Qa'oisi

Qa'oisi
Language family	Unknown
Era	today
Writing system	Unknown
Official status
Spoken in	Qoatzait
Speaker
Demonym	Unknown
Number of speakers	Unknown
Technical information
Usage	Unknown
Language code	qao

Qa'oisi (IPA: /qaʔoixi/, [k̠ɑ.ʔoɪ.ç̠ɪh]; English: Qoishi [kəˈwi.ʃi]) is reported to be a rare language in the east of Ŋafrica, found around Qoatzait. Not much is well documented on the language at this time, although its phonology is fairly well established due to its regularity, despite being somewhat unusual. It is not known to have any living relatives at this time.

Phonology

Qa'oisi is estimated to have a fairly small phonemic inventory, although its phonetic inventory is considerably larger.

Vowels

There are only 3 vowels in Qa'oisi: <Ii> /i/, <Aa> /a/, and <Oo> /o/. These vowels may appear next to each other or on their own, allowing for allophonic glides and diphthongs, although these are not considered unique and are in free variation with normal vowel hiatus. One analysis also preserves /ə/, which still appears phonetically between voiced stops, while becoming either an assimilating voiceless puff of frication or otherwise disappearing entirely in all other environments.

Consonants

By some counts, Qa'oisi may also have a very small inventory of consonants, with only 12 plosives, 2 fricatives, and 4 nasal stops. Glides are considered allophonic.

Base Consonants	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Voiceless Plosive	Pp /p/	Tt /t/	Kk /k/	Qq /q/	' /ʔ/
Voiced Plosive	Bb /b/	Dd /d/	Gg /g/
Fricated Plosive		Cc /tˢ/	Jj /kˣ/
Ejective		Cx cx /tʼ/	Jx jx /kʼ/	Qx qx /qʼ/
Fricative		Zz /s/	Ss /x/
Nasal	Mm /m/	Nn /n/	Yy /ɲ/	Rr /ŋ/

This analysis is fairly simple, and matches the romanization (with the addition of x to denote enunciation), although it is not perfect. Assuming a CVC structure, it assumes /ə/ is still a fully-fledged vowel that disappears in most environments, while all consonants other than fricatives, explosives, or a glottal stop may appear in coda position. This system is called the "ghost e" analysis, and can make words phonemically run a bit longer than other analyses, since a vowel and in some cases an additional missing unknown consonant need to be appended to stopped codas. A rnatively, it assumes a CVCC structure, with /ʔ/ being not only possible in coda position, but also after any other consonant except /q/ and explosives; this analysis is considered unrealistic and not entirely true to the history or modern realization of its phonetic realizations. This system is called the "ghost x" analysis.

Another, alternative analysis is that all consonants (except either /q/ or /ʔ/) have a duplicate, no-audible-release (or "stopped coda") version, and that these are phonemically distinct. (I.e. /p/ is distinct from /p̚/ in coda positions). The "dual coda" analysis suggests twice as many phonemes, which, along with somewhat more nuanced places of articulation, a linguist popularized with the below table.

Base Consonants	Bilabial	Dental	Palatal	Uvular	Glottal
Unvoiced Plosives	/p/ /p̚/	/t/ /t̚/	/c/ /c̚/	/q/ /qʼ/	/ʔ/ (/q̚/~/ʔˤ/)
Voiced Plosive	/b/ /b̚/	/d/ /d̚/	/ɟ/ /ɟ̚/
Unvoiced Affricates		/tˢ/ /tˢʼ/	/cˣ/ /cˣʼ/
Fricative		/s/ (/s̚/)	/ç/ (/ç̚/)
Nasal	/m/ (/m̚/)	/n/ (/n̚/)	/ɲ/ (/ɲ̚/)	/ɴ/ (/ɴ̚/)

It should be noted that the dental consonants may be dental-alveolar, the velar/palatal consonants seem to be more accurately prevelar, and the uvular consonant may be either postvelar or uvular - it's difficult to tell for sure which. This is why symbols have varied between linguists for palatal/velar and velar/uvular consonants.

Furthermore, /tˢ/ and /cˣ/ are analyzed as a weakly fricated /t/ and /c/, and may be considered either weak affricates or strongly aspirated. /tˢ/ is still considered dental, though is more likely to be laminal or weakly palatalized than the other dental consonants; /cˣ/ is generally still postpalatal or prevelar.

