Kìwten

This is the language of the Kiwta

Natively known as: wafpägng /vafˈpeːgŋ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
gilldt schuchts schuhchts plü ple bunn gilldt brichkierl süfdt schuchts plyl dygng fer
Pronunciation: /gilt ʃuːçts ʃuːçts plʏ plə bʊn gilt bʁiçˈkiːʁl zʏft ʃuːçts plyl dygŋ fɐ/
Kìwten word order: and he hat his holding stood and the wind to his face wet turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v x z ç ŋ ʁ ʃ ʔ ʦ ʧ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Stop	b p		d t			g k		ʔ
Affricate			ʦ	ʧ
Fricative		v f	z s	ʃ	ç	x	ʁ χ	h
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: a aɪ̯ aʊ̯ aː e eː i iː o oː u uː y yː øː œ ɐ ɔ ɔʏ̯ ə ɛ ɛː ɪ ʊ ʏ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ ɔʏ̯ ?

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː yː i y		uː u
Near-high	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
High-mid	eː øː e		oː o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ œ ɛː		ɔ
Near-low		ɐ
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
v	w
p	b / _#
t	dt / _#
ks	chs
x	ch
ç	ch
ʃ	sch
ʁ	r
z	s
k	ck / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
{m,b,l,t,n,p,s}	__ / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
ʦj	ti
ʦ	zt / _#
ʦ	z
iː	ie
ɛː	ä
ɛ	ä | e
œ	ö
aʊ	au
oː	o | oh | oo
ɔʏ̯	eu
ɔ	o
aɪ	ei | ai
yː	ü
ʏ	ü
uː	u | uh
ʊ	u
aː	a
ɐ	er / !_r
ɐ	e
ɪ	i
øː	ö
ø	ö
eː	ä | äh | e | eh | ee
ə	e
ʔ
̯

---

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 after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

	Nominative	Accusative
Singular	No affix minnfdt /mɪnft/ dog (doing the verb)	Prefix ɛ- ämminnfdt /ɛˈmɪnft/ (verb done to) the/a dog
Plural	Prefix dʁɐ- drermminnfdt /dʁɐˈmɪnft/ dogs (doing the verb)	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɔʏ̯- meuminnfdt /mɔʏ̯ˈmɪnft/ (verb done to) dogs

Articles

Definite	kwail /kvaɪ̯l/ the
Indefinite	se /ze/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• 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 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’
• 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

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	daf /daf/ I	werng /vɐŋ/ me
2nd singular	schte /ʃtə/ you	wäh /veː/ you
3rd singular masc	schuhchts /ʃuːçts/ he, it (masc)	fuf /fʊf/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	wä /vɛ/ she, it (fem)	ief /ʔiːf/ her, it (fem)
1st plural inclusive	pfermmpf /pfɐmpf/ we (including you)	muk /muːk/ us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	breindt /bʁaɪ̯nt/ we (excluding you)	kwau /kvaʊ̯/ us (excluding you)
2nd plural	dre /dʁɛ/ you all	dri /dʁɪ/ you all
3rd plural	fong /fɔŋ/ they	ke /kə/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	daf /daf/ my
2nd singular	schte /ʃtə/ your
3rd singular masc	schuhchts /ʃuːçts/ his
3rd singular fem	wä /vɛ/ her
1st plural inclusive	pfermmpf /pfɐmpf/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	braindt /bʁaɪ̯nt/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	dre /dʁɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	fong /fɔŋ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix sömm /sœm/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃʁ- Else: Prefix ʃʁʊ- schrussömm /ʃʁʊˈsœm/ learned
Remote past	Prefix iː- iesömm /iːˈsœm/ learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix bl- Else: Prefix bleː- blähsömm /bleːˈsœm/ 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.
Kìwten uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix ʦɛ- zässömm /ʦɛˈsœm/ have learned

Numbers

Kìwten has a base-10 number system:
1 - wau
2 - flürl
3 - ta
4 - wä
5 - riesch
6 - gättsdt
7 - blä
8 - rysch
9 - hör
10 - dau
100 - schirher
1000 - suh

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɪʃ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tst
Else: Suffix -yːtst
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -ys
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix œ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁts
Else: Suffix -aɪ̯ʁts
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɪm
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix bʁoː-
Tending to = Suffix -iː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ɪn
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɪ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɪ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ʃpʁʊ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ag-
Else: Prefix agɛ-
Augmentative = Prefix oː-

Dictionary

3081 Words.