Miwonša

Miwonša is an a priori conlang created in 2011 by Plusquamperfekt (member of http://www.unilang.org and http://zbb.spinnwebe.com). The grammar is essentially based on earlier conlang projects (for example Kĵatonša) that have not been finished until now. One unique feature of Miwonša is that it can be also written with Tarul, a conscript created in 2011.

Phoneme inventory:
Miwonša has 18 vowel phonemes (5 oral, 5 nasal, 8 diphthongs) and 27 consonant phonemes:

In loanwoards, the phonemes /b, d, g, v/ may also occur, but it is also possible to simply devoice them. Allophony: Before /i, ĩ/, /t/ and /c/ become [tɕ], /h/ becomes [ɕ], /n/ becomes [ɲ] and /l/ becomes /ʎ/.

Vowels: /a, ã, ɛ, ɛ̃, i, ĩ, ɔ, ɔ̃, u, ũ/; Diphthongs: [aɪ, aʊ, ɛɪ, ɛʊ, ɪʊ, ɔɪ, ɔʊ, ʊɪ]

Phonotactics:
Possible onsets: S = /s, š/, N = /m, n/, L = /r, l/

Possible codas: p, t, k, s, š, m, l (= ɬ), r / Complete syllable: ((S)C(C))V(V)(C)

Allophony: It is possible to pronounce /Cl/ [Cɬ], but this is not obligatory.

Stress and prosody:
Miwonša has a dynamic stress (which means that stressed syllables are louder than unstressed syllables). There is no clear rule about which syllables are stressed, but there are a few tendencies that might help: Sometimes stress is even relevant for the meaning: "lóika" = "they" (intransitive case) vs. "loiká" = "they" (genitive case)
 * nouns are usually stressed on the penultimate syllable (exception: nouns ending in -an are usually stressed on the first syllable)
 * attributive adjectives and indefinite pronouns are usually stressed on the last syllable when succeeding a noun
 * adverbs ending in -oi are always stressed on the last syllable, otherwise on the penultimate syllable
 * copula verbs and infinitives are always stressed on the penultimate syllable
 * finite verbs with at least three syllables are usually stressed on the third-last syllable

LATIN ORTHOGRAPHY
A (B) C Č (D) E F (G) H I J K L Ł M N O P R S Š T U (V) W Y Z Ž

Digraphs: ai au an ei eu en iu in oi ou on ui un / nj lj lw (= ɲ ʎ ɬw) / ph th ch kh čh (= p' t' c' k' tʃ')

IMPORTANT: In this article accent marks (´) are used to help the reader to put the stress on the right position. In the official orthography, accents are not needed.

Declensions:
In Miwonša, there are 5 cases (intransitive case, ergative case, accuative case, genitive case, dative case) and 2 numbers (singular, plural), but no genders. Instead there are four declension classes. The ending of a noun decides to which declension class a noun belongs to:
 * 1) "a" class: čhér a (tree), káik a (cat), mac a (mother), miw a (love)
 * 2) "i" class: káip i (mountain), kján i (heart), mjúl i (worry), sjúl i (forest)
 * 3) "o" class: kwánč o (life), skjášk o (result), mjánr o (darkness), lwánk o (cirlce)
 * 4) "an" class: náčih an (teacher), páiwaš an (brother), twóškaš an (son)

Declension of the "a" class:
Nouns ending in  have the ending "e" in the intransitive, ergative and accusative case plural!

Declension of the "i" class:
Orthographic stem alternation:  → 

Declension of the "o" class:
Phonetic stem alternation:  _i → [tɕ ɕ ɲ ʎ]; Orthographic (+ phonetic) stem alternation:  → 

Declension of the "n" class:
Noun ending in "-an" always denote male persons and professions. There are several nouns that end in another consonant. They have the same paradigm like nouns ending in "-an", except that after palatal consonants, the ACC.SG suffix is "e".Furthermore, some suffixes of nouns belonging to the "n" class ending in another consonant are stressed.

Case syncretisms
Each declension class has diffferent case syncretisms:
 * "a" class: ACC.SG = DAT.SG; INT.PL = ACC.PL = DAT.PL
 * "i" class: INT.PL = ACC.PL = DAT.PL
 * "o" class: INT = ERG, ACC = DAT (SG and PL)
 * "n" class: INT.PL = ACC.PL

Demonstrative infixes
Miwonša has two infixes which function like demonstratives: "-aš" which means "this/that" and "-aw" which means "some/any". On the contrary to articles these infixes are only used to emphasize the definiteness or indeniteness explicitely. As the degree of definiteness is often given by the context, these infixes are left out in most situations.