chkwam summary
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a brief introduction and a scratchpad
This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 31 Dec 2018, 01:49.
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2. chkwam summary
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3. Demonstratives
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7. Relational verbs
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8. Relative clauses
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10. Topic and focus
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?FYI...
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
This article is a work in progress! Check back later in case any changes have occurred.
vis
breathe tyomw
man
The man breaths
kyar
dog mo
see tyomw
man
The dog sees the man
ræqw xwla
pay brwis xwla
Progressive is marked with a verb that also shows position, the second subject is omitted
wæ
lye xwla
snake ræq
die
The snake is dying
az
stand pay
woman rbwis
kill xwla
snake
the woman is killing the snake
az
stand pay
woman rbwis
kill xwla-m
snake-ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent
the snake killed the standing woman
az
stand pay
woman rbrwis
kill xwla-m
snake-ERGErgative (case)
TRANS subject; agent
the snake killed the standing woman
Chkwam is my new project built with some features i havenyt used before. It is an analytic, ergative language with SVO and VS orders (syntactic ergativity). There is no noun inflection and verb inflection is reduced to mark noun class, often with suppletion and ablaut.
The phoneme inventory is as follows:
| labial | alveolar | velar | glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | round | plain | palatal | plain | round | plain | round | ||
| nasal | m | mʷ | n | ɲ | |||||
| voiceless stop | t | ts | tʃ | k | kʷ | ʔ | ʔʷ | ||
| voiced stop | b | bʷ | d | dz | dʒ | ||||
| voiceless fricative | f | fʷ | s | ʃ | x | xʷ | h | ||
| voiced fricative | v | z | ʒ | g | |||||
| continuant | r l | y | w | ||||||
front back
high i ĩ u ũ
mid e ẽ o
back ɛ a ã
Ortography:
| labial | alveolar | velar | glottal | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | round | plain | palatal | plain | round | plain | round | ||
| nasal | m | mw | n | ny | |||||
| voiceless stop | t | ty | ky | k | kw | q | qw | ||
| voiced stop | b | bw | d | dy | gy | ||||
| voiceless fricative | f | fw | s | sy~xy | x | xw | h | ||
| voiced fricative | v | z | zy | g | |||||
| continuant | vw | r l | y | (gw) | |||||
Syllables
Syllables can be up to CCVC, with null onsets and codas and medials being . There are also minor syllables, of the form CV where V is a context-dependent predictable vowel (not written).
Phonological processes
A nasal in coda is pre-stopped if the preceding vowel is not nasal: kykwamq [t͡ʃⁱkʷaᵇm].
| sing | pl | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | excl | deq | dyqol |
| incl | dyoxy | ||
| 2 | informal | oxy | xyol |
| formal | xybäny | lbäny | |
| 3 | human | ül | ol |
| anim | ki | zaky | |
| inan | fi | zaxy | |
| mass | mäny | ||
As said before, the order for intransitive sentences is VS; for transitives, it is SVO. A verb on its own usually has a perfective meaning
Ræq xwla
die snake
"the snake died"
hay rbwis xwla
woman kill snake
"the woman killed the snake"
There is a series of verbs that can be translated as yhavey. These verbs code animacy of the possessor and class of the possessed thing.
For relative clauses it is important to note that, if the verb begind with a palatalised consonant, it is due to a y- prefix and thus the relative form will separate it from the root.
| Human | Animate | Inanimate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| adjectival | req | noq | hoq |
| part | tyëh | ntëh | së |
| individual | kyën | mkwën | hë |
| kinship | |||
| parent older | vasy | na | |
| parent same | resy | nosy | |
| parent younger | qva | qna | |
| owning | |||
| hunt | dyeg | mdeg | |
| cattle | y(l)æs | ndæs | |
| wear | nyeq | nyoq | |
| liquid | tyu | mtu | |
| food | gyor | mgor |
Deq req zyak: I'm big
Kyam noq zyak: The dog is big
Ntyeq hoq zyak: The hat is big
Deq vasy ül tæt: He's my father.
Mosy na ül tæt: It's the catys father.
Deq dyeg fkwer: I hunted a deer.
Deq dyeg fkwer noq zyak: I hunted a big deer.
Fkwer deq yadeg noq zyak: The deer I hunted is big.
Deq yæs fwæh: I have a cow
Fwæh deq yælæs noq zyak: The cow I have is big.
There are two series of demonstratives in Chkwam: adjectival and identificational. Adjectival demonstratives modify a verb and identificational are used for non-verbal clauses.
There are six different demonstratives for each category and three distance distinctions: proximal (close), distal (far) and non-visible. Non-visible is further divided by tense: present, past, remote past and future.
| adj | ident | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| sg | pl.hum | pl.nhum | ||
| prox | be | më | mël | zmë |
| dist | i | ä | al | zä |
| nvis. Pres | zyi | vtyï | vtyïl | vatyï |
| nvis. Pst | zyu | vä | väl | vü |
| nvis. Rem | zyoq | vkyoq | vkyol | vakyoq |
| nvis. Fut | gwi | gä | gäl | vwä |
Pronominal demonstratives are actually a phrase made with an adjectival demonstrative modified with a demonstrative. Identificational demonstratives don't require a pronoun.
