Farwo n-Abebbu

Farwo n-Abebbu [ˌfɑɾ.wɔ nʌˈbɛb.bu]
Period	c. 1100 YP
Spoken in	Abebbu
Total speakers	c. 150,000
Writing system	adapted Fáralo alphabet
Classification	Edastean  Fáralo    Southern Fáralo     Farwo n-Abebbu
Typology
Basic word order	AuxSOV
Morphology	fusional
Alignment	NOM-ACC
Credits
Created by	Dunomapuka; this dialect: Cedh

Farwo n-Abebbu is the local language of the port city of Abebbu c. 1100 YP, descended from a southern variety of Fáralo. It is usually considered a dialect of the more widely used Namɨdu language.

Sound Changes from Fáralo

Classical Fáralo to Southern Fáralo ca. 400.
1. Coda [r] shifts to [ə].
2. Non-syllabic [ɔ̯] merges with [w].
3. Vowel breaking creates rising diphthongs: [æ] ➝ [jɛ]; [e] ➝ [jə]; [o] ➝ [wə]. If another vowel follows, then [e] ➝ [jəj]; [o]➝ [wəw].
4. Monophthongization of falling diphthongs: [iə] ➝ [iː]; [uw uə] ➝ [uː]; [aw aə] ➝ [aː]; [ɔw ɔə] ➝ [ɔː]; [ɛw ɛə] ➝ [ɛː]; [uj] ➝ [yː]; [əw əə] ➝ [əː].
5. [i] before another vowel reduces to [j], and [u] reduces to [w].
6. [j], including any new [j] from the preceding changes, is deleted when following a postalveolar.
7. Single consonants are geminated after stressed short vowels. The gemination occurs consistently in content words, but is usually blocked in functional words and auxiliaries.
8. Intervocalic single [ɡ] becomes [j], while the geminate remains [ɡɡ].
9. Intervocalic single [f] becomes [v], while the geminate remains [ff].
10. Final [h], [f] are lost.

Southern Fáralo to Farwo n-Abebbu ca. 1100.
11. Depalatalization of [ʃ ʧ ʤ] to [s ʦ ʣ].
12. [ŋ] merges with the cluster [nj] before vowels. It remains [ŋ] before all consonants other than [j]. Word-final [ŋ] is lost with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel, and geminated [ŋŋ] becomes [ŋɡɡ].
13. Stressed short [ɔ] merges with [a], giving [ɔ] if the following syllable contains a rounded vowel or [w], and [a] otherwise. A few words do not exhibit rounding of Fáralo a where that would have been expected etymologically; it is thought that this inconsistency is due to vowel reduction in positions susceptible to syncope (change #16).
14. [ə] and [əː] become [a] and [aː] respectively.
15. [jɛ] simplifies to [ɛ] when preceded by a consonant cluster.
16. Syncope of unstressed short vowels in medial syllables, or in some cases initial syllables if before the stress. This is blocked if it would create a cluster of three consonants, but a sequence of geminate + vowel + consonant will lose the vowel, and simplify the geminate if the second half of it cannot be part of a legit syllable onset (*mebbelo "farm" ➝ *mebblo ➝ mebbwo, but *arellibu "politician" ➝ *arelbu ➝ areubu).
17. Epenthetic [ɛ] is prefixed to most words that begin with a consonant cluster (a notable environment is the accusative plural of nouns). Perhaps in a hypercorrective response to this, many words with initial unstressed [ɛ] lose this vowel in non-prefixed forms; e.g. egól "foot" ➝ *yol ➝ you, nom.pl keyou.
18. [ʦ ʣ] lenite to [θ ð] except after a plosive or adjacent to a sibilant, where they become [s z] instead.
19. All coda [l] velarizes to [ɫ], as does [l] after a consonant and before a back vowel. Geminate [ll] is unaffected, and postconsonantal [l] before front vowels shifts to [r].
20. [sk sr rs] all become [ʃ] (but [sk] remains word-finally when preceded by a stressed vowel), and [zɡ zr rz jj] all become [ʒ]. The resulting fricatives are geminated when they occur intervocalically after a stressed short vowel.
21. Stress is moved to the penultimate syllable (however, monosyllabic lexemes with prefixes keep the accent on the root, and transparent compounds carry primary stress on the accented syllable of their first component).
22. Stressed [ɛː] breaks to [jɛ], and stressed [ɔː] breaks to [wɔ]. If the syllable already begins with an onset cluster, the onglide is subsequently deleted.
23. Clusters consisting of two voiceless plosives or two voiceless fricatives assimilate to a geminate version of the second obstruent.
24. Voiced coda obstruents that are not part of a geminate are deleted with compensatory lengthening of preceding short vowels. Unstressed word-initial vowels do not undergo lengthening.
25. Coda nasals assimilate to the place of articulation of a following obstruent.
26. Long vowels break into diphthongs: [iː yː ɛː] ➝ [ɛj]; [uː ɔː] ➝ [ɔw]; [aː] ➝ [aj].
27. [ɫ] merges into [w]. Resulting tautosyllabic [iw] becomes [ew] after complex syllable onsets, and [ju] otherwise. The sequence [wu] becomes [wɔ], and both [uw] and unstressed [aw] shift to [ɔw]. After this, all intervocalic or geminated [w] fortify to [v].

