Wippwo
| Lo Neire Wippwo [lɔ 'ne.rɛ 'wip.pwɔ ] | |
| Period | c. 1250-1600 |
| Spoken in | Kasca |
| Total speakers | 5 million |
| Writing system | adapted Fáralo script |
| Classification | Edastean Eastern Kascan Naidda Wippwo |
| Typology | |
| Basic word order | V1; nonconfigurational |
| Morphology | fusional |
| Alignment | direct |
| Credits | |
| Created by | Arzena, concept by Zompist |
This article describes the standard language of the prosperous mercantile city of Hana, capital of the eponymous and current chief Kascan regional power, the Serene Republic of Hana, circa 1475 YP. Neire Wippwo was originally a regional descendant of Naidda spoken in a forgotten corner of the Eige Delta (the Naidda etymon of Wippwo means 'the stinking mud'). Around 200 years before the time of this grammar, a new channel to the sea had opened up in the Wippwo. This, at first, was a result of the natural changes the course of the Delta's riverways. In the 1300s a major hurricane struck the Delta and hastened the formation of the Wippwo Passage.
The Passage began on the northern edge of the Delta, and, soon, traders from Huyfarah started plying the new route as a shortcut into the Delta. New towns sprung up with the increased volume of people and trade moving through the region. It came as no surprise that these new settlements were reputed as seedy places, mixing a riot of nationalities, colorful rogues, and hard-pressed lawmen into the stinking mud of the Delta. Needless to say, there are many fun parties in Hana, and even the stuffy literati of Ussor will tap their feet to the sultry beats of ados and bada.
Of the new prosperity in the Delta, the village turned boom town of Hana prospered the most. It gained from organizing a passage tax through the Delta based on the act of passage itself, the total tonnage of cargo, and the type of cargo itself. Due to Hana's short distance from the ocean, foreigner merchants established their bases of operations in Hana; these people, in turn, demanded and created the comforts of high civilization, and so the cycle continued until Hana found itself a bustling city nicknamed 'The Pearl of the Bayou'.
Within the past century, Hana has expanded its political clout in the Delta. Its power is not yet the hard strength reminiscent of Athalē or Huyfarah but a softer power. Every notable Delta town has a Hana Yard (a compound featuring warehouses, markets, living quarters, entertainment, and diplomatic offices); abroad, there are Hana Yards on the Dagam Islands and Ussor, Azbǽbu, Sertek and other cities and towns along the Huyfarahn coast.
The full name of the language is Neire Wippwo, meaning the Naidda of the Wippwo region. It is referred to as both Neire or Wippwo, with the latter more common. In reference to its famous bilabial trill, it receives the name Wibbo both affectionately and disparagingly.
Contents
Phonology
Phonemes
| Labial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Voiceless Plosive | p /p/ | t /t/ | k /k/ | |||||
| Voiced Plosive | b /b/ | d /d/ | g /g/ | |||||
| Voiceless Fricative | f /f/ | s /s/ | š /ʃ/ | h /h/ | ||||
| Voiced Fricative | β /β/ | v /v/ | z /z/ | ž /ʒ/ | γ /ɣ/ | |||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ng /ŋ/ | |||||
| Lateral | l /l/ | ll /ʎ/ | ||||||
| Trill | r /r/ | |||||||
| Approximant | w /w/ | y /j/ |
- <ng> represents /ŋ/ initially and in syllable codae but /ŋg/ intervocalically.
- <ǧ> will be an alternate way of writing /ɣ/
Vowels
Wippwo has eleven vowel phonemes: 8 oral and 3 nasal.
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | i /i/ | u /u/ | |
| Mid High | ei /e/ | ou /o/ | |
| Mid Low | e /ɛ/ | o /ɔ/ | |
| Low | a /a/ |
| Front | Central | Back | |
| High | |||
| Mid High | ẽ /ẽ/ | ||
| Mid Low | õ /ɔ̃/ | ||
| Low | ã /ã/ |
Wippwo has one true diphthong /ɔa/. In the standard, it is reduced when unstressed to [wə]
- Circumflexes may also be used to transcribe the nasal vowels.
Stress
Words are regularly stressed on the first syllable.
Allophony and Dialectal Variation
There are four major dialects of Wippwo: Hat (Ya'n), Hana (Yana'a, not a classical Kascan city), Mumbá (Momuva'ean), and Nurol (Niddolan). As the state of Wippwo expanded in the 13th century, the complexities of government demanded a single language. The eventual standard, termed Neirebo, 'elite Neire', was an amalgamation of the vocabulary of Hana and the phonology of Hat. Its only serious competition came from the academic and literary Momuva'eans, who boasted of their connection to the ancient Tsinakan.
Short of a major dialectal phonemic analysis, the most noticeable differences are outlined in the following consonants in the order Hat, Hana, Mumbá, and Nurol.
/h/
1. #_ [ h | j | Ø | w ] Ha, Ya, A, Wa Aiwa River
(Hana's replacement of /h/ with [j] is an incomplete sound change from Naidda. Originally /j/ > [h], but the reverse was analogized somewhere along the line, rendering hypercorrections of /h/ from Naidda as [j]).