Another thing of note is that, on account of the nature of applosives, the realization of non-released fricatives and nasals is that they are brief consonants, either glottalized or abruptly followed by an applosive. Thus, while s̚, ç̚, m̚, n̚, ɲ̚, and ɴ̚ may not truly exist, they are often written as useful shorthands; despite this, their true nature likely means /s̚/ is actually closer to [s̆t̚] or [ˢt̚], etc.

It lastly should be noted that explosives are usually tense, often fricated plosives that are sometimes weakly ejective in nature, having a "spatting" quality and always being fortis in nature. This is different from both plosives and explosives followed by /ʔ/, where the former may result in a weak ejective (sometimes notated as [Cˀ]) and the latter a true strong ejective with a lengthened glottal release. /cʼ~kʼ/ and /tʼ/ most often have fricated release while /qʼ/ generally does not, though there is no phonemic contrast.

Another thing worth noting is that the status of /q̚/ is disputed even among those who prefer the dual codas model, as it phonemically arises from /q/ much the same way other non-released stops are. However, it is not entirely clear if this is accurate, since it seems like it can be identical to /ʔ/, though there are some distinct impacts on following vowels rather than prior vowels, though in rare cases it may even surface as [ʡ]. Since it is in complementary distribution with /ʔ/, they are sometimes instead analyzed one and the same, while others prefer a distinct /q̚/. This problem also persists in the simplified phonemic inventory, since the sound could still be represented better phonotactically with /q/ but phonetically with /ʔ/. Additionally, some linguists prefer to stick /ʔ/ next to /q/ and refer to the entire column as "gutteral".

Lastly, there have been a proposal to consider explosives as the inaudible release equivalents for /tˢ/, /cˣ/ and /q/, and instead analyze /q̚/ as a simple coda /ʔ/. This proposal would even work better with ghost-e and ghost-x analyses, as it'd remove many phonotactic constraints; however, it'd also add unnecessary complications, since unlike applosives, explosives can in fact appear in onset positions.

Phonotactics

As stated previously, the basic syllable structure is (C)V(C), although it may be (C)V(C)(ʔ) under the ghost x analysis. Under both simple phoneme analyses, any consonant may begin a syllable, or be absent entirely. Most consonants can also optionally end a syllable; however, whereas the ghost e analysis argues that /ʔ/, /tˢ/, /kˣ/, /s/, /x/, /tʼ/, /kʼ/, and /qʼ/ cannot end a syllable, the ghost x analysis posits that all syllables may end a syllable, and all except /ʔ/, /tˢ/, /cˣ/ /tʼ/, /cʼ/, /q'/ may further be followed by /ʔ/. The dual coda analysis instead posits that all consonants may end syllable (except possible /ʔ/; see above paragraph), while only consonants with an audible release may begin one.

There is a phonemic distinction between two vowels separated by /ʔ/ and a plain vowel hiatus, the latter of which may optionally result in glides or diphthongs. However, /ʔ/ is almost only phonetically contrastive intervocally, since utterance-initially, and after codas, an epenthetic [ʔ] is inserted before a vowel. This may have once been a non-distinct realization as a boundary between morphemes, but later got engrained as a distinct phoneme only in certain environments. It may sometimes be dropped utterance-initially if there are two vowels beside one another, but this is optional. Many argue that an epenthetic [ʔ] is also inserted after an ejective consonant even before another consonant, since the duration is similar to that of a coda ejective before a vowel, rather than an onset ejective.

Additionally, while the language is phonemically fairly simple, if difficult to precisely qualify, it is also phonetically a bit more complicated. There is a distinction between /V.CV/ and /VC.V/, since /ʔ/ is epenthetic before vowels in these environments, although there is not a distinction between /VC.V/ and /VC.ʔV/. This may also cause voiceless plosives to become weak ejectives in nature, although not necessarily; this is sometimes notated with a weak glottalization symbol [Cˀ] to distinguish them from phonemic strong ejectives [Cʼ].

Additionally, there is the distinction between non-released consonants, even intervocally. Across analyses, this results in a phonemic contrast between /V.Cə.V/ and /VC.V/, /VC.(ʔ)V/ vs. /VCʔ.(ʔ)V/, or two different phonemes in /VC.V/. These are all distinguishable from onset /V.CV/, as well as both onset and coda ejective phonemes.

