ziciš mhibiwip, literally meaning “tongue of our folk”; the latter, intended for use by non-native speakers, is derived from the phrase 
ziciš mhigiwip, literally meaning “tongue of their (i.e. the gods’) folk”.
īŋižb-ir thiric lelalac mhaẃal
¿ẃuġuġuēdat, !hmazalat ćhimip
zīġobap lelalac mhaẃal
¿ẃuġuġuēdat, !hmazalat ćhimip
ālavg ūmaġagaf uġwiā lelalac mhaẃal
ġuġuēdat, ġuġuēdat, īniliz ġuġuēdat.
īrizgi ŕhatac ugūjiā sesižit mhiẃil:
!jegezeiōeū, !hmazalat ćhimip
baūriŕ sižit mhiẃil:
!jegezeiōeū, !hmazalat ćhimip
ūŋužbi thiric uguīj sesižit mhiẃil,
!jegezeiōeū, !jegezeiōeū, īniliz !jegezeiōeū.
tahaq-ūġu jozoījō, uhmaĺan lhalac, !hmazalat ćhimip
miĺoq-ūgu jozoījō, uhmuĺun shižit, !hmazalat ćhimip
šaŋūt-ūġu jozoījō, uhmaĺan ŋhižip thiric, !hmazalat ćhimip
īniliz jodoījō, jedezeiōeū-amja, uwruġugwīāi-amji aqasaž
iŋiŕid-ali memiẃil memaẃal-ele.
There is a superstition among scholars of Mhigiwipian that translating the simplest phrase of a sacred Mhigiwipian text into another language will bring misfortune on the translator, and I have therefore refrained from Englishing the hymn. However, readers who work diligently at the following lessons, committing all vocabulary and grammatical rules carefully to memory, should be able to understand it fully within perhaps a few days of study, and certainly within less than a fortnight.
Names of the Script
Both script and language go under two names: Mhibiwip and Mhigiwip (Mhibiwipian and Mhigiwipian in English). The former, used of script and language by native speakers, is derived from the phrase ziciš mhibiwip, literally meaning “tongue of our folk”; the latter, intended for use by non-native speakers, is derived from the phrase ziciš mhigiwip, literally meaning “tongue of their (i.e. the gods’) folk”.
Mhigiwipian was originally written in hieroglyphs or ideograms, that is, with symbols that primarily expressed ideas or concepts rather than sounds. As the hieroglyphic script evolved, it became more and more phonetic and Mhigiwipian now uses a fully fledged alphabet. The shapes of the alphabet do, however, commemorate the older hieroglyphs: the vowel i, for example, is derived from a hieroglyph meaning jitiš or “eye”, and the consonant 
l is derived from a hieroglyph meaning lapaq or “wing” (the original hieroglyph was written like the present consonant w, but was rotated as the alphabet evolved). The consonant shells 
and 
, surviving in various archaic consonants, are derived from hieroglyphs meaning lihiń, “war-bow”, and laŕas, “snake (of divination)”, respectively.
a ā e ē i ī o ō u ū a ā e ē i ī o ō u ū h h h l ĺ q x g g ġ ġ ŋ hŋ j ć c c č š š ź ž ñ ñ hñ hñ r ŕ ŕ t s d d z z n ń w ẃ p f f b v v m hm
Mhigiwipian glyphs are arranged phonetically, beginning with vowels (low to high front, middle to high back) and aspirates and preceding to consonants in the series velar > palatal > dental > labial, with each series ordered voiced semi-vowel > voiceless semi-vowel > voiceless plosive > voiceless fricative > voiced plosive > voiced fricative > voiced nasal > voiceless nasal. Where letters are repeated in the English transliteration there are two or more separate glyphs for a single sound in Mhigiwipian (see below for further discussion). Note also that transliterated Mhigiwipian does not use capital letters.
