Kerusha

A conlang for fun.

Phonology

consonants

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosives	p   b	t   d	tɕ (j)   tɕʰ (ch)	k   g
Nasals	m	n		ŋ (ng)
Fricatives		s	ʃ (sh)		h
Approximants	w		j (y)
Trill		r

vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i~ɪ		u~ʊ
Mid	e~ɛ		o
Open		a~ə

• / ʷ ʲ ˈ ː ŋ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ɾ ʃ ʌ ɯ /

Particles

• ba - negative particle [NEG]

Roots

• am- - upright; vertical; erect; standing
• j- - be beside; with [COM]
• jing- - be inside; within [INE]
• m- - do (as agent); act; make; cause [CAUS]
• n- - be aware; know about
• r- - move; be in motion; shift
• t- - be; exist (copular) [COP]
• y- - have; possess; own [GEN]
• yem- - food; sustenance; eating; consume

Verbal Modifiers

• -(e)ru / -ek - infinitive [INF]
• -um - interrogative [Q]

Aspect

• -a - imperfective [IPFV]
• -e - perfective [PFV]

Instrumentals

Proximal

• bu- - back; buttock / behind; rear
• gwa- - head; mind; shoulder / near
• ku(n)- - foot; leg; stepping / below; under
• mi- - teeth; mouth; biting / edge
• na- - eye; nose; face; neck / above; upward
• p(y)o- - body; chest; heart / center
• shi- - hand; fist; arm; grasping / in front; ahead

Distal

• cha- - heat; fire; smoke / sun; light; appear
• do(n)- - cold; ice
• ma- - water; fluid; moisture
• m(y)o- - tool [general instrumental] / load; carry
• pwe- - weapon; sharp
• to- - earth; stone; rock; heavy; forcefully / moon; darkness
• ya(s)- - wind; light

Modals

• -uk- / -ung- - negative; negation; no; not [NEG] (negatives active/stative verbs)

Nominal Modifiers

• -o - concrete nouns; animate [ANIM]
• -i - abstract nouns; inanimate [INAN]

• -at- - augmentative [AUG]
• -is- - diminutive [DIM]

Case

• - - nominative (unmarked) [NOM]
• -da - accusative [ACC]
• -nak - abessive [ABE] "without"
• -bak - dative/benefactive [DAT/BEN] "to; at; toward / for"
• -ku - causative [CAUS] "because of"
• -bo - locative [LOC] "at; on; in"
• -ngo - transitive [TRANS] "through"
• -te - ablative [ABL] "of; off of; from"
• -pu - intrative [INT] "among"

Gender

• ye- - feminine [FEM]
• ga(n)- - masculine [MASC]

Number

• k(a)- - plural [PL]

Pronominal

• wa- - first person singular [1s]
  • kwa- - first person plural [1pl]
• ni- - second person singular [2s]
  • ink(a)- - third person plural [2pl]
• o- - third person singular [3s]
  • ko- - third person plural [3pl]

Lexicon

• chamek - v.a/v.s - burn; be ablaze

chamo - n. - fire

• gwaneru - v.a - know; understand

• naneru - v.a - see; look

• poyeru - v.a - wear; don

Phrases

phrase	parsing	IPA	gloss	English
kwayemuke	k-wa-yem-uk-e	/kʷajeˈmuke/	PL-1s-eat-NEG-PFV	We have not eaten.
oshina	o-shi-n-a	/oˈʃina/	3s-HAND-be.aware-IPFV	He touches it.
nigwanuma	ni-gwa-n-um-a	/nigʷaːˈnumɑ/	2s-head.INST-be.aware-Q-IPFV	Do you know?
komitobo	k-o-mi-t-o-bo	/koːmiˈtobo/	PL-3s-mouth.INST-COP-ANIM-LOC	In their mouths...
kyehamunge	k-ye-h-am-ung-e	/kʲɛhaˈmuːŋe/	PL-FEM-INTV-stand-NEG-PFV	The women were not standing.