Awkaŋu

=General Information= Awkaŋu is a noun language, i.e. there are basically neither verbs nor adjectives. The sentence structure can be described as SOV (subject object verb) where the verb part is really just a noun. Only its position in the sentence indicates that the action of the word is meant e.g. the word "eating" in the verb position would be understood as the action of eating i.e. "to eat".

Awkaŋu is an isolating language without any exceptions. Once the basic rules of grammar are understood, the learner can start speaking immediately because everything is logical and thus sentences can be made up on the fly.

There is no word for "to be".

Also, in Awkaŋu all words that are obvious from the context can be omitted. This is especially true for an established topic or agent/client. By inferring many words the sentences can become quite short without losing their meaning. However, context is very important to make a conversation possible.

There are no prepositions but almost all particles are postpositions.

There is no grammatical gender.

=The Alphabet=

Keep in mind, that this is the romanization of the Awkaŋu script.

Vowels

 * a = [a]
 * u = [u]
 * i = [i]
 * o = [ɔ]
 * e = [ɛ]
 * w = [w]

Diphthongs

 * ey = [ɛi]
 * ai = [aɪ̯]]
 * ou = [oʊ̯]]

Consonants

 * n = [n]
 * ŋ = [ŋ]
 * m = [m]
 * b = [b]
 * l = [l]
 * d = [d]
 * t = [t]
 * f = [f]
 * s = [s]
 * sh = [ʃ] / [ʒ] before [d]
 * g = [g]
 * k = [k]
 * h = [h]
 * r = [ɺ]

=Verb Position=

In Awkaŋu there is no distinction between nouns and verbs (verbs are seen as nouns, too).

To solve this issue, Awkaŋu makes use of the so-called verb position.

As mentioned above, the sentence order is Subject-Object-Verb, all parts being nouns.

So actually it is:

Every sentence follows that rule (exception: see Inversion).

The verb postion is that part of a sentence, which usually comes last and has no case particle attached to it. Nouns in the verb position are understood as the action corresponding to that noun. On the other hand, every noun that is not in the verb position is understood as the noun and never as the action.

=The Cases=

There is a total of 27 cases in Awkaŋu. All cases are built by using particles that follow the respective part of the sentence.

The particle bu is only used, when an action takes place. If the agent does not "do" anything, then sa is used instead.

For examples of the use of each case particle look at the example sentences section.

=Mood=

Awkaŋu is based on subjectivism. Every sentence is seen as a subjective opinion or description of the environment. It is agreed upon that there are no objective truths apart from those that are defined in the believe system of the Awkaŋus. These things have an influence on the grammar.

The mood particles always come last in a sentence.

The particle shiaiga for the objective mood is used to express universal truths.

Because a sentence is always expressing a personal opinion, formulations such as "I find" or "to like" are not used.

Pronunciation of m
The particle m is pronounced [m].

If the m comes right after a consonant, it is pronounced [am].

=Tense=

There are three tenses in Awkaŋu. The respective tense particles are always added at the end of the verb position, but always before the mood particle. Tense is only applied, if an actual (physical) action happens. Thus, not every sentence comes with a tense.

Present Tense
For the present tense, there is no modification. No tense particle in the verb position means that the tense is present tense.

Example:
 * Lou bu kula. (I eat)

Past Tense
The past tense particle is mi.

Example:
 * Lou bu kula mi. (I ate)

Future Tense
The future tense particle is lia.

Example:
 * Lou bu kula lia. (I will eat)

=Number=

In Awkaŋu there is no distinction between singular and plural.

A noun is usally treated as the plural, depending on the context.

For expressing a definite number of a noun, numbers are used.

There are no other numbers in Awkaŋu except the rough equivalent of 'thousand' or 'a whole lot', represented by mesha.

Examples: Lou bu ewi tam sa kula mi.
 * I ate two slices of bread.

Nui kawa dulin bosiwi sa ti diwa no.
 * Why didn't you take four flowers?

