Kipin/Morphophonology

Kipin Morphophonology

Kipin morphology is quite irregular on the surface. Each root and affix has a number of different forms, principally an I form, an A form and a U form, although each of these may be subject to further mutations. All roots and affixes within a given word will be in the same form, but adding affixes to a word may cause the form to change.

Roots and affixes are classed as strongor weak and can be further divided into immutable and mutable. One form of each root is the primary form, and mutable roots also have a secondary form. Affixes may similarly be strong or weak, but not mutable. The components of a word have the following precedence

1. Strong suffixes, if not word final. 2. Immutable strong roots 3. Mutable strong roots, if not word final (secondary form) 4. Strong prefixes 5. Mutable strong roots, if word final (primary form) 6. Weak suffixes, if not word final 7. Weak roots (Primary form if word final or immutable, otherwise secondary form)

The component of the word highest on the list determines the overall form of the word. All components of the word will have the form corresponding to its primary form (or secondary form in the case of non final mutable roots).

Alternations between forms

This table details how sounds may change between different forms of a word

I form	A form	U form
Velar + i	Velar + e	Bilabial + i
Bilabial + i	Velar + o	Velar + u
li	le	ɫi
ɫi	lo	lu
Initial i	Initial e	ɸi
Initial e	Initial a	ɸo
ɸi	ɸo	ɸu
i	e	wi
e	a	o
wi	o	u
Vzi	Vze	Vrɸi
Vze	Vza	Vrɸo
Czi	Cze	Cɸu
Cze	Cza	Cɸo
t͡ʃ, d͡ʒ, ʃ, ʒ, ɲ, ʎ	te, de, se, ze, ze, ne, le	twi, dwi, swi, zwi, mwi, ɫi
ji	je	iwi
iwi	jo	ju
wi	we	uwi (initial or after consonant) wwi (after vowel)
uwi (initial or after consonant) wwi (after vowel)	wo	wu
ɫi	lo	lu
li	le	ɫu
ɫi	ɫe	luwi
luwi	ɫo	ɫu

It is not always predictable whether a given process will apply or not - for example there are words containing bilabial consonants that remain bilabial in all forms (generally, if a word has a bilabial in the A form, it will remain bilabial in all forms).

Mutations

The following mutations may occur when roots and affixes combine.

r-z mutation

Coda /r/ becomes /z/ when followed by most vowel-initial forms.

z insertion

/z/ is inserted between coda sonorants and most vowel-initial forms.

Palatalisation

The syllables /ti/ /di/ /si/ /zi/ /ni/ and /li/ become /t͡ʃ/ /d͡ʒ/ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ /ɲ/ and /ʎ/ respectively when followed by most vowel-initial forms.

l mutations

Coda /l/ merges with following /j/ and /w/ to become /ʎ/ and /ɫ/ respectively.

n assimilation

Coda /n/ assimilates to the place of articulation of a following consonant.

f epenthesis

If two vowels of the same quality occur next to each other and at least one of them is long, /ɸ/ is inserted between them.

Desyllabification of high vowels

Initial /i/ and /u/ become /j/ and /w/ respectively when following a vowel.

y-j mutation

/j/ may become /ʒ/ after consonants - /r/ is lost when this happens. This is a rare process.

Dictionary notation

Because of the irregularity of Kipin, it is necessary to give quite detailed information in a dictionary entry. Here is an example

gurfin

/gurɸin/

UI Strong

bisin, gosen

/bizin/, /gozen/

(n) Human Widow - a woman whose lawful husband has died and has not remarried or taken a lover.

* gurhin

The citation form is the primary form, given orthographically. This is followed by the pronunciation in IPA.

The next line shows the form type of the primary form. If the lexeme is mutable, this is followed by the form type of the secondary form. In this example, the lexeme is a mutable root whose primary form is the U form and whose secondary form is the I form. It is also noted whether the lexeme is strong or weak.

The next line gives the remaining forms, orthographically. For mutables, these are given in the order secondary form, other form. For immutables, they are given in the order I form, A form, U form, with the primary form omitted. This is followed on the next line by their pronunciation in the same order.

The next line is the definition, with part of speech and (for nouns) gender.

There may be a line of additional notes.

The final line is the reconstructed Kikun form.