Oqam

Sample Text

I. Phonology

I.1 Vowels

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Front	Back
High	ᚔ	ᚒ
Mid	ᚓ	ᚑ
Low	ᚐ

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e	o
Low	6

I.2 Consonants

In the tables below, where appropriate, pairs are given of voiceless and voiced.

Practical Orthography

X-Sampa

	Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Uvular/Glottal
Plosive	ᚁ	ᚈ ᚇ	ᚉ	ᚌ	ᚊ
Fricative	ᚃ	ᚄ ᚎ			ᚆ
Nasal	ᚋ	ᚅ		ᚍ
Liquid		ᚂ	ᚏ

	Labial	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Uvular/Glottal
Plosive	b	t d	c	g	q
Fricative	f	s z			h
Nasal	m	n		N
Liquid		l	r

I.3 Remarks

Syllable canon is (C)V(L)(C), where L is one of ᚏ,ᚂ,ᚋ,ᚅ,ᚍ.
Stress is on the third syllable (and every third thereafter). (Or on the last syllable for words of fewer than three syllables.)
ᚈ has allophones (in X-SAMPA): /t, t_d/
ᚉ has allophones (in X-SAMPA): /c, t_s, t_S/
ᚊ has allophones (in X-SAMPA): /q, k_>/

II. Nominal Morphology

All nouns have three stems for singular/dual/plural numbers.
Case markings:

		Gender
		Masculine	Feminine	Common	Zoic	Neuter
Case	Nominative	ᚚᚚ	ᚚᚚ	ᚚᚚ	ᚚᚓᚄ	ᚚᚄ
	Accusative/Def.	ᚚᚄ	ᚚᚐᚄ	ᚚᚄᚔ	ᚚᚚ	ᚚᚚ
	Accusative/Indef.	ᚚᚄᚑ	ᚚᚐᚄᚑ	ᚚᚄᚔᚂ	ᚚᚓ	ᚚᚐ
	Dative	ᚚᚈ	ᚚᚐᚈ	ᚚᚈᚔ	ᚚᚓ	ᚚᚉ
	Genitive	ᚚᚍ	ᚚᚐᚍ	ᚚᚍᚔ	ᚚᚓᚅ	ᚚᚋ
	Vocative	ᚚᚂᚑ	ᚚᚒ	ᚚᚂᚔ	ᚚᚂᚓ	ᚚᚂᚓ

III. Verbal Morphology

Verbs are marked by: (Prefixes) - Verb - (Suffixes) - (Agent) - (Person)

Agent Verb Marking:

Patient Verb Marking:

		Number
		Singular	Dual	Plural
Person	1	ᚚᚂᚐ	ᚚᚂᚒ	ᚚᚂᚔ
	2	ᚚᚋᚒ	ᚚᚁᚒ	ᚚᚌᚒ
	3m	ᚚᚃᚐ	ᚚᚃᚑ	ᚚᚃᚓ
	3f	ᚚᚄᚐ	ᚚᚄᚑ	ᚚᚄᚓ
	3c	ᚚᚎᚐ	ᚚᚎᚑ	ᚚᚎᚓ
	3z	ᚚᚅᚐ	ᚚᚅᚑ	ᚚᚅᚓ
	3n	ᚚᚆᚐ	ᚚᚆᚔ	ᚚᚆᚓ
	refl.	ᚚᚍᚐ	ᚚᚍᚔ	ᚚᚍᚓ

	Number
	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	ᚚᚂ	ᚚᚏ	ᚚᚄ
2	ᚚᚋ	ᚚᚁ	ᚚᚌ
3m	ᚚᚈ	ᚚᚎ	ᚚᚉ
3f	ᚚᚇ	ᚚᚎ	ᚚᚌ
3c	ᚚᚎ	ᚚᚎ	ᚚᚎ
3z	ᚚᚄ	ᚚᚄ	ᚚᚄ
3n	ᚚᚂ	ᚚᚍ	ᚚᚋ
refl.	ᚚᚃ	ᚚᚃ	ᚚᚃ

Modal Verbs:

ᚁᚔᚍᚔ past
ᚆᚐᚂᚔ present/continuous
ᚌᚑᚎᚔ future
ᚂᚔᚊᚔ negative
ᚋᚓᚃᚔ subjunctive
ᚇᚒᚉᚔ irrealis
ᚊᚐᚅᚔ causative

Verb Derivational Processes:

ᚐᚚ  (ᚑᚚ) deponent verb marker
ᚒᚚ(+drop final vowel) infinitive
ᚓᚚ  ᚚᚆV(redup.) deverbal adjective, agent
ᚔᚚ  ᚚᚏV(redup.) deverbal adjective, patient
ᚎᚑᚚ applicative
ᚎᚒᚚNᚚ(w)ᚑ creates verb 'to use N' from noun N

ᚄᚑᚏᚌ= adverbial proclitic very/a lot/much

IV. Syntax

Basic VSO word order.
Serial-verb constructions: ...