Wen bu saw kuka sa ewat na tili mi.
 * She hit her brother three times.

Counting
For pure counting, a number system with base 5 is used. Examples should be best for explaining this.

If something is multiplied by 1, the 1 is omitted.

=Inversion=

In Awkaŋu, inversion is done by switching verb and object. As the verb is then no longer in the verb position, it has to get the verb particle ja attached to it to still be a verb.

Inversion is used, when the object is a more complex construction. Instead of the object, other parts can be inversed as well, though it is not usual to inverse with the subject.

=Questions=

Questions are made by adding the question particle no at the end of a sentence. By doing so, the sentence becomes a quesion. No further changes have to be made.

Example Note that there is no "?" in Awkaŋu. Instead, the no functions as that.
 * "Ley bu tam sa kula." becomes "Ley bu tam sa kula no."

As for intonation, there should be no difference between a statement and a question, i.e. the voice stays low in either case.

=Inference=

As mentioned in the introduction, inference plays an important role in Awkaŋu. By inferring, so many words are omitted and so much time is saved. Inference shall be explained through a few example sentences.

Let's assume, John and Mary have an appointment. Mary is late, so when she arrives, John asks:

This means: "Where have you been?" As you may have noticed, there is no ley and no sa in that sentence. That is, because being entirely obvious from the context they are omitted. Without inference the sentence would be "Ley sa nui tai mi no.", which means exactly the same thing. Only the word for "you" is added.
 * "Nui tai mi no."

Another example: You call a friend and say "What are you doing?" Again the ley sa (you) is omitted, because everyone knows who you are referring to. In colloquial language the sa may be dopped as well as the no to produce the sentence "Nui ama" that still means "What are you doing?".
 * "Nui sa ama no."

Inference does not only work for questions though. You could say for instance: "Tam sa kula." ("I eat bread.") Here, the lou bu(I) is inferred.

=Feature Words=

Feature words can be treated as adjectives.

A feature is constructed by combining any group 1 word with any group 2 word.

Examples:
 * "Tam sa maŋal gwola" means "The bread tastes good" or "The bread is of good taste".
 * "Maku sa bà ikat!" means "The tree is very high!".

The group 3 words can be added arbitrarily at the beginning of any feature construction. They can also be used for any other word and even for nouns.

Examples: Kali sa bilà maŋal.
 * This is good enough.

Kali tesu sa kitsha àbu lum.
 * This house is too cold.

Ti bilà kula mi no.
 * Didn't you eat enough?

Nou we ama no.
 * Will you do it some time?

=Pronouns=

Apart from the personal pronouns, there are only four other pronouns in Awkaŋu. Two of them are demonstrative pronouns while the third is used to express uniqueness.

The pronoun kana is interesting. It can be used in two ways. The first way corresponds to the english use of it or that in a sentence like "He showed me the picture and I liked it". So instead of repeating the word picture the pronoun kana would be used. This works only, if it is clear from the context wheather the subject or the object is referred to as kana. In a case in which this is unclear, the respective word or part of the sentence is marked by nuru beforehand.

Examples: Nuru tou bu tam sa kula tsho kana bu lok.
 * He eats a bread and falls down.

Tou bu nuru tam sa tsho kana bu lok.
 * He eats a bread and it falls down.

Kana can also be used to refer to a whole sentence. Again, context is important.

=Relative Clauses=

Even though relative clauses are treated as a case in Awkaŋu, their use is not always easy. The relative particle is ye.

Some of these sentences are quite advanced. Don't bother understanding them completely before the other grammar points, because they make use of multiple grammar rules at once.

=Opposites with "mu"=

The particle mu can be used to turn any word into it's opposite. This applies to particles, too.

Mu comes right before the word that is "inverted".

There are no restrictions.

Examples: Nan tsho mu nan.
 * To give and take.

Shakai sa maku saw yabok tai.
 * The cat is in the front of the tree.

