Mngwan Jui

Consonants
The only possible consonant cluster is /mŋ/. The glottal stop / ʔ/  is a feature of the tone system.

Dipthongs
There are three classes of dipthongs with base vowels/semivowels /i/, /j/, and /w/. The vowel /i/ cannot be attached to any of these bases.

Tripthongs
The possible tripthongs can be constructed from three base vowels/semivowels, /æ/, /j/, and /w/. The tripthongs with base /æ/ are constrained to either /j/ or /w/ for the second sound, and can use any vowel for the third sound. The tripthongs with base /j/ or /w/ can use any vowel for the second sound and are constrained to use the vowel /u/ for the third sound. When the second sound is also a /u/, it becomes a long vowel.

Phonotactics
The syllable structure of Mngwan Jui is CV(n). C is any consonant or consonant cluster, and V is any vowel or dipthong/tripthong. The optional n is any nasal or accepted stop. The possible consonants for n are /ɳ/, /ŋ/, /m/, /p/, /k/, /ʈ/, and /ɖ/. All stops are aspirated when final. If the initial sound of the syllable is the same as the initial sound of the dipthong/tripthong, then the combination is not possible.

Tones
There are eight tones in Mngwan Jui, with three flat tones and five contour tones. The tones shall be described with a lowest to highest pitch scale from one to five. In the romanization the tones are marked with the corresponding number, and in the IPA transcription they are marked with a superscript pitch scale. The broken rising tone is characterized by a glottal stop after the rise, and then a flat high tone. The glottal stop usually comes between the base and the rest of the dipthong/tripthong, or duplicates the vowel; e.g. /e/ becomes /eʔe/ with the second e having the high tone. The extra high tone is any pitch higher than the 5 of the high tone.

Each of the tones have opposite pairings which are used in declensions, conjugations, etc.

Morphology
The morphology of Mngwan Jui is mostly agglutinative, although there are some inflections. Compound words are formed with the new word preceding the modified word.

Declension
zhap3, the root word for stick and juit2 the root word for leaf shall be used to illustrate the declension of nouns for number. The number suffixes have no defined vowel or tone, so they borrow from the word they modify. If a tone is contoured, it is reflected in the opposite contour. If the vowel borrowed is a dipthong/tripthong, only the base sound will be borowed. If the base sound is a semivowel, borrow the next vowel. For compound words the final word is borrowed from.

Conjugation
The conjugation suffixes also have no defined vowel or tone, but indicate tense by the first consonant and aspect by the final nasal. The borrowing of vowels and tones rule from declension still applies. The root baeing8 which means to do shall be used as an example.

Copula
The copula kwa3 acts like the English is or the Japanese desu as it links the subject with the predicate. The copula acts like a verb, therefore it is subject to the rules of conjugation.

Derivational Prefixes
The prefixes are used to derive new words from the same root, and can not act as stand alone roots.

Derivational Inflection
The inflections also are used to derive new words. Any accidental homophones caused by tone inflection are distinguished by context. In the case of negative inflection of compound words the tone of the base word is reflected.

Pronouns
Pronouns have three root words that express grammatical person, and prefixes that denote the gender and if the pronoun is collective. Pronouns with collective prefixes can be declined by number to further specify the amount, and the singular declension is ignored.

Demonstratives and Indefinite
There are several classes of demonstratives that are modified by prefixes that borrow the base vowel of the root according to the rules of declension and exhibit the opposite tone regardless if it is contoured or flat. The initial consonant of the prefix mirrors that of the root and the final consonant varies based on the form of the demonstrative. Exceptions to this rule are the negative, universal, and existential forms, which vary the initial consonant and mirror the final consonant to the final consonant of the root. If there is no final consonant, there is no borrowed final consonant. The determiner kaek4 is modified by either its initial or final consonant depending on the form, and does not have any prefixes. The demonstrative precedes the noun it modifies if it in fact modifies anything.

Adverbs
Adverbs can be derived by attaching the prefix zhjep6 to an adjective. Not all adverbs can be derived from adjectives and vice versa.

Syntax
The syntax of Mngwan Jui is highly structured with postpositional particles marking case, mood, and other. Prepositions cover the spatial relationships.

Word Order
The canon word order for Mngwan Jui is Subject Object Verb. The word order of the Subject and Object is flexible because of the accompanying case particles. To change the voice to passive, one must place the object in front of the subject, thereby changing the word order to Object Subject Verb. The adjectives are placed preceding the head.

Case/Mood Particles
Most particles in Mngwan Jui express case or mood, and are attached after the word for case or attached to the end of the phrase for mood. Some case particles require the attached word to be in a specific position in the sentence.

Postpositions
Postpositions in Mngwan Jui can modify a noun or a verb, creating a postpositional phrase. The postpositional phrase is placed preceding the modified word. All postpositions can be derived from the postposition word fjuhm4 that is inflected with sound and tone for different meanings. These are used for phrases not accounted for with the case particles. Some postpostions can only be used for verbs and some only for nouns.

Other Particles
The other particles are also postpositional, or go at the end of the phrase. The postpositional particles replace any case particles, and in the case of listing, the first word in the list recieves the case particle. The end of phrase particles are placed after any mood particles.

Adjectives
The accepted order for attaching multiple adjectives to one noun is:
 * 1) demonstrative
 * 2) intensifier adverb
 * 3) qualifiers
 * 4) noun adjunct
 * 5) head noun