Etosa

Phonology

Natively known as: Itəʊsá /ˈitəˌʊsɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
e ẓi ẓi ïj́ mim vadz e ik shyoj ẓi ḷawj́ snuchyh gœŕ
Pronunciation: /ɛ ʐi ʐi ɪɟ mim vaʣ ɛ ik çjoʤ ʐi ɭɔɟ snuʧ gœɾ/
Etosa word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c d g j k l m n p q r s t v z ç ŋ ɖ ɟ ɢ ɭ ɱ ɲ ɳ ɻ ɾ ʂ ʈ ʐ ʔ ʣ ʤ ʦ ʧ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m	ɱ		n		ɳ	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b			t d		ʈ ɖ	c ɟ	k g	q ɢ	ʔ
Affricate				ʦ ʣ	ʧ ʤ
Fricative		v	θ	s z		ʂ ʐ	ç
Approximant						ɻ	j
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l		ɭ

Vowel inventory: /a i o u æ œ ɐ ɑ ɔ ɛ ɪ/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid			o
Low-mid	ɛ œ		ɔ
Near-low	æ	ɐ
Low	a		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C) ?
Stress pattern: advanced ?
Word initial consonants: b, br, c, d, dr, dz, g, gr, gɾ, j, ks, kv, l, lj, m, mb, mj, ml, mp, n, nj, nt, pj, pl, pr, pç, q, s, sj, sm, sn, t, tj, tr, ts, tv, v, vn, vɾ, z, zl, zn, zr, çj, ɟ, ɢ, ɭ, ɱ, ɲj, ɳ, ɻ, ɾ, ʂ, ʈ, ʐ, ʔ, ʣ, ʤd, ʤj, ʦ, ʧl, θ, θl
Mid-word consonants: b, bb, bd, br, bt, bz, bɾ, c, cs, ct, d, dd, dg, dl, dn, ds, dt, dɲ, dɾ, dʤ, g, gb, gd, gj, gm, gr, j, jd, jj, jk, jn, jr, jt, jv, k, kd, kj, kk, kl, kn, kr, ks, kt, kç, kʦ, l, lb, lc, ld, lg, lj, lk, ll, lm, ls, lv, lɟ, lɲ, lʤ, lʧ, lθ, m, md, mg, mj, mm, mp, ms, mv, mɾ, mʔ, mʤ, mʧ, n, nb, nr, nt, nv, nz, nɲ, nʂ, nʦ, p, pj, pl, pt, pv, pz, q, qd, qq, r, rb, rj, rk, rm, rp, rr, rt, rv, rç, rʤ, rʦ, rʧ, s, sb, sl, sn, st, sv, sz, sç, sʈ, sʔ, sʧ, t, td, tg, tk, tn, tp, tr, ts, tt, tz, tʔ, tʤ, tʧ, v, vd, vg, vr, vɲ, z, zg, zj, zk, zm, zp, zz, zɟ, ç, çl, çt, ŋ, ŋb, ŋd, ŋg, ŋj, ŋk, ŋl, ŋp, ŋs, ŋz, ŋʦ, ɖ, ɟ, ɟl, ɟn, ɟr, ɢ, ɭ, ɭb, ɭd, ɭg, ɭk, ɭs, ɭɭ, ɱ, ɲ, ɲb, ɲj, ɲt, ɲz, ɲɲ, ɳ, ɻ, ɻn, ɾ, ɾd, ɾl, ɾn, ɾs, ɾt, ʂ, ʂl, ʂt, ʂʈ, ʈ, ʈʂ, ʐ, ʐn, ʔ, ʔd, ʔm, ʔɾ, ʣ, ʤ, ʤl, ʤm, ʤr, ʤt, ʦ, ʦk, ʦn, ʦr, ʦs, ʦç, ʧ, ʧk, θ, θd, θl
Word final consonants: b, d, g, k, l, m, n, p, q, s, t, ç, ŋ, ɖ, ɟ, ɢ, ɭ, ɱ, ɳ, ɻ, ɾ, ʂ, ʈ, ʐ, ʣ, ʤ, ʧ, θ
Phonological changes (in order of application): ?

• ʔ → Ø / C_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
c	chy
j	y
tʂ	ts
ç	sh
ŋ	ng
ɐ	ä
ɑ	á
ɔ	aw
ɖ	ḍ
ɛ	e
ɟ	j́
ɢ	ǵ
ɪ	ï
ɭ	ḷ
ɱ	ḿ
ɲ	ny
ɳ	ṇ
ɻ	r̀
ɾ	ŕ
ʂ	ṣ
ʈ	ṭ
ʐ	ẓ
ʔ	ʻ
ʣ	dz
ʤ	j
ʦ	ts
ʧ	ch
θ	th

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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 two cases:

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

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

a /a/ plural particle

Nominative	No affix awzpiḿ /ˈɔzpiɱ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -as awzpiḿas /ˈɔzpiɱas/ (verb done to) dog

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	zæ /zæ/ the	awp /ɔp/ a
Plural	u /u/ the	mbï /mbɪ/ some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	bæ /bæ/ I	ol /ol/ me
2nd singular	ṇœ /ɳœ/ you	ʻu /ʔu/ you
3rd singular masc	ẓi /ʐi/ he	bäl /bɐl/ him
3rd singular fem	mpi /mpi/ she	e /ɛ/ her
1st plural	ḷï /ɭɪ/ we	grœ /grœ/ us
2nd plural	myu /mju/ you (all)	nyi /nji/ you (all)
3rd plural masc	i /i/ they	ṭu /ʈu/ them
3rd plural fem	nyye /ɲjɛ/ they	kve /kvɛ/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	bæ /bæ/ my
2nd singular	ṇœ /ɳœ/ your
3rd singular masc	ẓi /ʐi/ his
3rd singular fem	mpi /mpi/ her
1st plural	ḷï /ɭɪ/ our
2nd plural	ṇœ /ɳœ/ your
3rd plural masc	i /i/ their
3rd plural fem	i /i/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
Masculine	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -ɑʧ ekáchyh /ˈɛkɑʧ/	Suffix -iŋ ekáing /ˈɛkɑiŋ/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɢ Else: Suffix -uɢ ekáǵ /ˈɛkɑɢ/
Feminine	Suffix -ɪg ekáïg /ˈɛkɑɪg/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -lɲɑ Else: Suffix -alɲɑ ekálnyá /ˈɛkɑlɲɑ/	Suffix -i ekái /ˈɛkɑi/
Neutral	Suffix -æt ekáæt /ˈɛkɑæt/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɻ Else: Suffix -ɪɻ ekár̀ /ˈɛkɑɻ/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -θ Else: Suffix -ɔθ ekáth /ˈɛkɑθ/

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. Etosa uses the word for ‘finish’ zræs for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Etosa has a base-10 number system:
1 - i
2 - pliṣ
3 - zni
4 - go
5 - mbï
6 - græ
7 - ta
8 - ḷïj
9 - dze
10 - nyye
11 - nyyei “ten-one”
100 - myá “hundred”
101 - myá e i “hundred and one”
200 - pliṣ myá
1000 - pshup “thousand”

Morphology

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dɾi Else: Suffix -odɾi
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɔ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -qo Else: Suffix -iqo
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -œ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʣ Else: Suffix -ɛʣ
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ub
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -bdi Else: Suffix -abdi
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʦsɐ Else: Suffix -œʦsɐ
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mɾæ Else: Suffix -ɑmɾæ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤla Else: Suffix -œʤla Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɢu Else: Suffix -ɪɢu
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -zpo Else: Suffix -ɐzpo
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋi Else: Suffix -œŋi

Dictionary

4344 Words.