Qanao language/Messy

The Qanao language (Qanao: classical: qana'öžjinaet [qanaʔo.ʒ̞jɪnaət]) is an in-progress conlang.

Phonology

Consonants

p	t	ť	k	q	`
p	t	c	k	q	ʔ
b	d	ď	g
mb	nd	ɲɟ	ŋg
m	n	ň	ŋ	γ
m	n	ɲ	ŋ	ɴ
φ	c	č
pɸ	ʦ	ʧ
f	s	š			h
ɸʰ	sʰ	ʃʰ			h
v	z	ž
β̞	z̞	ʒ̞
w	r	ř	y
w	ɹ	ɹʲ	ʔj
	l	ľ
	l	ʎ

Vowels

i	í	ji	jí	e	u	ú	wu	wú
i	i:	ʲjɪ	ʲji:	ə	u	u:	ʷʊ	ʷu:
a	á	ja	já	ö	o	ó	wo	wó
a	a:	ʲja	ʲja:	o	ɔ	ɔ:	ʷɔ	ʷɔ:

• Final o is realised as [o].

Eastern sound shifts

• ji [ʲjɪ] → e [ʲe]
• jí [ʲji:] → é [ʲe:]
• e [ə] → j [ɪ] after front vowels, w [ʊ] after back vowels.
• u [u] → u [ɯ]
• ú [u] → ú [ɯ:]
• wu [ʷʊ] → ü [u]
• wú [ʷu:] → û [u:]
• ja [ʲja] → jä [ʲæ] ~ [ʲɛ]
• já [ʲja:] → jä [ʲæ:] ~ [ʲɛ:]
• ó [ɔ:] → ó [o:]
• wó [ʷɔ:] → wó [ʷo:]

• i* [i*] → j´ [j*:]
• ui [ui] → üi [yi]
• ue [uə] → üw [yʊ]
• wui [ʷʊi] → wi [ʷi]
• wue [ʷʊə] → wu [ʷu]

• causes nasalisation of previous vowel (does not operate through interword boundaries)
• b [mb] → b [b]; m [m] if preceded by nasal consonants or nasalised vowels (previous syllable starts with a nasal consonant)
• d [nd] → d [d]; n [n] if preceded by nasal consonants or nasalised vowels
• ď [ɲɟ] → ď [ɟ]; ň [ɲ] if preceded by nasal consonants or nasalised vowels
• g [ŋg] → g [g]; ŋ [ŋ] if preceded by nasal consonants or nasalised vowels

• note: following vowel has high tone
• w [w] → w [ʍ]
• r [ɹ] → r [ɹ̥]
• ř [ɹʲ] → ř [ɹ̥ʲ]

• note: following vowel has low tone
• v [β̞] → v [w]
• z [z̞] → z [ɹ]
• ž [ʒ̞] → ž [ɹʲ]

• note: following vowel has high tone
• q [q] → q [k] before front vowels, w, and finally; ` [ʔ] before back vowels.
• γ [ɴ] → ` [ʔ]; n [n] after alveolar consonants, ň after palatal consonants, ŋ after velar consonants and q.

Grammar

Word formation

Classifiers

Although changing classifiers is generally not productive, it is possible to imagine that it once was, giving rise to such sets of words as zal (water), žjil (blood), zál (lake), zil (clear), zúl (melt).

• xax - (n1) general: qanae` "Qanae"; patuek "tree"; zael "water"
• xjax - (n2) living things: qjanae` "Qjanae"
• xáx - (n3) permanent things: ázael "ocean"; ápatuek "forest"
• xox - (n4) artificial objects: noet "writing"
• xjix - (n5) transcendecent: žjinaet "language"; yiôvúer "universe"; kjimi "world"
• xix - (adj) qualities: niet "to be happy"; iökiem "to be universal"
• xux - (vt) transitive actions: numúet "to cause to die"; muziel "to make clear, to declare"
• xúx - (vi) intransitive actions: múet "to die"; fúzael "to rain"

Prefixes

In contrast, prefixes are much more productive, yielding such things as muzúl (liquify), fúzal (rain), ázal (ocean).

Conjugation

Examples

			n.	vb.	adj.
0	Infix stem		za.l	múfú.r	iöki.m
1	Stem		zal-	múfúr-	iökim-
2	Sentence-medial		–	múfúr	iökim
3	Sentence-terminal		–
4	Infinitive	n.	–	múfúa.r-	–
5	Approximative adjective	q.	ázai.l-	múfúi.r-	–
6	Adverb[1]	q.	ázaul	múfúr	iökium
7a	Compounding (with noun)		ázalö-	múfúrö-	iökimi-
7b	Compounding (with non-noun)				iokimö-

• ▲:

The adverbial form for nouns and adjectives is actually the adverbial form of the approximative adjective.

Particles

• pr. - predicate, any of:
  • p.t. - terminal predicate (not always - there are some auxilliaries that attach to these)
  • p.s. - stem predicate
• ⁿ - suffix attaches to base specified in superscript instead of in the base column.
• _a - vowel specified in subscript appears only to break illegal consonant clusters.