= a e i o u : pure vowels, as in Italian
= ā ē ī ō ū : long forms of above
= ?rounded or fronted forms of a e i o u
= ?rounded or fronted forms of ā ē ī ō ū
Older Mhigiwipian had a further series of vowels distinguished by rounding or fronting (as in French and German) or perhaps nasalization (as a small but significant minority of scholars argue); when these vowels fell into disuse, the glyphs assigned to them were sometimes retained in later Mhigiwipian orthography (rather as in the English retention of ee and ea, once pronounced differently, to represent the same modern sound in words like “see” and “sea”). These archaic glyphs have not been distinguished from standard glyphs in transliterations of the words in question.
= h — h as in “house”
The true value of the two additional aspirates is now unknown, but some scholars argue that the first may have represented a pharyngeal and the second a laryngeal (or vice versâ). Again, the distinction has not been noted in the Roman transliteration. The three aspirates are pronounced distinctly in all positions in written Mhigiwipian: thiĺil does not begin with the th of English “thin” or “that” but with two distinct consonants, t and h. Similar comments apply to transliterated ch-, sh-, rh-, and ph- (and see comments under genitive in lesson 8).
The names of standard vowels are derived by prefixing them with h and, in the case of the short vowels, doubling the resultant syllable: a is therefore called haha and ā is called hā (the vowels o ō u ū use the second aspirate when written down, but the pronunciation is identical). Archaic vowels add taet, meaning “old”: a is therefore called haha-saetat (using the feminine form of the adjective) and ā is called hā-saetat. The aspirates are called hū-ñahač, hū-larac, and hū-nalas, or first hū, second hū, and third hū.
Vowel glyphs are a relatively late development in the Mhigiwipian script and are often dropped in handwriting when they can be easily deduced from context. The vowel-less earlier stage of the script is still reflected in Mhigiwipian lexicons, which list nouns in what is know as the shell, that is, as consonants only. Because the vowels of a noun are determined by its gender, scribes resurrected the older hieroglyphs 
, meaning tiĺil or “goat”, to mark masculine nouns and 
, meaning sahmat or “star”, to mark feminine ones. For example, the noun , meaning “falcon”, is marked as masculine and is therefore read as sišit, while the noun , meaning “flower”, is marked as feminine and is therefore read as laĺac. A noun shell written with the hieroglyph 
, meaning sahmat-thiĺil-so or “goat-star” (β Capricornis), can be read as either masculine or feminine: for example, can be read as miẃil, meaning “king”, or maẃal, meaning “queen”.
= l — l as in “light”
= ĺ — ll as in Welsh llan, approximately as in English “clasp”, “plank”, etc (aspirated l)
= q — q as in Arabic qiblah, etc (k made at the back of the throat)
N.B. qu is pronounced approximately like English “coo” (but with less aspiration), never like English “qu-”. For example, quēt, “beautiful”, is pronounced approximately like “Kuwait”, not like “queet”.
= x — ch as in Scottish “loch”, German Buch
/ = g — g as in “goat”
/ = ġ — gh as in Arabic Ghazi, etc (“gargled” g)
= ŋ — ng as in “sing” (southern England, German, etc)
= hŋ — hng (aspirated ŋ)
= j — y as in “young”, j as in German Jung, etc
= ć — hy as in “hue” (aspirated y)
/ = c — c approximately as in “cat”, k as in “king”*†
= č — ch as in “change”
/ = š — sh as in “she”
/ = ź — j as in “just”
= ž — g as in “genre”, si as in “vision”
/ = ñ — ñ as in Spanish cañón, gn as in French ligne
/ = hñ — hgn (aspirated ñ)
= r — r as in Scots “ring”, etc
/ = ŕ — r approximately as in “shriek”, “cream”, “pray”, etc (aspirated “r”)
= t — t as in “temple”*
= s — s as in “sing”
/ = d — d as in “dawn”
/ = z — z as in “zest”
= n — n as in “north”
= ń — hn (aspirated n)
= w — w as in “wing”
= ẃ — wh as in “white”, “whale”, “which”, etc (older English — aspirated w)
= p — p as in “pray”*
/ = f — f as in “fade”
= b — b as in “bless”
/ = v — v as in “vigor”
= m — m as in “mouth”
= hm — hm (aspirated m)
* With less aspiration than is usual in English.
