Kyakkê

Kyakkê (Native: Mônehittilyeti Kyakkê Informal: Kyakkê) is the official language of The Republic of Kyakkê and The Northern Kyakkê Democratic Republic. Approximately 30 million people speak Kyakkê on the planet Masênh, 90% of those on the island Jjenhol where both The Republic of Kyakkê and The Northern Kyakkê Democratic Republic are located.

History
Modern Kyakkê descends from Middle Kyakkê, which in turn descends from Old Kyakkê, which descends from the language spoken in Prehistoric Jjenhol (labeled Proto-Kyakkê), whose nature is debated, in part because Kyakkê genetic origins are controversial.

A character system native to the Hya Empire of mainland Masênh'nan arrived on Jjenhol in the late 12th century BCE (Earth) along with Jweppung, a religion, when the Hya conquered the decentralized local kingdoms of Jjenhol. These characters, know as halu in Kyakkê, were adapted to Kyakkê and used as the primary script of Kyakkê for almost 3 millennia.

{example of Halu}

Only privileged elites were educated for fluently read and write them, though, as most of the population was illiterate. The halu were replaced by the current script, hangu, when King Yîjo decided that the halu were inadequate for writing Kyakkê and developed hangu. Although hangu almost entirely replaced halu within a century, halu is still used in religious Jweppung texts and in certain artistic styles of literature, although very few people are fluent in reading halu.

Phonology
Kyakkê has many allophones, so it is important here to distinguish morphophonemes (written inside vertical pipes | |) from corresponding phonemes (written inside slashes / /) and allophones (written inside brackets [ ]).

Consonants
Kyakkê has 17 consonant phonemes, without including the glottal stop <ʔ> which in most romanizations and the native script of the language is not written but implied.

For each stop and affricate, there is a two-way contrast between non-voiced segments, which are distinguished as plain and tense. The IPA symbol ⟨◌͈⟩, resembling a subscript double straight quotation mark, shown here with a placeholder circle, is used to denote the tensed consonants /p͈/, /t͈/, /k͈/, /t͈ɕ/. They are produced with a partially constricted glottis but this "tensed" series of sounds are (fundamentally) regular voiceless consonants: the "lax" sounds are voiced consonants that become devoiced initially, and the primary distinguishing feature between word-initial "lax" and "tensed" consonants is that initial lax sounds cause the following vowel to assume a low-to-high pitch contour while the devoiced lax consonants cause the following vowel to assume a high pitch contour.
 * The "plain" segments are considered the "basic" or unmarked members of the Kyakkê obstruent series.
 * The "tense" segments are characterized by a constricted glottis and a restricted airflow.

/p, t, tɕ, k/ are voiced [b, d, dʑ, ɡ] between voiced sounds but voiceless elsewhere. There are several regional differences in the pronunciations of /ts~dz, ts͈ and tɕ~dʑ, tɕ͈/. The affricate sequence is pronounced /ts~dz, ts͈/ in northern dialects of the Kyakkê such as Palam and Hata. The affricate sequence is only pronounced /tɕ~dʑ, tɕ͈/ when followed by /j/ and causes the following vowel to assume a low pitch. In southern dialects (Ttyîl, Jjada) and some western island dialects (primarily Munh), the affricate sequence is pronounced /tɕ~dʑ, tɕ͈/ and does not change place of articulation or pitch based on semivowels. Some may pronounce the alveolar-palatals as /tsʰ~dzʰ, ts/, especially before back vowels, reverting to /tɕ~dʑ, tɕ͈/ before /j/ although maintaining a high pitch.

/m, n/ tend to be denasalized word-initially. Often, they are not actual stops either, but sometimes l, a stop release burst is audible. /ŋ/ appears only between vowels and in the syllable coda.

/l/ is an alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels or between a vowel and an /h/; and is [l] or [ɭ] at the end of a word, before a consonant other than /h/, or next to another /l/. It is unstable at the beginning of a word, tending to become [n] before most vowels and silent before /i, j/, but it is commonly [ɾ] in loanwords.

Between vowels, /h/ may either be voiced [ɦ] or become inaudible or even often disappear.

Vowels
Kyakkê has 8 vowel phonemes and a length distinction for 7 of the 8 vowels. Although there is a length contrast, vowels are often analyzed according to a tenseness contrast, with long /iː, yː, uː, eː, øː, oː/ being the tense vowels and short /ɪ, ʏ, ʊ, ɛ, œ, ɔ/ their lax counterparts. The Kyakkê lax vowels require a syllable coda in stressed syllables, with the notable exception of [ɛː] (which is absent in many dialects). This addition of a coda is called checking. /a/ is sometimes considered the lax counterpart of tense /aː/ in order to maintain this tense/lax division but are considered by native speakers to be the same vowel.