	Type	Base	1	2	3	4	5	6	7a	7b
Indicative	p.s.	vb-1	ø	–	–	–	–	–	ö
		q-1				i.d			i	ö
Identitive	p.s.	n-1	ø	–	–	a.r	–	–	rö
		vb-1	ad			u.d			dö
		q-1				i.d			di	dö
Present	p.t.	ps-1	a	ar	a	–	ai.r	ar	ari	–
Past	p.t.	ps-1	i	id	i	–	i.r	id	idö	–
Aorist	p.t.	ps-1	á	ám	á	–	á.r	ám	ámi	–
Future	p.t.	ps-1	ja	jav	ja	–	jai.r	jav	javi	–
Irrealis	p.s.	ps-1	já	jáh	já	–	já.r	jáh	jáhi	–
Counterfactual	p.s.	ps-1	í	íf	í	–	í.r	íf	ífö	–
Approximative	q.	n-5-1	ø	–	–	–	–	6ø	1i	ö
		vb-5-1
		ps-1	is	–	–	–	–	us	si	sö
Perfective	p.s.	pr-1	ic	uc	–	cu.r	ci.r	uc	–
Negative	p.s.	pr-1	iz	uz	–	zu.r	zi.r	uz	–
Incorporative	p.s.	ps-1	av	ov	–	u.v	i.v	uv	vö
Partitive	p.s.	ps-1	oc	oc	–	u.c	i.c	uc	cö
Possessive	p.s.	pr-1	núc	on	–	ná.c	ní.c	nóc	onö
Genitive	p.s.	pr-1	súm	os	–	sá.m	sí.m	sóm	osö
Subjunctive	p.s.	pr-1	aub	aub	–	u.b	–	–	bi	bö
Ablative	p.s.	pr-1	kur	iak	–	ka.r	ki.r	kor	ki
Lative	p.s.	pr-1	mud	iam	–	ma.d	mi.d	mor	mi
Locative	p.s.	pr-1	núr	ian	–	na.r	ni.r	nor	ni

Non-conjugating particles

• e (pr-0) - topic, vocative
• _iq (pr-1) - concatenative

Usage

• The incorporative particle:
  • Makes objects inalienably possessed by the complement: "A human has 2 arms"; "The bricks of a building" etc.; and
  • Indicates fundamental properties or habits: "He walks to school daily"; "All living things die eventually"; "Water is wet", "The sky is blue" etc..
• The partitive particle:
  • Makes objects classes of which the complement is a member of: "He is a student";
  • Indicates an indefinite quantity of the object: "(Any) three pages of (a) book"; "He has done (some) work"; "He ate a slice of bread" etc.
• The possessive particle makes objects alienably possessed by the complement: "He has a house"; "His ship" etc..
• The genitive particle indicates:
  • A generic relationship between the object and the complement: "Speech about truth", "His wife" etc.; and
  • Reported speech: "Good morning, said he"; "I thought it was there" etc.
• The subjunctive particle makes:
  • A temporal clause when attached to the future tense particle;
  • A conditional clause when attached to the irrealis particle or the counterfactual particle; and
  • A reason when attached to the past tense particle or the present tense particle or the stem of any verb, noun or adjective.

Miscellaneous

"Universal declaration of human rights" ~ C: ňjai'imanovöpjinirosö'iokjimimuziael (ňjai'imanav pjiniros 'iökim muziael)

• ňjai'i "person" (n-5-7a)
• manovö "living thing" (n-poss-7a)
• pjinirosö "right" (n-gen-7a)
  • pji "always" (n.pre)
  • nir "permitted" (q)
• 'iökjimi "universal" (q-7a)
  • 'iö "all" (q.pre)
  • kjim "world" (n)
• muziael "declaration; clarification" (vb-4-voc)
  • mu "to cause to become" (vb.pre) +
  • zil "to be clear" (q)

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.

(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

C:

• 'ir "all" (q-2)
• ňjai'imanoec "human being" (n-part-top)
• múfúrá "to be born" (vb-ind-aor)
  • mú "to become" (vb.pre)
  • fúr "to live" (vb)
• liráuq "free" (q-ind-aor-concat-6)
• 'iötiráuq "completely equal" (q-ind-aor-concat-6)
  • tir "equal" (q)

---

• múguirľjaq "respect" (intr.-erg. + concat.)
  • mú "to cause" (intr. prefix)
  • guirľja "to raise" (tr. qual. intr.-erg. cont.)
  • q (concat.)
• pjinirľjaq "right" (intr.-erg. + concat.)
  • pji "things that are always" (transc. prefix)
  • nirľja "to be permitted" (qual. intr.-erg. cont.)
  • q (concat.)

C: dirikö'úmliq liöqjatliq qóqútötúdár

• dirikö'úimliq "ability to think logically" (tr.-acc. + concat.)
  • di "to be able" (adj. prefix)
  • rikö "to be logical" (qual. cont.)
  • úimľji "to think" (intr. qual. tr.-acc. cont.)
  • q (concat.)
• liöqjatliq "conscience" (tr.-acc. + concat.)
  • liö "good" (adj. cont'v. prefix)
  • qjatľji "heart" (liv. tr.-acc. cont.)
  • q (concat.)
• qóqutötúdár "received (from Designer)" (intr. vb. + ind. aorist cont.)
  • qó (respective prefix)
  • qutö "to lower" (tr. cont.)
  • túdár "to receive" (intr. vb. + ind. aorist cont.)