ALAWAQ

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ISHADIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 6.47M / #7
SPOKEN IN: L'ai Alaq - 3M / Shuri - 2M / Sekh Anoob - 700K / Qildab - 450K / Tifwa Akn - 290K / Bluepool - 30K
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: mu˧ tě˧d ˈtu˧nqit ˈyu˧kqit tě˧d ˈyu˧da˧pi˧f mu˧ ˈyu˧qit tě˧d ne˧k hě˧m ˈdi˧ki˧ i˧ng
Pronunciation: mu˧ tɛ˧d ˈtu˧nqit ˈju˧kqit tɛ˧d ˈju˧da˧pi˧f mu˧ ˈju˧qit tɛ˧d ne˧k hɛ˧m ˈdi˧ki˧ i˧ŋ

Alawaq word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f h j k m n p s t w ħ ŋ ɡ ɬ ɮ ɾ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	p b		t d		k ɡ
Fricative		f	s			ħ	h
Approximant				j
Tap			ɾ
Lateral fricative			ɬ ɮ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a ã e i ĩ o u ũ æ ɔ ɔ̃ ɛ/
Tones: ˧

	Front	Back
High	i ĩ	u ũ
High-mid	e	o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ ɔ̃
Near-low	æ
Low	a ã

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, f, h, j, k, m, n, p, t, w, ħ, ɮ, ɾ
Mid-word consonants: b, bm, bn, bt, d, db, df, ds, dw, dɡ, f, fd, ff, fm, ft, h, hb, hd, hj, hk, hm, hw, j, jf, jj, jm, jn, jɡ, k, kf, kj, kn, kt, kw, m, mf, mh, mk, mm, mn, mp, ms, mɬ, mɮ, n, nd, nf, nj, np, ns, nw, nɡ, nɬ, nɮ, p, pf, pj, pk, pm, s, sb, sp, ss, st, sw, sɡ, t, tk, tp, ts, tt, tɮ, w, wb, wd, ws, wɡ, wɮ, ħ, ħn, ŋ, ŋb, ŋh, ŋj, ŋk, ŋm, ŋn, ŋs, ŋt, ŋw, ɡ, ɡf, ɡh, ɡs, ɡt, ɡɮ, ɡɾ, ɬ, ɬw, ɮ, ɮb, ɮn, ɮs, ɮɡ, ɮɮ, ɾ, ɾb, ɾd, ɾf, ɾm, ɾw
Word final consonants: d, f, k, m, n, s, t, w, ħ, ŋ, ɬ, ɮ, ɾ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• e → i / _b
• u → o / _p

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɔ	aw
ɛ	ě
ɡ	g
ŋ	ng
ɬ	sh
j	y
ɮ	zh
ɾ	r
ħ	h́

Grammar

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

Nouns

	Animate	Inanimate
Singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɔ˧k pæ˧k /pæ˧k/	Suffix -u˧d ˈmo˧daw̃˧ˌki˧u˧d /ˈmo˧dɔ̃˧ˌki˧u˧d/
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tɛ˧- ˈtě˧pæ˧ /ˈtɛ˧pæ˧/	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix du˧- ˈdu˧mo˧ˌdaw̃˧ki˧ /ˈdu˧mo˧ˌdɔ̃˧ki˧/

Articles

Alawaq has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

1st singular	ti˧k /ti˧k/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	fi˧ /fi˧/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	tě˧d /tɛ˧d/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	tě˧k /tɛ˧k/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	di˧zh /di˧ɮ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	mu˧ /mu˧/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	tu˧k /tu˧k/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ti˧k /ti˧k/ my
2nd singular	fi˧ /fi˧/ your
3rd singular masc	tě˧d /tɛ˧d/ his
3rd singular fem	tě˧k /tɛ˧k/ her
1st plural	di˧zh /di˧ɮ/ our
2nd plural	mu˧ /mu˧/ your (pl)
3rd plural	tu˧k /tu˧k/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st person	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -u˧ŋ ˈtě˧wqitu˧ng /ˈtɛ˧wqitu˧ŋ/ (I/we) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -u˧k ˈtě˧wqitu˧k /ˈtɛ˧wqitu˧k/ (I/we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -æ˧f ˈtě˧wqitæ˧f /ˈtɛ˧wqitæ˧f/ (I/we) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
2nd person	No affix ˈtě˧wqit /ˈtɛ˧wqit/ (you/you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ũ˧f ˈtě˧wqitũ˧f /ˈtɛ˧wqitũ˧f/ (you/you all) learned	Prefix mi˧- ˈmi˧tě˧wqit /ˈmi˧tɛ˧wqit/ (you/you all) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
3rd person	No affix ˈtě˧wqit /ˈtɛ˧wqit/ (he/she/it/they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -i˧s ˈtě˧wqiti˧s /ˈtɛ˧wqiti˧s/ (he/she/it/they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jũ˧- ˈyũ˧tě˧wqit /ˈjũ˧tɛ˧wqit/ (he/she/it/they) learned (lonɡ aɡo)

Alawaq uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mi˧k - mi˧k ˈtě˧wqit /mi˧k ˈtɛ˧wqit/ 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).
Alawaq uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: ju˧ - yu˧ ˈtě˧wqit /ju˧ ˈtɛ˧wqit/ learns/is learninɡ

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.
Alawaq uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -i˧ ˈtě˧wqiti˧ /ˈtɛ˧wqiti˧/ have learned

Numbers

Alawaq has a base-20 number system:
1 - i˧d
2 - mi˧k
3 - mo˧
4 - i˧k
5 - tě˧
6 - mě˧sh
7 - zhi˧
8 - fi˧
9 - kě˧
10 - ne˧n
11 - ˈyo˧be˧h́
12 - ˈbo˧waw̃˧ngě˧w
13 - ˈmo˧ngi˧
14 - ˈmaw˧hĩ˧kyi˧
15 - ˈzhi˧he˧k
16 - ˈmã˧hyu˧w
17 - ˈkũ˧ri˧
18 - ˈko˧ngũ˧s
19 - ˈkũ˧wzhu˧f
20 - ˈmi˧hbi˧sh
21 - ˈmi˧hbi˧shi˧d “twenty-one”
400 - ti˧m “fourhundred”
401 - ti˧m i˧d “fourhundred one”
800 - mi˧k ti˧m “two fourhundred”
8000 - ye˧w “eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -e˧w
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -u˧k
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾ Else: Suffix -ɛ˧ɾ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -e˧f
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -u˧
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɮ- Else: Prefix ɮi˧-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jo˧-
Tending to = Suffix -ã˧
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ũ˧f
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -o˧
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jo˧-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix fi˧-
Diminutive = Prefix te˧-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -u˧k

Dictionary

4457 Words.