The preferred pronunciation of a vowel is always lax (excepting [ɛː]). This preference is not followed when the vowel is in a stressed syllable and is unchecked. E.g. "kôlulk" ['køːɾʊk̚] where the stress falls on the first syllable which is unchecked and results in a tense vowel [øː].

The long open-mid front unrounded vowel [ɛː] is an irregularity in the otherwise regular vowel system of Kyakkê consisting of pairs of long and short vowels [iː, ɪ]. [ɛː] acts as a lax vowel in some situations while acting as a tense vowel in others. Primarily, [ɛː] cannot be pronounced in unchecked stressed syllables, only in unstressed syllables. In this way it is practically a lax vowel. The tense aspect of [ɛː] is that, for dialects that contain [ɛː], it cannot be reduced into [ə, ɐ]. [ɛː] also forms a unique assimilation of [k] and [h] (see Vowel Assimilation)

Diphthongs and Glides
Because they may follow consonants in initial position in a word, which no other consonant can do, and also because of hangu orthography, which transcribes them as vowels, semivowels such as /j/ and /w/ are sometimes considered to be elements of diphthongs rather than separate consonant phonemes. Diphthongs are classified in two groups: y initial, and w initial based on the semivowel with which they are formed. Diphthongs can only be formed with lax vowels and [ɛː] excluding the lax vowel with which the semivowel is an allophone. Diphthongs behave similarly to tense vowels in that they can exist unchecked in stressed syllables.

Positional Allophones
Kyakkê consonants have three principal positional allophones: initial, medial (voiced), and final (checked). The initial form is found at the beginning of phonological words. The medial form is found in voiced environments, intervocalically and after a voiced consonant such as n or l. The final form is found in checked environments such as at the end of a phonological word or before an obstruent consonant such as t or k. Nasal consonants (m, n, ng) do not have noticeable positional allophones, but ng cannot appear in initial position. All obstruents (stops, affricates, fricatives) become stops with no audible release at the end of a word: all coronals collapse to [t̚], all labials to [p̚], and all velars to [k̚]. Final r is a lateral [l] or [ɭ].

Vowel Assimilation
The vowel that most affects consonants is /iː/, which, along with its semivowel homologue /j/, palatalizes /s/ to alveolo-palatal [ɕ] for most speakers (but see differences in the language between northern dialects and southern dialects). As noted above, initial |l| is silent in this palatalizing environment, at least in southern dialects. Similarly, an underlying |t| at the end of a morpheme becomes a phonemically palatalized affricate /tɕ/ when followed by a word or suffix beginning with /iː/ or /j/, but that does not happen within a word root such as _______.

/k/ is more affected by vowels, often becoming an affricate when followed by /iː/, /uː/ or /oː/: [kçiː], [kxaː]. The most variable consonant is /h/, which becomes a palatal [ç] before /iː/ or /j/, a velar [x] before /aː/, and bilabial [ɸʷ] before /oː/, /uː/ and /w/. In many morphological processes, a vowel |i| before another vowel may become the semivowel /j/. Likewise, |u| and |o|, before another vowel, may reduce to /w/. In some dialects and speech registers, the semivowel /w/ assimilates into a following /e/ or /i/ and produces the front rounded vowels [ø] and [y].

Consonant Assimilation
As noted above, tenuis stops and /h/ are voiced after the voiced consonants /m, n, ŋ, l/, and the resulting voiced [ɦ] tends to be elided. Tenuis stops become fortis after obstruents (which, as noted above, are reduced to [k̚, t̚, p̚]); that is, /kt/ is pronounced [k̚t͈]. Fortis and nasal stops are unaffected by either environment, though /n/ assimilates to /l/ after an /l/. After /h/, tenuis stops become aspirated, /s/ becomes fortis, and /n/ is unaffected. /l/ is highly affected: it becomes [n] after all consonants but /n/(which assimilates to the /l/ instead) or another /l/. For example, underlying |tɕoŋlo| is pronounced /tɕɔŋnoː/.

These are all progressive assimilation. Kyakkê also has regressive (anticipatory) assimilation: a consonant tends to assimilate inmanner but not in place of articulation: Obstruents become nasal stops before nasal stops (which, as just noted, includes underlying |l|), but do not change their position in the mouth. Velar stops (that is, all consonants pronounced [k̚] in final position) become [ŋ]; coronals ([t̚]) become [n], and labials ([p̚]) become [m]. For example, |hankyokmal| is pronounced /hankyoŋmal/ (phonetically [hankçuŋmal]).

