Kifaswach*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: RUHANDIC
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:
DESCENDANT LANGUAGES:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: d͡su no ñeb shar ni cobʰ d͡su shakʷ ni ñob ük li led
Pronunciation: /t͡sʊ nɔ ñew ʃar ni cɔbʰ t͡sʊ ʃakʷ ni ñɔw uk li led
Kifaswach word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʰ bʼ c d dʰ dʼ f g gʰ gʷ gʷʰ gʼ h j k kʰ kʷ l m n ñ p pʰ q r s sː t tʰ t͡s t͡ʃ w x z ð ɖ ɖʼ ɣ ɮ ɳ ɹ ɽ ɽʼ ʃ ʃʰ ʈ ʈʰ ʋ ʒ ʒʼ ʦʰ ʧ ʧʰ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n ñ		ɳ
Stop	p pʰ b bʼ bʰ			t tʰ d dʼ dʰ		ʈ ʈʰ ɖ ɖʼ	c	k kʰ kʷ g gʼ gʰ gʷ gʷʰ	q
Affricate				ʦʰ	ʧʰ ʧ
Fricative		f	ð	s sː z	ʃ ʃʰ ʒ ʒʼ			x ɣ		h
Approximant		ʋ		ɹ			j
Tap						ɽ ɽʼ
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɮ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i u ɔ ɵ ʊ/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid	e	ɵ
Low-mid			ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: c, ch, h, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, sh, t, tc, th, t͡s, t͡ʃ, w, ð, ɹ, ʃ
Mid-word consonants: b, bʼ, d, dʒ, dʒʼ, dʼ, f, ff, g, gs, gts, gʧ, gʼ, j, k, kʰ, l, m, mn, ms, mʧ, n, nʦʰ, p, pʰ, q, r, rs, rsg, rtɮ, rɮ, rʃ, rʦʰ, s, sn, sr, ss, stʰ, sɮ, t, tr, tw, tɮ, tʃ, tʃʰ, tʰ, tʰg, tʰɮ, ws, wtʰ, wx, wɮ, wʃ, wʦʰ, wʧʰɮ, x, xn, xt, xɮ, z, ɖ, ɖʼ, ɣ, ɮs, ɮt, ɮtw, ɮtʰ, ɮtʰg, ɮtʰtʰ, ɮx, ɮʦʰ, ɮʧ, ɮʧʰɮ, ɳ, ɽ, ɽʼ, ʃ, ʈ, ʈʰ, ʋ, ʒ, ʦʰs, ʧʰ, ʧʰs
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• r → d / x_
• i → u / uC_
• p → b / m_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	b
t	d / !_ʰ
tʰ	t
ʧʰ	ch
ʧ	ch
ʦʰ	c
ʦ	c
kʰ	k
ɮ	l
ʃ	sh
ɔ	o
ɵ	ö
pʰ	p
u	ü
ʊ	u
j	y
ʲ	∅

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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

Singular	No affix sürco /ˈsurʦʰɔ/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix le- lesürco /leˈsurʦʰɔ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	con /cɔn/ the
Indefinite	co /cɔ/ a, some

Pronouns

1st singular	de /te/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	co /cɔ/ you, yours
3rd singular	no /nɔ/ he, she, him, her, his, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	su /sʊ/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	o /ɔ/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	e /e/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ðu /ðʊ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	hü /hu/ my
2nd singular	hö /hɵ/ your
3rd singular	ni /ni/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	ñebʰ /ñebʰ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	chöd /chɵt/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	ñi /ñi/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ru /rʊ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix rüɣi /ˈruɣi/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃɵ- shörüɣi /ˈʃɵruɣi/ learned
Remote past	Prefix cɔ- corüɣi /ˈcɔruɣi/ learned (long ago)

Kifaswach uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ru - rü rüɣi /ru ˈruɣi/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Kifaswach uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɵ- mörüɣi /ˈmɵruɣi/ is learning

Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Kifaswach uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix ð- Else: Prefix ðu- ðürüɣi /ðuˈruɣi/ learns

Numbers

Kifaswach has a base-10 number system:
1 - ü
2 - sha
3 - dhom
4 - shig
5 - sha
6 - shigʰ
7 - dig
8 - nos
9 - digʷʰ
10 - co
11 - co d͡su ü “ten and one”
100 - ü num “one hundred”
101 - ü num d͡su ü “one hundred and one”
200 - sha num
1000 - ü soh “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ch- Else: Prefix chɵ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix je-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɵ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix t͡s- Else: Prefix t͡sʊ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix c- Else: Prefix cʊ-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix t͡s- Else: Prefix t͡sʊ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ch- Else: Prefix cha-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɵ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix cʊ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix na-
Diminutive = Prefix i-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ch- Else: Prefix cha-

Dictionary

4424 Words.