'Ukana'akau

'Ukana'akau
Pronounced:	/?ukana?akau/
Timeline and Universe:	Alternate Earth, modern era
Species:	Human
Spoken:	K'uanu
Total speakers:	9 million
Writing system:	Own
Genealogy:	K'uanu Islandic Asio-Eastern Uka'u-Eastern 'Ukana'akau
Typology
Morphological type:	Isolating
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Analytical
Basic word order:	VSO
Credits
Creator:	Sectori
Created:	February 2005

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/6061/uanuflag8nt.png

The K'uanu flag has four stars, representing the four islands that make up the nation.

'Ukana'akau was created by Sectori on the ZBB as part of Neek's Minimal Phonology Challenge. It has developed a combination of semi-syllabic block writing and noun- and verb-ideograms.

'Ukana'akau is spoken in K'uanu, a group of four mid-sized islands in the Indian Ocean. In recent years, there have been a number of anti-government protests, and the government was recently overthrown. A new constitution is in the works, but until it is complete the nation is in a sort of organized anarchy. Nonetheless, 'Ukana'akau is still working as normal, though slightly more cheerfully, in the meantime.

Phonology/Orthography

'Ukana'akau has exactly nine phonemes.

Vowels: /a i u/
Romanized Vowel Orthography: <a i u>
Consonants: /p t k s n ?/
Romanized Consonant Orthography: < p t k s n '>

'Ukana'akau's syllable structure is (C)(/?/)V. Any consonant can combine with /?/, except another /?/.

Syntax and Stress

'Ukana'akau is a VSO language. Such things as interrogatives and negatives are indicated by particles preceding the verb. Noun case is indicated by preceding particles.

'Ukana'akau places primary stress on the penultimate syllable before a glottal stop or the end of a word. and secondary stress on the penultimate syllable of a word. So, 'Ukana'akau is /?uk"ana?ak%au/.

Nominal Morphology: Case and Number

Nouns in 'Ukana'akau are classed, approximately, by final vowel. This, the stem vowel, determines the vowel of the case particle. Nouns in 'Ukana'akau have various particles placed before them to indicate one of four cases: nominative, accusative, dative/locative, and vocative. These particles consist of a consonant±glottal stop and then the stem vowel of the noun. As there are no specific articles in 'Ukana'akau, these particles may translate as any article, or lack thereof.

The nominative singular particle is k-. The nominative case indicates the subject of a sentence.
The nominative plural particle is k'-.
The accusative singular particle is n-. The accusative case indicates the direct object of a sentence.
The accusative plural particle is n'-.
The dative/locative singular particle is s-. The dative/locative case indicates the object of a preposition, including the indirect object of a sentence.
The dative/locative plural particle is s'-.
The vocative singular particle is p-. The vocative indicates formal address, like O K'uanu....
The vocative plural particle is p'-.

Personal Pronouns

'Ukana'akau has three personal pronouns, representing respectively the first person, second person, and third person.

Ka'i: first person
Ti'u: second person
Pu'a: third person

Kinu ki ka'i nu 'Ukana'akau. I speak 'Ukana'akau.
U kinu ku ti'u! Speak!
'I kinu k'a pu'a 'ui si ka'i. They spoke to me.

Verbal Morphology

'Ukana'akau verbs are isolating. Various particles placed before them indicate their mood (indicative, subjunctive, or imperative), and their tense (past, present, and future). The particles are as follows.

Mood

The mood particles indicate whether a verb is indicative, subjunctive, or imperative. The indicative mood describes actions that the speaker is sure of. The subjunctive mood describes doubt, insecurity, and possibility, and is used in relative clauses. The imperative mood gives commands.

The indicative mood particle is ika. It is placed before the verb.
The subjunctive mood particle is aka. It is placed before the verb.
The imperative mood particle is uka. It is placed before the verb.

Tense

The tense particles indicate when an action occurs: now (present), yesterday (past), or tomorrow (future).