Phonology

Consonants

	labial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar	glottal
stops	p · b		t · d		k · ɡ
fricatives	f · v	θ · ð	s · z	ʃ · ʒ		h
nasals	m		n		ŋ
liquids			ɾ · l
semivowels	w			j

• All consonants except /w j/ may occur as geminates. Underlying |ww jj| surface as /vv ʒʒ/.
• /f v/ contrast with each other only in the geminates /ff/ vs. /vv/. Only /f/ can appear word-initially and in clusters with a voiceless consonant, and only /v/ can appear between vowels or after a nasal.
• /θ ð ʃ ʒ/ are written th dh š ž (geminated: tth ddh šš žž).
• /w j/ are written w y before a vowel, and u i before a consonant or word boundary.
• /ŋ/ is written ng. It occurs as a phoneme of its own only in coda position; prevocalic ng (geminated ngg) represents [ŋɡ], phonemically /nɡ/.

Vowels

	front	back
high	i	u
mid	ɛ	ɔ
low	a

• /ɛ ɔ/ are written e o.

Phonotactics

The basic syllable structure is (C)(C)V(w,y,n,s)(C). Syllable-initial clusters are mostly restricted to consonant + w y r; however, a number of other clusters do also occur in onset position. The only considerably common coda clusters that do not involve a semivowel are word-final -nk -sk, notably appearing in the plural form of some monosyllabic verbs.

Phonetic Detail

• Farwo n-Abebbu has a dynamic stress accent, which generally falls on the penultimate syllable of monomorphemic lexemes. Prefixes are always unstressed, and transparent compounds carry primary stress on the accented syllable of their first component.
• p t k are lightly aspirated in the onset of stressed syllables.
• r is a trill [r] word-initially and when geminated, and a tap [ɾ] in most other environments.
• Geminate hh is often pronounced as a pharyngeal [ħː]
• The high vowels i u are lax [ɪ ʊ] in closed syllables, and tense [i u] otherwise.
• Stressed a is a front/central low vowel [a] when preceded by a palatal or velar consonant, and a back vowel [ɑ] otherwise. When unstressed, it becomes [ɐ] word-finally and [ʌ] elsewhere.
• Similarly, ai is usually [ɑɪ], but it becomes [aɪ] after palatals and velars.
• Vowels in stressed open syllables are lengthened noticeably. The same holds for vowels in stressed word-final syllables ending in a nasal or plosive.

Nominal Morphology

Nouns

Nominal morphology is prefixing. Nouns in Farwo n-Abebbu inflect for number and four cases; compared to standard Namɨdu, the main differences are the lack of the appositive case and the different shape of the plural prefixes. The citation form of a noun is the accusative singular.

buya "star"

	singular	plural
accusative	buya	ebuya
nominative	buya	kabuya
genitive	nabuya	naibuya
dative	yembuya	yeibuya

kouta "demon"

	singular	plural
accusative	kouta	eskouta
nominative	gouta	kayouta
genitive	nakouta	naskouta
dative	yenkouta	yeskouta

aiba "mason, metalworker"

	singular	plural
accusative	aiba	zaiba
nominative	aiba	gaiba
genitive	naiba	nazaiba
dative	yemaiba	yezaiba

kya "egg"

	singular	plural
accusative	kya	zekya
nominative	kya	kekya
genitive	nakya	naskya
dative	yenkya	yeskya

