Namchog language

Revision as of 16:00, 23 April 2022 by Massiveconfusion (talk | contribs) (created page before my computer dies)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Namchog language
Pŭhrynatta, ŋıqııt rynatta
Pronunciation[pʊhrɨˈnatta]
Native to Oroshia
EthnicityNamchog people
Native speakers
ca. 250,000 (2018)
Sabarian
Official status
Official language in
Oroshia
Language codes
ISO 639-1nm
ISO 639-2nam
ISO 639-3nam
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For a guide to IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

The Namchog language, or Namchogi (pŭhrynatta, pronounced: [pʊh.rɨˈnat.ta] is a language isolate, or a small family of languages spoken in the interior of the Oroshan peninsula, mostly in the central, mountainous regions of Oroshia, in northeast Surucia. It is the second-most spoken language in Oroshia, with around 250,000 speakers in 2018. While not an official language in the country, it is a recognized charter language in the Oroshan province of Qaʔłvəŋočəčivi ğiʔnvək, where most of the Namchogi population lives.

Namchogi is most likely the indigenous language of the Oroshan peninsula, having been supplanted by Gujino-Bintani languages, whose speakers migrated from the west, and later Jogin during the colonization of Oroshia. Namchogi speakers were severely prosecuted and oppressed under colonial rule, though the remoteness of the locations where the language is spoken prevented the language from total extinction. Namchogi was made a recognized language in the interior mountain region in 1972, after Oroshan independence. This is despite the Oroshan government's extant restrictive language policy, which limits the use of minority languages, especially Yvlipkan. The large number of speakers relative to the country's population made Namchogi recognition necessary for effective government of the whole country.

Phonology

Namchogi has an extensive consonant and vowel inventory, employing both consonant gradation and vowel harmony.

Consonants

Namchogi consonant phonemes
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m n ɲ ŋ
Plosive p b t d k g q
Fricative f v s x ɣ χ ʁ h
Approximant w l r j

Consonant gradation follows two main paradigms, depending on whether the initial consonant is geminate or not. For non-geminate base consonants, there are up to 5 different levels of gradation, while for geminates, there are only 4.

Gradation level Labial Labial nasal Alveolar Alveolar nasal Palatal Palatal nasal Velar Velar nasal Uvular
5 pp mpp tt ntt čč ňčč kk ŋkk qq
4 p mp t nt č ňč k ŋk q
3 b mb d nd ňdž g ŋg w
2 v m l n j ň ğ ŋ ǥ
1 w v l j w ğ w
4i pp mpp tt ntt čč ňčč kk ŋkk qq
3i bb mbb dd ndd ddž ňddž gg ŋgg ww
2i vv mm ll nn jj ňň ğğ ŋŋ ǥǥ
1i ww vv ll jj ww ğğ ww
3ii ff ss rr xx ħħ
2ii f s r x ħ
1ii v h ğ ǥ

Vowels

Oroshan vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
Close i iː y yː ɨ ɯ ɯː u uː
Mid e ø ə əː ʊ o oː
Open a aː

Vowels are contrastive for length, and are grouped into 3 groups for vowel harmony, which works based on both roundness and height. Vowel group 1 (V1) are the high vowels, V2 are the lower vowels, and V3 are the reduced vowels, which are not contrastive for length.

Group Front clear Front round Back clear Back round
V1 i ü ı u
V2 ə ə a o
V3 e ø y ŭ

Syllable structure allows for clusters of CCC, but these are analyzed as one consonant of a high grade. Under that interpretation, the general syllable structure is understood to be (C)V(C). Stress is placed on the penult of the root, meaning that affixes do not shift stress.

Morphology

Namchogi is an agglutinative language with up to 10 grammatical cases. Nouns have no gender, declension follows a nominative-accusative alignment, and syntax is predominantly head-initial. Nouns have 3 numbers, singular, dual, and plural. Prefixes on nouns harmonize with the root vowel pattern, or the pattern of the first root word in compounds, which is closest to the prefixes. Number is considered more central to the noun, and is prefixed before case.

Case Prefix Example
Nominative nadda, mountain
Accusative qqV1- qqınadda, mountain (acc.)
Dative -GRAD nalla, to the mountain
Genitive +GRAD natta, of the mountain
Ablative -GRAD, V2t- atnalla, from the mountain
Locative -GRAD, gV2d- gadnalla, in/on the mountain
Allative -GRAD, V3dž- ydžnalla, into/onto the mountain
Elative -GRAD, qqV1- qqınalla, out of the mountain
Instrumental +GRAD, V2t- atnatta, with (using) the mountain
Comitative +GRAD, gV2d- gadnatta, with (by) the mountain