Oñuqaxwo
Introduction
Oñuqaxwo is a conlang that is
intended to be very different from an IE language. It was inspired by Quechua
and other South American Indian languages, as well as some stuff I just thought
up myself.
Phonology:
Consonants:
|
|
labial |
alveolar |
alv-pal |
velar |
uvular |
|
stop |
p |
t d |
|
k g |
q |
|
glottalized stop |
p’ |
t’ |
|
k’ |
q’ |
|
fricative |
f |
s |
x j |
h |
qh |
|
affricate |
|
c |
tx dj |
|
|
|
approximate |
w |
r l |
y |
|
|
|
nasal |
m |
n |
ñ |
ng |
nq |
Vowels:
a as in father
e as in say è
as in pet
i as in me ì
as in sit
o as in flow ò
as in cot
u as in shoe
Having two vowels in a row is very
rare, but the word should be pronounced with a glottal stop between the vowels. The only true dipthongs are ai, ui and oi. (Technically e is a
dipthong also.)
seem
(SAY-aym)
Stress the first syllable of the
word. If there is a glottalized consonant, stress that syllable instead.
qusina
(QOO-see-nah) farm
walut’o (wah-loo-T’OH) height
Nouns:
Case: Number:
Regular cus (market) cus (market) cusuño (markets)
Prepositional cusa cusa cusaño
Genitive cuse cuse cuseño
Dative cusòng cusong cusòngño
The regular case is for
nouns which don’t fit into the other three categories. (ie. subjects, direct
objects, appositives,
etc.)
The prepositional case
is used, obviously, when the noun is the object of a preposition.
Note the u inserted
before the plural prefix in the nominative form to prevent the difficult to
pronounce cluster “sñ”.
Pronouns:
I xa we ja
you kon you gom
he poho they (all males) poqo
she yum they (all fem.) wu
it uda they (normal) uti
he (4th) txìn they djìn
she (4th) cul they dus
it
(4th) past they sast
The fourth person is
used almost exactly like the third person. It is best explained through
example.
Maik itxofas Djim. Txìn
awipomunai nahal.
Mike saw Jim. He (Jim)
was chopping wood. (The latter was chopping wood.)
Djim
itxofas Maik. Poho iwipomunai nahal.
Jim saw Mike. He (Jim) was chopping wood. (The former was chopping wood.)
Other pronouns include:
|
|
Query |
This |
That |
Some |
No |
Every |
|
Adjective |
or |
tam |
nqu |
fèfi |
muis |
dolu |
|
Thing/Person |
qix |
tam |
nqu |
fèfi |
muis |
dolu |
|
At
place |
ang |
eqhui |
hara |
faiyang |
muisa |
dongu |
|
To
place |
k’ah |
leqhui |
lehara |
lefaiyang |
lemuisa |
ledongu |
|
From
place |
djul |
yeqhui |
yehara |
yefaiyang |
yemuisa |
yedongu |
|
Past
Time |
ñòn |
mide |
gajo |
fiño |
ñuisa |
tolu |
|
Future
Time |
ole |
mide |
gajo |
fiño |
ñuisa |
tolu |
|
Way |
fès |
tafèx |
nqufèx |
|
mufex |
|
|
Reason |
eq |
|
|
|
|
|
Ang, k’ah and djul all correspond
to “where” in English. They also correspond, respectively, to ¿Dónde?,
¿Adónde?, and ¿De dónde? in Spanish.
Ole is used for
questions regarding time in the future, ñòn is used for questions regarding the
past.
Nqui and q’amli are the
“incredulous” versions of fès and eq. The difference is something like this:
Fès ugiuliña rajing cìrìlìk? How do you read the Cyrillic
alphabet?
Nqui ujalas
qhamapuruqeraño qot? How did you eat
one hundred hamburgers?!?
Adjectives:
Adjectives in Oñuqaxwo
follow the noun and work somewhat like verbs.
