Proto-Kunnu-lūjungo

Proto-Kunnurūjungo
Pronounced:	/-kunːu*ruːdʒuŋːo/
Timeline and Universe:
Species:	Human
Spoken:
Total speakers:
Writing system:
Genealogy:
Typology
Morphology:	Agglutinative
Morphosyntax:	Ergative
Word order:	SOV
Credits
Creator:	Qwynegold
Created:	April 2010

Phonology

Phoneme inventory

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		/m/				/n/				/ŋ/
Plain Plosive	/p/	[b]			/t/	[d]			/k/	[ɡ]
Asp. or Gem. Plosive	/pː/	/pʰ/			/tː/	/tʰ/			/kː/	/kʰ/
Plain Fricative			/f/		/s/	/z/	/ʃ/	/ʒ/			/h/
Long Fricative					/sː/
Affricate					/ts/		/tʃ/	/dʒ/
Rhotic						/*r/1
Lat. Approximant						[l]
Long Lat. Approximant						[lː]

¹The exact quality of the rhotic is unknown.

Monophthongs
	Front		Back
High	/i/	/y/		/u/	/uː/
Mid	/e/	/ø/		/o/	/oː/
Low			/ɑ/

Diphthongs
	Front-Front		Front-Back			Back-Front			Back-Back
High		[jy]		/ju/	/juː/	/wi/		/wy/		/wuː/
Mid	/je/	[jø]		/jo/	/joː/	/we/	/ue/	/wø/		/wo/
Opening Low			/jɑ/						/wɑ/
Closing Low						/ɑi/				/ɑu/

Allophony

• The velar nasal is long if intervocalic, and short otherwise.
• The short unvoiced plosives are voiced if intervocalic.
• The liquid is a rhotic at the beginning of a word and before /w/, but [l] in other positions.
• [jy] and [jø] are allophones of /jo/ resp. /joː/, and are only found in a few suffixes to accommodate for vowel harmony (see the next section).

Vowel harmony

Proto-Kunnurūjungo has front-back vowel harmony. In the list below, front vowels have been marked with blue and back vowels with red. There are also neutral vowels, which are /u, uː, ju, juː, wuː/. Each suffix is by default front or back (unless it is neutral), and if the suffix is attached to a word of the opposite affinity, the vowels in the suffix will change according to this list (note that not all vowels make matching pairs, for example the opposite of /ue/ is /wo/, but the opposite of /wo/ is /wø/).

• ɑ → e
• e → ɑ
• i → u
• o → ø
• oː → wy
• ø → o
• y → u
• ɑi → i
• ɑu → i
• ue → wo
• jɑ → je
• je → jɑ
• jo → jø
• joː → jy
• wɑ → we
• we → wɑ
• wi → wuː
• wo → wø
• wø → wo
• wy → oː

Phonological constraints

The syllable structure of Proto-Kunnurūjungo is (O)V(C) where C is any short consonant and V is any single vowel or diphthong. /j/ and /w/ do not count as consonants, but as a part of a diphthong.

The geminated or long consonant can only appear intervocalically, and count as being in two syllables at once. The onset of such a consonant belong to the same syllable as the vowel preceding it, while the release of the consonant belong to the same syllable as the vowel following it.

Romanization

A a, B b, Ch ch, D d, E e, F f, G g, H h, I i, J j, K k, Kh kh, Kk kk, L l, Ll ll, M m, N n, Ng ng, Nn nn, O o, Ō ō, Ö ö, P p, Ph ph, Pp pp, R r, S s, Sh sh, Ss ss, T t, Th th, Ts ts, Tt tt, U u, Ū ū, Ü ü, W w, Y y, Z z, Zh zh

Letter	Pronunciation
A a	ɑ
B b	b
Ch ch	tʃ
D d	d
E e	e
F f	f
G g	ɡ
H h	h
I i	i
J j	dʒ
K k	k
Kh kh	kʰ
Kk kk	kː
L l	l
Ll ll	lː
M m	m
N n	n
Ng ng	ŋ
Nn nn	nː
O o	o
Ō ō	oː
Ö ö	ø
P p	p
Ph ph	pʰ
Pp pp	pː
R r	*r
S s	s
Sh sh	ʃ
Ss ss	sː
T t	t
Th th	tʰ
Ts ts	ts
Tt tt	tː
U u	u
Ū ū	uː
Ü ü	y
W w	w
Y y	j
Z z	z
Zh zh	ʒ

The voiced plosives and the lateral are represented in the romanization, even though they are not phonemic.

