Napkožæc
| Napkožæc | |
|---|---|
| Pronounced: | /nɑp.ˈko.tsɛtʃ/ |
| Timeline and Universe: | Alternate Earth, modern era |
| Species: | Human (Napž) |
| Spoken: | Napž-tawra |
| Total speakers: | unknown |
| Writing system: | Napžic script |
| Genealogy: | Indo-European Indo-Napžic |
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | Fusional |
| Basic word order: | SVO |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | DiZ |
| Created: | late 2006 - present |
Napkožæc (or Napkotzaetch) - literally "language of the cloud-walkers" - is a language spoken by the fictional Napž people.
Vocabulary
Due to the prolonged isolation and unusual environmental influences on culture to the Napž, their language developed a distinct and sporadic lexicon, with many etymologies completely unknown to even the elders, though traces of an original Indo-European proto-language are still apparent in many of their words, such as twra (three).
For a Napkožæc - English dictionary, see Napkožæc lexicon.
Alphabet
Napkožæc is usually written in the Napžic script. However, the language can be transliterated into the Latin alphabet using digaphs and diacritics that correspond to character combinations in Napkožæc. For the purposes of convenience, the majority of words will be written using this transliterated Latinized form. The alphabet is as follows:
Aa Ââ Ææ Bb Cc Dd Ðð Ee Êê Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Mm Nn Oo Ôô Pp Rr Ss Šš Tt Uu Vv Ww Zz Žž Þþ
With three additional graphemes:
Dd, Ng, Wr
These graphemes, as they represent their own distinct sounds, are treated as separate letters in the Napžic script.
Phonology
As a general rule, voiced consonant stops rarely if ever occur in the middle of words or at the end of syllables. (Author's note: I am somewhat inexperienced with use of the IPA alphabet. If you see an error, do not hesitate to fix it, or leave a message on my talk page.)
Vowels
A - [ɑ] father
 - [æ] sat
Æ - [ɛ] bed
E - [e]
Ê - [ɪ] pit
I - [i] meet
O - [o]
Ô - [ə] - when stressed, /ʌ/ run
U - [u] too
Consonants
Table
| Type | Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Post-alveolar | Labial-velar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plosive | p b | t d | k g | ||||||||||||||
| fricative | ɸ | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ | ||||||||||||
| affricate | tʃ | ||||||||||||||||
| trill | r | ||||||||||||||||
| tap | ɾ | ||||||||||||||||
| approximant | l ɹ | j | w | h | |||||||||||||
| nasal | m | n | ŋ |
Per Latin alphabet
B - [b] bite
C - [tʃ] cheat
D - [d] den
Ð - [ð] then
F - [f] fire
G - [g] gut
H - [h] harm
J - [j] your
K - [k] cast
L - [l] lie
M - [m] mine
N - [n] no
P - [p] pit
R - [r] "rolled" R
S - [s] say
Š - [ʃ] shine
T - [t] ten
V - [ɸ] (no equivalent, see below)
W - [w] week
Z - [z] zoo
Ž - [ts] mats
Þ - [θ] thin
Dd - [d] as in ladder, add
Ng - [ŋ] long
Wr - [ɺ] rock
The letter V
The sound of the letter has no equivalent in the English language. In most dialects, it is somewhat similar to the voiceless labiodental fricative (f), but it is made without touching your top teeth to your bottom lip, and with a smaller opening between the lips. If need be, [f] is an acceptable substitute.
Further transliteration
The Napkožæc alphabet can be further transiletarated using the most basic Latin characters, without diacritics:
- Â â - Aa, aa
- Æ æ - Ae, ae
- Ê ê - Ii, ii
- Ô ô - Uu, Uu (sometimes omitted altogether)
- C c - Ch, ch; tch
- Ð ð - Th, th
- Š š - Sh, sh
- Ž ž - Tz, tz
- Þ þ - Th, th
Sometimes wr is simply changed to r.
Dialects
Lexicon
Main article: Napkožæc lexicon
