Magikoe
Magikoe [máɟìkó͜e] is a language.
Phonology
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m m | n n | ɲ ny | |||
| Plosive | Aspirate | tʰ t | kʰ q | |||
| Tenuis | p p | t d | c c | k k | ʔ ’ | |
| Voiced | b b | ɡ g | ||||
| Affricate | t͡s ts | t͡ʃ ch | ||||
| Fricative | ɸ f | h h | ||||
| Glide | w̃ w | ɾ r | j y | |||
| Front | Back | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i i | iː ī | u u | uː ū | ʉi ui | uo uo | ||
| Mid | e e | eː ē | ei ei | o o | oː ō | oe oe | ||
| Open | a a | aː ā | ai ai | au au | ||||
There is word-initial stress which is high tone.
/j/ is phonetically front mid [e̯]
Vːm > Ṽːʉ̃ / _%
in un en on an > ĩ(ɲ) ʉ̃(n) ẽ(j̃) ɵ̃(ŋ) ãn / _%
n ɡ e̯ > ɲ ɟ i̯ / _i
V̀ > V̄ / {tʰ,kʰ,ɸ,h}_
Syntax
The word order is Place-Verb-Time-Topic-coverb-Noun-CaseNoun.
The topic overlaps strongly with the typical object of a sentence, as it is given much more importance than the agent in most cases outside of when the agent is being emphasized. Verbs with English translations that imply the subject's agency do not necessarily translate as giving the topic agency in the syntax of Magikoe. An example of this being the verb rewo meaning "to play music". The sentence Huru rewori ko' translates to "The dog is listening to music" even though the direct translation would say "The dog is playing music". The music is being played, but the topic is not the player of the music.
The topic must be any part of speech. When the topic is not a noun, the preceding word receives the clitic -re.
Adjectives follow nouns they modify.
The place word is not inflected for anything and can be any part of speech.
The post-coverb noun denotes whichever noun fulfills a second role implied by the verb, used for transitive statements.
The verb, topic, and coverb are obligatory in complete sentences. Responses, corrections, and statements of surprise can omit any of them, but the coverb cannot be said alone.
Morphology
Number
Plurals are formed by adding -i after a word. The vowels /e/, /u/, and /o/ become /eː/, /ʉi/, and /oː/ instead. Plurals are placed after grammatical gender, and only on nouns.
Modifiers
Modifiers are not marked for plurality, but nouns marked as plurals may become modifiers. In those cases, they take on an additional lexical meaning rather than denoting plurality.
Adjectives are formed by adding -e after a word. The vowels /e/ and /o/ become /ei and /oi/ instead. The consonant /ʔ/ becomes /c/ instead. Coda /m n/ do not undergo allophony and instead become onset [m ɲ] to the prefix.
Gender
There are two genders, masculine and feminine, though they do not correspond to masculinity and feminity when applied to humans. They are marked on nouns, verbs, and coverbs.
The first noun (topic) and second noun always have their own gender. Nouns that follow the second noun always agree with the second noun. Nouns in a clause modifying the topic agree with the gender of the topic. Nouns in a clause modifying a non-topic noun or other word agree with the opposite gender of the word they're modifying, a feature called "gender disagreement". Although adjectives are not marked for gender, adjectives are still said to agree with nouns because in clauses modifying an adjective, it's the noun's gender that is disagreed with.
On nouns modified by an adjective, the noun is suffixed by -n for the feminine and -a for the masculine. If the feminine suffix follows /n/, it becomes /no/; if it follows /m/, it replaces it and becomes /nne/; and if it follows /ʔ/, it replaces it and becomes /na/. The masculine suffix replaces preceding /ai/ and monophthongs except for /e/ and /u/. When following /a/ or /oe/, the masculine suffix becomes /ja/.
On nouns not modified by an adjective, masculine and feminine nouns are prefixed or dysfixed near the beginning of the word in the following ways:
| Word-Initial Consonant | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unmarked | /Ø/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | /tʰ/ | /kʰ/ | /p/ | /t/ | /c/ | /k/ | /ʔ/ | /b/ | /ɡ/ | /t͡s/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /ɸ/ | /h/ | /w̃/ | /ɾ/ | /j/ |
| Feminine | /m/ | /b/ | /ɾ/ | /ɡ/ | /kʰ/ | /k/ | /ɸ/ | /tʰ/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /kʰ/ | /h/ | /w̃/ | /j/ | /kʰ/ | /t͡ʃi/ | /h/ | /ɸ/ | /o/ | /Ø/ | /ej/ |
| Masculine | /h/ | /w̃/ | /t/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /h/ | /ɡ/ | /m/ | /n/ | /ɲ/ | /ʔ/ | /k/ | /w̃/ | /kʰ/ | /tʰ/ | /c/ | /m/ | /ʔ/ | /b/ | /j/ | /Ø/ |
Verbs agree with the gender of the topic. On vebs, feminine gender is marked with the suffix -ri, which elides any preceding consonant and /u/ after a nasal, and raises preceding /o/ to [u] if the /o/ after a nasal. The masculine gender is marked with the suffix -am which combines with word-final vowels /i e u o a/ to make /jaːm eːm oːm aːm am/.
coverbs agree with the gender of the noun following them. If there is no noun, they are not inflected for gender. The feminine gender is marked with the suffix -ya, replacing the preceding vowel or consonant, and the masculine gender is marked with the suffix -ta, which becomes -da after /m n ʔ/, with /m n/ being deleted.