Adjectival infinitive jegi (wild) (qhaño jegi wild
dogs)
Past jegis (qhaño jegis tame/domesticated dogs)
Future jegik (qhaño jegik soon-to-be wild dogs)
Adjectives can basically
be conjugated to express any distinction which can be expressed by an Oñuqaxworidi
verb. (They’re coming up next.)
qhaño jegilail dogs which have been wild
Thus, the verb “to be”
is unnecessary for predicate adjectives.
Xa fai. Xa fais. Xa faik.
I (am) tall. I (am) shortened. I (am) growing.
Technically, “growing”
is a gerund, but the translation can’t be perfect. I think you get the idea. (I
hope.)
Verbs:
Pretty straightforward.
They inflect to show a range of, well, inflections. There are two different conjugations
depending on whether or not the last consonant in the infinitive is nasal.
(Nasal harmony)
txofa (to see) Non-nasal
xa txofa I see xa
txofal I have seen
xa txofas I saw xa
txoflas I had seen
xa txofak I’ll see xa
txofalok I’ll have seen
xa txofalai I’m seeing xa
txofalail I’ve been
seeing
xa txofasai I was seeing xa
txoflasai I’d been
seeing
xa txofakai I’ll be seeing xa
txofaik I’ll have been
seeing
Personal prefixes clarify
the subject of the verb and make the use of pronouns unnecessary.
xa txofa I see ja otxofa we
see
kon utxofa you see gom
iatxofa y’all see
poho itxofa he sees poqo
òtxofa they see
txìn atxofa the latter sees djìn aitxofa the latter
ones see
wipomu (to chop) Nasal
xa wipomu I chop xa
wipomud I have chopped
xa wipomun I chopped xa
wipomdun I had chopped
xa wipomung I’ll chop xa
wipomdung I’ll have chopped
xa wipomuñi I’m chopping xa
wipomudai I’ve been chopping
xa wipomunai I was chopping xa
wipomdunai I’d been chopping
xa wipomungai I’ll be chopping xa
wipomdungai I’ll have been
chopping
Passive
voice:
xa jala I eat. ótxofaik They’ll
have been seeing.
xa q’ajala I am eaten. q’a-òtxpfaik They’ll have
been being seen.
The passive prefix q’a is just stuck
onto the verb for the “xa” form, but for the other forms it is separated by a hyphen, to avoid any possible
“dipthongization.”
Moods:
Moods are
expressed through particles added immediately after the verb. (Except in the
negative.)
Deductive
mood:
Poho
itxofalai nart’a. He must have been
seeing.
Speculative
mood:
Wu
jalal sax. They might have
eaten.
Declarative
mood:
Kon
itxofa metxu! You shall see!
Negative
mood:
Xa
muj p’ituso. I don’t go.
Verbal
modes:
Oñuqaxwo exhibits verb
suffixes which further add to the meaning of the verb. Suffixes do not differ
for nasal
harmony.
Emotive mode:
Xa
jala. I eat. Xa giuliña. I read.
Xa
jalaxus. I eat happily. Xa giuliñaxuqh. I read reluctantly.
(I
like to eat and I do so.) (I don’t
like to read but I do so anyway.)
Xa
cesoixumi. I like to run but I
don’t/can’t do so often/ever.
Xa
tañixut. I don’t like to dance and
I never/rarely do so.
Benefactive mode:
Kon
iripo. You take. (Now I’m going to
stop typing the pronouns.)
Iripopag. You take for my benefit.
Iripopil. You take for your own benefit.
Iripopas. You take for everyone’s benefit.
Iripopìnq.
You take for our benefit.
Iripopem
___. You take for ___’s benefit.
Retrospective mode:
Odòngon. We chose.
Odòngont’i. We chose, and in retrospect we shouldn’t
have done so.
Odòngonp’i. We chose, and in retrospect it’s a good
thing we did.
Effortive mode:
Ingenge. She lifts.
Ingengefa. She lifts with difficulty. She works
hard to lift.
Ingengesu. She lifts with ease.
Ingengesol. She doesn’t work hard to lift. (whether
it’s easy or not)
Jestive mode:
Ileno. He speaks.
Ilenotani. He speaks lightheartedly. (good
connotation)
Ilenoton. He speaks
seriously/fervently/gravely.