† Never as in English “censer” or “civil”.
As for vowels, older Mhigiwipian had a richer system of consonants of which traces can still be seen in the Mhigiwipian alphabet: there were consonant series based on the and glyph-shells. Some scholars believe the shell indicated glottalic and the shell click consonants, others that the shell indicated emphatic or laryngealized consonants and the shell had a purely hieratic or ritual significance. These older classes (or class) of consonants eventually merged in spoken Mhigiwipian with the present class, but in some cases the older glyphs were retained (as in the English retention of once distinct k and q to represent the same sound). Again, these differences have not been noted in transliterations of the words in question.
The name of a particular consonant is formed by adding the consonant to one of the long vowels: ū for the velar series, ō for the palatal series, ī for the dental series, and ā for the labial series (ē is not used). For example, l is called 
lū (see conjunct glyphs), j is called jō, r is called rī, and w is called wā. The archaic consonants add taet, meaning “old”: g is therefore called gū-taetit.
The glyphs l r q g t d combine with vowels and, in one case, with the second aspirate , to produce the following conjunct glyphs:
= la lā le lē li lī lo lō lu lū lh
= ar ār er ēr ir īr or ōr ur ūr
= la lā le lē li lī lo lō lu lū*
= ar ār er ēr ir īr or ōr ur ūr*
= qi qī qi qī qa qu*
= gi gī gi gī ga gu*
= it īt it īt at ut*
= id īd id īd ad ud*
*Note archaic vowels.
N.B. Be careful to distinguish li from ĺ, ir from ŕ, qi from x, gi from ġ, it from s, id from z, le from qa, lo from gu, er from at, and or from ud. Confusion between these glyphs was a fertile source of scribal error in ancient Mhigiwipian manuscripts. Learners of Mhigiwipian also often confuse lā with le and lē, lū with lo and lō, ār with er and ēr, and ūr with or and ōr.
= ! (N.B. The Mhigiwipian exclamation mark comes before the phrase or word emphasized)
= ¿ (N.B. The Mhigiwipian question mark comes before the interrogative phrase)
= . (Mhigiwipian full stop)
N.B. The Mghiwipian compound , meaning “thirty-two”, has three parts — “one—thirty-one—and” — but is written as one word. Like similar compounds, it is transliterated into Roman script with hyphens (ñihič-rišic-ili) for greater ease of understanding.
The thirteen hieratic symbols, which indicate the application of special stresses, vowel prolongations, and gestures to the words or verses to which they are attached, can safely be ignored by elementary students of Mhigiwipian.
Nouns: The stress of a standard Mhigiwipian noun like sišit, “falcon”, or laĺac, “flower”, varies according to whether the medial consonant is voiced or unvoiced: ' si'šit and ' la'ĺac, with stress on the second syllable, versus ' 'sižit and ' 'lalac, with stress on the first.
Verbs: Mhigiwipian verbs are evenly stressed, with each vowel pronounced as a separate syllable that bears more or less equal weight. The semi-vowels of Mhigiwipian verbs like iewj, “sing (a hymn)”, are pronounced with schwa, as in southern British English “layer” and “bower” (lae-yuh, bau-wuh”).
Transliterate into Roman or Mhigiwipian script.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6. orovoījō
7. guēdit sižit
8. hmazalat ćhimip
9. mhasaragaš* shuruigaq
10. ĺiuxaq ŋabacaš quētitamji siġiš*it
*Use alternate glyph.
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One of the most important first steps in Mhigiwipian is to learn this table thoroughly. Although it may appear forbidding at first sight, familiarity with it will greatly reduce the work required to learn Mhigiwipian grammar. See above for a guide to pronouncing the more exotic-looking consonants.
Fill in the gaps and check against the table above.
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Male |
Female |
Male |
Female |
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Convert male series to female series, and vice versa.
