Kenguian

Natively known as: kengu /ˈkɛŋgu/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ye ni do pedo pi kaakwafi ye gulingo pi lola lodimba o shalwe
Pronunciation: /jɛ ni dɔ ˈpɛdɔ pi kaːˈkwafi jɛ guˈliŋgɔ pi ˈlɔla lɔˈdimba ɔ ˈʃalwɛ/
Kenguian word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n nʰ p t v w x ŋ ŋʰ ɲ ʃ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m			n nʰ		ɲ	ŋ ŋʰ
Stop	p b			d t			k g
Fricative		v f	θ		ʃ		x
Approximant						j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aː i iː u uː ɔ ɔː ɛ ɛː

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː	ɔ ɔː
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ŋʰk	nk
nʰt	nt
ŋg	ng
ʤ	dj
ɲ	ny
ʃ	sh
θ	th
aː	aa
ɛː	ee
ɛ	e
iː	ii
ɔː	oo
ɔ	o
uː	uu
x	h
j	y

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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

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: a - a neke /a ˈnɛkɛ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	ka /ka/ the
Indefinite	sha /ʃa/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st singular	e /ɛ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ye /jɛ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ni /ni/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	pi /pi/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	yo /jɔ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	pe /pɛ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ka /ka/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ndo /ndɔ/ my
2nd singular	pa /pa/ your
3rd singular masc	pi /pi/ his
3rd singular fem	ha /xa/ her
1st plural	ndu /ndu/ our
2nd plural	u /u/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ke /kɛ/ their

Verbs

Present	Prefix xɔ- honomho /xɔˈnɔmxɔ/ learn
Past	Prefix li- linomho /liˈnɔmxɔ/ learned

Kenguian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ni - ni nomho /ni ˈnɔmxɔ/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Kenguian uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: nɔ - no nomho /nɔ ˈnɔmxɔ/ 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.
Kenguian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix lu- lunomho /luˈnɔmxɔ/ have learned

Numbers

Kenguian has a base-12 number system:
1 - to
2 - va
3 - li
4 - ne
5 - e
6 - tulwalaa
7 - ledii
8 - wa
9 - ndi
10 - ti
11 - shu
12 - wukwe
144 - nambo
1728 - ida

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix kɛ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix kɔ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix kɛː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ta-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix pu-
Noun to verb = Prefix ndi-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix niː-
Tending to = Prefix ka-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix lɔ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix nu-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ku-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix kaː-
Diminutive = Prefix ma-
Augmentative = Prefix jɛ-

Dictionary

3086 Words.