Shakai sa maku saw mu yabok tai.
 * The cat is behind the tree.

=Parallels with "Soo"=

Soo can be used to express "the more the better"-kind of formulations. This shall be explained here.

The formula is: soo soo.

The two (or more) parts followed by the soo exist in a conditional relation.

Example: Ley bu bà na hoana soo ley sa bà maŋal soo.
 * The more you laugh, the more beautiful you are.

=Expressing Possession=

There are many basic kinds of possession. One is to own or to be responsible for something, the other is to have something at your disposal. Other uses include expressing affiliation or availability.

The particle saw
The particle saw is used to express both ownership and responsibility and affiliation.

Example: Kali sa lou saw ata.
 * This is my friend.

Lemba sa wen saw dshitàni saw ìu.
 * She is responsible for that part of the garden.

Saying "I have"
To express availability of something, the sociative particle bulu is used. It corresponds to the english "I have", though literally it means "to be with something".

Example: Lou sa maŋal ka madada bulu.
 * I have a nice family. (I'm with a nice family.)

Lou sa bilà nal bulu.
 * I have enough money(gold). (I'm with enough money.)

=Dialogue=

Tom: Hello! Anna: Hello. How are you? Tom: I'm fine, and you? Anna: Me too, tell me, where have you been? What have you been doing? Tom: Err, I was climbing mountains and then i went for a walk in the forest. Anna: Were you alone all the time? Tom: No! Not at all! There were many animals who allowed me to stay. I love animals. Anna: Wow! Will you do it again? Tom: Definitely. Do you want to come with me? We could go to the ocean, too. Anna: Yes, let's go together. Tom: Okay, I'm looking forward to it. Good bye. Anna: Yes, Good bye.

Translation

Tom: Elena la. Anna: Elena la. Nui kamta no. Tom: Maŋal kamta. Ley sa no. Anna: Tsho lou. Ley bu tuba mo ja nui tai mi. Nui ama mi no. Tom: Aa, lima sa lagùn mi tsho simyóu tai midewa mi. Anna: Bo we amun no. Tom:  Si. Sàbo ìu. Ba waŋit emyu sa mi tsho mu ìa ja lou bu diebu. Emyu sa hiwo. Anna: Maŋal. Nane ama lia no. Tom: Alùt. Lou bulu midewa liwa no. Sawi lou bu tsho kuu enà midewa lia. Anna: Dio. Bulu etò midewa m. Tom: Maŋal. Bikàmi. Kana sa tadshìa. Elena mi. Anna: Dio. Elena mi.

=Example Sentences=

Vocabulary
Here is a vocabulary list with all the words that appear in the examples.

=Text=

Basawi ubeyo tsho neyma bu ambana mi ja nui nuru sa bà dshulo. Midewa may bu bà lum o bwi bulu dsha bawa mi we. Mesha bu mu ìa mi ja midewa may sawa o bwi sa samiku kaŋu asàl ye nuru sa bà dshulo. Tsho basawi ubeyo bu nay nam dshulo ka kupìgwa mi ee bà dshulo ka kupìgwa mi soo midewa may bu o bwi sa bà bambu ama soo. Tsho hitu we basawi ubeyo bu dshàlibu sa shwe mi. Tsho neyma bu bà lum ka ukiŋi ama mi tsho simaŋu etò midewa may bu o bwi sa samiku mi. Basawi obeyo bu dodshoma mi mo ja neyma sa bà dshulo mi.

= Notes =

Awkaŋu is basically already complete, but I didn't want to explain every grammar detail here or give all the words that exist. If someone is interested, I will clarify anything that is not clear. Any questions are welcome!

--Seladwa 11:00, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Siah

--Seladwa 20:44, 22 March 2009 (UTC)Siah

--Seladwa 19:34, 25 March 2009 (UTC)Siah

--Seladwa 22:17, 28 March 2009 (UTC)Siah