Phipul
Phipul P'ipur' | |
---|---|
Spoken in: | Abasina ( BT) |
Region: | International Democratic Union |
Speakers: | 160,000-175,000 (est) |
Genetic classification: | unclassified |
Official status | |
Official language in: | - |
Regulated by: | - |
Phipul (P'ipur') is a minority language spoken in the western tip of the Baranxtuan province of Abasina.
Its relationship to other native languages remains unclear, although an albeit very distant link to Akes Mersanint has been proposed by linguists as being very likely.
Phipul is remarkable as having the largest sound inventory of all languages spoken in Baranxtu. It also has a unique script that was developed entirely independent from the various scripts used to write Akes Mersanint or its descendants.
Contents
Phipul vs. P'ipur'
There is some controversy regarding whether the name of the language should be written Phipul or P'ipur'. Whereas the former is the older, established form, the latter is the correct romanization of the term.
Phipul itself is a romanization of the Baranxeï name for the language in the 18th century, when the originally palatalized consonants were pronounced aspirated (the shift from aspirated consonants to fricatives did not occur until the early 19th century). Thus, Baranxtimans wrote the p' of the Phipul script as ph, but the r' as l.
Today, "Phipul" remains the more common way of writing the name. In Baranxeï, the name is now written Φipul.
Orthography
Phipul orthography is somewhat complicated. The pronunciation of a letter heavily depends on its position within a word. Whereas this gives each letter three potential different pronunciations, many only have two. Currently, they may be considered allophones, but there is an ongoing trend to separate the different sounds.
Letter | Beginning | Center | End |
---|---|---|---|
Vowels | |||
a | a | a | & |
e | e | e | 2 |
i | i | i | y |
w | Q | Q | A |
o | o | o | 7 |
u | u | u | M |
a' 1 | & | & | a |
e' 1 | 2 | 2 | e |
i' 1 | y | y | i |
w' 1 | A | A | Q |
o' 1 | 7 | 7 | o |
u' 1 | M | M | u |
Consonants | |||
p | p_h | p | p |
t | t_h | t | t |
k_h | k | k | q |
p' | p_\ | p_\ | p_\ |
t' | T | s | S |
k' | c | x | X |
b | b | b | p |
d | d | d | t |
g | g | g | q |
b' | B | B | p_\ |
d' | D | z | S |
g' | j\ | G | X |
m | m | ||
n | n | ||
ŋ | J | N | N\ |
r | r | 4 | r |
r' | l | 5 | l |
j | j | j | j |
- 1 All vowels marked with ' do not occur naturally in Phipul. They were invented in the 19th century to allow proper transcription of non-Phipul names. For a few decades now, there have also been plans to unify the pronuncitation of the vowels, i.e., for "a" to always be /a/ and for "a'" to always be /&/, etc.
Grammar and Syntax
As Phipul is largely an isolating language, it relies heavily on worder order and particles to convey sense. It features few synthetic elements; only number and possessive are formed by inflection.
Word Order
Word order is very fixed in Phipul. In general, it is an SOV language, meaning the subject of a sentence comes first, followed by the objects and finally the verb. This applies to all sentences except questions, in which it is shuffled to VSO.
In sentences containing more than one objects, the exact order of the different objects is somewhat more free, although the overwhelmingly prevalent order is dative-patient-instrument.
- Kepar ke tek'ima r'u etik ki.
- A friend broke the window.
- Etik ki kepar ke tek'ima r'u?
- Did a friend break the window?
- Etik ki rab' ke tek'ima r'u?
- Who broke the window?
Nouns
Case Markers
Role | Marker | Example in English | Example in Phipul | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Agent | ke | A friend breaks the window. | Kepar ke tek'ima r'u etik o. | |
Patient | r'u | A friend breaks the window. | Kepar ke tek'ima r'u etik o. | |
Experiencer | ri | The window breaks. | Tek'ima ri etik t'i. | |
Dative | t'i | I give my friend a book. | Nini ke kepar t'i man r'u arti o. | |
Instrument | na | A friend breaks the window with a bat. | Kepar ke tek'ima r'u p'inna na etik o. |
Number
Number is one of the only two synthetic featurs of Phipul.
A null-marker denotes singular, whereas plural is marked by a duplication of the first consonant with a filler -i added. If a noun starts with a vowel, the first consonant is simply added. This may change the pronunciation of the second consonant as its position changes from initial to middle.
English sg. | Phipul sg. | English pl. | Phipul pl. |
---|---|---|---|
friend | kepar | friends | kikepar |
house | ŋar'e | houses | ŋiŋar'e |
word | ar'na | words | r'ar'na |
tree | iki | trees | kiki |
Possessive
The possessive is the second synthetic element of Phipul. It is marked by adding -p' to the noun. If it already ends in a consonant, typically a filler vowel is added; which vowel is used depends simply on the dialect and has no distinct rule.
