Front unrounded: e[ɛ], i (F)
Back unrounded: a[ɑ] (B)
Back rounded: o[ɔ], u (R)
Consonants:
Code: Select all
Labial: f[f], p[p], b[b], m[m], r[ʙ], v[ʋ], w[w] (L)
Alveolar: s[s], t[t], d[d], n[n], r[r], l[l], j[j] (A)
Velar: x[x], k[k], g[g], n[ŋ], r[ʀ], l[ɫ] (V)
No syllables have coda.
Allowed onset/nucleus combinations: LR, AF, VB
Allowed consonant clusters: (S)T(R), (S)N(R), S(R), R
Where S is fricative, T stop, N nasal and R sonorant.
Some consonant clusters, although possible, never occur
There are three tones - falling, even and rising, which act on a word level. Falling is marked with <\> before the word and rising - with </>. Even tone is unmarked. Nasal vowels are marked with <n> after them and rhotic ones - with <r>. These are not codas.
When the tone is falling or rising, the first vowel is always lengthened.
Ju Fopju is highly fusional, with words having two affixes at most, and most affixes are prefixes.
Examples of the verb morphology:
si - to walk
ansi - I walk
posi - you.sg walk
tesi - he/she walks
tersi - it walks
nisi - one walks (4th person)
kasi - we walk
desi - you.pl walk
tjisi - they.anim walk
mvosi - they.inanim walk
\asi - I don't walk
porsi - you.sg don't walk
lesi - he/she doesn't walk
\lesi - it doesn't walk
nirsi - one doesn't walk (4th person)
karsi - we don't walk
dersi - you.pl don't walk
frusi - they.anim don't walk
mvorsi - they.inanim don't walk
And some noun morphology:
/si - path
/resi - paths
/kasi - the path
/tesi - the paths
Most verbs can be transitive:
Ansi /kasi - I walk (on) the path