Miwonša

Miwonša is an a priori conlang created in 2011 by Plusquamperfekt (member of http://www.unilang.org and http://zbb.spinnwebe.com). The grammar is essentially based on earlier conlang projects (for example Kĵatonša) that have not been finished until now. One unique feature of Miwonša is that it can be also written with Tarul, a conscript created in 2011.

Phoneme inventory:
Miwonša has 18 vowel phonemes (5 oral, 5 nasal, 8 diphthongs) and 27 consonant phonemes:

In loanwoards, the phonemes /b, d, g, v/ may also occur, but it is also possible to simply devoice them. Allophony: Before /i, ĩ/, /t/ and /c/ become [tɕ], /h/ becomes [ɕ], /n/ becomes [ɲ] and /l/ becomes /ʎ/.

Vowels: /a, ã, ɛ, ɛ̃, i, ĩ, ɔ, ɔ̃, u, ũ/; Diphthongs: [aɪ, aʊ, ɛɪ, ɛʊ, ɪʊ, ɔɪ, ɔʊ, ʊɪ]

Phonotactics:
Possible onsets: S = /s, š/, N = /m, n/, L = /r, l/

Possible codas: p, t, k, s, š, m, l (= ɬ), r / Complete syllable: ((S)C(C))V(V)(C)

Allophony: It is possible to pronounce /Cl/ [Cɬ], but this is not obligatory.

Stress and prosody:
Miwonša has a dynamic stress (which means that stressed syllables are louder than unstressed syllables). There is no clear rule about which syllables are stressed, but there are a few tendencies that might help: Sometimes stress is even relevant for the meaning: "łóika" = "they" (intransitive case) vs. "łoiká" = "they" (genitive case)
 * nouns are usually stressed on the penultimate syllable (exception: nouns ending in -an are usually stressed on the first syllable)
 * attributive adjectives and indefinite pronouns are usually stressed on the last syllable when succeeding a noun
 * adverbs ending in -oi are always stressed on the last syllable, otherwise on the penultimate syllable
 * copula verbs and infinitives are always stressed on the penultimate syllable
 * finite verbs with at least three syllables are usually stressed on the third-last syllable

LATIN ORTHOGRAPHY
A (B) C Č (D) E F (G) H I J K L Ł M N O P R S Š T U (V) W Y Z Ž

Digraphs: ai au an ei eu en iu in oi ou on ui un / nj lj lw (= ɲ ʎ ɬw) / ph th ch kh čh (= p' t' c' k' tʃ')

IMPORTANT: In this article accent marks (´) are used to help the reader to put the stress on the right position. In the official orthography, accents are not needed.

Declensions:
In Miwonša, there are 5 cases (intransitive case, ergative case, accuative case, genitive case, dative case) and 2 numbers (singular, plural), but no genders. Instead there are four declension classes. The ending of a noun decides to which declension class a noun belongs to:
 * 1) "a" class: čhér a (tree), káik a (cat), mac a (mother), miw a (love)
 * 2) "i" class: káip i (mountain), kján i (heart), mjúl i (worry), sjúl i (forest)
 * 3) "o" class: kwánč o (life), skjášk o (result), mjánr o (darkness), lwánk o (cirlce)
 * 4) "an" class: náčih an (teacher), páiwaš an (brother), twóškaš an (son)

Declension of the "a" class
Nouns ending in  have the ending "e" in the intransitive, ergative and accusative case plural!

Declension of the "i" class
Orthographic stem alternation:  → 

Declension of the "o" class
Phonetic stem alternation:  _i → [tɕ ɕ ɲ ʎ]; Orthographic (+ phonetic) stem alternation:  → 

Declension of the "n" class
Noun ending in "-an" always denote male persons and professions. There are several nouns that end in another consonant. They have the same paradigm like nouns ending in "-an", except that after palatal consonants, the ACC.SG suffix is "e".Furthermore, some suffixes of nouns belonging to the "n" class ending in another consonant are stressed.

Case syncretisms
Each declension class has diffferent case syncretisms:
 * "a" class: ACC.SG = DAT.SG; INT.PL = ACC.PL = DAT.PL
 * "i" class: INT.PL = ACC.PL = DAT.PL
 * "o" class: INT = ERG, ACC = DAT (SG and PL)
 * "n" class: INT.PL = ACC.PL

Demonstrative infixes
Miwonša has two infixes which function like demonstratives: "-aš" which means "this/that" and "-aw" which means "some/any". On the contrary to articles, these infixes are only used to emphasize explicitely the definiteness or indeniteness. As the degree of definiteness is often given by the context, these infixes are left out in most situations. The infix has to be placed between the stem and the suffix. The other case endings are always regular. The infixes have no impact on the stress.

Infix -aš-
In the "n" class, "-aš-" is shortened to "-š-" and placed between <-an-> and the case marker. It is also possible to pronounce the sequence <šsa> and <šsi> simply <šša> and <šši>, but not obligatory.

Infix -aw-
"-aw-" becomes "-au-" before suffxes beginning with a consonant, the suffix "i" becomes "e" after "-aw-". The allomorph "-áu-" is always stressed. In the INT.SG of the "i" class and the ACC.SG of the "n" class the suffix  is stressed to avoid confusions with plural forms.

The copula verbs "kwa", "máya" and "skúya" ("to be", "to become", "to remain")
"kwa" means "to be", "máya" means "to remain" and "skúya" means "to become". All arguments of copula verbs are in the intransitive case. In fact "kwa", "maya" and "skuya" are infinitives. In order to say that X is/remains/becomes Y, the suffix "-n" has to be used which indicates that the verb is finite. Examples:


 * Káika zjúnšo kwan. (= cat-INT.SG animal-INT.SG be-FIN → A cat is an animal )


 * Wáškašan ánro mayán. (=man.INT.SG father-INT.SG become-FIN → The man becomes a father.)


