ONSERO

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ONSERO
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 3M /#16
SPOKEN IN: Otoron (North) - 1M / Tralgon - 2M
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: tchuml ngpyo enɬ saendz tjaeɲ ndi tchuml saendz kpyehu ngmyo jeokw lgweno tto
Pronunciation: tʨʰuml ŋpʰjoː enɬ sɛndz tʨɛːɲ ndi tʨʰuml sɛndz ˈkpjehuː ŋmjoː ʨʌkʰw ˈɭgweːnoː ttoː

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

Spelling & Phonology

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

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ɛ ɛː ɯ ɯː ʌ/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	ɯ ɯː u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː	ʌ
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: d, g, gj, gw, h, hj, j, k, kk, kkj, kpj, kpʰ, ks, kt, kw, kʨ, kʰ, m, md, mg, mh, mj, mm, mn, mnj, mp, mpʰj, ms, mt, mʨ, mʨʰ, n, nd, ng, ngj, nh, nj, nk, nm, nmj, nn, np, ns, nt, ntʰ, nʨ, nʨʰ, p, pj, pk, ps, pt, pʨ, pʨʰ, pʰ, pʰj, s, t, tk, tt, tʨ, tʨʰ, tʰ, w, ŋ, ŋd, ŋg, ŋgj, ŋh, ŋhj, ŋj, ŋk, ŋm, ŋmj, ŋn, ŋp, ŋpʰ, ŋpʰj, ŋs, ŋʨʰ, ɭd, ɭg, ɭgj, ɭgw, ɭk, ɭm, ɭp, ɭpʰ, ɭpʰj, ɭs, ɭt, ɭtʰ, ɭɭ, ɾ, ɾh, ɾj, ɾw, ʨ, ʨʰ Mid-word consonants: h, k, l, m, n, p, ʋ, ʔ
Word final 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, ᵑǀʼ, ᵑǂʼ, ᵑǃ, ᵑǃʼ, ᶢǀʼ, ᶢǀʼw, ᶢǃʼ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• d → ʔ / _#
• p → ∅ / _u

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
p	b / #_ !_ʰ
pʰ	p
ŋ	ng
ɭ	l
ɾ	r
ʌ	eo
ɯ(ː)	eu
ɛ(ː)	ae
j	y
ː
tʰ	t
kʰ	k
ʨʰ	ch
ʨ	j

Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have two 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).

Ergative	Suffix -ʌ ngpiɲʧʼeo /ŋpiɲˈʧʼʌ/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix ngpiɲʧʼ /ŋpiɲʧʼ/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something)

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix uhoᶢǀʼ /uˈhoᶢǀʼ/ man	No affix por /pʰor/ woman
Plural	Suffix -of uhoᶢǀʼof /uhoˈᶢǀʼof/ men	If ends with vowel: Suffix -zw Else: Suffix -ozw porozw /pʰoˈrozw/ women

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	eu /ɯ/ the	ngpungk /ŋpʰuːŋk/ a
Plural	o /o/ the	teuᶢǀʼ /tɯːᶢǀʼ/ some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	ngmyo /ŋmjoː/ I	lte /ɭtʰe/ me, I
2nd singular	om /oːm/ you	nsu /nsu/ you
3rd singular masc	ngpyo /ŋpʰjoː/ he, it	ngamʃ /ngamʃ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	mgik /mgiːkʰ/ she, it	ae /ɛː/ her, it
1st plural	boǀʰw /poːǀʰw/ we	mteu /mtɯ/ us, we
2nd plural	npa /npa/ you all	nggeumɮ /ŋgɯmɮ/ you all
3rd plural masc	po /pʰo/ they (masc)	inʦʼ /iːnʦʼ/ them (masc), they (masc)
3rd plural fem	ngcha /ŋʨʰa/ they (fem)	teu /tɯː/ them (fem), they (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	bkiks /pkiks/ my
2nd singular	nmae /nmɛː/ your
3rd singular masc	saendz /sɛndz/ his
3rd singular fem	jeotf /ʨʌtf/ her
1st plural	ngsimh /ŋsimh/ our
2nd plural	ho /ho/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	mche /mʨʰeː/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	bsaeǀʰ /psɛǀʰ/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
1st singular	Suffix -o homko /ˈhomkʰo/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋkw Else: Suffix -uːŋkw homkungkw /ˈhomkʰuːŋkw/ (I) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ml Else: Suffix -oːml homkoml /homˈkʰoːml/ (I) will learn
2nd singular	Suffix -aː homka /ˈhomkʰaː/ (you) learn	Suffix -ʌ homkeo /ˈhomkʰʌ/ (you) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǃʰ Else: Suffix -ɯǃʰ homkeuǃʰ /homˈkʰɯǃʰ/ (you) will learn
3rd singular masc	Suffix -u homku /homˈkʰu/ (he) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɬw Else: Suffix -oːɬw homkoɬw /ˈhomkʰoːɬw/ (he) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʦʼ Else: Suffix -oːnʦʼ homkonʦʼ /ˈhomkʰoːnʦʼ/ (he) will learn
3rd singular fem	Suffix -eːb homkeb /ˈhomkʰeːb/ (she) learns	Suffix -iːnǂ homkinǂ /ˈhomkʰiːnǂ/ (she) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mk Else: Suffix -oːmk homkomk /ˈhomkʰoːmk/ (she) will learn
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -aːj homkay /ˈhomkʰaːj/ (we) learn	Suffix -eː homke /homˈkʰeː/ (we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mtʰ Else: Suffix -imtʰ homkimt /ˈhomkʰimtʰ/ (we) will learn
2nd plural	Suffix -ɯɲʧʼ homkeuɲʧʼ /homˈkʰɯɲʧʼ/ (you all) learn	Suffix -opʰ homkop /homˈkʰopʰ/ (you all) learned	Suffix -ed homked /homˈkʰed/ [homˈkʰeʔ] (you all) will learn
3rd plural masc	Suffix -ɛhw homkaehw /homˈkʰɛhw/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑǀw Else: Suffix -ɯːᵑǀw homkeuᵑǀw /ˈhomkʰɯːᵑǀw/ (they) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ks Else: Suffix -ɛːks homkaeks /homˈkʰɛːks/ (they) will learn
3rd plural fem	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nǂ Else: Suffix -enǂ homkenǂ /homˈkʰenǂ/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -sw Else: Suffix -iːsw homkisw /homˈkʰiːsw/ (they) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǃ Else: Suffix -ɯːǃ homkeuǃ /ˈhomkʰɯːǃ/ (they) will learn

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

Progressive

Suffix -ed homked /homˈkʰed/ [homˈkʰeʔ] 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).
Onsero uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Suffix -iᵑǃ homkiᵑǃ /ˈhomkʰiᵑǃ/ learns

Numbers

Onsero has a base-10 number system:
1 - rhemɮ
2 - o
3 - msiᶢǀʼ
4 - bsaela
5 - kuno
6 - omg
7 - ryo
8 - u
9 - nggyamopl
10 - lpye
11 - lpyerhemɮ “ten-one”
100 - os “hundred”
101 - os rhemɮ “hundred one”
200 - o os
1000 - jimɮ “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑǀʼ Else: Suffix -aᵑǀʼ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mpʰ Else: Suffix -ampʰ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -oːɲʤ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɯmpʰ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǃʰ Else: Suffix -ɛǃʰ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sw Else: Suffix -iːsw
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ik
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɛ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɬ Else: Suffix -uːɬ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -aːms
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -uː
Diminutive = Suffix -oː
Augmentative = Suffix -aʃ

Dictionary

4426 Words.