A final /h/ assimilates in both place and manner, so that |hC|is pronounced as a geminate (and, as noted above, aspirated if C is a stop). The two coronal sonorants, /n/ and /l/, in whichever order, assimilate to /l/, so that both |nl| and |ln| are pronounced [lː].

When adding suffixes and two consonants are placed next to each other as in |tangkon| and |nyê| the two consonants merge and are written as one consonant. Thus |tangkon-nyê| is written |tangkonyê|.

Phonotactics
Kyakkê syllable structure is maximally /CGVC/, where /G/ is a glide/j, w/. Any consonant except /ŋ/ may occur initially, but only /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l/ may occur finally. Sequences of two consonants may occur between vowels, as outlined above. However, morphemes may also end in CC clusters, which are both expressed only when they are followed by a vowel. When the morpheme is not suffixed, one of the consonants is not expressed; if there is a /h/, which cannot appear in final position, it will be that. Otherwise it will be a coronal consonant, and if the sequence is two coronals, the voiceless one (/s, t, tɕ/) will drop, and /n/ or /l/ will remain. Thus, no sequence reduces to [t̚] in final position.

Stress
Stress in Kyakkê usually falls on the first syllable, with the following exceptions: Moreover, Kyakkê makes a distinction in stress between separable prefixes (stress on prefix) and inseparable prefixes (stress on root) in verbs and words derived from such verbs. Therefore: Vowel reduction occurs to tense vowels in unstressed syllables usually reduce to [ə] for [iː, eː, yː, øː] and [ɐ] for [aː, uː, oː] when. With these exceptions:
 * Many loanwords, especially proper names, keep their original stress. E.g. Obama /ʔɔˈpaː.ma/
 * In form two verb stems with stress on the end of the stem
 * Words beginning with {separable prefixes} receive stress on the second syllable.
 * Words having {adverb prefixes} as verb prefix, and most other prepositional adverbs receive stress on their first syllable.
 * Some prefixes, notably {prefixes}, can function as separable or inseparable prefixes, and are stressed and unstressed accordingly.

Vowel Harmony
The Kyakkê language has strong vowel harmony not only do the inflectional and derivational affixes (such as postpositions) change in accordance to the main root vowel, but words also adhered to vowel harmony. There are three classes of vowels in Kyakkê: positive, negative, and neutral. The vowel classes loosely follow the negative and positive vowels; they also follow orthography. Exchanging positive vowels with negative vowels usually creates different nuances of meaning, with positive vowels sounding diminutive and negative vowels sounding crude.

Grammar
For this section there will be Kyakkê romanization (written inside brackets [ ]) and IPA transcriptions (written inside slashes / /).

Morphological type
All varieties of Kyakkê are very regular agglutinative languages, as opposed to isolating or fusional ones. Their normal sentence order is SOV (subject–object–verb). Their large number of suffixes changes both the overall significance of words and their subtle shades of meaning. Notable grammatical features include bipersonal conjugation (verbs agree with both subject and object), an intricate set of honorifics and speech levels, animacy levels affecting word order and conjugation, evidentiality (indication of the source and veracity of knowledge), a set of topic particles, and suffixes indicating who benefits from an action and the speaker's attitude toward it, but some languages and varieties may lack some of the characteristics.

Root Formation
The basis for Kyakkê nouns are roots which are the smallest unit of independent meaning in the language. Roots usually consist of some variation on a primary morpheme which may be modulated by other secondary morphemes. For example, the morpheme for "water" is [jwî] which can be modulated into "ice" [jwîpê] from [jwî], "water" and [pe], "cold" or "frozen".

Nouns
Nouns in Kyakkê have an innate number and case which can be declined using suffixes. These innate states are called [Yepulusit sôngyeti] /jebʊɾʊsɪt̚ søːŋjetɕɪ/. These true roots can be either cumulative or singulative and ergative or accusative. The Yepulusit sôngyeti are determined by the animacy level of the noun. There are 6 animacy levels: humans, animals, plants, moving inanimate objects, stationary inanimate objects and abstract ideas.

Nouns do not have grammatical gender and though they can be made cumulative by adding the suffix [tal] and singulative by adding [honh] to the end of the word based upon the Yepulusit sôngyeti of the word. In general these suffixes are not used when the plurality of the noun is clear from context. For example, while the English sentence "there are three apples" would use the plural "apples" instead of the singular "apple", the Kyakkê sentence [ ] " " keeps the word [kwoping] "apple" in its unmarked form, as the numeral makes the plural marker redundant.