Grammars

Morphology

Verbs

There are two kinds of verbs in Proto-Kunnurūjungo, stative and active. The stative verbs describe the state of something, for example mūzōng - be hungry, k'yokyak'ya - like, etc. Many of them are words that only exist as adjectives in English, for example sūttallosan - be red.

Voice

In the following table, the affixes marked with blue go together with front vowel words, and the ones in red with back vowel words. If a word has only neutral vowels, the affix that stands first in the morphology column will be used. The same goes for all other tables in this article.

Voice	Morphology	Example
Unmarked	-∅	pot'yak' ubōtta p'yowochyang - I eat an apple pot'yak' tallūda kweding - I hear a song
Active	-(t)to1 -(t)tö1	pot'ya p'yowochyattong - I eat pot'ya kwedittöng - I hear
Passive	***	***
Middle	-tk'ūja -tk'ūje	***
Causative	-k'ye2 -k'ya2	pot'yak' myatto ubōtta p'yowochyak'yang - I make him eat an apple pot'ya myatto kwedik'yeng - I make him hear

¹A single t is used after consonants.
²The last syllable of the verb is deleted before this suffix is added.

Simply put, the unmarked voice is used in transtitive sentences and the active voice in intransitive, but see the sections Transitive sentences and Intransitive sentences for more details. Verbs that are inherently intransitive end with the same suffix that is used for marking active voice. When these verbs are used with the causative voice or imperative mood, this suffix is deleted as if it was a part of the word stem.

Tense and aspect

Proto-Kunnurūjungo has arguably four basic tenses (past, present, frequentative and habitual); and three tenses (remote past, future, remote future) and two aspects (progressive and perfect) that are expressed by periphrastic or other means, plus several combinations of the aforementioned.

In the following table, where all allowed combinations of tenses and aspects are displayed, the frequentative has been grouped together with the aspects for ease of representation. The V marks the place for voice suffixes other than causative, C for the causative suffix, and the M for mood suffixes, if there are any.

