Akam

Allophony
V (all vowels) i  iː  ɨ  ɨː u u ː
 * → V {+Breathy] / _h
 * → V [+Nasal] / _[+Nasal], [+Approx, +Nas]_
 * → V [+Creaky] / _[+Sonorant, +Glottal]


 * → e e ː  ə  ə ː o o ː / [+Uvular]_

Allophony
m n ŋ w w̃ j j̃ ʕ


 * → m̥ n̥ ŋ̊ w̥ w̥̃ j̊  j̃̊ ʕ̥ / _h
 * → m ɲ ɲ w w̃ j j̃ ʕ / _[+Oral, +Approx, +Velar]

s x


 * → ʃ ç / _[+Oral, +Approx, +Velar]

Phonotactics
The intermorphemic syllable structure is O(G)VC₁; where O is any consonant, G is a non-glottalic glide, V is any vowel and C is either a glottal stop or non-glottalic continuant. The intramorphemic structure is expounded only in that C may include the plain plosives both medially and finally and the glottalic plosives finally. So, a basic intramorphemic structure with a bimorphemic root would be [O(G)VC₁O(G)VC₂]O(G)VC₃; [O(G)VC₁O(G)VC₂] is the root, C₁ as above, C₂ includes p t k q, and C₃ further includes p' t' k' q'.

Initial clusters are forbidden, barring those with glides. When clusters do occur, say from intramorphological processes, both  ə and  ɨ can act as epenthetic vowels.

Tone
Three tones; high, mid, low. Primarily lexical, secondarily morphological (with regard to tense at least).

Morphology
Both nouns and verbs in Akam are fairly complex.

Morphosyntactic alignment is fluid-S, mostly head-initial

Declension
Classes (Gender)

Nouns in Akam are marked for 7 classes. The semantic meanings are displayed below.

Class I includes humans and domesticated animals. This includes all titles, kinships, professions, groups, and other words that typically refer to humans as the inherant entity. It also includes animals which have long-standing relationships to their human entities. Often it goes even further to include highly animate referents which are not human or animal. These include, weather patterns, natural disasters, most celestial objects, or other things that impart a some intense effect on the world. However, this is not completely productive as many natural events can be found in other classes depending on how intense the event is usually defined.

Class II refers to most living matter, such as plants and animals not considered domesticated. It's almost an all inclusive natural class, but of a lower animacy than Class I. Other natural objects not considered to be alive can also be included in this class. That is, rocks and mountains, most bodies of water, and various other natural formations. Additionally, Class II is used to refer to objects typical of a large stature or mass.

Class III, the third animacy class, consists of most small animals such as insects, fish, and many rodents. With the advent of misrocopic investigation into the natural world, it has also come to describe many microscopic organisms. It also denotes objects with a small or compact shape. In this sense, both class II and III can be described as the augmentive and diminutive class, respectively.

Each class is for the most part semantically defined. Loans tend to be marked by Class VII, however, many longstanding loans have been shifted toward more semantically related classes. All nominal modifiers must agree in class with their head noun using a specific agreement marker. Additionally, verbs must also take an agreement marker for the most agentive argument.

Case
Nouns are declined according to one of 5 grammatical cases. These are agentive, patientive, genitive/dative, instrumental, and locative.

Syntax

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