Genaizuawin

General Information
Genaizuawin (/gɛˌnaɪzuːˈawɪn/; natively Gewnayzuawwin Iyensi) is the language spoken by the Asoewnte tribe in the Eastern desert, part of the planet Aethos' one continent's Great Desert. The Easternmost part of the desert, where the Asoewnte live, is bordered by hills and mountains to the east, the rest of the Eastern Desert to the west, and to the great Eastern Plateau chain to the south.

The Asoewnte people live around the Asoewnte Oasis, which is more like a fresh water mini-sea or great lake. Due to their proximity to water, many people visit them, most notably religious missions from various sects which have set up shop around the Oasis. The Asoewnte have embraced the tourism, religious journeys, and missions to become the most advanced tribe in the Eastern desert.

Classification and Dialects
Genaizuawin is part of the Eastern Desert dialect chain. It is mutually intelligible with its neighbors, but gets less mutually intelligible with distance.

Consonants

 * All consonants but /j/ and /w/ can be geminated. When /ɹ/ is geminated, it becomes /rː/.

Vowels

 * Diphthongs are /eɯ̯/, /ɤi̯/, /aɯ̯/, and /ai̯/

Phonotactics
(C)V(n)


 * min: /ɯ/ in u "to"
 * max: /gːaɯ̯n/ in higgawn "night"
 * Geminate consonants may not start words (they can in most neighboring dialects, however).

Orthography

 * Diphthongs are written with w and y.

Derivational prefixes
Quite a few nouns are prefixed with i-, u-, o, or a-. The o- prefix becomes e- before a w or before an o in the next syllable. These prefixes have different meanings depending on the semantic class of the noun. Some nouns don't fall in one of the classes and can't take the prefixes. The prefixes are mandatory in most nouns that have them. What follows are the semantic classes and the meaning of the prefixes in each of them.

People

 * i- older generations
 * u- younger generations
 * o- others
 * a- siblings

Round or Irregular things

 * i- small
 * u- large
 * o- large and irregular
 * a- varying sizes

Places

 * i- open space
 * u- enclosed
 * a- inhabited

Animals

 * i- small
 * u- large
 * o- wild
 * a- tame

Foodstuffs

 * i- poisonous, medical, or used in ritual
 * u- sweet or fatty
 * o- sour or bitter

Syntax
SOV

Numbers
In common with all Eastern Desert languages, Genaizuawin has an emphasis on sound devices such as alliteration, assonance, and rhyme in its numbers, to make counting easier.