Kyakkê is a tripartite language meaning there are separate cases for the agent of a transitive verb, the patient of a transitive verb, and the single argument of an intransitive verb. Cases are always marked in the noun is not innately marked with the correct case. For example, [
 * the agent of a transitive verb takes the ergative case marked by [kon]
 * the object of a transitive verb takes the accusative case marked by [kit]
 * the single argument of an intransitive verb takes the absolutive case marked by [sat]

The most basic, fundamental Kyakkê vocabulary is native to the Kyakkê language, e.g. sule (country), nal (day). However, a large body of Kyakkê nouns stem from the Kyakkê pronunciation of Hya characters e.g. top, "mountain," mal, "station,"  soyî, "culture", etc. Many Hya-Kyakkê words have native Kyakkê equivalents and vice versa, but not always. The choice of whether to use a Hya-Kyakkê noun or a native Kyakkê word is a delicate one, with the Hya-Kyakkê alternative often sounding more profound or refined. It is in much the same way that Latin- or French-derived words in English are used in higher-level vocabulary sets (e.g. the sciences), thus sounding more refined – for example, the Anglo-Saxon "ask" versus Romance "inquire".

Words based on Earth oriented things such as specific animals, plants and phenomena are primary loaned to Kyakkê from English and Chinese.

Noun roots accept suffixes that indicate person (defining of possession, not identity), number, and case. In general, the personal suffix precedes that of number. In southern dialects (Ttyîl, Jjada) and some western island dialects (primarily Munh) however, the order is reversed. From variety to variety, suffixes may change.

Pronouns
In Kyakkê, there are fourteen basic pronouns, formed around first, second, and third person and singular and plural each with an informal and honorific form. Kyakkê has two first-person plural pronouns ("we" in English). One is called the inclusive, which is used if the speaker wishes to include the addressee ("we and you"). The other form is called the exclusive, which is used when the addressee is excluded ("we without you"). Kyakkê also adds the suffix -tal to the second and third person singular pronouns tangso and tangkon to create the plural forms, tangsotal and tangkontal.

The Kyakkê language makes extensive use of speech levels and honorifics in its grammar, and Kyakkê pronouns also change depending on the social distinction between the speaker and the person or persons spoken to.

In general, speakers of Kyakkê avoid using second person singular pronouns, especially when using honorific forms.

For each pronoun there is a humble/honorific and an informal form for first and second person. In the above table, the first pronoun given is the humble one, which one would use when speaking to someone older or of high social status. tangso is also sometimes used as the Kyakkê equivalent of "dear" as a form of address. Also, whereas uses of other humble forms are straightforward, tangso must be used only in specific social contexts, such as between two married partners. In that way, it can be used in an ironic sense when used between strangers, usually during arguments and confrontations. It is worth noting that tangso is also an honorific third-person pronoun, used to refer to one's social superior who is not present.

Classification of verbs
There are two broad ways of classifying Kyakkê verbal roots. They are: Pyalaswotê and Atamyoswotê. But some roots are Upsayaswotê i.e. they are affixed as Pyalaswotê as well as Atamyoswotê roots.

Based on how the present stem is generated from the verb root, Kyakkê has ten kango or classes of verbs divided into two broad groups: athematic and thematic. The thematic verbs are so called because an a (ô), called the theme vowel, is inserted between the stem and the ending. This serves to make the thematic verbs generally more regular. Exponents used in verb conjugation include prefixes, suffixes and infixes. Every root has (not necessarily all distinct) lax, reduced, and tense grades. A lax grade relates to the use of lax vowels, a reduced grade: reduced vowels, and tense grade: tense vowels. If V is the vowel of the lax-grade, the reduced-grade vowel is traditionally thought of as the reduced form of the vowel, and the tense-grade vowel as the tense form of the vowel. Grade-modulation is the process of modifying the syllable structure of verb stems based on the phonotactic requirements of Kyakkê and plays a major role in the formation of the kango.

The ten classes were as follows:

Verbs conjugate according to: Verbs in Kyakkê also have innate states called "" which are based on voice (active, middle, and passive) of the noun. These states are understood to be the state of the verb unless marked as otherwise.
 * Tense
 * Past: -noj
 * Non-past: 'ang
 * Mood
 * Indicative: -løj
 * Subjunctive: -muus
 * Conditional: -fin
 * Imperative: -tax
 * Jussive: -tsaapp
 * Aspect
 * Perfective: -lee
 * Durative
 * Durative stative (continuous): -xe
 * Durative progressive (progressive): -saaj
 * Experiential: -kxo