 * Zúrašo skáiwo skuyán. (= knowledge-DEF-INT.SG secret remain-FIN → This knowledge remains a secret.)

Incorporation of personal pronouns
It is possible to incorporate personal pronouns. In colloquial speech this is not obligatory.

When incorportated, "łoi", "łai" become "loi", "lai".In the singular, the interfix <š> is used between the incorporatewd pronoun and the ending "an". In the plural, the final vowel of the pronoun is dropped.

Examples:


 * Kwamíšan paiwašan. (= be-1-SG-FIN brother-INT.SG → I am the brother.)
 * Kwasjákan walja. (= be-3.SG.neutr.PL-FIN house-INT.PL → These are houses.)

Incorporation of adverbs
Some adverbs can be incorporated in "kwa", too:


 * ánhi - here → kwánhjan (here is/are...)
 * kóro - there → kwakoran (there is/are ...)
 * žai - not → kwažáiran (here/there is/are no ...)

Examples:


 * Kwánhjan čhera. → Here is a tree.
 * Kwakóran sjúli. → There is a forest.
 * Kwažáiran zánžo. → There is no city.

"to have", "to get" and "to keep"
In Miwonša, there is no direct equivalent for the English verb "to have". Instead, we use a copula verb. While the "possessor" is in the genitive or dative case, the "possessed thing" is in the intransitive case. The genitive case is used when the experiencer possesses the theme. The dative case is used when the theme is either a part, an inherent feature or temporary status of the experiencer.


 * kwa (to be) → kwa + DAT/GEN (to have)
 * maya (to become) → maya + DAT/GEN (to get)
 * skuya (to remain) → skuya + DAT/GEN (to keep)

Examples:


 * Žóhja šiy ó kwan. (nose-INT.SG you.DAT.SG be-FIN → You have a nose.)
 * Fjána šiy á kwan. (horse-INT.SG you.GEN.SG be-FIN → You have a horse.)
 * Chúswa šiy ó mayán. (answer-INT.SG you.DAT.SG become-FIN → You get an answer.)
 * Čwóna šiy á mayán. (book-INT.SG you.GEN.SG get-FIN → You get a book.)
 * Láisa šiy ó skuyán. (problem-INT.SG you.DAT.SG remain-FIN → You keep the problem.)
 * Khólja šiy á skuyán. (ring-INT.G you.GEN.SG remain-FIN → You keep the ring.)

Using the genitive case always implies that the object in the genitive case owns or will own the subject in the intransitive case. So "Khólja šiyó' skuyán." would be correct, too, but it would mean that in fact, the ring does not belong to the object.



Categories of verb morphology
Verbs in Miwonša usually have the structure:


 * [stem]+[agreement marker(s)]+[voice/transitivity marker]+[finiteness marker]

Tense, aspect and mode are expressed with clitics and/or adverbs, so they are no morphological categories of verbs. There are only three finiteness markers: One unique feature of Miwonša is that verbs agree both with the subject and the direct object. Another interesting fact is that even incorporations of object nouns, indefinite pronouns and infinitives may still occur, although this is more a feature of Kĵatonša (Proto-Miwonša), so the use of incorporation in verbs is considered very formal and sometimes even archaic.
 *  - for infinitives
 *  - for finite verbs
 * - for participles

Agreement markers
Compared to the paradigm of personal pronouns, the agreement system is much easier. There are only 6 agreement markers:

Of course, it would be even more plausible to assume only five morphemes (two numbers: -i-, -a-; three persons: -m-, -š-, -w-), but for the sake of simplicity (especially in glossings) they are treated like single morphemes.

There are three options about how agreement markers can be used. If the verb has only one argument in the 3rd person, agreement markers are not needed at all, as long as the sole argument is mentioned in the sentences. If the sole argument is the first or the second person, agreement markers are obligatory. If the only argument (3rd person) is left out, the use of agreement markers is compulsory as well.

Examples:


 * zjučhumiwa - to burn (stem: zjučhum-) 
 *  Wali zjučhúman. (The house is burning) 
 * Zjučhúm iw an. ( It is burning) </i>
 * funíwa - to sleep (stem: fun-) </i>

In transitive sentences, you simply place the object agreement behind the subject agreement:


 * míwka - to love (stem: miwk-)
 * Miwkímišan. - I love you. (love-1.SG-2.SG-FIN)
 * Miwkíšiman. - You love me. (love-2.SG-1.SG-FIN)
 * Miwkámiwan. - We love it. (love-1.PL-3.SG-FIN)

Basic form
Actually, adjectives do not have a basic form, as (attributive) adjectivs always agree with the noun they descibe. Furthermore, adjectives cannot be used in predicative positions. Instead there are adjectival verbs. Therefore adverbs are treated as basic form, from which the attributive adjectives as well as adjectival verbs can be derived. There are two types of adjectival adverbs. Those ending in -oi (stressed on the last syllable) and those ending in another consonant (stressed on the penultimate syllable).

Personal Pronouns
Miwonša is a pro-drop language, which means that personal pronouns in the nominative, ergative and accusative case can be left out, when the verb already shows who is involved in the action. Miwonša has no grammatical gender. The "3rd person masc." pronouns denote male persons, the "3rd person. fem." pronouns female persouns and the "3rd person neutral" is used for things and abstact nouns. In the plural, groups of male and female persons are always neutral. Concerning the first person plural, "mika" means "we+you", whereas "raika" means "we, but not you".