Onka

LANGUAGE FAMILY: QILDABIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 40K / #75
SPOKEN IN: Ald Cyngric - 40K
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

---

"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: u˧ i˧ mi˧ pi˦ka˦mu˧p ki˧tl ke˧tl u˧ to˦ye˧t yo˦ mi˧ mu˧ki˦ e˦ll psi˧tl
Pronunciation: u˧ i˧ mi˧ pi˦ˈkɒ˦mu˧p ki˧tl kɛ˧tl u˧ ˈtɔ˦jɛ˧t jɔ˦ mi˧ mu˧ˈki˦ ɛ˦ll psi˧tl

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʼ d f g h j k kʰ l m n p pʰ q r s t tʰ v w z ŋ ǀ ǀʰ ǂ ǂʰ ǃ ǃʰ ɦ ɬ ɮ ɲ ʃ ʤ ʦʼ ʧʼ ᵑǀ ᵑǀʼ ᵑǂʼ ᵑǃ ᵑǃʼ ᶢǀʼ ᶢǃʼ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p pʰ b bʼ			t tʰ d			k kʰ g	q
Affricate				ʦʼ	ʧʼ ʤ
Fricative		f v		s z	ʃ				h ɦ
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ ɮ
Lateral approximant				l
Click			ǀ ᵑǀ ǀʰ ᶢǀʼ ᵑǀʼ	ǃʰ ǃ ᵑǃʼ ᵑǃ ᶢǃʼ		ǂ ǂʰ ᵑǂʼ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /i u ɒ ɔ ɛ/
Tones: ˦ ˧

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low		ɒ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, bj, bʼ, d, f, g, h, j, k, kw, kʰ, kʰw, l, ll, lw, m, mb, mf, mkʰ, ml, mn, mp, ms, mz, mɬ, mɮ, mɲ, n, nd, ng, nt, nz, nǂ, nɬ, nɮ, p, pl, ps, pʰ, qt, s, t, tʰ, v, w, z, zw, ŋk, ǀ, ǀʰ, ǂ, ǂʰ, ǃ, ǃʰ, ǃʰw, ɦ, ɬ, ɲ, ɲʤ, ʃ, ʤ, ʦʼ, ʧʼ, ᵑǀ, ᵑǀw, ᵑǃʼ, ᶢǀʼw
Mid-word consonants: b, bʼ, d, dw, f, g, h, hw, j, k, ks, kw, kʰ, kʰw, l, lw, m, mb, mbʼ, mf, mg, mgw, mh, mk, mkʰ, ml, mn, mnd, mng, mntw, mp, mpʰ, ms, mtʰ, mv, mz, mǀ, mǃ, mɬ, mɮ, mɲ, mʃ, n, nd, ndz, ng, ngw, ns, nstr, nt, ntf, ntw, nw, nz, nǂ, nɬ, nɮ, nʦʼ, p, pl, pʰ, r, s, sw, t, tf, tʰ, tʰr, tʰw, v, w, z, zw, ŋk, ŋkw, ǀ, ǀtr, ǀʰ, ǀʰw, ǂ, ǃ, ǃʰ, ǃʰw, ɦ, ɬ, ɬw, ɮ, ɲ, ɲʤ, ɲʤw, ɲʧʼ, ʃ, ʤ, ʦʼ, ʧʼ, ᵑǀ, ᵑǀw, ᵑǀʼt, ᵑǂʼ, ᵑǃ, ᵑǃʼ, ᶢǀʼ, ᶢǀʼw, ᶢǃʼ
Word final consonants: f, ff, hl, jj, l, ll, n, nm, nt, p, r, rq, ss, sth, t, wn, ǀ, ǀk
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → h / V_V
• w → ∅ / #_i
• j → ʤ / V_V
• m → w / _#
• z → d / V_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
bʱ	bh
ᵑǀʱ	ngc
ᵑǃʱ	ngq
ᵑǂʱ	ngx
ɲʧʼ	ntsh
ʧʼ	tsh
ᶢǃʱ	gq
ᶢǂʱ	gx
ᶢǀʱ	gc
ᵑǂ	nx
ǂʰ	xh
ᵑǃ	nq
kʰ	kh
ǃʰ	qh
ǃ	q
ǂ	x
ŋk	nk
ᵑǀ	nc
ǀʰ	ch
ǀ	c
ɮ	dl
j	y
ɲʤ	njj
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny
ɦ	hh
ɬ	hl
pʰ	ff
ʃ	sh
tʰ	th
ʦʼ	ts
ɒ	a
ɛ	e
ɔ	o

