ʘotu

ʘotu is a constructed language with some very interesting features. It was created by Noah Elkins in May of 2013 and combines the phonology of an African clicking language with certain agglutinative and fusional aspects.

Phonology
Phonology in ʘotu is a little bit complicated. The dental click (ǀ) is created with the sudden release of the tongue from the back of the top row of teeth. The alveolar click (!) is created like a normal click sound, like the popping of a cork, by snapping the tongue down from the top of the palate. The lateral click (ǁ) is made with the side of the mouth, in the manner in which one would tsk-tsk. The bilabial ejective (ʘ) consonant is made by popping the lips forcefully, without letting the vocal chords vibrate.

Vowels are very regular. Two of the same vowels may occur next to each other. In that case, they are both pronounced in the same sound by drawing out the vowel sound.

Instrumental Prefixes
Each and every verb in ʘotu must take on an instrumental prefix:

Personal Suffixes
ʘotu personal suffixes are endings to ʘotu words that determine the speaker. Suffixes change depending on the tense of the verb. After a vowel ending for the verb root, the ending is simply applied to the end. On a consonant ending, an e is added first.

The basic personal endings for the present tense are: These endings can be tied in to the instrumental prefixes above to create the following words, and many more:

EXAMPLES: He laughs (with his mouth): ʘaǀaisem

                    They speak (while making hand gestures): !aokotoy

                    We (but not you) laugh (and the whole body was shaking): ǁuǀaisek

Tense Markers
Tense in ʘotu is has very wide capabilities. Different amounts or spans of time, from large to small, are all represented.

The following are all markers, or particle words. They do not get added to words, but rather are put before them if the time period is in the past, and in front of them if the time period is in the future. If present, the verb is left alone.

EXAMPLES: Yesterday, they went (walking, by foot): so 'to'ǁepotay [with the verb pota "to walk"]

She must dance (with her whole body): eǀ baybod [with the verb baybo "to dance"]

We (and you, too) will have talked (and listened to each other): ke!a ʘeekotog