peküzhí Nakiwá
peküzhí Nakiwá is the common and official language of zhi Nakiwá. A language isolate, it has very few speakers outside of zhi Nakiwá. A small population of speakers is found in Paltlon ini, in Covtle ini.
Phonology
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | g | |||||
| Fricative | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | |||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||||||
| Front | Mid | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i y | u | |
| Mid | e ø | o | |
| Low | a |
peküzhí Nakiwá phonotactics are strict, allowing only CV syllables. peküzhí Nakiwá is a pitch accent language, with a lexicalised higher pitch on either the penultimate or final syllable. peküzhí Nakiwá is a syllable-timed language.
Grammar
Word Order
The basic word order is SOV. Peküzhí Nakiwá is strongly left-branching.
Nouns
Nouns in peküzhí Nakiwá are split into two pieces. The first piece, called go pidéwa, is a single syllable root with all morphology attached to it that begins a noun phrase. The second piece, called go newése is a longer root that sits independently after all the adjectives.
While there is no system of noun class or noun gender in the traditional sense, nouns in peküzhí Nakiwá are roughly divided into two categories: go yazhiká or native nouns and go numúge or foreign nouns. go yazhiká are nouns whose roots go back to the original settlement of the islands, while go numúge are borrowed words from other languages, especially Adcovtle. go pidéwa of go numúge is almost always «ki», «shü», or «na».
Verbs
Verbs in peküzhí Nakiwá are conjugated for tense only. The only two tenses are past, marked with the prefix «zü-», and present/future, marked with «da-». There are four irregular verbs, listed below.
| Past | Present/Future | |
|---|---|---|
| ogó (to be) | núka | shaná |
| bímü (to go) | zü | da |
| peké (to do/make) | zeké | deké |
| newá | ne | ko |
Pronouns
| Person | Pronoun |
|---|---|
| 1st person | tu öwá |
| 2nd person | tu shósho |
| 3rd person | ka pákü |
| 4th person (generic) | ka zhusú |
| For referring only to the Queen | ka bokezawéo |
Questions
Add the particle «nomé» to the end of the phrase. If the question is a wh-question, replace the question word in place.