Nāskiw

Nāskiw [náˑʂkɪw], also spelled Naskiw, is a language spoken in Juya Gwaña and non-evolutionarily related to Iskel.

Etymology

Nāskiw comes from a combination of Nāhuatl, Iskel, and Hiw, which are inspirations for the language's phonology.

Phonology

Consonants

There are 43 pulmonic consonants and 20 click consonants totaling at 63 consonants.

		Labial		Coronal		Palatal			Velar/Uvular			Glottal
		Plain	Lateral	Plain	Lateral	Plain	Labial	Lateral	Plain	Labial	Lateral	Plain	Labial
Nasal		m	mˡ	n		ɲ	ɲʷ			ŋʷ
Stop	Voiceless			t	t͡ɬ	t͡ɕ	t͡ɕʷ		k			ʔ	ʔʷ
	Voiced	b	bˡ			d͡ʒ	d͡ʒʷ	ɟ𐞠	ɡ	ɡʷ	ɡᶫ
	Prenasalized			ⁿt	ⁿt͡ɬ	ⁿd͡ʒ	ⁿd͡ʒʷ	ᶮɟ𐞠	ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ	ᵑɡᶫ
Fricative				s		ç						h	hʷ
Glide					ɺ	j			ɰ	w	ʟ	ɦ	ɦʷ
Trill		ᵐʙ	ᵐʙˡ						ʀ

• Only /m n ɲ ɲʷ ŋʷ t t͡ɬ k ʔ ʔʷ b ɡ ɡʷ/ can be geminated.
• /s/ is [ʃ] next to front vowels except after low vowels, [ʂ] next to low vowels except after front vowels, and [s̠] elsewhere.
• /ɺ/ becomes [ɺ̼] before bilabials. Elsewhere, it alternates between [ɺ] and [𝼈]. It cannot follow a consonant.
• /j/ alternates between [j], [ʝ], and [ɟ] depending on emphasis.

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal
Nasal	ᵑʘ	ᵑǀ	ᵑǃ	ᵑǁ	ᵑǂ
Aspirated	ᵏʘʰ	ᵏǀʰ	ᵏǃʰ	ᵏǁʰ	ᵏǂʰ
Voiced	ᶢʘ	ᶢǀ	ᶢǃ	ᶢǁ	ᶢǂ
Glottalized	ᵏʘˀ	ᵏǀˀ	ᵏǃˀ	ᵏǁˀ	ᵏǂˀ

Vowels

There are 8 monophthongs and 19 diphthongs. Nāskiw is a pitch-accent language. Stressed vowels can have either a high, falling, or rising tone.

	Front	Central		Back
		Unrounded	Rounded
High	ɪ		ʉ	u
Mid	e	ə	ɞ	ɔ
Low		a

		/ɪ/	/ʉ/	/u/	/e/	/ə/	/a/	/ɞ/	/ɔ/
/ɪ/		-	-	ɪu	-	ɪə	ɪa	-	ɪɔ
/ʉ/		-	-	-	ʉə	-	-	-	-
/u/		uɪ	-	-	ue	uə	ua	-	uɔ
/e/		-	-	eu	-	-	-	-	eɔ
/ə/		-	əʉ	-	-	-	-	-	-
/a/		-	aʉ	-	-	-	-	aɞ	-
/ɞ/		-	ɞʉ	-	-	-	-	-	-
/ɔ/		ɔɪ	-	-	ɔe	-	ɔa	-	-

• Monophthongs and diphthongs are allophonically half-long when followed by an obstruent coda.