In addition to these distinctions, there is also further distinctions between them and /VC.CV/, where the coda may be the same, different, or the non-audible version of the following consonant. Consonants which are fundamentally the same are both pronounced clearly when plosives/affricates/ejectives and cause gemination in fricatives and nasals. In cases where they are otherwise the same place of articulation, but the coda consonant is inaudible, then this is reversed; plosives/affricates/ejectives are geminated, while fricatives and nasals are "broken" with a nonreleased stop of the same place of articulation (or, especially in the case of nasals, sometimes glottal stops).

Things are further complicated when the two consonants are different. While most of the time they are predictable, there are some nuances that must be given attention. Released codas are always fully pronounced, and never "melt" into the following consonant, while nonreleased codas may optionally lose their glottal-like quality when following another consonant. For instance, using dual coda analysis, /atsa/ would be analyzed as [ʔat.sa], while /at̚sa/ would be either [ʔat̚.sa] or, more frequently, [ʔaʔt͡sa]. The difference is even notable in different places of articulation, where the /c/ in /acsa/ much more pronounced and distinguished than in /ac̚sa/, though it is still pronounced in both. Note that voicing of each component remains distinct. (Also note: these are all distinct from /a.tˢa/ [a.tˢa] and /at̚tˢa/ [at:ˢa])

Additionally, coda /q̚/ (/ʔ/) does something different. While the actual uvular aspect of the consonant is often lost, it causes uvularization or pharyngealization of the following consonant leading into the vowel, as well as brief lowering of the vowel in question. For example, /iaq̚si/ may be pronounced as anything from [jæʔ.sˤɪ̞] to [ʔɪɑ̆.ʡsɤɪ̆]. Additionally, any following voiced plosives may become implosive.

Lastly, utterance-finally, an [h] may be appended to vowels to keep them distinct from non-released consonants, which may become more like voiceless approximants or weak fricatives in a similar place of articulation to the vowel. Utterance-final q̚ may be [ʔh].

As such, the full range of hypothesized contrastive phones may actually resemble something more along the lines of the table below, although there is a fair amount of room for disagreement. Phones indicated in (parentheses) may often be analyzed as two phonemes, with some (such as prestopped fricatives) being considered dubious distinctions, while phones in [brackets] are considered less-frequent free-variation allophones.

Base Consonants	Bilabial	Dental	Prevelar	(Pre)uvular	Laryngeal
Voiceless Plosive	p p̚ (p:) (pˀ)	t̪ t̪̚ t̪: (t̪ˀ) [t̪’] ([t̪:’)]	c̠ c̠̚ c̠: (c̠ˀ) [c̠’] ([c̠:’])	k̠ k̠̚ (k̠:) (k̠ˀ) k̠’ (k̠:’)	[ʡ] ʔ [ʡ:~ʔˤ]
Voiced Plosive	b b̚ (b:) (ɓˤ~b̰)	d̪ d̪̚ (d̪:) (ɗˤ~d̰)	ɟ̠ ɟ̠̚ (ɟ̠:) (ʄˤ~ɟ̰)
Fricated Plosive		tˢ tˢ’ (t:ˢ) (t:ˢ’) (tˢˀ)	c̠ˣ c̠ˣ’ (c̠:ˣ) (c̠:ˣ’) (c̠ˣˀ)	[k̠ᵡ’] ([k̠ᵡ:’])	[ʔh]
(Prestopped Fricative)		(t͡s~t͡:s) (t͡s:)	(c̠͡ç̠~c̠͡:ç̠) (c̠͡ç̠:)
Fricative		s̪ (s̪:)	ç̠ (ç̠:)		[h~ɦ]
Nasal	m (m:)	n̪ (n̪:)	ɲ̠ (ɲ̠:)	ŋ̠ (ŋ̠:)
Liquid	[w]		[j]	[ă [ʕ̞~ʢ]]
Vowels	o		i	a

Using dual coda analysis, there are an estimated 1,842 possible syllables, with 620 different possible intervocal consonants/clusters.

