Känen
Natively known as: cɑːne /ˈkɑːne/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...dəc cɔːm dɪ set dɛm cɔːm dəc cmec scet dɪ fɑːd cmiːc scac
Pronunciation: /dək kɔːm dɪ set dɛm kɔːm dək kmek sket dɪ fɑːd kmiːk skak/
Känen word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: d f g h k m n r s t ɹ| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Stop | t d | k g | |||
| Fricative | f | s | h | ||
| Approximant | ɹ | ||||
| Trill | r |
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iː | ||
| Near-high | ɪ | ||
| High-mid | e | ||
| Mid | ə | ||
| Low-mid | ɛ | ɔː | |
| Low | a | ɑː |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| ɾ | r |
| ʎ | y / #_ |
| ʎ | ll |
| kw | cu |
| k | c |
| ʧ | ch |
| ɲ | ñ |
| x | g / _{e,i} |
| x | j |
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 seven 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).
- Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
- Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
- Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
- Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
- Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.
| Ergative | Prefix iː-
iːgɛnfes /iːˈgɛnfes/ dog (doing the verb to something) |
| Absolutive | No affix
gɛnfes /ˈgɛnfes/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something) |
| Genitive | Prefix sɛ-
sɛgɛnfes /sɛˈgɛnfes/ dogʼs |
| Dative | Prefix srɑː-
srɑːgɛnfes /srɑːˈgɛnfes/ to (the/a) dog |
| Locative | Prefix ə-
əgɛnfes /əˈgɛnfes/ near/at/by (the/a) dog |
| Ablative | Prefix ka-
cagɛnfes /kaˈgɛnfes/ from (the/a) dog |
| Instrumental | If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix kiː- ciːgɛnfes /kiːˈgɛnfes/ with/using (the/a) dog |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Definite | No affix
gɛnfes /ˈgɛnfes/ the dog |
If starts with vowel: Prefix kɹ-
Else: Prefix kɹɔː- cɹɔːgɛnfes /kɹɔːˈgɛnfes/ the dogs |
| Indefinite | If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix fe- fegɛnfes /feˈgɛnfes/ a dog |
If starts with vowel: Prefix sr-
Else: Prefix srɪ- srɪgɛnfes /srɪˈgɛnfes/ some dogs |
Articles
Känen encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.Pronouns
| Ergative | Absolutive | Genitive | Dative | Locative | Ablative | Instrumental | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ca /ka/ I | nɔː /nɔː/ me, I | drɑːm /drɑːm/ mine | nɑːɹ /nɑːɹ/ to me | trɑː /trɑː/ at me | driː /driː/ from me | cɑːr /kɑːr/ with/using me |
| 2nd singular | ftet /ftet/ you | nɑːc /nɑːk/ you | ɛc /ɛk/ yours | fɔː /fɔː/ to you | mɑːd /mɑːd/ at you | ɪt /ɪt/ from you | ɹɑː /ɹɑː/ with/using you |
| 3rd singular masc | cɔːm /kɔːm/ he, it | drɛm /drɛm/ him, it | ɹɛm /ɹɛm/ his, its | cme /kme/ to him, at it | ɑːd /ɑːd/ at him, at it | mə /mə/ from him, from it | trɛ /trɛ/ with/using him/it |
| 3rd singular fem | nɪ /nɪ/ she, it | dɑːs /dɑːs/ her, it | cɔː /kɔː/ hers, its | sriːd /sriːd/ to her, at it | dəd /dəd/ at her, at it | nɪt /nɪt/ from her, from it | sɔː /sɔː/ with/using her/it |
| 1st plural inclusive | e /e/ we (including you) | siː /siː/ us, we (including you) | iː /iː/ ours (including you) | iːc /iːk/ to us (including you) | he /he/ at us (including you) | ɹɛt /ɹɛt/ from us (including you) | me /me/ with/using us (including you) |
| 1st plural exclusive | ɔː /ɔː/ we (excluding you) | cɹe /kɹe/ us, we (excluding you) | na /na/ ours (excluding you) | ɪd /ɪd/ to us (excluding you) | mar /mar/ at us (excluding you) | ac /ak/ from us (excluding you) | mɪ /mɪ/ with/using us (excluding you) |
| 2nd plural | sɛ /sɛ/ you all | cɹɛ /kɹɛ/ you all | dre /dre/ yours (pl) | drə /drə/ to you all | cɹə /kɹə/ at you all | ɹɔː /ɹɔː/ from you all | griː /griː/ with/using you all |
| 3rd plural | cɑː /kɑː/ they | ga /ga/ them, they | ɛ /ɛ/ theirs | dɛ /dɛ/ to them | siːm /siːm/ at them | triː /triː/ from them | cmɑː /kmɑː/ with/using them |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | fɛ /fɛ/ my |
| 2nd singular | ce /ke/ your |
| 3rd singular masc | dɪ /dɪ/ his |
| 3rd singular fem | hɪc /hɪk/ her |
| 1st plural inclusive | gəc /gək/ our (including you) |
| 1st plural exclusive | srɛm /srɛm/ our (excluding you) |
| 2nd plural | cɹa /kɹa/ your (pl) |
| 3rd plural | fa /fa/ their |
Verbs
| Present | Past | Remote past | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | Prefix kɔː-
cɔːciːc /ˈkɔːkiːk/ (I/we) learn |
If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix da- daciːc /ˈdakiːk/ (I/we) learned |
Prefix ɑː-
ɑːciːc /ˈɑːkiːk/ (I/we) learned (long ago) |
| 2nd person | If starts with vowel: Prefix sk-
Else: Prefix skɔː- scɔːciːc /ˈskɔːkiːk/ (you/you all) learn |
If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix dɛ- dɛciːc /ˈdɛkiːk/ (you/you all) learned |
Prefix ɪ-
ɪciːc /ˈɪkiːk/ (you/you all) learned (long ago) |
| 3rd person | If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nɑː- nɑːciːc /ˈnɑːkiːk/ (he/she/it/they) learn |
Prefix sə-
səciːc /ˈsəkiːk/ (he/she/it/they) learned |
If starts with vowel: Prefix ɪd-
Else: Prefix ɪdɛ- ɪdɛciːc /ɪˈdɛkiːk/ (he/she/it/they) learned (long ago) |
| Future | Particle before the verb: srə -
srə ciːc /srə kiːk/ will learn |
Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.Känen uses an affix for progressive:
| Progressive | Prefix kɹiː-
cɹiːciːc /ˈkɹiːkiːk/ 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).Känen uses an affix for habitual:
| Habitual | If starts with vowel: Prefix ən-
Else: Prefix ənɑː- ənɑːciːc /əˈnɑːkiːk/ 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.Känen uses the word for ‘already’ mɛc for the perfect aspect.
Numbers
Känen has a base-10 number system: 1 - grɛ2 - dɔːɹ
3 - ned
4 - ɹɔː
5 - drɛ
6 - mə
7 - nə
8 - cə
9 - sɛ
10 - cɔːs
100 - ɹɔːm
1000 - triː
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɛ-Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɑː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɛ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix niː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix skɑː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix tr-
Else: Prefix trə-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛtɹ-
Else: Prefix ɛtɹɔː-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mɑː-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛm-
Else: Prefix ɛma-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɑː-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɪrm-
Else: Prefix ɪrmə-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɔː-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɹ-
Else: Prefix ɹɛ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix kɹ-
Else: Prefix kɹɪ-
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