2. _C, _#: [ ː | ː | ʃ | x ] dahmoh, dahmoh, dašmoš, daxmox searching-AVN
3. V_V : [ h | ħ | h | x ] kupeiha, kupeiħa, kupeiha, kupeixa hit-PVN
/ɣ/
1. all positions: [ ɣ | ħ | h | x ] Dahhã, Daħã, Dahã, Daxã Dagam Islands
/ʎ/
1. all positions: [ ʎ | lʲ | j | ʒ ] Tolla, Tolya, Toya, Toža the god Tolya
/β/
1. #_ [ β | b | v | w ]
2. V_V [ ʙ | ʙ | v | w ]
- [ʙ] is a feature of upper class urban speech. This feature is spreading among the other dialects
Noun Phrase
Structure
The order of the noun phrase is based on the following function:
NP: [(Determiner) Noun (Modifier)]
The determiner slot is further subdivided into
D: [(article/deitic) (possessive pronoun) (number) (non-numeric quantifier)] Noun
lo di
the tree
l-oβ di
the many trees
ežou di
your tree
- cf l-ežou di, ' your tree (as opposed to mine or his'. Mumbá and Nurol extended the definite article to all nouns modified by a possessive pronoun.
ahei iš oa di
my six all tree
all my six trees
Articles and Deictics
| Clitic | Meaning | ||
| lo | the | ||
| u | a, some | ||
| do | as for | ||
| go | this | ||
| šo | that |
When these particles precede a vowel-initial nominal, they elide to their initial consonant.
*u-ah-->w-ah
a woman
*go-all-->g-all
this fire
The clitic u is not used as a catch all indefinite article. Compare:
- ah oadoula
- a woman came
- w-ah oadoula
- some woman (I don't know who) came
Possessive Pronouns
There are six possessive pronouns. Plural forms were created from unstressed enclitic pronouns.
| Person | Pronoun | ||
| 1 | ahei, hoβe | ||
| 2 | ežou, žong | ||
| 3 | a, awer |
Non-Numeric Quantifiers
| Quantifier | Meaning | ||
| wa | a few, a minority of | ||
| nam | some, however many | ||
| oβ | many, lots of | ||
| hi | most | ||
| mei | no, none of | ||
| oa | all, each |
Numbers
| Number | Cardinal | Ordinal | x10 |
| 1 | ke | ike | |
| 2 | ni | ini | nirou |
| 3 | woa | uwou | woarou |
| 4 | boa | ubou | boarou |
| 5 | du | udu | durou |
| 6 | iš | hiš | šurou |
| 7 | mem | imẽ | mẽrou |
| 8 | son | isõ | sõrou |
| 9 | nil | inil | nurou |
| 10 | roa | urou |
Other important numbers: keiša 100, keišrou 1000, roašou 10,000
Naidda borrowed, 1, 4, and 8 from Fáralo and were in common use. In designing the standard, the framers sought to purge this "foreign" influence from the nascent language. Nonetheless, the Fáralo numbers šei, bu, dei are still used, but are considered hallmarks of uneducated speech.
Sample Text
Stei meiloa git Šengã, lo žah košõ om lo lo om Kaš; lo mužo om lo šoudol ã lo šor:
Sla peha γin lo spo om ahei meββe ei, steβõ l-oa laša hi, hullõ wei. Git meiβõ lo laša šo hi.
AUX(NF-IMP) say-he Šengã, DEF-king great, DEF-king of DEF-land of.3 Kasca, DEF-brother of DEF-sun and DEF-moon, thus:
Before.3 sit-AVN with.3 DEF-throne of my father I, COP(NF-IMP)-they DEF-all country foreign, hostile for.1. Thus say-they DEF-country nearby foreign:
==
Do-lõze ni lo-Kana šouna moareloa
Ewurei steiža minõ dahmoh poa
N malou kenouyei
Ero meilou: "Ni nãlou na fatei
Ni shit reβou do-lõze
Ngou wou va smedaβe
N šouna mausu galou".
Because in the world the truth has faded,
I decided to go a-searching for it
and wherever I asked
everybody said: 'search in another place
because truth is lost in such a way
such as we can have no news of it
and it's no longer around here'.
[dO.'lO~.zE ni lO.'ka.n@ 'So.n@ mwa.'rE5.w@
E.'wu.re 'ste.Z@ 'mi.nO~ dam:ox pw@
E~ 'ma.lo kE.'no.je
'E.rO 'melo ni 'na~.lo na 'fa.te
ni Sit 're.Bo dO.'lO~.zE
No wo va smE.'da.BE
E~ 'So.n@ 'mau.su 'ga.o]
as for-truth in def-world AOR dark-3sg
decide-1sg NF.INCP go search.AVN for.3sg
and wherever ask.PRET
everyone say.PRET-3sg in.3sg someplace IMP search
in.3sg that.way lost as for-truth
as of.3sg ABIL NEG.IRR-have
and it NEG.now here