Tense	Aspect	Morphology	Example (using the verbs opk'ūja (sit) and kwedi (hear))
Remote Past	-	-V/C-oCo1-M -V/C-öCö1-M	opk'ūjojo - sat a long time ago kwedödö - heard a long time ago
Past	-	-V/C-o-M -V/C-ö-M	opk'ūjo - sat kwedö - heard
Present	-	-V/C-ng-M	opk'ūjang - sits kweding - hears
Future	-	k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C	k'ūdi-M opk'ūja - will sit k'ūdi kwedi - will hear
Remote Future	-	k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C	k'ūdik'ūdi opk'ūja - will sit in the far future k'ūdik'ūdi kwedi - will hear in the far future
Habitual	-	-V/C-∅-M	opk'ūja - usually sits kwedi - usually hears
Remote Past	Progressive	udodo-V-M VERB-C-ppi udodo-V-M VERB-C-ppu	udodo opk'ūjappu - was sitting a long time ago udodo kwedippi - was hearing a long time ago
Past	Progressive	udo-V-M VERB-C-ppi udo-V-M VERB-C-ppu	udo opk'ūjappu - was sitting udo kwedippi - was hearing
Present	Progressive	ut-V-M VERB-C-ppi ut-V-M VERB-C-ppu	ut opk'ūjappu - is sitting ut kwedippi - is hearing
Future	Progressive	k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ppi k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ppu	k'ūdi opk'ūjappu - will be sitting k'ūdi kwedippi - will be hearing
Remote Future	Progressive	k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ppi k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ppu	k'ūdik'ūdi opk'ūjappu - will be sitting in the far future k'ūdik'ūdi kwedippi - will be hearing in the far future
Remote Past	Perfect	ut-V-M VERB-C-oCo1 ut-V-M VERB-C-öCö1	ut opk'ūjojo - had sut a long time ago ut kwedödö - had heard long ago
Past	Perfect	ut-V-M VERB-C-o ut-V-M VERB-C-ö	ut opk'ūjo - had sut ut kwedö - had heard
Present	Perfect	ut-V-M VERB-C-ng	ut opk'ūjang - have sut ut kweding - have heard
Future	Perfect	k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ng	k'ūdi opk'ūjang - will have sut k'ūdi kweding - will have heard
Remote Future	Perfect	k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ng	k'ūdik'ūdi opk'ūjang - will have sut in the far future k'ūdik'ūdi kweding - will have heard in the far future
Habitual	Perfect	ut-V-M VERB-C	ut opk'ūja - have/had usually sut ut kwedi - have/had usually heard
Remote Past	Frequentative	-V/C-dödö-M -V/C-dodo-M	opk'ūjadodo - sat around long ago kwedidödö - repeatedly heard things long ago
Past	Frequentative	-V/C-dö-M -V/C-do-M	opk'ūjado - sat around kwedidö - repeatedly heard things
Present	Frequentative	-V/C-ding-M -V/C-dung-M	opk'ūjadung - sit around kwediding - repeatedly hear things
Future	Frequentative	k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-di k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-du	k'ūdi opk'ūjadu - will sit around k'ūdi kwedidi - will hear things repeatedly
Remote Future	Frequentative	k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-di k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-du	k'ūdik'ūdi opk'ūjadu - will sit around in the far future k'ūdik'ūdi kwedidi - will hear things repeatedly in the far future
Habitual	Frequentative	-V/C-di-M -V/C-du-M	opk'ūjadu - usually sits around kwedidi - usually hears things repeatedly
Remote Past	Progressive-Frequentative	udodo-V-M VERB-C-dödöppi udodo-V-M VERB-C-dodoppu	udodo opk'ūjadodoppu - was sitting around long ago udodo kwedidödöppi - was repeatedly hearing things long ago
Past	Progressive-Frequentative	udo-V-M VERB-C-döppi udo-V-M VERB-C-doppu	udo opk'ūjadoppu - was sitting around udo kwedidöppi - was repeatedly hearing things
Present	Progressive-Frequentative	ut-V-M VERB-C-dingöppi ut-V-M VERB-C-dungoppu	ut opk'ūjadungoppu - is sitting around ut kwedidingöppi - is repeatedly hearing things
Future	Progressive-Frequentative	k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-dippi k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-duppu	k'ūdi opk'ūjaduppu - will be sitting around k'ūdi kwedidippi - will be hearing things repeatedly
Remote Future	Progressive-Frequentative	k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-dippi k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-duppu	k'ūdik'ūdi opk'ūjaduppu - will be sitting around in the far future k'ūdik'ūdi kwedidippi - will be hearing things repeatedly in the future
Remote Past	Perfect-Frequentative	ut-V-M VERB-C-dödödö ut-V-M VERB-C-dododo	ut opk'ūjadododo - has sat around long ago ut kwedidödödö - has heard things repeatedly long ago
Past	Perfect-Frequentative	ut-V-M VERB-C-dö ut-V-M VERB-C-do	ut opk'ūjado - has sat around ut kwedidö - has heard things repeatedly
Present	Perfect-Frequentative	ut-V-M VERB-C-ding ut-V-M VERB-C-dung	ut opk'ūjadung - have sat around ut kwediding - have heard things repeatedly
Future	Perfect-Frequentative	k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ding k'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-dung	k'ūdi opk'ūjadung - will have sat around k'ūdi kwediding - will have heard things repeatedly
Remote Future	Perfect-Frequentative	k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-ding k'ūdik'ūdi-V-M VERB-C-dung	k'ūdik'ūdi opk'ūjadung - will have sat around in the far future k'ūdik'ūdi kwediding - will have heard things repeatedly in the far future
Habitual	Perfect-Frequentative	ut-V-M VERB-C-di ut-V-M VERB-C-du	ut opk'ūjadu - have/had usually sat around ut kwedidi - have/had usually heard things repeatedly

¹The C stands for a consonant that is the same as the previous consonant in the word.

The habitual, which is used for expressing that someone does something on regular basis, can't be used together with any tense. It is usually understood to mean present tense, but if need be, one can specify past meaning with the adverb öttöt (before), and future meaning with the adverb allogau (intends to).

The frequentative can have the meaning of just doing something repeatedly, or doing something repeatedly and in several locations. For example myosyak'yadung can either mean "to jump around", or "to jump up and down at the same spot".

Mood

Mood	Morphology	Examples
Conditional	-(o)ppo -(ö)ppö	opk'ūjappo - would sit kwedippö - would hear
Energetic	-(s)sa -(s)se	opk'ūjangsa - does sit too! kwedingse - does hear too!
Hortative	-wat -wet	opk'ūjwat - let's sit kwetwet - let's hear
Imperative	deletion of last syllable	opk'ū - sit! kwe - hear!
Optative	-gaut -git	opk'ūjagaut - may he/she sit kwedigit - may he/she hear
Volitive	-auk -ik	opk'ūjauk - let him/her sit down then kwedik - let it be heard then
Conditional-Energetic	-(o)ppossa -(ö)ppösse	opk'ūjappossa - I wish someone would sit kwedippösse - I wish someone would hear
Hortative-Energetic	-watsa -wetse	opk'ūjwatsa - let's sit down! kwetwetse - let's hear!
Imperative-Energetic	deletion of last syllable + (s)sa deletion of last syllable + (s)se	opk'ūssa - you sit down, allright? kwesse - would you hear?
Optative-Energetic	-gautsa -gitse	opk'ūjagautsa - may he/she sit! kwedigitse - may he/she hear!

