Cobber

Sample Text

I. Phonology

I.1 Vowels

Quality	Notation	X-SAMPA	IPA
Unmarked	I, E, A, O, U, Y, V
Plain	i, e, a, o, u, y, v	i e 6 o u 1 @
Creaky	î, ê, â, ô, û, ŷ, v̂	i_k e_k 6_k o_k u_k 1_k @_k
Breathy	ï, ë, ä, ö, ü, ÿ, v̈	i_t e_t 6_t o_t u_t 1_t @_t
Pharyngealized	ị, ẹ, ạ, ọ, ụ, ỵ, ṿ	i_?\ e_?\ 6_?\ o_?\ u_?\ 1_?\ @_?\
Nasalized	ĭ, ĕ, ă, ŏ, ŭ, y̆, v̆	i~ e~ 6~ o~ u~ 1~ @~

I.2 Consonants

I.3 Remarks

• Syllable canon is (C)(N)V(C) for word-initial syllables; CV(C) for word-medial syllables; and, CV for word-final syllables (maintained by appending -Y where necessary).
• The vowel qualities, Creaky, Breathy, Nasalized, Pharyngealized, spread in a left-to-right fashion through any unmarked vowels. The spread of any quality will be blocked by a marked vowel, or by certain consonants. Also, some consonants bear these qualities inherently and will initiate marking of the nearest vowel to the right of them, if that vowel is not already marked and if there is not already a quality spreading that is not blocked by that consonant. (This vowel will then spread the quality rightward as usual.) The following table gives the blocking and initiating consonants for each of the qualities. (Note that plain is the default quality for a vowel to have if it does not get marked via some process.)

  		Blocking	Initiating
  Quality	Creaky (-ô)	t, c, k, q, tf, ts, tx, qh	q, b, d
  	Breathy (-ö)	f, s, x, kh, tf, ts, tx	qh, c
  	Pharyngealized (-ọ)	q, qh	k, g
  	Nasalized (-ŏ)	b, d, g	m, n, ŋ

  Here are some examples (with nonsense words) to illustrate:

  Underlying Form	>	Surface Form		Spreading Domains
  m A t I q O s U		m ă t ĭ q ŏ s ŭ		(m ă t ĭ q ŏ s ŭ)
  m A t I q o s U		m ă t ĭ q o s u		(m ă t ĭ) q o s u
  m A t i q O s U		m ă t i q ô s û		(m ă) t i (q ô s û)
  m a t I q O s U		m a t i q ô s û		m a t i (q ô s û)
  b Y c O k U		b ŷ c ö k ụ		(b ŷ) (c ö) (k ụ)
  q m Y g c E s A		q m y̆ g c ë s a		q (m y̆) g (c ë) s a
  q O m Y g c E s A		q ô m ŷ g c ë s a		(q ô m ŷ g) (c ë) s a
  s O tf I ŋ A t g Y		s o tf i ŋ ă t g ỵ		s o tf i (ŋ ă t) (g ỵ)
  s ô tf I ŋ A t g Y		s ô tf i ŋ ă t g ỵ		s ô tf i (ŋ ă t) (g ỵ)
  s ö tf I ŋ A t g Y		s ö tf i ŋ ă t g ỵ		s ö tf i (ŋ ă t) (g ỵ)
  s ọ tf I ŋ A t g Y		s ọ tf ị ŋ ạ t g ỵ		(s ọ tf ị ŋ ạ t g ỵ)
  s ŏ tf I ŋ A t g Y		s ŏ tf ĭ ŋ ă t g ỵ		(s ŏ tf ĭ ŋ ă t) (g ỵ)

• In order to help read the rather obscure orthography, syllable boundaries will be marked with a period (.) in some instances.

II. Nominal Morphology

III. Verbal Morphology

IV. Syntax

• =nŏm.fă Focus
• =ŋqị.ŋị Defocus

V. Examples

• xmênv̂se

  fnv̈xxădvkẹ

  xmîftxiqhëmäkbeqqv̂

  xmê

  -

  nV

  -

  se

  fnv̈x

  -

  xă

  -

  dv

  -

  kE

  xmîf

  -

  txI

  -

  qhE

  -

  mAk

  -

  beq

  -

  qV

  spider

  -

  AGT

  -

  "known"

  two-legger

  -

  PAT

  -

  PAUC

  -

  INDEF

  eat.agt=spider

  -

  REAL

  -

  FEW

  -

  COMPLET

  -

  PAST

  -

  ASSERT

  That spider (that we know) ate a few two-leggers.

VI. Sample Lexicon

Nouns

xmê

spider

fnvx

two-legger

Verbs

xmîf

eat (spider agent)