The present tense particle is 'a. It is placed between the verb and the mood particle.
The past tense particle is 'i. It is placed between the verb and the mood particle.
The future tense particle is 'u. It is placed between the verb and the mood particle.

The present tense particle and the indicative mood particle are usually omitted, only being added for emphasis (if a conversation in the past or future tense suddenly switches back to the present, for example).

Adjective Morphology

Adjectives are placed after the nouns they modify. Some of them are incorporated into compound words (e.g. chicken is "fat bird"). There is no adjective agreement. When using an adjective to refer to, for example "the fat one", simply treat the adjective as a noun in the context of the sentence. Here are some examples.

Ak'u ku utanitu nu n'itu. The chicken is fat.
'U 'ipuk'u ku ti'u n'u kanu nu'i! Unite the good people!
Ak'u ka pu'a su kanu k'aku nu'i k'iu su nuta'u. He is the best person in the world.

Verbal Morphology: The Passive Voice

To form the passive voice, use ak'u as the active verb, and use the passive verb as a noun, the direct object. The agent takes the dative/locative case, without a preposition. For example:

'I ak'u k'u kanu nu'i nu ipuk'u sa pu'a. The good people were united by him.
'I kinu ka pu'a 'ui ni ka'i. He talked to me.

Pronominative Morphology: Nonpersonal Pronouns

'Ukana'akau has a wide variety of non-personal pronouns in five degrees of definiteness: total, indefinite, partial, definite (sometimes there are two definite pronouns), nullar, and interrogative. These fit into four groups: person, place, thing, and time.

Person Pronouns

The person pronouns are, in English: everyone, anyone, someone, no-one, and who. In 'Ukana'akau they are:

Total: tip'u (everything)
Indefinite: pip'u (anyone)
Partial: sip'u (someone)
Nullar: 'ip'u (no-one)
Interrogative: ip'u (who)

Place Pronouns

The place pronouns are, in English: everywhere, anywhere, somewhere, here, there, nowhere, and where. In 'Ukana'akau they are:

Total: tuk'a (everywhere)
Indefinite: puk'a (anywhere)
Partial: suk'a (somewhere)
Definite: nuk'a (here)
Definite: nak'a (there)
Nullar: 'uk'a (nowhere)
Interrogative: ik'a (where)

Thing Pronouns

The thing pronouns are, in English: everything, anything, something, this, that, nothing, and what. In 'Ukana'akau, they are:

Total: tat'i (everything)
Indefinite: pat'i (anything)
Partial: sat'i (something)
Definite: nat'i (this)
Definite: nut'i (that)
Nullar: 'at'i (nothing)
Interrogative: it'i (what)

Time Pronouns

The time pronouns are, in English: always, anytime, sometimes, now, then, never, and when. In 'Ukana'akau they are:

Total: tak'u (always)
Indefinite: pak'u (anytime)
Partial: sak'u (sometimes)
Definite: nak'u (now)
Definite: nik'u (then)
Nullar: 'ak'u (never)
Interrogative: ik'u (when)

Texts

Creation Story

'Ia si ka'iaki: 'i k'aki k'a ta'aka nu nuta'u. 'I k'aki k'a pu'a na pu'a k'iu si 'at'i. 'I k'aki una 'aki k'a pu'a n'i tu'ai. 'I k'aki una k'ua k'a pu'a n'i ku'ai. 'I k'aki una nai k'a pu'a n'i utani 'ia su ki'u. 'I k'aki una ki'au k'a pu'a n'a ina 'ia si tu'ai. 'I k'aki una a'uni k'a pu'a n'u kanu. Au 'i kinu k'a ta'aka 'ui s'u kanu: "Aka k'iki k'u ti'u t'i ka'i n'i k'aki; t'i ka'i n'u k'inu." Au 'i kinu k'u kanu: "'U k'iki k'i ka'i p'a ta'aka." Au 'i iku k'u kanu 'ia nu nuta'u au 'i ipuku k'a pu'a na pu'a nu'i.