Ustwakwitjuma

Ustwakwitjuma is a language that was the original language of Åmtlo and is one of the main liturgical languages of (major Klåneva religion). Widely spoken from around (2400 years ago) to (1900 years ago), it later declined in everyday use, largely being replaced by (language of northern regions E/F/G) by (1700 years ago). However, it is still an important liturgical language of (major Klåneva religion), where it is used for prayers and other religious uses.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes

	Bilabial			Alveolar			Palatal			Velar			Glottal
Plosive (Stop)	p	pʷ	pʲ	t	tʷ	tʲ	c	cʷ	cʲ	k	kʷ	kʲ
Fricative				s	sʷ	sʲ	ç	çʷ	çʲ	x	xʷ	xʲ	h	hʷ	hʲ
Nasal		m			n			ɲ			ŋ

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Mid	Back
High	i		u
Low		a

Ustwakwitjuma phonotactics allow only (C)V(s) syllable structures, where C is a consonant and V is a vowel. Ustwakwitjuma is syllable-timed, and stress is always on the penultimate syllable.

Grammar

Ustwakwitjuma is a polysynthetic language with a complex system of morphology. Verbs form the main structure of a sentence, while nouns must attach to verbs.

Verbs

Ustwakitjuma verbs form the core of all words. In their uninflected form, they represent the generic person present tense form. For example:

Mis

to.eat

"One eats."

However, verbs can take suffixes, for example the following:

Mis	-kja	-hwu
to.eat	1ST	PAST

"I ate."

Nouns

Ustwakitjuma nouns are divided into three noun classes - sky, ground, and underground. In prayers and poetry these are often used metaphorically to refer to the future (sky) and past (underground).