Romanization

Letter	Aa	Bb	Cc	Dd	Gg	Ii	Jj	Kk	Mm	Nn	Oo	Pp	Qq	Rr	Ss	Tt	Yy	Zz	Xx	ʻ'
Basic IPA / Onset	/a/	/b/	/tˢ/	/d/	/g/	/i/	/kˣ/	/k/	/m/	/n/	/o/	/p/	/q/	/ŋ/	/x/	/t/	/ɲ/	/s/	-	/ʔ/
In Coda	ă~ʕ	b̚	tˢ	d̚	g̚	ɪ̆~j	kˣ	k̚	m̚	n̚	ŏ~w	p̚	q	ŋ̚	x̚	t̚	ɲ̚	s̚	Fortis	q̚
In Coda + x	-	b	tˢ’	d	g	-	kˣ’	k	m	n	-	p	q’	ŋ	x	t	ɲ	s	-	q̚ʔ

Note: Capital X is sometimes used for non-written shorthands or other purposes, or if all caps are used. In most cases, it follows a consonant to indicate that it has audible release, although it is used for c, j, and q to spell the ejectives. Coda ' when followed by a vowel is spelled 'x. Semantic - is used for compounds and contractions, much like a traditional hyphen or apostrophe, and is considered a punctuation rather than a letter.

Grammar

Qa'oisi is a predominantly a topic-marking language, with no clear preference for word order, although VSO and VOS are considered to be more topic neutral, as moving nouns after the verb is considered a backgrounding of information. It appears to be weakly head-initial and weakly agglutinative, being a largely dependent-marking language, although it features a bit of double marking. It also features split ergativity with fluid-s nominative-absolutive alignment, although it differs from most other languages in execution.

Nouns

Case

Nouns come in five cases. There are three syntactic cases - nominative, absolutive, and oblique, which also code for a level of directionality and intention, as well as orientation and location - and two locative cases, along with two possessive marking cases for pronouns.

- The nominative case is usually used when an action is in the present tense, perfective aspect, or for transitive verbs in which the subject is acting with intention. It is also used for certain locatives, as well as a possessive, instrumental, or causative. It can also be used as a positive comitative or privative, i.e. Thanks to XYZ

- The absolutive case is usually used when an action is acting as a receiver, reflexive, or is in the past imperfective, as well as transitive verbs in which the subject is either the patient or acting unintentionally. It is also used for other locatives, or as a possessed case, partitive, benefactive, or vehicular (anti-instrumental). It can also be used as a negative comitative or privative, i.e. Despite XYZ.

- The oblique case, which can be thought of as the ergative-accusative case, is generally used for the argument that's neither nominative nor absolutive (although sometimes both are used in a transitive sentence, especially if both are being strongly emphasized). This case can also function as the dative, locative, vocative, and comitative, or neutral alongside XYZ.

- The terminative case is used to indicate "up to XYZ", "before XYZ", "between X and Y", and "including X and Y". It is primarily used for locatives and temporal phrases, but can be used derivationally to mean "almost". It is also generally used for the subessive, superessive, antessive and intrative, and sometimes as a lative.

- The postessive case is used to indicate going beyond something or behind something, such as "past/beyond/after XYZ" or "behind XYZ". It is also used as a distant subessive or superessive, postelative, approximative or apudessive, and sometimes as an ablative. Like the terminative case, it is mainly used for locatives and temporal phrases, but can be used derivationally to mean "very" or even "excessively".

Additionally, there is a possessive marker which can be added to a nominative or absolutive case to indicate whether an object possesses or is possessed by something. These are sometimes analyzed as a distinct pair of cases, being the possessive and genitive or partitive. However, most analyze only pronouns as having these true cases, since for most nouns it is just a nominative or absolutive case accompanied by a single possessive morpheme.

Gender and Number

Nouns come in a basic singular-plural distinction. They also feature grammatical gender, in which case adjectives and case agreement match the gender of the noun in question. Prepositions also frequently match the gender of the noun, an instance of head marking, although verbs do not agree with grammatical gender.

The three forms of grammatical gender are generally considered to be wide, thin, and fluid, although in reality many words may fall into categories they wouldn't logically belong to. Wide gendered words tend to end in full consonants, thin gendered words tend to end in applosives, and fluid words tend to end in -i. The plural for wide words tend to end in -o, thin words in -a, and fluid words also in -i, as there originally was not a strong distinction between singular and plural fluid nouns, although exceptions do exist.