Kapzi (kapˈzi)

Natively known as: kapzi /kapˈzi/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...   swu kni pez ats pi mli swu zang pi lwol chlen pets luw[alt]   Pronunciation: /swu kni pez aʦ pi mli swu zaŋ pi lwol ʧlen peʦ luw/   Kapzi word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind[/alt]  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: h k l m n p r s t w z ŋ ʣ ʤ ʦ ʧ ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd  

Manner/Place	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p ᵐb	t ⁿd		k ᵑg
Affricate		ʦ ʣ	ʧ ʤ
Fricative		s z			h
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l

    Co-articulated phonemes  

Manner/Place	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

    Vowel inventory: a e i o u  

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

    Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: h k kl kn l lw m ml mp mw n p pl pr rw s sk sn sw t tw w z zl ŋk ʣ ʤ ʦ ʦw ʧ ʧl ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd
Mid-word consonants: h hl hr ht k kh kk kn kr kt kʦ l lk ll lm ln lp lr lz m mh ml mm mn mr ms mt mʤ mʧ n nh nk nn nr ns nt nw nʦ p pk pn ps pt pw pz r rk rl rm rn rp rr rt rz s sh sʧ t th tk tt tw w wk wm wp wz z zk zm zp zr ŋ ŋk ŋr ŋs ŋt ŋw ʣ ʤ ʤl ʤr ʦ ʦk ʦl ʦr ʦt ʦw ʧ ʧk ʧn ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd
Word final consonants: h l n p s w z ŋ ʣ ʤ ʦ ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ⁿd	nd
ᵑg	ng
ᵐb	mb
ŋ	ng
ʣ	dz
ʤ	j
ʦ	ts
ʧ	ch

   

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key. Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. Adposition: prepositions  

Nouns

 

Singular	No affix tamb /taᵐb/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix hu- hutamb /huˈtaᵐb/ dogs

   

Articles

 

Definite	eng /eᵑg/ the
Indefinite	la /la/ a, some

    Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

  Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	ple /ple/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	plang /plaᵑg/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	kni /kni/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	nges /ᵑges/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	snu /snu/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	pe /pe/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	na /na/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	lwa /lwa/ they, them, theirs

   

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	kli /kli/ my
2nd singular	sits /siʦ/ your
3rd singular masc	pi /pi/ his
3rd singular fem	chluw /ʧluw/ her
1st plural inclusive	mu /mu/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	lol /lol/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	nga /ᵑga/ your (pl)
3rd plural	la /la/ their

   

Verbs

 

Present	No affix mlo /mlo/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku- kumlo /kuˈmlo/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix tw- Else: Prefix twa- twamlo /twaˈmlo/ learned (long ago)

    Kapzi uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʣi - dzi mlo /ʣi mlo/ will learn

   

Progressive aspect

  The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.   Kapzi uses an affix for progressive:  

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix ⁿd- Else: Prefix ⁿdi- ndimlo /ⁿdiˈmlo/ is learning

   

Habitual aspect

  The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).   Kapzi uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: keᵑg - keng mlo /keᵑg mlo/ learns

   

Perfect aspect

  The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.   Kapzi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:  

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa- pamlo /paˈmlo/ have learned

   

Numbers

  Kapzi has a base-10 number system:   1 - pe
2 - kan
3 - che
4 - op
5 - tso
6 - tumb
7 - se
8 - kew
9 - dzodz
10 - sots
11 - sotspe “ten-one”
100 - pe ndandi “one hundred”
101 - pe ndandi pe “one hundred one”
200 - kan ndandi
1000 - pe swung “one thousand”
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤ Else: Suffix -eʤ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kn- Else: Prefix kno-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -i
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -i
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -ew
Noun to verb = Prefix i-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -iᵐb
Tending to = Suffix -op
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix o-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -uʦ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -on
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ip
Diminutive = Suffix -uz
Augmentative = Prefix ʦa-