Kop`ll

Notice* ''This is still currently very much a work in progress. Thus I apologize for mistakes and inconsistencies and ask that any who wish to contribute ideas to this language contact me first.''

Kop`ll is a language spoken by people who inhabit a fairly cold country perhaps surrounded by various seas or an ocean.

Classification and Dialects
A highly polysynthetic,   almost exclusively suffixal  language, with some aggulative qualities, consisting of two main dialects: inland and coastal, with minor phonetic differences only.

Phonology
Ongoing work in Progress.

Consonants
Ejective consonants occur in many words including the present tense form of almost all verbs. The three possible ejectives are p`, t`, k`, and ll` respectively, though the most common are p` ll` and t` do to their relatively more forward positioning. The m is shifted to the labio-dental position in the inland dialect, along with the j being shifted somewhat from the approximant to the fricative.

Diphthongs
The possible dipthongs in Kop'll are ai̯, au, eo, and u̯i, as well as any number of other V+u combinations resulting from the use of the interrogative tense marker uu. Diphthongs are usually germinated with the second sound occasionally being stressed if it is in the front position.

Phonotactics
Syllables can be CV, VC, CVC, or an ejective consonant alone, (the p` in Kop`ll for example).

Nouns
Nouns have no declension patters in Kop`ll. Number is indicated through the use of adjectives, or adjectival verb phrases. Definiteness can be expressed in some senses with the emphatic suffixial adjective -llott.

Nouns are however, able to inflect possession, as well as show there position as the topic, subject, and direct object within a sentence by the use of particle-like affixes.

Verbs
Kop`ll is very much a language of Verbs, having an extensive system of affixes. Verbs in Kop`ll conjugate for two tenses: present and past; seven aspects: perfective, perfect, habitual, continuous/progressive, gnomic, terminative, and continuative, all in both the past and present tense; and nine moods:  indicative, interrogative, imperative, optative, causative, conditional, subjunctive, contemporative, and participial; five voices: active, passive, middle, reciprocal, and valencial (indicates an animate or inanimate subject and/or topic). Verbs also agree with the person, in the form of suffixed inflectional pronouns and also regular suffixes. The infinitive form of all verbs ends in the labial-dental fricative, v, followed by an a. Most verbs are regular, though state-of-being verbs as well as a few other verbs maintain completely separate words for animate and inanimate subjects/topics.

Tenses
Present tense for regular verbs is simply the infinitive plus ll indicating the present tense. Past tense is indicated by adding ŋŋk to the infinitive. These conjugations will be demonstrated using the verb bova, to go, conjugated for the indicative third-person animate non-human, (it), past and present.

Aspects
Aspects are somewhat simple to conjugate. They are placed before the tense marker in the verb. The following are all the different present tense indicative third-person animate forms of again the word bova in all seven different aspects.

Moods
Kop`ll has nine moods, all of which are marked morphologically. The indicative mood is unmarked, being the common mood. Conjugation of the moods will be demonstrated using bova once again in the present tense third person animate form.

Pronouns
Pronouns in Kop`ll can only exist when attached to either a verb or the helping word baye as a suffix. Pronouns have both formal and causal forms.

Syntax
The default word order for transitive clauses is SOV. Likewise for intransitive clauses the default is SV. Adjectives precede nouns and take a possessive affix in order to effect the noun. Adverbs are almost entirely suffixial and occur directly before the person marker in the verb, which comes last. Prepositions come last in the sentence as the final affix of a given verb.

Lexicon
A work in progress to eventually be linked to from here.

Example text
Article 1 of the Declaration of Human Rights.

"All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

From the Kop`ll version, "Taŋai t`ullaŋ yayeŋilli lailleōlluŋyololhyoquhlhŋiyeyo. Maŋakilli oŋiŋoŋok`ayeyōŋa, bayequhlhai t`ulluye ŋaivabaŋyoŋokiko."

More literal translation: "Habitually human beings are being born we. Reason and conscience is being had, so, towards each other, should act brotherly we."

Yengaai angkkyo ll’uyuilli, p`angilli yakong pobayeō ovallungu?

Aŋyu ll’uyu, p`aŋilli yakoŋ pobayeō ovalluŋu?

Translation: "Will your sister bring seal, bird, and cold drinks?" Or more casually, "Your sister's bringing seal, bird, and cold drinks, right?" Both top and bottom sentences are the same but the top is said using all the formal forms and the bottom is purely conversational omitting various inflections and such.