Be ki deq qva kyam
be
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker ki
3AThird person animate (person)
he/she/they, not it deq
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I qva
have kyam
dog
This is my dog
Më deq qva kyam
më
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker.EXISTExistential (case)
'there is' deq
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I qva
have kyam
dog
Here's my dog
Be zaky deq qva kyam
be
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker zaky
3AThird person animate (person)
he/she/they, not it.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few deq
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I qva
have kyam
dog
These are my dogs
Zmë deq qva kyam
zmë
PROXProximal (proximity)
close to speaker.EXISTExistential (case)
'there is'.PLPlural (number)
more than one/few deq
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I qva
have kyam
dog
Here are my dogs
Qwa tmuh yü deq resy zyu bnony o!
qwa
PROHProhibitive (mood)
negative imperative tmuh
phone call yü
DATDative (case)
indirect object; recipient, beneficiary, location deq
1First person (person)
speaker, signer, etc; I resy
have zyu
DEMDemonstrative
e.g. this/ that.PSTPast (tense)
action occurred before moment of speech.HUMHuman (gender/class)
human or belonging to human bnony
wife o
EXCMExclamatory mood (mood)
excitement, importance, etc
Don't call my ex-wife!
Topics are sent to the right of the sentence. Topical agents require a pronoun to replace them:
xwla
snake ræq
die
The snake, it died
xwla
snake hay
woman rbwis
kill
"the snake, the woman killed it"
hay
woman ül
3HThird person human (person)
humans (or possibly sentients) rbwis
kill xwla
snake
"The woman, she killed the snake"
Imperfective aspect is constructed with a set of intransitive verbs that also code position of the object:
az hay rbwis xbwaq
stand woman kill rabbit
"the woman is killing the rabbit (standing)"
yäq hay rbwis xbwaq
sit woman kill rabbit
"the woman is killing the rabbit (sitting)"
yäh xbwaq hay rbwis
The rabbit, the woman is killing it
az hay ül rbwis xbwaq
The woman, sheys killing the rabbit
Focus is marked with the focus marked ë, focused element are also on the left:
Ë hay az rbwis xbwaq
FOC woman stand kill rabbit
THE WOMAN is killing the rabbit
Ë hay rbwis xbwaq
FOC woman kill rabbit
THE WOMAN killed the rabbit
Ë xbwah yäq hay rbwis
FOC rabbit sit woman kill
The woman killed THE RABBIT
Ë xbwah hay rbwis
FOC rabbit woman kill
The woman killed THE RABBIT
Adjectives behave like nouns, to modify one they come after the modified noun, after the verb "have" (suppletive). These construction doesn't use positional imperfectives
yäq
sit
hay
woman req
has
zyak
big rbwis
kill xbwaq
rabbit noq
have nin
little
"the big woman is killing the little rabbit (sitting)"
Relative clauses are formed putting the relativized argument to the front and leaving its place empty. The verb within the relative usually has a prefix a-. Only lexical verbs use this prefix, aspectual verbs donyt.
kwef hay rabwis xbwaq.
run woman REL.kill rabbit
The woman that killed the rabbit ran
kwef hay yäq rabwis xbwaq.
run woman sit REL.kill rabbit
The woman that is killing the rabbit ran
xbwaq hay rabwis noq zyak.
rabbit woman REL.kill have big
The rabbit that the woman killed is big.
xbwaq yäq hay rabwis noq zyak
rabbit woman REL.kill have big
The rabbit that the woman is killing is big
A verb on its own usually has a perfective meaning, which is usually past. Imperfective aspect is constructed with a set of intransitive verbs that also code position of the object. Other aspects, such as perfect, are marked with auxiliary verbs; there is no tense marking apart from adverbs. I used past forms for translating perfectives, but they can have future reference.
kwef kyam
run dog
the dog ran
Mesy kyam kwef
stand(animal) dog run
the dog is running
kyam mäxw xwef
dog finish run(N)
the dog finished running/has run
Säwmibw kwef kyam
tomorrow run dog
The dog will (have) run tomorrow
Säwmibw kyam mäxw xwef
tomorrow dog finish run(N)
The dog will have run tomorrow
Säwmibw mesy kyam kwef
tomorrow stand(animal) dog run
the dog will be running tomorrow
Säwdah kwef kyam
yesterday run dog
The dog ran yesterday
Säwdah kyam mäxw xwef
yesterday dog finish run(N)
The dog has run yesterday
Säwdah mesy kyam kwef
yesterday stand(animal) dog run
the dog was running yesterday
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