Kpemighi

Natively known as: kpemigh /kpeˈmiɣ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
fa ki viin kpin sha ima fa gigelo sha harugugh nenggu kwagh kaan
Pronunciation: /fa ki viːn kpin ʃa iˈma fa gigeˈlo ʃa haruˈguɣ neŋˈgu kwaɣ kaːn/
Kpemighi word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d d͡ʒ f g h j k l m n p r s t t͡s t͡ʃ v w z ŋ ɣ ɲ ʃ ʤ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b		t d			k g
Affricate				ʤ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Fricative		v f	z s	ʃ		ɣ	h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aː e eː i iː o oː ô ôː u uː ɔ ɔː

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː ô ôː
Low-mid		ɔ ɔː
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
uː	uu
ɔː	ɔɔ
ôː	ôô
oː	oo
ô	ô
iː	ii
eː	ee
aː	aa
t͡ʃ	tsh
t͡s	ts
ʃ	sh
ŋ	ng
ɲ	ny
ɣ	gh
d͡ʒ	j
ʤ	j

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have both a plural affix and ‘paucal’ affix for referring to a few of something.

Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix el- Else: Prefix ela- elazun /elaˈzun/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ml- Else: Prefix mla- mlazun /mlaˈzun/ dogs
Paucal	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix moː- moozun /moːˈzun/ few dogs

Articles

Definite	nggi /ŋgi/ the
Indefinite	wir /wir/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

1st singular	li /li/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ga /ga/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ki /ki/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	gan /gan/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	va /va/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	da /da/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	mla /mla/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ma /ma/ my
2nd singular	na /na/ your
3rd singular masc	sha /ʃa/ his
3rd singular fem	jar /jar/ her
1st plural	tshaks /t͡ʃaks/ our
2nd plural	shan /ʃan/ your (pl)
3rd plural	zagh /zaɣ/ their

Verbs

Present	Prefix zi- zigotam /zigoˈtam/ learn
Past	Prefix vu- vugotam /vugoˈtam/ learned

Kpemighi uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kpe - kpe gotam /kpe goˈtam/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ʃun - shun gotam /ʃun goˈtam/ be 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).
Kpemighi uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: mo - mo gotam /mo goˈtam/ learn (often, habitually)

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.
Kpemighi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix e- egotam /egoˈtam/ have learned

Numbers

Kpemighi has a base-12 number system:
1 - lor
2 - nur
3 - sha
4 - ger
5 - nyan
6 - tshe
7 - lu
8 - var
9 - ôô
10 - are
11 - men
12 - nu
144 - kɔtje
1728 - lihan

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix iː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix nu-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix le-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ki-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix joː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix gi-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix atj-
Else: Prefix atja-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix mb-
Else: Prefix mbu-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix na-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mu-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nu-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix end-
Else: Prefix enda-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix mt͡ʃ-
Else: Prefix mt͡ʃi-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix v-
Else: Prefix vi-

Dictionary

3107 Words.