Konai lingua

Consonants

 * Phonemes marked by asterisk (/ɸ, ʑ, ɣ/) are marginal. Generally they do not occur in native Konai words.
 * /c, ɟ/ before /i/ can become affricates [tɕ, dʑ].
 * Before /i/, alveolar /t, d, n, s/ become palatal [c~tɕ, ɟ~dʑ, nʲ, ɕ].
 * Lateral approximant /l/ is palatal [ʎ] before /i/, /e/; velar [L] or labio-velar [ɰ~ɰʷ] before /u, o/; velarized [ɫ] before /a/.


 * /z/ and marginal /ʑ/ can have a variation of a palatal affricate [dʑ], especially before /i/.
 * Voiceless /p, t, c~tɕ, k, ts/ can be slightly aspirated.
 * /r/ is apical flap. It may be pronounced similar to English flapped d.
 * /w/ is compressed voiced labio-velar approximant. It may vary between [ɰ] and [β] or [ɰʷ].
 * /h/ may have variants [ç] before /i, e/; velar [x] before /a/; labialized [xʷ~hʷ] before /u, o/.

Vowels

 * /a/ is an open central vowel;
 * /e/ is a close-mid front vowel, similar to English e in bed;
 * /i/ is a close front vowel;
 * /o/ is close-mid rounded back vowel;
 * /u/ is close back compressed vowel, similar to Japanese 'u'.

Orthography
The following letters of Latin alphabet are used to write Konai:

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ee Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Ww Yy Zz

The following rules apply:
 * /c/ is written a 'ch'; this is the only context when 'c' is used;
 * /ɟ/ is written as 'j'; 'j' is always pronounced as /ɟ/, never as /y/;
 * /ɕ/ is written 'sh';


 * /ʑ/ is written 'zh';


 * /j/ is written 'y'; 'y' is always used for 'j' consonant sound, never for 'i' or 'y' vowels.

Long vowels are written as follows: To distinguish between long vowels /o:/, /e:/ and vowel sequences /ou/, /ei/ diaeresis on second letter can be used.
 * /a:/ is written 'aa';
 * /o:/ is written 'ou';
 * /u:/ is written 'uu';
 * /e:/ is written 'ei';
 * /i:/ is written 'ii'.

Primary forms

 * U-stem stands for the non-past/present tense. It is also a dictionary form for verbs.
 * A-stem is used to append past tense, voice and negative markers. It cannot be used on its own.
 * E-stem is a gerund stem; it is used mainly for building compound verbs and build derived gerunds. It can be used as a predicate of a clause.
 * O-stem is used to append conditional and mood markers. It cannot be used on its own.
 * I-stem is an attributive form which is used as a noun modifier. It is the only form which can be used as noun modifier. It is the dictionary form for adjectives.

Origins of verb suffices

 * Usage of -r- for vowel stem verb comes from Japanese -ru for ichidan verbs.


 * Negative ne-ku, n-u comes from Indo-European  n-, and also Japanese -nai, -nu.
 * Past tense -t- comes mostly from Japanese -ta, and also from German dental past tense marker.
 * Passive -re- comes from Japanese -(ra)-re-(ru) and for less extent from Latin -r.
 * Causative -sa- comes from Japanese -(sa)-se-(ru).
 * Gerund II -te comes from Japanese -te.
 * Conditional -shi, -kanno come from Latin si, quando.

Noun particles
Four particles (nominative, accusative, genetive, attributive) are written together with preceding noun. All other particles separated by a space.

For accusative -nen is used after vowels, -en after n-final nouns.

Genetive case is the only case which can be used as noun's modifier. Some particles can be used as a noun modifier by adding genitive marker -i:

Mashinna gan koi homin '(the) man with (the) machine gun'

Dictionary
Word roots are mainly devised from European language roots with necessary sound changes. Sounds are changed according to the following scheme:
 * consonant clusters are broken by inserting between the consonants the vowel which follows the cluster; the vowel which followed the cluster is doubled: Lat. arbor (from Old Lat. arbos) > arobousi; Lat. grex, gregis > geregi;
 * if root end in a consonant over than /n/, /u/ is added after labial consonants, /i/ after all other: Lat. urbs, urbis > urubu.

Latin roots
For core vocabulary, Latin roots are mainly used. The following rules apply:
 * Nouns of 1st, 2nd, 4th and 5th Latin declentions, root with thematic vowel is used;
 * For the third declention, pure root (as it's seen is genetive case) is used;
 * -r- which evolved from -s- due to rhotacism, is transfered as -s-.
 * Root may be cut in case it is longer than 3 syllables.

Samples:
 * 1st: aqua > akua
 * 2nd: hortus > horotou (with -o- insertion to keep CV syllable structure, final o is made long); filius > wili
 * 3rd: homo, hominis > homin
 * 4th: domus > domu; manus > manu
 * 5th: dies > jie; facies > wakie

Example text
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