Mau A Taipima Ni Pakanu Hu is the ancestor of all North Taipi languages. It is an analytical language with an extremely small sound inventory.
Phonology[]
| Unvoiced aspirated | Prenasal voiced | Other | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glottal | h (h) | ||
| Velar | kʰ (k) | ŋg (g) | |
| Dental | tʰ (t) | nd (n) | l (l) |
| Labial | pʰ (p) | mb (b) |
| Front | Mid | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i (i) | u (u) | |
| Low | a (a) |
Phonotactics[]
All syllables have a rime consisting of one vowel. They may begin with a consonant, but never end in one. There are no consonant clusters to speak of excluding those glides formed by sandhi. Syllables may be stressed depending on their position in a word or sentence, such syllables undergo sandhi differently and are pronounced with a higher pitch. Stress is optionally marked with an acute on the vowel, eg; í, á, ú.
Sandhi[]
Sandhi is applied both word internally and between separate words, it is only not applied when there is a pause in speech.
i and u change into the glides /j/ and /w/ before dissimilar vowels, iu becomes /yu/ and ua becomes /wa/. However, they coalesce to form long vowels when in contact with each other, ii becomes /i:/ and uu becomes /u:/. Stressed í and ú never change due to sandhi.
a coalesces with i and u to form /e/ and /o/, respectively. á coalesces similarly to /é/ and /ó/. Note that stressed í and ú never coalesce or change in any form due to sandhi. Long aa coalesces similarly, aai would become /e:/, aái would become /eé/. For example, kaiku would become /kʰekʰu/, and guráumii would become /gurómbi:/, however, laúmu would remain /laúmbu/
/kʰj/ and /tʰj/ both become the voiceless palatal /cʰ/, such as tiá and kiá, which would both change to /cʰá/
/ndj/ becomes /ɲɟ/, niugau would become /ɲɟuŋgo/
/pʰw/ becomes /ɸ/, puikúuna would become /ɸikʰúunda/
/mbw/ becomes /mβ/. aímuiaiú would become /aímβjajú/
h becomes /ʔ/ between vowels, kuá hánuí would become /kʰwá ʔándwí/.
Nouns[]
Every noun in the Taipi language must have an article, definite or indefinite. The articles come in two sets whether the noun is being used in an "independent" or "oblique" manner (this will be explained in the verb section). It agrees with the noun in number.