Nyi̊ggan
Natively known as: nyi̊gga /ɲɨˈgːa/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...kna shhu wwo dya nnoko dya kna snowi̊ dya ttia betse dwo ngongi̊
Pronunciation: /kna ɬːu wːo dja nːoˈko dja kna snoˈwɨ dja tːiˈa betˈse dwo ngonˈgɨ/
Nyi̊ggan word order: and stood holding hat his he and turned his face wet to the wind
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b bː d g gː j jː k m n nː p pː s sː t tː w wː ŋ ɬ ɬː ɲ ɲː ʔ ʔː↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n nː | ɲ ɲː | ŋ | |
Stop | p pː b bː | t tː d | k g gː | ʔ ʔː | |
Fricative | s sː | ||||
Approximant | j jː | ||||
Lateral fricative | ɬ ɬː |
↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-velar |
---|---|
Approximant | w wː |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i | ɨ | u |
High-mid | e | o | |
Low | a |
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
ʔ | ʻ |
ɨ | i̊ |
j | y |
ŋ | ng |
ɬ | sh |
ɲ | ny |
Cː | CC |
Grammar
Main word order: Verb Object (Prepositional phrase) Subject. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Opened the door with a key Mary.Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions
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 | No affix shatnyi̊ /ɬatˈɲɨ/ dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative | Prefix ɲːa- nyːashatnyi̊ /ɲːaˈɬatɲɨ/ (verb done to) dog |
Singular | No affix shatnyi̊ /ɬatˈɲɨ/ dog |
Plural | Reduplicate first part of first syllable shashatnyi̊ /ɬaˈɬatɲɨ/ dogs |
Articles
Definite | Indefinite | |
---|---|---|
Singular | nya /nja/ the | si̊ /sɨ/ a |
Plural | ppi̊ /pːɨ/ the | twi̊ /twɨ/ some |
- Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
- 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 | mu /mu/ I | pi̊ /pɨ/ me |
2nd singular | ngu /ngu/ you | kmi /kmi/ you |
3rd singular masc | dya /dja/ he, it | swi̊ /swɨ/ him, it |
3rd singular fem | nyːo /ɲːo/ she, it | si /si/ her, it |
1st plural | si̊ /sɨ/ we | sni̊ /snɨ/ us |
2nd plural | ʻːe /ʔːe/ you all | kso /kso/ you all |
3rd plural | kni /kni/ they | i̊ /ɨ/ them |
Possessive determiners
1st singular | mu /mu/ my |
2nd singular | ngu /ngu/ your |
3rd singular masc | dya /dja/ his |
3rd singular fem | nyːo /ɲːo/ her |
1st plural | si̊ /sɨ/ our |
2nd plural | ʻːe /ʔːe/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | kni /kni/ their |
Verbs
Present | No affix snaki̊ /snaˈkɨ/ learn |
Past | Prefix dji- dyisnaki̊ /djisˈnakɨ/ learned |
Remote past | Prefix swɨ- swi̊snaki̊ /swɨsˈnakɨ/ learned (long ago) |
Future | Prefix me- mesnaki̊ /mesˈnakɨ/ will learn |
Imperfective aspect
The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).Nyi̊ggan uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:
Imperfective | Particle before the verb: mdɨ - mdi̊ snaki̊ /mdɨ snaˈkɨ/ learns/is learning |
Numbers
Nyi̊ggan has a base-10 number system: 1 - ʻːi2 - ggawmu
3 - tti
4 - swowpi̊
5 - bwineyo
6 - mya
7 - nni̊
8 - nyːusgi̊
9 - yanta
10 - nga
Hundred - dyu
Thousand - pyumda
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Suffix -mgiAdjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -gbɨ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ma-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -mo
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -gːa
Noun to verb = Suffix -ʔːu
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -tːa
Tending to = Prefix jːe-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -nko
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix pjɨ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix tɨ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ntu
Diminutive = Prefix knu-
Augmentative = Suffix -ne
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