Grammar

Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) 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 three cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Nominative	No affix pu˦we˧ /ˈpu˦wɛ˧/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku˦- ku˦pu˦we˧ /ku˦pu˦ˈwɛ˧/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix ŋk- Else: Prefix ŋkɛ˧- nke˧pu˦we˧ /ŋkɛ˧ˈpu˦wɛ˧/ dogʼs

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tɛ˧-	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pi˧-
Feminine	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɲ- Else: Prefix ɲi˧-	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mu˧-
Neuter	Prefix ɛ˧-	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɛ˦-

Articles

Definite	mu˧ /mu˧/ the
Indefinite	pu˦ /pu˦/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	yo˦ll /jɔ˦ll/ I	mu˧p /mu˧p/ me	pi˦f /pi˦f/ mine
2nd singular	yo˦nt /jɔ˦nt/ you (masc)	mu˦p /mu˦p/ you	yi˧t /ji˧t/ yours
3rd singular masc	i˧ /i˧/ he, it	psi˧ /psi˧/ him, it	zwo˦ /zwɔ˦/ his, its
3rd singular fem	i˦ /i˦/ she, it	di˦ /di˦/ her, it	pi˧yy /pi˧jj/ hers, its
1st plural	mi˧ /mi˧/ we	di˧ /di˧/ us	fu˧yy /fu˧jj/ ours
2nd plural	pi˦ /pi˦/ you all	nxa˧ /nǂɒ˧/ you all	e˧ /ɛ˧/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	mlo˦r /mlɔ˦r/ they	ku˦n /ku˦n/ them	ke˦yy /kɛ˦jj/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ju˧ /ʤu˧/ my
2nd singular	ke˧f /kɛ˧f/ your
3rd singular masc	mi˧ /mi˧/ his
3rd singular fem	me˦ /mɛ˦/ her
1st plural	tse˦ /ʦʼɛ˦/ our
2nd plural	mo˧ /mɔ˧/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ma˦p /mɒ˦p/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix mi˦rtl /mi˦rtl/ learn
Past	Prefix gi˧- gi˧mi˦rtl /ˈgi˧mi˦rtl/ learned
Remote past	Prefix pu˦- pu˦mi˦rtl /ˈpu˦mi˦rtl/ learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix ps- Else: Prefix psi˧- psi˧mi˦rtl /ˈpsi˧mi˦rtl/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Onka uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: u˦ - u˦ mi˦rtl /u˦ mi˦rtl/ 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).
Onka uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix mɛ˧- me˧mi˦rtl /mɛ˧ˈmi˦rtl/ learns

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.
Onka uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix ʤu˦- ju˦mi˦rtl /ʤu˦ˈmi˦rtl/ have learned

Numbers

Onka has a base-20 number system:
1 - i˧n
2 - u˦
3 - mu˦f
4 - se˦yy
5 - we˦
6 - i˦
7 - vu˧l
8 - u˦
9 - mu˦mbe˦
10 - yo˦ve˦
11 - e˦mi˧
12 - su˧ff
13 - u˦fu˦
14 - mi˦wo˦p
15 - nu˦gu˧t
16 - psi˧me˦p
17 - we˧yu˦sth
18 - ki˦me˦p
19 - ki˧hl
20 - fu˦yu˦
21 - fu˦yu˦ u˧ i˧n “twenty and one”
400 - i˧n shu˧c “one fourhundred”
401 - i˧n shu˧c i˧n “one fourhundred one”
800 - u˦ shu˧c “two fourhundred”
8000 - i˧n ju˧t “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -tchli
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix bij-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix qup-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ne-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix i˧-
Noun to verb = Suffix -qap
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -he
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɛ˦-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix i˦-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -moq
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -muq
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix hap-
Diminutive = Suffix -lq
Augmentative = Suffix -qh

Dictionary

4446 Words.