Cases
There are no syntactic role-marking cases as these are always defined by the semantics of a verb. Cases are marked with suffixes that fuse with gender markers.
| Instrumental | Vocative | Benefactive | Allative | Translative | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Singular | -Ø | -de | -u | -ō | -ki | -tse |
| -m | -mbe | -mon | -mō | -mbi | -mde | ||
| -n | -nre | -non | -nō | -ngi | -nhe | ||
| -' | -'e | -'u | -o | -'ke | -'te | ||
| Plural | -i | -e | -yu | -yo | -i'i | -iche | |
| -ē | -ēi | -ēm | -ēu | -ē' | -ēhe | ||
| -ō | -ōe | -ōm | -ōwo | -ō' | -ōfe | ||
| -mi | -mie | -mun | -miu | -mi' | -ntse | ||
| -ni | -nye | -nun | -nyu | -nki | -nche | ||
| -'i | -ce | -cun | -cu | -'ki | -itse | ||
| Feminine | Singular | -n | -ne | -m | -mo | -ni | -chi |
| -no | -no' | -nōn | -nō | -noi | -node | ||
| -ne | -ne' | -neon | -neo | -nei | -nechi | ||
| -na | -na' | -nam | -nau | -na'i | -nae | ||
| Plural | -ni | -ni' | -nyum | -yō | -nī | -ite | |
| -nō | -nōe | -nūm | -nōu | -nō'i | -ote | ||
| -nē | -nēyi | -nēum | -nēo | -nē'i | -ete | ||
| -nai | -naye | -naun | -nayu | -nahi | -aite | ||
| Masculine | Singular | -a | -a' | -ām | -ā | -ayi | -ate |
| Plural | -ai | -ae | -aun | -ayo | -eyi | -eite | |
Lexicon
Pronouns
| 1P | 2P | 3P | Generic | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Numberless | Semiplural | Plural | Numberless | Semiplural | Plural | Numberless | Semiplural | |||||
| Narrow Inclusive | Broad Inclusive | Exclusive | Broad Inclusive | |||||||||
| Feminine | Typical | men | en ka' | aen qi | aen te | aon te | ki | qin ka' | qin ho | go | nyon ka' | - |
| Rapid | enga | enki | ende | ande | qinga | qinyo | nyonga | - | ||||
| Masculine | Typical | hen | ma ka' | ara qi | ara te | ā te | gi | qa ka' | qa ho | cho | nya ka' | - |
| Rapid | maga | raki | rade | ade | qaga | qao | nyaga | - | ||||
| Neuter | Typical | em | em ka' | ari qi | ari te | ao te | qi | qi ka' | qi ho | nyo | nyo ka' | en nyo |
Number
Numberless pronouns can be used for both singular and plural contexts, but not if the plurality extends into another personhood category. Semiplurals are generic pronouns but with an emphasis on a specific personhood (e.g. the first person semiplural is a generic pronoun with an emphasis on the speaker).
Clusivity
When the plurality extends into another personhood category, the pronoun is marked for clusivity. There are three types of clusivity: narrow inclusive, broad inclusive, and exclusive. Narrow inclusivity refers to the exclusion of third person. Broad inclusivity refers to the inclusion of third person. Exclusivity refers to the exclusion of second person.
Gender
Neuter non-generic pronouns can be used interchangeably with their gendered variants. The gender of a plural pronoun is dependent on the gender of the addressee for inclusive pronouns and the gender of the non-speaker referent for exclusive pronouns.
Formality
First person semiplural is used most often in formal speech. Second person semiplural is used most often by a social superior to a social inferior. Third person semiplural is most often used in informal speech.
Neuter gender is favored more than feminine or masculine gender in formal speech.
Rapid pronoun forms only occur in informal or neutral formality speech, not formal or very informal speech.
Very informal speech, regardless of speech speed, uses only one pronoun ka for all semiplurals.
Nouns
arm: matso (F)
cat: māchi (M)
chest: ofu (F)
cloud: ōfe (M)
dawn: amwai (F)
day: eo (F)
dog: furu (F)
dusk: 'ohoe (M)
ear: emyi (M)
elbow: hanro (F)
eye: kui (F)
face: hapi (M)
foot: ami (F)
hair: mochi (F)
hand: tatsi (F)
head: ita (M)
hips: oedai (M)
human: magi (F)
knee: doko (F)
lake: hegi (M)
leg: awa (F)
moon: kōm (F)
neck: hamdo (M)
night: ie (M)
nose: imu (M)
page: ka'a (F)
paper: magu (F)
pen: noede (F)
rain: imai (F)
river: ūrei (F)
sea: tanga (M)
shoulder: omuo (M)
stars: ipari (F)
sun: heo (F)
tongue: koe (M)
waist: onī (M)
Verb
come: abu (as a coverb, denotes futureness or purpose)
give: ene (as a coverb, denotes benefit or positivity)
have: a'da (as a coverb, denotes pastness, completion, or experience)
leave: tetso (as a coverb, denotes purpose, unknown outcome or freedom)
lie down: funui (as a coverb, denotes ease or willingness)
play music: rewo
see: mei
sit: ko' (as a coverb, denotes presentness or focus)
speak: watsai (as a coverb, denotes hearsay, hypotheticals, or concepts)
stay: qoi (as a coverb, denotes simultaneity)
write: tamu