Waanian

[Shemtov]

Waanian is a major language of the Island of Waan, an island off the east-northeast coast of Fuhe, about the size of IRL Ireland. About a dozen native languages of the Waanic Family are spoken there, in addition to two Kanic languages (North Waanese Kanic and South Waanese Kanic), but the Waanian-speaking tribe is the one that is most known to the Fuhe- it is spoken on the west of the island, and is spoken by around 45% of the population.

Phonology:
/p ɓ t ɗ c ʄ k q/ <p b t d c j k q>
/m n ɲ ŋ/ <m n nh ng>
/s ʐ ʃ x~X ʁ/ <s r sh h g>
/l/ <l>
/w j/ <w y>

/i u ə ɛ ɔ a/ <i u ë e o a>
/i: u: ə: e: o: ɑ:/ <ii uu ëë ei ou aa>

Phonotactics: (C)V(C)
Permitted finals:
/p t c k q m n ɲ ŋ s x l w j/

Morphonemic processes:
/q/ cannot occur before /i i:/. In this position, it becomes /k/. In the same position, /k x ʁ ŋ/ may shift to /c ʃ j ɲ/, depending on the lexeme.

Nouns:
Nouns have no marked case or gender. The occur in three numbers: Singular, Dual and Plural. Dual is formed by adding the prefix lu- to the noun.
The plural is formed in four ways:
1. First syllable reduplication: Mali "girl" Mamali "girls"
2. First consonant reduplication with <ë> as the vowel: Ngeiwanh "boat" Ngëngeiwanh"boats"
3. Same as 2, but the first vowel, which is "long" is shortened: Touka "Chief" Tëtoka "Chiefs"
4. Full redulplication: Bas "Language" Basbas "languages"

[Shemtov]

Before I continue to present Waanian grammar, I must note that the language has an Austronesian-based alignment.

Nouns also have natural gender: Human and Non-Human.

Nouns take Definate (Target) and Oblique (non-target) proclitics.

The Human Definate proclitic is invariably Nhëë.

The Non-Human Definate proclitic depends on deixis:
Proximate: Ra
Distal and Visible: Jet
Distal and non-visible: Luunh


The Oblique proclitics are Weiq (Human) and Gi (non-human)

[Shemtov]

Verbs:
The base form of the verb is the active voice:
Mërout "love"
Houdis "kill"
Luwaap "construct; make; create"

To turn this into the patient voice, one adds the infix <inh> after the first consonant. Note that this may change the first consonant in some stems where they are velar:
Minhërout "Love.PV"
Shinhoudis "kill.PV"
Linhuwaap "make.PV"

So basic sentences, with gloss:

Mërout nhëë touka weiq mamali
Mërout nhëë touka weiq ma-mali
love.AV FOC chief NFOC plr-girl
"The chief loves [some] girls"

Houdis nhëë touka weiq mamali
Houdis nhëë touka weiq ma-mali
kill.AV FOC chief NFOC plr-girl
"The chief kills girls"

Luwaap nhëë mamali gi ngëngeiwanh
Luwaap nhëë ma-mali gi ngë-ngeiwanh
make.AV FOC PLR-girl NFOC PLR-boat
"The girls make boats"

Shinhoudis weiq touka nhëë mamali
Shinhoudis weiq touka nhëë ma-mali
PV\kill NFOC cheif FOC PLR-girl
"A cheif killed the girls"

Linhuwaap jet ngëngeiwanh weiq mamali
Linhuwaap jet ngë-ngeiwanh weiq ma-mali
PV\make FOC.DIST.VIS PLR-boat NFOC PLR-girl
"The boats over there were made by girls"

Linhuwaap ra ngëngeiwanh weiq mamali
Linhuwaap ra ngë-ngeiwanh weiq ma-mali
PV\make FOC.PROX PLR-boat NFOC PLR-girl
"These here boats were made by girls"

[Reyzadren]

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[Shemtov]

Waanian also has Benafactive-Dative, Instrumental, and Locative voices. They are formed based on the patient voice. The Benafactive-Dative takes the suffix -(w)on, the instrumental the circumfix ge(y)--(w)on, and the locative the suffix -(y)il. If an utterance has more then two arguements, and it is not in the active voice, the subject is fronted before the verb.

Weiq mamali linhuwaapon jet ngëngeiwanh nhëë touka
Weiq ma-mali linhuwaap-on gi ngë-ngeiwanh nhëë touka
OBL.HUM PLR-girl PV\make-BENV OBL PLR-boat DEF.HUM chief
"The girls make the boats for the chief"

Weiq touka geshinhoudison weiq mali luunh tetewan
Weiq touka ge-shinhoudis-on weiq mali luunh te-tewan
OBL.HUM chief INSTV-PV\kill-INSTV OBL.HUM DEF.DIST PLR-stone
"A chief killed a girl using those stones yonder"