Orthography

Sonorant	IPA	m	mˡ	n	ɲ	ɲʷ	ŋʷ	ɺ	j	ɰ	w	ʟ	ɦ	ɦʷ	ᵐʙ	ᵐʙˡ	ʀ
	Romanization	m	ml	n	ñ	ñw	nw	l	y	w	v	r	gh	ghw	mb	mbl	rr
Obstruent	IPA	t	t͡ɬ	t͡ɕ	t͡ɕʷ	k	ʔ	ʔʷ	b	bˡ	d͡ʒ	d͡ʒʷ	ɟ𐞠	ɡ	ɡʷ	ɡᶫ	ⁿt	ⁿt͡ɬ	ⁿd͡ʒ	ⁿd͡ʒʷ	ᶮɟ𐞠	ᵑɡ	ᵑɡʷ	ᵑɡᶫ	s	ç	h	hʷ
	Romanization	t	tl	c	cw	k	’	’w	b	bl	j	jw	jl	g	gw	gl	nt	ntl	nj	njw	njl	ng	ngw	ngl	s	ç	h	hw
Click	IPA	ᵑʘ	ᵑǀ	ᵑǃ	ᵑǁ	ᵑǂ	ᵏʘʰ	ᵏǀʰ	ᵏǃʰ	ᵏǁʰ	ᵏǂʰ	ᶢʘ	ᶢǀ	ᶢǃ	ᶢǁ	ᶢǂ	ᵏʘˀ	ᵏǀˀ	ᵏǃˀ	ᵏǁˀ	ᵏǂˀ
	Romanization	mp	nz	nq	nx	nqy	ph	zh	qh	xh	qyh	p	z	q	x	qy	p’	z’	q’	x’	qy’
Vowel	IPA	ɪ	ʉ	u	e	ə	ɞ	ɔ	a	ɪ́	ʉ́	ú	é	ə́	ɞ́	ɔ́	á	ɪ̂	ʉ̂	û	ê	ə̂	ɞ̂	ɔ̂	â	ɪ̌	ʉ̌	ǔ	ě	ə̌	ɞ̌	ɔ̌	ǎ
	Romanization	i	ü	u	e	ë	ö	o	a	ī	u̇	ū	ē	ė	ȯ	ō	ā	ì	ǔ	ù	è	ě	ǒ	ò	à	í	û	ú	é	ê	ô	ó	á

Translations

“I want to have an apple.”

appletopic–POSS DESIDmood 1SGsubject

glòhw –i blǒ ku̇

Glòhwi blǒ ku̇.

[ɡᶫɔ̂ˑhʷɪ bˡɞ̂ kʉ́]

“I want to eat an apple.”

eattopic appleobject DESIDmood 1SGsubject

nwá glòhw blǒ ku̇

Nwá glòhw blǒ ku̇.

[ŋʷǎ ɡᶫɔ̂ˑhʷ bˡɞ̂ kʉ́]

“I want to eat it.”

eattopic–3SGobject DESIDmood 1SGsubject

nwá –c blǒ ku̇

Nwác blǒ ku̇.

[ŋʷǎˑt͡ɕ bˡɞ̂ kʉ́]

“This is not a red apple...”

NEG appletopic redadjective ADJ

kō’w glòhw mlė lu̇

Kō’w glòhw mlė lu̇...

[kɔ́ˑʔʷ ɡᶫɔ̂ˑhʷ mˡə́ ɺú]

“This is not a red apple.”

NEG appletopic–N redadjective

kō’w glòhw –nt mlė

Kō’w glòhwint mlė.

[kɔ́ˑʔʷ ɡᶫɔ̂hʷɪˑⁿt mˡə́]

“This is not what I thought would happen...”

NEG DNtopic COND-happenmain verb expectadjective PST ADJ ADJ

kō’w nām gi -mkáh hwō’ cīgh lū lū

Kō’w nām gimkáh hwō’ cīgh lū luū...

[kɔ́ʔʷ nám gɪmkáˑh hʷɔ́ˑʔ t͡ɕɪ́ɦ ɺú ɺú]

“This is not what I thought would happen to/with/for/at/etc...”

NEG DNtopic–N COND-happenmain verb expectadjective PST ADJ

kō’w nām –nt gi -mkáh hwō’ cīgh lū

Kō’w nāmint gimkáh hwō’ cīgh lū.

[kɔ́ʔʷ námɪˑⁿt gɪmkáˑh hʷɔ́ˑʔ t͡ɕɪ́ɦ ɺú]

“This is not what I thought would happen.”

NEG DNtopic–N COND-happenmain verb expectadjective PST ADJ

kō’w nām –nt gi -mkáh hwō’ cīgh lū

Kō’w nāmint gimkáh hwō’ cīgh lū.

[kɔ́ʔʷ námɪˑⁿt gɪmkáˑh hʷɔ́ˑʔ t͡ɕɪ́ɦ ɺú]