The conditional is used for marking the "then" part of an "if...then" statement. But sometimes it is used on both the "if" and the "then" part simultaneously. The conditional can only be used together with the simple past, past frequentative and habitual tenses. Any aspect together with past tense can be used however.

The energetic mood is used when expressing what oneself actually believes to be the case, despite of what anyone else thinks. It can be used together with any tense and aspect.

The hortative denotes the meaning of "let's". It can be used together with simple present and present frequentative, but no other tenses or aspects.

The imperative mood is used for making commands. It is not used together with any particular voice, tense or aspect, except that it can be used with the frequentative, in which case the present frequentative suffix is added after the last syllable of the verb has been deleted. The adressee, which is optional, can be put before the verb in the vocative case.

The optative can be used for expressing a wish in one of these cases:

1. The wish is not up to any person to make come true, for example "may it not rain tomorrow".
2. The wish is directed at someone who is not present and contactable at the time being, for example "may the king not raise the taxes again" said by someone who has never met, and probably never will meet, the king.
3. The wish is dependent on a large group of people, like the society or mankind. As an example: "let's all work together to make the world a better place to live".

The optative can only be used together with the present simple, present frequentative and habitual tenses. Any aspect together with present tense is also allowed.

The volitive mood has two similar uses. One is used to express that one doesn't approve of, or like, the state of affairs, but reluctantly accepts it because nothing else can be done. The other use expresses that one doesn't really wish for something to happen, but lets it happen anyway because one can't be bothered to do something about it. This mood can only be used together with the present simple, present frequentative and habitual tenses. Any aspect, except for perfect, can be used together with the present tense.

The combination of the conditional and energetic moods has two different uses. One means that one wishes current things to be in a certain way instead of how they are now. The other use means that one wishes for something to happen; either wishing it very intently, or being hopeful or optimistic about it happening. This mood can be used with the same tenses and aspects as the simple conditional.

Combining the hortative mood with the energetic adds a persuasive tone to the proposal made. It can be used together with the same tenses and aspects as the simple hortative.

Using the combination of imperative and energetic is paradoxically more polite than using the imperative alone. In this case, the energetic mood makes the statement more of a suggestion than a command. The tenses it can used together with are the same as for the simple imperative.

Together with the optative, the energetic has simply a more intensifying meaning. This can be used with the same tenses and aspects as the simple optative.

Nouns

Number

The singular form of nouns is unmarked, while the plural is marked with the suffix -k. If the noun ends with a consonant, a vowel, usually ō or wü (depending on vowel harmony), is inserted before the -k suffix. There are many irregular plurals though, that will use o, ö or wū instead.

Case

Case	Suffix	Examples
Core cases
Absolutive	-a -e	kutsonga - dog-ABS keppe - cat-ABS
Ergative	-ak' -ek'	kutsongak' - dog-ERG keppek' - cat-ERG
Adpositional cases
Distributive	-k'illet -k'ullat	syazolyak'ullat - every day keppik'illet - each cat separately
Distributive-Temporal	-oppot -öppöt	syazolyoppot - at daytime
Essive	-tta -tte	kutsongatta - as a dog keppitte - as a cat
Genitive	-t	kutsongat - dog's keppit - cat's
Instrumental	-ōp' -wüp'	kutsongōp' - with a dog kepwüp' - with a cat
Prolative	-kp'ō -kp'wü	pōngokp'ō - by sea kikkukp'wü - by rooftop
Locational cases
Ablative	-(ō)t'k'ya -(wü)t'k'ye	kutsongat'k'ya - from the dog keppit'k'ya - from the cat
Elative	-pk'a -pk'e	kutsongapk'a - from the inside of the dog keppipk'e - from the inside of the cat
Exessive	-tk'a -tk'e	kutsongatk'a - (turn) from a dog (into something else) keppitk'e - (turn) from a cat (into something else)
Adessive	-di -du	pōngodu - by the sea kikkudi - on the roof
Inessive	-ppi -ppu	pōngoppu - in the sea kikkuppi - in the roof
Allative	-dö -do	pōngodo - to the sea kikkudö - to the roof
Illative	-(nn)at -(nn)et	pōngonnat - into the sea kikkunnet - into the roof
Translative	-k'p'o -k'p'ö	kutsongak'p'o - (turn) into a dog keppik'p'ö - (turn) into a cat
Comitative	-ttō -twü	kutsongattō - (together) with his/her dog keppitwü - (together) with his/her cat
Other
Abessive	-kki -kku	kutsongakku - without a dog keppikki - without a cat
Vocative	-∅	kutsonga - hey you dog! keppi - hey you cat!