Ilenotèk. He speaks
sarcastically/apathetically/unseriously. (bad connotation)
Adverbs:
Adverbs are nasally harmonious with
the verb, and they follow the verb. Alone, adjectives and adverbs are indistinguishable from one another.
Quick and quickly are the same word, ‘rafun.’
Xa cesoi rafun. Xa giuliña ramun.
I run quickly. I read quickly.
The last consonant of the adverb
switches to a nasal at the same point of articulation.
There are several different ways to
avoid ambiguity for nasally harmonized adverbs, although usually the meaning can be inferred from context.
Ie: rafun
– quickly rawun –
flamboyantly rapun –
peacefully
soma – to act (not in a
theater sense, that would be ‘geweri’)
The most common way is
to repeat the base form of the adverb after the nasalized one. (Usually hyphenated
in writing.)
Soma ramun-rafun. I act quickly.
Another way is to use
verbal modes to clarify. (Although slight ambiguity still exists.)
Somatani ramun. I act flamboyantly.
A third, but very
informal and slangish way is to suffix the last three letters of the base
adverb to the nasalized one.
Soma ramunpun. I act peacefully.
Prepositions:
about enq for rimi up ètx
above pisìt from p’al with ik
across rixi inside xiqu without nim
after sox into q’aaj
at ic near djèxt
before isèxa off ngo
beside jok’a on tèlu
between/among pòpò over qhoqh
by garèjt through muli
down rìtx to im
during loqh towards hoqna
except dawa under òtx
Conjunctions:
and eq
or lo
and/or unq
but nañan
Numbers
and colors:
They’re not
considered adjectives in Oñuqaxwo, but they follow the noun they describe.
0 mor
1 na
2 tug
3 il
4 ye 11 10+1 k’arna
5 nqof 32 (3*10)+2 ilk’a-na
6 dès 448 (4*100)+(4*10)+8 yeqot-yek’a-nqof
7 òng 302 (3*100)+2 ilqot-tug
8 hul 79,033 (7,9*1000)+(3*10)+3 òngñoos-ilk’a-il
9 ño
10 k’a 3,258,741 (3*1000000)+(2,5,8*1000)+(7*100)+(4*10)+1
100 qot ilmis-tungìnqofhulos-òngìqot-yek’a-na
1000 os
1000000 mis (The
letter ì is inserted in between impossible consonant clusters because it is not
used in the
base numbers.)
yellow laixa green laino white suqu
red muli orange muxa black mori
blue q’ino purple q’ili gray suri
pink suli brown laiq’ili
light blue suno
maroon moli
Derivational
Morphology:
to kill nascu happy taiyo fear jeqid
killing nascule happiness taiyoqh fearful jeqidigali
killer nascut fearless jeqidirèso
killee nascum round eje
killable nascungilu roundish ejefutx
Spaniard espeñago
Spanish espeñaridi
urban inifo peace sèpat
urbanize inifoka pacifist sèpatwi
to establish rosodiqa to
run cesoi
establishment rosodiqanèf run cesoix
(result of verbing) (typical verb
to noun)
Some
Basic Phrases:
Hello! Masalo!
Goodbye! Nim ragaluj lo nqoti! (Until tomorrow, or death.)
(formal)
‘Bye!
(informal)
Thank
you. Xiqu feraa. (Into debt.)
You’re
welcome. Lamuk (rimi kona) (I’ll pay ‘for you’)
Please. Yaiña. (I kneel.)
A
favorite idiom of the Oñuqaxwogoño:
Inoije igènasu txòqolata.
Lit.
She thinks that she is made from chocolate.
She
has a high opinion of herself.
Sample
text:
Article 1 of the
Kòngarès muj
ñefo metxu ngates nqu iq’amafo rosodiqanèf nopxunèfe unq nqu ijoperi
losakañalox nopxunèfe;
unq nqu iñènisk’a ingoqh hiraloxe, unq pepaife; unq fular xtipeño p’ihiga ik
sèpata eq xumiru k’onoxa rimi
ingato waixposeño.
Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof;
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
peaceably to assemble, and to
petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
Last
updated
Details
on script to come.
