Old Unuvi

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Old Unuvi is the oldest form of the Unuvi language, attested in documents from the 84th century.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants Bilabial Dental Velar Uvular
Plosive
k͡p p ⟨kp p⟩
t̪ t̪̻ ⟨t th⟩
k ⟨k⟩
q ⟨q⟩
Nasal
ŋ͡m m ⟨ngm m⟩
n̪ ⟨n⟩
ŋ ⟨ng⟩
ɴ ⟨nq⟩
Tap/Flap
ɺ̻ ⟨r⟩
Approximant
l̪ ⟨l⟩
ɰ ⟨w⟩
ʟ̠ ⟨l2

Vowels

Speakers of Old Unuvi associated each point of vowel articulation with a gender. ⟨i⟩ was associated with the green gender, ⟨a⟩ with the foreign gender and ⟨u⟩ with the heavenly gender.

Vowels in Old Unuvi
Vowels Front Back
Close
i i: ⟨i ii⟩
Open
ɯ ɯ: ⟨u uu⟩
a a: ⟨a aa⟩

Grammar

Pronouns

Old Unuvi had a set of pronouns with marked gender and grammatical person. The language did not mark number on the pronouns, but rather on verbs. Regular suffixes could be attached to pronouns to form their dual, quadruple, octuple, etc. forms.

Pronouns in Old Unuvi
Green Foreign Heavenly
1st Person
ngmiit
2nd Person kngi lar thuum
3rd Person ptii ptaa ptuu

Correlatives

Adding -kpam to the end of a pronoun created a demonstrative pronoun[1]. First-person pronouns became proximal, second-person pronouns medial, and third-person pronouns distal.

Table of correlatives[2]
interrogative demonstrative quantifier
proximal medial distal assertive existential elective/dubitative
existential
universal negatory positive alternative
determiner akpam ngmiitkpam (G)
kpakpam (F)
lluukpam (H)
kngikpam (G)
larkpam (F)
thuumkpam (H)
ptiikpam (G)
ptaakpam (F)
ptuukpam (H)
lla ptingma thath ingmiip wuullu
pronoun human llangmuuth
nonhuman llapti
out of two (dual)
out of many (plural)
pro-adverb location kpama itaa kitaa ptitaa llaa
source kpamari itaari kitaari ptitaari llari
goal kpamathi itaathi kitaathi ptitaathi llathi
time kpamatha itaatha kitaatha ptitaatha llatha

References