• The nominative singular is distinguished from the accusative singular only in a number of nouns beginning with /p t k h w/. These nouns form the nominative via the primary consonant mutation:
  • /p/ ➝ /b/
  • /t/ ➝ /d/
  • /k/ ➝ /g/
  • /h/ ➝ /s/
  • /w/ ➝ /s/
• Nouns beginning in /w f ɡ/ followed by a vowel (including instances of /ɡ/ created through the primary consonant mutation) undergo a different shift in the nominative plural and in the genitive singular, called the secondary consonant mutation:
  • /w/ ➝ /v/
  • /f/ ➝ /v/
  • /g/ ➝ /j/
• Nouns beginning in /θ ð/ change these to /s z/ in the non-nominative plural forms, giving a geminate sibilant (e.g. thaik "king" ➝ acc.pl essaik).
• Nouns beginning in /l/ are more irregular. Samples are given below:

legga "word"

	singular	plural
accusative	legga	žegga
nominative	legga	kregga
genitive	nalegga	nažegga
dative	yembregga	yežegga

lasou "treaty"

	singular	plural
accusative	lasou	zwasou
nominative	lasou	kwasou
genitive	nalasou	nazwasou
dative	yemwasou	yezwasou

lepello "throne"

	singular	plural
accusative	lepello	zwepello
nominative	lepello	kwepello
genitive	noupello	nazwepello
dative	yemwepello	yezwepello

Personal Pronouns

	nom	acc	gen	dat
1sg.	i	eibu	yeth	eim
2sg.	leik	leikou	yelku	leikum
3sg.	a	yebu	yei	yem
3 impersonal	žou	krou	nažou	yežou
1pl.	luk	lous	yethi	loutam
2pl.	da	dwai	yenyu	dwam
3sg.	ak	obu	yeya	yem
interrogative	dhei	dhou	yedhei	dhum

Numbers

	x	10x	x + 10
1	the	(ro)	thwan
2	nye	nyerro	nyevan
3	was	woššo	woswan
4	bu	burro	bovan
5	dwa	dwarro	dwavan
6	es	eššo	eswan
7	myem	myembro	myemwan
8	hou	hurro	hudwan
9	nyu	nyurro	nyovan
10	ro	ei	(nyerro)

(The x + 10 forms derive from Fáralo constructions like [ro] dou-oun "[ten]-and-five" > dwavan.)

Ordinal numerals are formed by suffixing the adjectivizer -(i)n. There are a few irregular forms: ossu "first", gwan "second", hudin "eighth", nilin "ninth", eibin "hundredth".

Verbal Morphology

The Main Verb

As in Namɨdu, verb phrases generally contain both an auxiliary and a main verb. The main verb is marked only for the number of the subject. The singular is unmarked, and the plural adds -k after vowels. Consonant stems usually double the final consonant and add -ek:

• pathna "to count" ➝ pathnak "to count" (pl.)
• yedde "to stand" ➝ yeddek "to stand" (pl.)
• oswak "to forget" ➝ oswakkek "to forget" (pl.)
• pren "to design" ➝ prennek "to design" (pl.)

A few verbs ending in a nasal or sibilant simply add -k:

• nwan "to go; to leave" ➝ nwank "to go; to leave" (pl.)
• sin "to drink" ➝ sink "to drink" (pl.)
• yedas "to hesitate" ➝ yedask "to hesitate" (pl.)

Verbs ending in a diphthong often have an extended stem in the plural, which features an additional (usually geminated) consonant. The quality of this consonant is unpredictable and must be learned on a word-by-word basis.

• lai "to shut" ➝ lazzek "to shut" (pl.)
• thai "to walk" ➝ thanggek "to walk" (pl.)
• lizyou "to shiver" ➝ lizyulek "to shiver" (pl.)

A fair number of verbs historically involve the elimination of a medial vowel rather than consonant gemination. Because of subsequent cluster simplification, the result can be quite irregular:

• barrei "to reward" ➝ barryek "to reward" (pl.)
• rutthan "to slander" ➝ ruthnek "to slander" (pl.)
• wozzon "to mess up" ➝ wounek "to mess up" (pl.)
• kazzyu "to see; to look at" ➝ kažžek "to see; to look at" (pl.)
• siggyu "to urinate" ➝ seirek "to urinate" (pl.)

Auxiliaries

Auxiliaries inflect for three tenses (present, preterite, imperfect) and polarity, but not for number. Note that some auxiliaries have developed slightly idiosyncratic meanings for their negative forms.