V. Examples

᚛ᚅᚒᚋᚑᚃᚐ̅ᚄ  ᚊᚒ̅ᚂ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚖ The man smells/sniffs cows.
᚛ᚅᚒᚋᚑᚅᚓ̅ᚈ  ᚊᚒ̅ᚂᚄ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚄᚖ The cows smiff/smell the man.
᚛ᚐᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚄᚐᚄ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚄᚐ̅  ᚊᚓ̅ᚂ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚖ The women smelled/sniffed cows.
᚛ᚐᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚄᚐᚄ  ᚐᚆᚐᚂᚔ̅ᚄᚐ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚄᚐ̅  ᚊᚓ̅ᚂ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚖ The women were smelling/sniffing cows.
᚛ᚐᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚄᚐᚄ  ᚐᚆᚐᚂᚔ̅ᚄᚐ  ᚄᚑ̅ᚏᚌ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚄᚐ̅  ᚊᚓ̅ᚂ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚖ The women were smelling/sniffing cows a long time ago.
᚛ᚐᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚄᚐᚄ  ᚐᚄᚑ̅ᚏᚌ  ᚑᚆᚐᚂᚔ̅ᚄᚐ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚄᚐ̅  ᚊᚓ̅ᚂ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚖ The women kept smelling/sniffing cows.
᚛ᚐᚄᚑ̅ᚏᚌ  ᚑᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚄᚐᚄ  ᚐᚆᚐᚂᚔ̅ᚄᚐ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚄᚐ̅  ᚊᚓ̅ᚂ  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚖ The women were really smelling/sniffing cows.
ᚊᚒ̅ᚂ  ᚓᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚆᚑ a sniffing person (nom.)
ᚅᚑᚁᚐᚌᚓ̅ᚄ  ᚔᚅᚒᚋᚑ̅ᚏᚑ a sniffed cow (nom.)
᚛ᚐᚇᚔᚂᚃᚁᚓ̅ᚇ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔ̅ᚇ  ᚊᚒ̅ᚂᚖ The woman was in a good mood.
᚛ᚐᚇᚔᚂᚃᚁᚓ̅ᚇ  ᚐᚁᚔᚍᚔ̅ᚇ  ᚂᚔᚊᚔ̅ᚇ  ᚊᚒ̅ᚂᚖ The woman was not in a good mood.
᚛ᚎᚑᚉᚓᚊᚃᚐ̅ᚂ  ᚊᚓ̅ᚂ  ᚈᚒᚃᚁᚐ̅  ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌᚓ̅ᚅᚖ The man is using a stick to beat some cows.
᚛ᚐᚉᚓᚊᚅᚐ̅ᚂ  ᚐᚎᚐᚍᚔ̅ᚅᚐ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚅᚐ̅  ᚅᚑᚁᚐᚌᚓ̅ᚄ  ᚈᚒᚃᚁᚐ̅ᚖ The cow walked up and kicked the tree.
᚛ᚉᚓᚊᚅᚐ̅ᚂ  ᚎᚐᚍᚔᚅᚐ̅  ᚅᚑᚁᚐᚌᚓ̅ᚄ  ᚈᚒᚃᚁᚐ̅ᚖ The cow walks up and kicks the tree.
᚛ᚐᚄᚑ̅ᚏᚌ  ᚑᚉᚓᚊᚅᚐ̅ᚂ  ᚑᚎᚐᚍᚔ̅ᚅᚐ  ᚁᚔᚍᚔᚅᚐ̅  ᚅᚑᚁᚐᚌᚓ̅ᚄ  ᚈᚒᚃᚁᚐ̅ᚖ The cow just came up and really kicked the tree.

VI. Sample Lexicon

Nouns are given with singular/dual/plural stems.

Nouns

ᚅᚑᚁᚐᚌ / ᚅᚑᚁᚌᚔ / ᚅᚒᚁᚔᚍᚌ: milkable domesticated animal (cow/goat/etc.)
ᚊᚒᚂ(ᚒ) / ᚊᚐᚂ(ᚒ) / ᚊᚓᚂ(ᚒ): person
ᚈᚒᚃᚁᚐ / ᚈᚒᚃᚐᚁᚔ / ᚈᚒᚃᚐᚁᚔ: tree/stick

Verbs

ᚅᚒᚋᚑ: sniff/smell
ᚉᚓᚊ(ᚓ): hit/beat
ᚎᚐᚍᚔ: go/walk
ᚇᚔᚂᚃᚁ(ᚓ): be in a good mood

Main Conlang Page

Apollo Hogan, Berkeley, California, USA