta /tʰa/ at him, at it	myung /mjuŋ/ from him, from it	jaen /ʨɛːn/ with/using him/it
3rd singular fem	weo /wʌ/ she, it	sen /sen/ her, it	bya /pja/ hers, its	kyok /kjok/ to her, at it	kwom /kwom/ at her, at it	ka /ka/ from her, from it	eo /ʌ/ with/using her/it
1st plural inclusive	keo /kʌ/ we (including you)	ku /ku/ us (including you)	bu /pu/ ours (including you)	me /meː/ to us (including you)	myun /mjun/ at us (including you)	a /a/ from us (including you)	kyo /kjoː/ with/using us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	yol /joɭ/ we (excluding you)	pyong /pʰjoŋ/ us (excluding you)	kol /koɭ/ ours (excluding you)	pik /pʰik/ to us (excluding you)	nal /naɭ/ at us (excluding you)	sam /saːm/ from us (excluding you)	keu /kɯ/ with/using us (excluding you)
2nd plural	up /up/ you all	kyon /kjon/ you all	mwi /mwiː/ yours (pl)	nik /nik/ to you all	keun /kʰɯːn/ at you all	nyae /njɛ/ from you all	peo /pʰʌ/ with/using you all
3rd plural	nyeu /njɯ/ they	hop /hoːp/ them	myot /mjot/ theirs	mwap /mwaːp/ to them	kil /kiɭ/ at them	hyet /hjet/ from them	kyaen /kjɛːn/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	yot /jot/ my
2nd singular	cheo /ʨʰʌ/ your
3rd singular masc	pyu /pʰjuː/ his
3rd singular fem	bya /pja/ her
1st plural inclusive	bu /pu/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	kol /koɭ/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	mwi /mwiː/ your (pl)
3rd plural	myot /mjot/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
Singular	No affix beol /pʌɭ/ (I/you/he/she) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -iŋ beoling /pʌˈɭiŋ/ (I/you/he/she) learned
Plural	Suffix -ʌ beoleo /pʌˈɭʌ/ (we/they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -eːŋ beoleng /pʌˈɭeːŋ/ (we/they) learned

Mwomish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʨʰʌ - cheo beol /ʨʰʌ pʌɭ/ will learn

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.





Mwomish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -uːt beolut /pʌˈɭuːt/ have learned

Numbers

Mwomish has a base-10 number system:





1 - beo

2 - kyaet

3 - peol

4 - ye

5 - neul

6 - kyop

7 - ju

8 - yae

9 - chok

10 - peon

11 - beo nyen peon “one and ten”

100 - beo mon “one hundred”

101 - beo mon nyen beo “one hundred and one”

200 - kyaet mon

1000 - beo hyadamgi “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɭ

Else: Suffix -iɭ

Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t

Else: Suffix -oːt

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -i

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -o

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k

Else: Suffix -ak

Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p

Else: Suffix -ap

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ʌ

Tending to = Suffix -ɯn

Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -a

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ

Else: Suffix -uŋ

One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʌ

Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m

Else: Suffix -um

Diminutive = Suffix -ɛ

Augmentative = Suffix -ʌŋ