Uchechensabwa

LANGUAGE FAMILY: QILDABIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 310K / #47
SPOKEN IN: Sassam - 300K / Gos - 10K
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: kr̀ochyh nomâmu īp niimi gr̀oo kwōmī kr̀ochyh īsh gr̀oo itchy itloo blā riw
Pronunciation: kɾoch noməˈmu īp niːˈmi gɾoː kwōˈmī kɾoch īʃ gɾoː itc iˈtloː blā riw

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c d f g h j k kʷ l m n ñ p q r s t t͡s t͡ʃ w x z ð ɬ ɹ ɾ ʃ ʎ ʔ ʧ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n ñ
Stop	p b			t d		c	k kʷ g	q	ʔ
Affricate					ʧ
Fricative		f	ð	s z	ʃ		x		h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aa̯ aː ā e eː ē i ii̯ iː ī o oː ō u uu̯ uː ū ə ɪ ʊ/
Diphthongs: aa̯, ii̯, uu̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	ī i iː		ū u uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	e ē eː		ō o oː
Mid		ə
Low	ā a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, bɾ, d, dɾ, f, fl, fɾ, g, gɾ, k, kl, kw, kɾ, l, m, n, p, pl, pɾ, r, s, sɾ, t, tɾ, x, ʎ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: ch, cz, h, hl, ht, j, k, kw, kʷ, l, m, mp, n, nt, ntz, p, ql, s, t, tl, ts, tz, tɬ, tʃ, w, ztl, ʃ, ʔ
Word final consonants: c, ch, h, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, p, r, s, sh, t, tc, th, t͡s, t͡ʃ, w, ð, ɹ, ʃ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• wi → o / C_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
̯
ɪ	î
ə	â
ʊ	û
c	chy
ʧ	ch
x	kh
j	y
ʃ	sh
ð	th
ɹ	r̂
ɬ	sĥ
ɾ	r̀
ʎ	ŷ
V₁ː	V₁V₁

Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have six 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.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

Nominative	No affix mekwip /meˈkwip/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ch Else: Suffix -ich mekwipichyh /mekwiˈpich/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t͡s Else: Suffix -ʊt͡s mekwipût͡s /mekwiˈpʊt͡s/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -ət͡ʃ mekwipât͡sh /mekwiˈpət͡ʃ/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nō- nōmekwip /nōmeˈkwip/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	Suffix -ih mekwipih /mekwiˈpih/ from (the/a) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix mū /mū/ man	No affix miichy /miːc/ woman
Plural	Suffix -oː mūoo /mūˈoː/ men	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix miː- miimiichy /miːˈmiːc/ women

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	maat͡s /maːt͡s/ I	kī /kī/ me	lû /lʊ/ mine	ki /ki/ to me	pi /pi/ at me	flet͡s /flet͡s/ from me
2nd singular	kuu /kuː/ you (masc)	kiip /kiːp/ you	pī /pī/ yours	bū /bū/ to you	no /no/ at you	kā /kā/ from you
3rd singular masc	īp /īp/ he, it	iichy /iːc/ him, it	i /i/ his, its	mī /mī/ to him, at it	mi /mi/ at him, at it	ā /ā/ from him, from it
3rd singular fem	set͡s /set͡s/ she, it	mo /mo/ her, it	lu /lu/ hers, its	bii /biː/ to her, at it	uu /uː/ at her, at it	khi /xi/ from her, from it
1st plural	biit͡sh /biːt͡ʃ/ we	mu /mu/ us	kluu /kluː/ ours	nii /niː/ to us	kwōt͡sh /kwōt͡ʃ/ at us	tīt͡sh /tīt͡ʃ/ from us
2nd plural	ōth /ōð/ you all	mū /mū/ you all	br̀û /bɾʊ/ yours (pl)	kīt͡s /kīt͡s/ to you all	nū /nū/ at you all	iit /iːt/ from you all
3rd plural masc	pr̀u /pɾu/ they (masc)	ko /ko/ them (masc)	fī /fī/ theirs (masc)	kr̀o /kɾo/ to them (masc)	mīp /mīp/ at them (masc)	tī /tī/ from them (masc)
3rd plural fem	ī /ī/ they (fem)	ii /iː/ them (fem)	luu /luː/ theirs (fem)	gr̀oo /gɾoː/ to them (fem)	o /o/ at them (fem)	chīp /ʧīp/ from them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	sā /sā/ my
2nd singular	chīt /ʧīt/ your
3rd singular masc	gr̀oo /gɾoː/ his
3rd singular fem	kī /kī/ her
1st plural	mut /mut/ our
2nd plural	mot͡sh /mot͡ʃ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	i /i/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	saat͡sh /saːt͡ʃ/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix khiip /xiːp/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ip khiipip /xiːˈpip/ learned
Future	If ends with vowel: Suffix -c Else: Suffix -īc khiipīchy /xiːˈpīc/ will learn

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.
Uchechensabwa uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix nʊ- nûkhiip /nʊˈxiːp/ have learned

Numbers

Uchechensabwa has a base-10 number system:
1 - tī
2 - mōt
3 - niip
4 - ān
5 - moo
6 - muu
7 - muuw
8 - û
9 - kii
10 - īchyh
11 - tī kr̀ochyh īchyh “one and ten”
100 - kiit “hundred”
101 - kiit kr̀ochyh tī “hundred and one”
200 - mōt kiit
1000 - kot “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -iːp
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -c Else: Suffix -īc
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tc Else: Suffix -iːtc
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -iː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ər
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ʊn
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -u
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t͡s Else: Suffix -uːt͡s
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ī-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -u
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -it
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ū
Diminutive = Prefix oː-
Augmentative = Prefix mū-

Dictionary

4452 Words.