Adpositional cases

If the distributive case is used together with a word that stands for some kind of time period, it has the meaning that something is done during each of those periods. If used with any other kind of noun, it has the meaning of each of those separately. For example the sentence k'yapya k'yowa k'ōm sangok'ullat means "do this assignment in pairs", where the word for pair (sango) carries the distributive case.

The distributive-temporal case is only used together with words relating to time. It has the meaning that something is done during that time, but unlike the simple distributive case it doesn't necessarily mean that it is done during every such time period.

The essive case has the meaning of as or if. For example kyot'pyatta syazolyatta sidöding - during a cold day one freezes, or nogapwatta ōno k'yowopk'yudappo - as a rich man I wouldn't do work.

If the genitive case is used on a word that ends with a consonant, a vowel is inserted before the suffix. This is the same vowel as the one used in the plural form.

The prolative has the meaning of "by which medium". For example rōtta hugokp'ō kūt'kōnang - the boat travels by river.

Locational cases

The ablative, adessive and allative cases have in common that they describe a position that is on top of, or near the marked noun. The elative, inessive and illative cases on the other hand describe a position that is inside.

The exessive and translative cases describe either that something turns into something else, or that something changes from one state into another. The exessive is the source and the translative is the result.

Syntax

Transitive sentences

In Proto-Kunnurūjungo transitive sentences are ergative while intransitive sentences are nominative. In transitive sentences, either the unmarked or causative voice is used, and the subject takes ergative case and the object nominative-absolutive.

Pot'y-ak'	ubōtt-a	p'yowochya-∅-ng
1SG-ERG	apple-NOMABS	eat-UNM-PRES
I eat an apple.

In causative sentences, the person who is caused to do something gets the allative case. This person goes between the subject and the direct object. The causer, causee and direct object are all optional, but at least one of the three must be in a given sentence.

Pot'y-ak'	myat-to	tallūd-a	kwe-k'ye-ng
1SG-ERG	3SG-ALL	song-ABS	hear-CAUS-PRES
I make him hear a song.

Intransitive sentences

In intransitive sentences, any voice except for the unmarked voice can be used. The subject or object gets the absolutive-nominative case.

Pot'y-a	p'yowochya-tto-ng
1SG-ABS	eat-ACT-PRES
I eat.

The same rules apply for the causative as in transitive sentences.

Pot'y-a	myat-to	p'yowochya-k'ya-ng
1SG-ABS	3SG-ALL	eat-CAUS-PRES
I make him eat.

Evidentiality

Evidentiality can be expressed with a pronoun in the genitive case followed by one of three evidentiality verbs in the instructive infinitive form. The pronoun specifies according who, and the verb what kind of evidentiality. This construction precedes the main verb (or auxiliary + main verb construction).

Person	Evidentiality type	Morphology
1st	Inferential	pot'yat t'yamchyōt
2nd	Inferential	p'ot'yat t'yamchōt
3rd	Inferential	myatōt t'yamchōt
1st	Reportative	pot'yat kwetwüt
2nd	Reportative	p'ot'yat kwetwüt
3rd	Reportative	myatōt kwetwüt
1st	Direct Knowledge	pot'yat k'ofōk'ōt
2nd	Direct Knowledge	p'ot'yat k'ofōk'ōt
3rd	Direct Knowledge	myatōt k'ofōk'ōt
Impersonal	Direct Knowledge	k'ofōk'ōt

The inferential has the meaning of "seen by me/you/someone else" and reportative "according to what I/you/someone has heard". The direct knowledge evidential is used about any other evidence, including non-visual sensory. This evidential can also be used impersonally, which is marked by the absense of a pronoun. The impersonal direct knowledge can have the meaning "they say that..." without any clarifications of who "they" are, or it can have the meaning that something is supposed to be common knowledge, "anyone knows it". All second person evidentials are very seldomly used, and when they are, the pronoun is usually replaced by the name of the adressee in genitive case.