- kepar => keparip'
- ŋar'e => ŋar'ep'
Verbs
Part of verbal morphology are a number of particles that express tense, mood and voice. If all are used in a sentence, they always appear in this order.
Tense
Phipul features only three tenses, present, future and past.
Tense | Marker | Example in English | Example in Phipul | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Present | o | I see a friend. | Nini ke kepar r'u ikoko o. | |
Past | ki | I saw a friend. | Nini ke kepar r'u ikoko ki. | |
Future | r'a | I will see a friend. | Nini ke kepar r'u ikoko r'a. |
It must be noted that the present particle o may be ommited when a voice or mood other than the active or indicative are used. This does not apply to the other two tense particles.
Mood
Four moods can be found in Phipul - indicative (represented by a nullmorpheme), imperative and hortative, optative and dubitative.
Tense | Marker | Example in English | Example in Phipul | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Indicative | - | A friend breaks the window. | Kepar ke tek'ima r'u etik o. | |
Imperative Hortative |
tin | Break the window! Let's break the window! |
Arei ke tek'ima r'u tin! Ankem ke tek'ima r'u tin! | |
Optative | t'am | I want to break the window. | Nini ke tek'ima r'u etik t'am. | |
Dubitative | ad'u | He might be in Phip. | Onit' ke Kapet'muk ar' na di ad'u. |
Voice
There are three voices in Phipul - active voice, middle voice and passive voice. The active voice is characterized by a nullmorpheme,.
Tense | Marker | Example in English | Example in Phipul | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Active Voice | - | A friend breaks the window. | Kepar ke tek'ima r'u etik o. | |
Middle Voice | t'i | The window breaks. | Tek'ima ri etik t'i. | |
Passive Voice | min | The window is broken by a friend. | Tek'ima ri kepar na etik min. |
Note that in the both the middle and the passive voice, the subject of the sentence stands with the experiencer particle instead of the agent particle.
Pronouns
Phipul has four levels of politeness, and one part of this is the pronoun system. The finer nuances of their usage is difficult to master, and using the "polite" level is almost always appropriate.
Person | Colloquial | Familial | Polite | Honoring |
---|---|---|---|---|
1st person sg. | ni | ni | nini | ninima |
2nd person sg. | ki | rin | arei | arinma |
3rd person sg. | oi | oni | onit' | onit' |
1st person pl. | no | anno | ankem | pera |
2nd person pl. | kiki | ririn | mat'ome | antak'a |
3rd person pl. | ae | ane | kiom | nihun |
Vocabulary
IDU Country Names
English | Phipul Counry Name | Phipul Adjective |
---|---|---|
Antrium | Antirium | antiriak'u |
Baranxtu | Beraŋat | Beraŋak'u |
Ceorana | T'eorana | t'eoranak'u |
Cikoutimi | T'ikutimi | t'ikutimik'u |
Domnonia | Domnonia | domonik'u |
Fonzoland | P'and'or'end | p'and'ak'u |
Gnejs | Ginet' | ginet'k'u |
Groot Gouda | Girwt Gauda | gaudak'u |
Grosseschnauzer | Girot'et'naud'er | t'naud'erak'u |
Jonquiere-Tadoussac | D'onkjer-Tadut'ak | d'ontada'ku |
Keeslandia | Kit'landia | kit'ak'u |
Malabra | Mar'abra | mar'abrak'u |
Mikitivity | Maikitib'iti | maikitib'itak'u |
Otea | Otea | oteak'u |
Sober Thought | T'ober T'wt | t'obrak'u |
South Antrium | B'ani-Antirium | b'ani-antiriak'u |
Xtraordinary Gentlemen | Ekit'trawrdineri D'entr'men | ekit'trawrdinerak'u |
Language Names
English | Phipul Counry Name | Phipul Adjective |
---|---|---|
Alvésin | Ar'b'et'in | ar'b'et'inmi |
Asuaneï | At'b'anei | at'b'animi |
Baranxeï | Beraŋi | beraŋimi |
Chicoutim | T'ikutim | t'ikutimi |
Dutch | Wr'and | wr'andimi |
English | Ŋer'it' | ŋer'it'imi |
French | P'ront'e | p'ront'imi |
German | Doitet' | doitet'imi |
Nidajii | Nidaji | nidajimi |
Qi | Ki | kimi |
Spanish | Et'paŋor' | et'paŋor'imi |
Languages of Baranxtu | ||
---|---|---|
Official Languages: | ||
Asuaneï | Baranxeï | Baranxtuan Sign Language | English | French | Nidajii | ||
Other Languages: | ||
Baranxtuan French | Chicoutim | Masenar | Phipul | Qi |