Mngwan Jui

General information
The language of Mngwan Jui is still spoken as a first language in some isolated parts of Mambuhk (mɑm33bʌk22), the river country. The language is used in the rest of Mambuhk as a literary and clerical language. Most of the other languages in Mambuhk are descended from Mngwan Jui. Mngwan Jui means tribal speech, but due to its high status as a lingua franca, the meaning has changed over time to mean old speech. The Mngwan Jui spoken in the isolated pockets is of a different dialect than literary 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. A demonstrative or indefinite can be attached to the beginning of a phrase to modify the phrase, or it can act as a pronoun. The determiners act like adjectives instead.

Adverbs
Adverbs can be derived by attaching the prefix zhjep6 to an adjective. Not all adverbs can be derived from adjectives and vice versa. Underived adverbs always have a final e sound.

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.

Concatenation
To link two words together for titles and geographic names, one places the title or geographic descriptor after the name. Any subsequent titles/descriptors go after the most relevant title/descriptor. The name receives any declensions or particles.

Numbers
The number system in Mngwan Jui is base ten. Numbers are formed similar to Chinese. Any number larger than a million is formed with a repeat of the system, e.g. one trillion to thousand millions.

Syntax
The syntax of Mngwan Jui is highly structured with postpositional particles marking case, mood, and other.

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.

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

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. The adjectives are placed preceding the head.

Transformations
There are a few transformations in Mngwan Jui, which are achieved by word order or by attaching the appropiate words or particles to the subclause.

Relativization
To change an absolute clause to a relative subclause, one must attach the relative word preceding the clause and place the clause after the word it modifies. If a verb in the subclause is in progressive or habitual present form, it must be changed to perfective present form. Examples:

mngwaet3wing3 mngju7 dung2di1 fuht3buhm3 jin4jing2di1 kwa3kam3

person singular nominative | relative word | fish singular accusative | to catch arbitrary past perfective | here accusative | copula present perfective

The person who caught the fish is here

dung2wing3 njuhp2 mngwaet3wing3 fuht3buhm3 jid4paei2di1 kwa3kam3

fish singular nominative | relative word | person singular nominative | to catch arbitrary past perfective | tasty accusative | copula present perfective

The fish the person caught is tasty

bet2bwuun6wing3 mngwaet3di1 zhuhim5 dung2di1 fuht3buhm3 king2kim4

I singular nominative | person singular accusative | relative word | fish singular accusative | to catch arbitrary past perfective | to hate present perfective

I hate the person who caught the fish

bet2bwuun6wing3 dung2di1 bin1 mngwaet3wing3 fuht3buhm3 ngam1bam1

I singular nominative | fish singular accusative | relative word | person singular nominative | to catch arbitrary past perfective | to eat arbitrary past perfective

I ate the fish the person caught

Nominalization
To change an action clause to function as a noun, one must change the subject to have the genitive case particle, and derive the verb to a noun using the derivation for process or state. The subject possesses the process with the genitive particle, and the process takes the particle of its case in the sentence. The object of the clause becomes the appropriate postpositional phrase if applicable.

Example:

bet2bwuun6wing3 dung2jid2jid4fuht3di1 gi3kim3

I singular nominative | skill of catching fish accusative | to know present perfective

I know fishing

to:

bet2bwuun6ngim6 dung2jid2jid4fuht3 fjuhm3 jid4gi3wing3  jid4jeing1di1 kwa3kam3

I singular genitive | skill of catching fish | postposition relational of | the state of knowing nominative | state of being large accusative | copula present perfective

My knowledge of fishing is great.

Causatives
Causatives are formed with a special causative particle attached to the subject, thereby allowing a causative clause to be attached after to serve as an object. The particle is tone inflected on certainty. Any verbs in the causative clause must be changed to present perfective or habitual perfective forms. Example:

bet2bwuun6pu5 mngwaet3wing3 dung2fuht3kuhm3

I singular made causative | person singular nominative | to catch fish present perfective

I made the person catch fish

Kaewangae
The writing system used to phonetically transcribe Mngwan Jui is kaewan3gae6, which is a set of foreign characters adapted to Mngwan Jui. The script is considered to be very unwieldy as a result, so many abbreviated or unaltered forms of characters are used in lieu of the official writing style. The official writing can be seen at the left of the box. Kaewangae is an alphabet, made by combining two graphemes for consonants and vowels into a single character, although the abbreviated forms may make it seem like a syllabary. The tone mark is always attached after the vowel of a syllable. The dipthong, tone, and stop characters were created independently to accomodate the features of Mngwan Jui.



