Kinda Kenku Language

References C’ą̂ą́r (Formor), very strict word order

Natively known as: shingemre /çɨˈɴɛmrɛ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
hae kia sheŋǂ qikir hiah keǃ hae sheŋǂ ij ǂahrek jaeǃe ke ǂeŋǂaer
Pronunciation: /ħae̯ kia̯ çɛŋǂ qɨˈkɨr ħia̯ħ kɛǃ ħae̯ çɛŋǂ ɨc ǂɐˈħrɛk cae̯ˈǃɛ kɛ ǂɛŋˈǂae̯r/
Shingemren word order: and he hat his holding stood and his face wet the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: c c͡ç k m q r r̥ ç ħ ŋǁ ŋǂ ŋǃ ǁ ǂ ǃ ɴ ʝ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal
Nasal	m				ɴ
Stop			c	k	q
Affricate			c͡ç
Fricative			ç ʝ			ħ
Trill		r r̥
Click		ǃ	ǂ
Lateral click		ǁ

Vowel inventory: ae̯ ia̯ ɐ ɛ ɨ
Diphthongs: ae̯ ia̯ ?

	Front	Central
High		ɨ
Low-mid	ɛ
Near-low		ɐ

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C) ?
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɛ	e
ɐ	a
ɨ	i
ʝ	y
ħ	h
ɴ	ng
ç	sh
c	j
c͡ç	ch
◌̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object (Prepositional phrase) Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door with a key opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have six cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

Ergative	Suffix -ɛ jimreŋǃe /cɨˈmrɛŋǃɛ/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix jimreŋǃ /cɨˈmrɛŋǃ/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ɐm jimreŋǃam /cɨˈmrɛŋǃɐm/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -ɐ jimreŋǃa /cɨˈmrɛŋǃɐ/ to dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋǃ Else: Suffix -ia̯ŋǃ jimreŋǃiaŋǃ /cɨˈmrɛŋǃia̯ŋǃ/ near/at/by dog
Ablative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋǃ Else: Suffix -ɨŋǃ jimreŋǃiŋǃ /cɨˈmrɛŋǃɨŋǃ/ from dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	No affix sharja /çɐrˈcɐ/ the boy	No affix r̥iaŋǁa /r̥ia̯ŋˈǁɐ/ the girl
Indefinite	Suffix -ɛ sharjae /çɐrˈcɐɛ/ a/some boy	If ends with vowel: Suffix -c Else: Suffix -ɛc r̥iaŋǁaj /r̥ia̯ŋˈǁɐc/ a/some girl

Articles

Shingemren encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	qaej /qae̯c/ I	ǂaesh /ǂae̯ç/ me	ǁi /ǁɨ/ mine	ngi /ɴɨ/ to me	j͡sher /c͡çɛr/ to me	j͡shae /c͡çae̯/ from me
2nd singular	jia /cia̯/ you	ki /kɨ/ you	kiy /kɨʝ/ yours	ǁej /ǁɛc/ to you	qeng /qɛɴ/ to you	shi /çɨ/ from you
3rd singular masc	kia /kia̯/ he, it (masc)	j͡shaǂ /c͡çɐǂ/ his, it (masc)	r̥a /r̥ɐ/ his, its (masc)	kaŋǃ /kɐŋǃ/ to his, to it (masc)	kaeǂ /kae̯ǂ/ to his, to it (masc)	hia /ħia̯/ from his, from it (masc)
3rd singular fem	qing /qɨɴ/ she, it (fem)	heh /ħɛħ/ her, it (fem)	ǁe /ǁɛ/ hers, its (fem)	qa /qɐ/ to her, to it (fem)	she /çɛ/ to her, to it (fem)	kang /kɐɴ/ from her, from it (fem)
1st plural	kij /kɨc/ we	nger̥ /ɴɛr̥/ us	je /cɛ/ ours	r̥ia /r̥ia̯/ to us	ǂi /ǂɨ/ to us	kir /kɨr/ from us
2nd plural	kae /kae̯/ you all	kay /kɐʝ/ you all	ǂae /ǂae̯/ yours (pl)	jer̥ /cɛr̥/ to you all	shiash /çia̯ç/ to you all	hiaǃ /ħia̯ǃ/ from you all
3rd plural masc	j͡shi /c͡çɨ/ they (masc)	jek /cɛk/ them (masc)	jaǁ /cɐǁ/ theirs (masc)	jash /cɐç/ to them (masc)	qae /qae̯/ to them (masc)	qe /qɛ/ from them (masc)
3rd plural fem	jiaǃ /cia̯ǃ/ they (fem)	iǂ /ɨǂ/ them (fem)	jae /cae̯/ theirs (fem)	r̥iǁ /r̥ɨǁ/ to them (fem)	j͡shaeǂ /c͡çae̯ǂ/ to them (fem)	qi /qɨ/ from them (fem)

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	nga /ɴɐ/ my
2nd singular	qi /qɨ/ your
3rd singular masc	sheŋǂ /çɛŋǂ/ his
3rd singular fem	jae /cae̯/ her
1st plural	ǂae /ǂae̯/ our
2nd plural	ǂaer /ǂae̯r/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	r̥e /r̥ɛ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	hia /ħia̯/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix jiǃ /cɨǃ/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kkɐ Else: Suffix -ae̯kkɐ jiǃaekka /cɨˈǃae̯kkɐ/ learned

Shingemren uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: c͡çia̯ - j͡shia jiǃ /c͡çia̯ cɨǃ/ 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.
Shingemren uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable jijiǃ /cɨˈcɨǃ/ have learned

Numbers

Shingemren has a base-10 number system:
1 - nge
2 - r̥eǃ
3 - shiaǁ
4 - qim
5 - j͡shi
6 - kmiy
7 - kme
8 - ngi
9 - ǂaj
10 - ǂiaǂ
11 - shaŋǂ
12 - je
13 - shi
14 - jiah
15 - sha
16 - ǂej͡sh
17 - kir̥
18 - r̥i
19 - kirjae
20 - haeǃ
100 - shir̥
1000 - jerme

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ħae̯
Else: Suffix -ɨħae̯
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ae̯
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɨm
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǁɛ
Else: Suffix -ia̯ǁɛ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɨ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋǂ
Else: Suffix -ɨŋǂ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -ɛr
Tending to = Suffix -ɐc
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -ɐm
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -c͡ç
Else: Suffix -ae̯c͡ç
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ia̯ç
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ç
Else: Suffix -ɐç
Diminutive = Suffix -ɛ
Augmentative = Suffix -ae̯

Phonology

Consonants: /c, m(k), r, r̥ , ç, ǂ, q, ħ, ǁ, ɴ, c͡ç, ǃ, ŋǃ, ŋǁ, ŋǂ, ʝ, ʌ̝̊/
vowels: /ɨ, ɛ~ɐ, ae̯, ia̯/ (creaky vs uncreaky vs nasal, tones)

Dictionary

219 Words.