	present	preterite	imperfect	neg. pres.	neg. pret.	neg. imperf.
do	sis	sen	sei	mais	masen	masei
can	bwa	bwen	bwai	ebwa	ebwen	ebwai
must	sa	swan	swai	messa	messwan	messwai	neg means "is not allowed to do"
should	is	isen	isei	mis	misen	misei
may	tottu	tottin	tottei	ousu	ousun	ousou	neg means "is allowed not to do"
will	we	wen	wei	me	men	mei
might	upe	upen	upei	mupe	mupen	mupei
would	uthis	uthen	uthei	muthis	muthen	muthei	neg means "can't imagine doing"
seems	ida	eiren	eirai	mida	meiren	meirai	neg means "apparently doesn't do"
wants	au	allin	allei	mau	mallin	mallei
starts	heppe	heppen	heppei	meppe	meppen	meppei	neg means "hesitates to do"
stops	ta	tan	tai	meta	metan	metai	neg means "keeps doing"
is going to do	nwa	nwan	nwannei				no dedicated neg; use meppe instead
is doing	yedde	yedden	yeddei				no dedicated neg; use mida or mais instead
has done	pyu	pwan	pwai	epyu	epwan	epwai
always does	pe	pen	pei	medde	medden	meddei
causes	oum	oumen	oumei	moum	moumen	moumei	neg means "prevents, hinders"
emphatic	pyatta	pyattan	pyattai				no dedicated neg; use mida instead
imperative	e			emma

The Copula

The copula is similar to an auxiliary, except that it also distinguishes number.

	present	preterite	imperfect	neg. pres.	neg. pret.	neg. imperf.
singular	odu	odun	odou	modu	modun	modou
plural	oduk	ounek	oddek	moduk	mounek	moddek

Sample

Standard Namɨdu

• Sis Sɨntsen, kros atsak yelos Akozyad, wa amekot yelɨdoł wa yeluñɨb, me bi: Isłu hyeppen i mu lepeło yebodde i epe, sed yak kasyoł ɨm uro esnek.
• [ sis ˈsɨn.ʦɛn | kʰɾʌs ɐˌʦʰak jɛˌlʌs ɐˈkʰʌz.jad | wɐ ɐˈmɛ.kʌt jɛˈlɨ.dʌʟ wɐ jɛˈlu.ɲɨb | mɛ bi ‖ ˈis.ʟu ˈhjɛp.pɛn i mu lɛˈpʰɛ.ʟɔ jɛˈbʌd.dɛ i ˈɛ.pɛ | ˈsɛd jak kɐˈsjʌʟ ɨm ˈu.ɾɔ ˈɛs.nɛk ]
• NULL.AUX Sɨntsen / brave APP-king DAT-land APP-Kasadgad / and APP-younger.brother DAT-sun and DAT-moon / speak QUOT / before start-PAST I on throne DAT-father I sit / NULL.AUX-IMP all NOM.PL-foreign.country DAT.me hostile act-PL

Farwo n-Abebbu

• Pyatta Seinthen, kras thaik yemwas na-Kažžai, wau myekat yemweidou pyan lunyei, bi dyun: Issarma heppen i noupello yembaddei yeth radda, sei yak kasyou eim thask oddek.
• [ ˌpʰjat.tɐ ˈsɛɪn.θɛn | krʌs ˌθɑːɪk jɛˌmwɑs nʌˈkʰaʒ.ʒɑɪ | wɑʊ ˌmjɛː.kʌt jɛˌmwɛːɪ.dɔʊ pjan ˈlʊn.jɛɪ | bi ˈdjuːn ‖ ɪsˌsɑɾ.mɐ ˌhɛp.pɛn i nɔʊˈpʰɛl.lɔ jɛmˌbɑd.dɛɪ jɛθ ˈrɑd.dɐ | sɛɪ ˌjak kʌˌsjɔːʊ ɛɪm ˈθɑsk ˌɔd.dɛk ]
• EMPH.AUX Seinthen / brave king DAT-land GEN-Kažžai / and younger.brother DAT-sun with moon / say this / before.when.REL start-PAST I GEN-throne DAT-father GEN.my hold / NULL.AUX-IMP all NOM.PL-foreign.country DAT.me hostile be-IMP.PL

Lexical differences:

• pyatta: Farwo n-Abebbu prefers the emphatic auxiliary for introducing the protagonist of a narrative.
• pyan: "and, with" < F. pein (comitative preposition); used within noun phrases instead of the normal conjunction wau.
• bi: This is still a verb "to say" in Abebbu, instead of being reduced to a quotative particle as in Namɨdu.
• dyun: "this" (demonstrative, acc.sg) < F. digun "thing"
• issarma: relative particle "before" < F. isə sišo roumə "before then REL"
• radda: "to hold, to occupy" < F. roda "to have, to own"
• thask: "hostile" < F. čosk (lost in Namɨdu)
• oddek: Farwo n-Abebbu prefers to use the regular copula with adjective predicates, rather than the dynamic construction with essen "to act", which is typical of Mɨdu city.

See also

• Namɨdu
• Fallo na Mendia