Excerpt from the Gubaeing
The gu1baeing8, which means a tool for doing, is a classic piece of literature that is a significant part of Mambuhk culture, with many allusions to it in other works. This excerpt is from when the hero faces the two faced deity of the great river, and the deity reveals its other form to the hero.

wak1 fjuhm3 guin5wing3 bet2bwuun6di1 mim3kim3jim2 jaejeng7 mngwaet3wing3 njuhp2 bet2kui7pu3 bet2kui7di1 deit2kem4 twuhng2kuhm4jim2 waed3tim5 nui8 fjuhm6 bet2bwuun6ngim6 tak3da3wing3 wi2kim4daein1 bet2bwuun6wing3 kad1zhin1di1 zhuhim5 wak1 fjuhm8 bet2bwuun6ngim6 kad1tim5di1 ngaen2taem4 zhjaeun1kaem1ngut2

land | postposition relational of | fool singular nominative | I singular accusative | to listen present perfective imperative | worthy of fear | entity singular nominative | relative word | you animate singular caused causative | you animate singular accusative  | to experience present perfective | to behold present perfective imperative | sustaining | soil | postposition relational for | I singular genitive | wrath many plural nominative | to awake present perfective conjunction effect and cause | I singular nominative | death singular accusative | relative word | land | postposition relational to |  I singular genitive | providence accusative | to destroy near future perfective | to become present perfective emphasis

"Hearken to me, fool of the earth! Behold the terrible form which thou hast wrought upon thyself! My numerous wraths against the life giving soil hath woken, for I am become Death, who doth destroy mine providence to the land!"

Excerpts from Mngwan Zhede
The collection of stories called mngwan4zhe4de2, or tribal tales, is an attempt by a scholar to document the old fables and fairytales told amongst the few groups who retain Mngwan Jui as a first language. The tales have been transcribed in literary Mngwan Jui from the local dialects. These excerpts are from well known stories recognizable across Mambuhk.

kun3ja3wing3 fik6di1 wjeng1zhi3 kip4bim2 jaeng2mngum2 fjuhm8 wjeng1kuhm5 mngin4mngi2 zhan1wing3 naing3 mam3di1 kwa3kam3ngut2 bjup6bum6

tiger dual nominative | pearl accusative | fox singular dative | to give arbitrary past perfective | they animate | postposition relational to | fox singular quote | now | stone singular nominative | across | river accusative | copula present perfective emphasis | to say arbitrary past perfective

"The pair of tigers gave the pearl to the fox. The fox said to them, 'Now the stone is across the river!'"

wje2wung4 daeng3 bet2bwuun6wing3 bet2kui7ngim6 kang4da2di1 jaet5gaem8faing3nuk3 bet2kui7wing3 bet2bwuun6ngim6 kang4da2di1 jaet5gaem8

lake vocative concatenation ruler | I singular nominative | you singular animate genitive | battle many plural accusative | to fight arbitrary future perfective conditional conjunction if | you singular animate nominative | I singular genitive | battle many plural accusative | to fight arbitrary future perfective

"Lake King, I would fight your battles if you will fight my battles."

Imperial Decree of the Census
All official documents of Mambuhk are still written in literary Mngwan Jui, so that every group in the diverse nation can understand. This document is a decree from the current Emperor to declare a census of the population.

"By the decree of Mamjweu Emperor, worthy of honor, lord who pacifies the rivers, lord over the four winds, master of the realm, conqueror of the south, arbiter of loyal subjects, grandmaster of the order of the five rivers, reverent, martial, the whole of the realm shall be required to undergo a census of the population to assess the state of supplies. Each individual is ordered to report to their hometown to register. Men and women will be counted, but children will be excluded from the census. The census officer will determine which individuals will be deemed as children. The lords of the twenty five provinces shall appoint nine overseers to instruct the governers of the towns to conduct the census. This is the decree of the honorable Emperor, may it be executed to the merit of the executor."