N!à
Phonology(72 phonemes)
|
| bilab.
| alveo.
| velar
| glottal
|
| stop
| p
| t
| k
| '
|
| voiced
| b
| d
| g
|
|
| fricative
| f
| s
| x
|
|
| voiced
| v
| z
| ğ
|
|
| africate
| pf
| ts
| kx
|
|
| voiced
| bv
| dz
| gğ
|
|
| nasal
| m
| n
| ŋ
|
|
| ejective
| p'
| t'
| k'
|
|
| voiced
| bp'
| dt'
| gk'
|
|
| eject. afr.
| pf'
| ts'
| kx'
|
|
| voiced
| bpf'
| dts'
| gkx'
|
|
| trill
|
| r
|
|
|
clicks
|
| dental
| alveo.
| palatal
| lateral
|
| plain
| k|
| k!
| k‡
| k||
|
| voiced
| g|
| g!
| g‡
| g||
|
| nasal
| ŋ|
| ŋ!
| ŋ‡
| ŋ||
|
| glottal closure
| k|'
| k!'
| k‡'
| k||'
|
| africate
| k|x
| k!x
| k‡x
| k||x
|
| eject. afr.
| k|x'
| k!x'
| k‡x'
| k||x'
|
| voiced afr.
| g|x
| g!x
| g‡x
| g||x
|
| voiced eje.
| gk|x'
| gk!x'
| gk‡x'
| gk||x'
|
There are 5 vowels, /a e i o u/, which are orthographically represented as . In a few dialects of N!à, /u/ is replaced by /M/. There are two tones, the high tone, which is unmarked and the low tone, represented as <à è ì ò ù>.
Grammar
The grammar is very similar to Kûtêlk‡u. N!à is still polysynthetic. Like Kûtêlku, the word order is very free, though SOV or SVO word order is often used.
head marking for the subject:
|
| 1s/p
| 2s/p
| 3s/p
| 4s/p
|
| Immaterial
| se/sè
| si/so
| su/sò
| sù/sa
|
| Animate
| me/mè
| mi/mo
| mu/mò
| mù/ma
|
| Inanimate
| ne/nè
| ni/no
| nu/nò
| nù/na
|
head marking for the object:
|
| 1s/p
| 2s/p
| 3s/p
| 4s/p
|
| Immaterial
| pe/pè
| pi/po
| pu/pò
| pù/pa
|
| Animate
| te/tè
| ti/to
| tu/tò
| tù/ta
|
| Inanimate
| re/rè
| ri/ro
| ru/rò
| r/ra
|
Diachronic development of N!à
There are two major changes that make up the bulk of the differences. One is the consonant shift, in which consonants not part of click accompaniments or africates shifted forward. This sound change began in the late 22rd century when the anarchists were just starting to become a major movement. They formed their own subculture and moved to the same general area. As a result, the change of /t/-->/p/ become common in their dialect and as anarchism became more popular, so did the sound change. Another sound change associated with the anarchists was /o/-->/Q/ or /o_^/ in some diphthoungs. /u/-->/w/ occured in some similar diphthoungs, as well. By the late 23th century, these sound shifts had progressed even more as many people were using the sound change /u/-->/o/, /Q/-->/A/, and /k/-->/t/.
Society at this time was very confused as anarchists and statists came close to fighting more than once. The language experienced much change at this time. In the late 24th century, a famous book, What We Speak is Twisting Apart!, by K|ela Snôp'e, discussed the massive changes experienced by Kûtêlk‡u or rather Tôpêlg‡o. The writer noted that at her time, /a/ had become /E/ and /q/ had "apparently slid foward" to /k/ in most dialects. /l/ voiced the phoneme after it and often vanished when it did. By this time, the government had pretty much given up trying to convince people to take it seriously, being made up largely of anarchists! It made a number of agreements with the anarchists and managed to avoid any real violence.
Recordings from the past have helps us piece together in the mid 25th century and beyond and show that pharyngealized vowels had become low tone vowels at around that time. /i/-->/1/ and /e/-->/i/ occured, resulting in an outlandish vowel system /E i 1 o A/. Then /E/-->/e/ and /1/-->/M/ occured by the mid 26th century. At around this time, the Terps were settling into their anarchist lifestyle. The vowel system finally stablized as /a e i o u/, at least in most dialects, when /M/ became /u/ and /A/ became /a/. This last set of changes happened over several decades. It was around the 26th century that the Terps began to view their language as a new language rather than Kûtêlk‡u. They called it N!àtnìsu, which means it-says-all or it-expresses-all, boasting it's expressiveness. This was shortened to N!à.