1. —; —; — = q —; r —; — z
2. —/— ; —; — = —/— š; t —; m —
3. —; —; — = g —; ñ —; — f
4. —; —; — = c —; w —; b —
5. —; — ; — = ŋ —; — s; j —
6. — 
; — ; — = — ĺ; — f; ñ —
7. —; — ; — = p —; — hm; — ġ
8. — ; —; / — = — ž; d —; c/č —
9. —; — ; — = č —; — v; r —
10. —; — ; = n —; — ć; l —
= aiwīo — to worship
= ājīio — to meditate
= eiōeū — to praise
= ēīujī — to genuflect
= iīw — to pour (a libation)
= ijūēe — to anoint
= īiī — to hail, salute
= oījō — to pray
= ōjiō — to strike a gong
= uīj — to seek
= ujoī — to chant
= ūjaē — to purify
= jīo — to bless
= wjīāī — to paint (with a sacred spot, symbol etc)
= šĺl — woman (f)
= ŕčt — man (m)
— mẃl — monarch (m/f)
The present tense marker of Mhigiwipian verbs is simply a (modified) repetition of the first vowel or semi-vowel of the stem (archaic glyphs are repeated as standard glyphs). It is separated from the verb stem by the pronoun marker of the verb:
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aiwīo — to worship |
a- + PRONOUN + -aiwīo |
aqaiwīo — he worships |
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ājīio — to meditate |
a- + PRONOUN + -ājīio |
avājīio — we (f) meditate |
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eiōeō — to praise |
e- + PRONOUN + -eiōeō |
exeiōeō — she praises |
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ēīujī — to genuflect |
e- + PRONOUN + -ēīujī |
egēīujī — they (m) genuflect |
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iīw — to pour (a libation) |
i- + PRONOUN + -iīw |
ipiīw — I (m) pour |
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īiī — to hail, salute |
i- + PRONOUN + -īiī |
isīiī — you (f) hail |
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jīo — to bless |
i- + PRONOUN + -jīo |
iġjīo — they (f) bless |
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oaōoī — to pray |
o- + PRONOUN + -oaōoī |
obaōoī — we (m) pray |
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ōjiō — to strike a gong |
o- + PRONOUN + -ōjiō |
otōjiō — you (m, sg) strike a gong |
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uīj — to seek |
u- + PRONOUN + -uīj |
uquīj — he seeks |
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ūjaē — to purify |
u- + PRONOUN + -ūjaē |
ufūjaē — I (f) purify |
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wjīāī — to paint (with a sacred spot, symbol etc) |
u- + PRONOUN + -wjīāī |
uxwjīāī — she paints with a sacred spot |
As can be seen from the table, pronouns — “I”, “you”, “he”, “she”, and so on — are a part of the verb in Mhigiwipian, inserted before the verb stem and after the tense marker. Here is the present paradigm of a single verb, oījō, “to pray”:
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opoījō — I pray |
ofoījō — I pray |
oboījō — we pray |
ovoījō — we pray |
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otoījō — you pray |
osoījō — you pray |
odoījō — you pray |
ozoījō — you pray |
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oqoījō — he prays |
oxoījō — she prays |
ogoījō — they pray |
oġoījō — they pray |
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jotoījō — pray! |
josoījō — pray! |
jodoījō* — pray! |
jozoījō† — pray! |
*Addressed to three or more men.
†Addressed to three or more women.
From the masculine pronoun markers of the singular — -p-, “I”, -t-, “you”, -q-, “he” — one can derive all the remaining pronoun markers by examining the table in lesson one. For example, to derive “she” and “they” (masculine and feminine) from -q-, “he”, examine the first line in the table: q — x — g — ġ. oqoījō, “he prays”, becomes oxoījō, “she prays”, and / ogoījō/oġoījō “they pray” (masculine and feminine respectively). Note carefully that archaic glyphs are used for the plural third-person markers g ġ, as well as for the feminine first person singular and plural, f v, and the masculine and feminine second person plural d z.
The dual is a special form of the verb used of two people or objects (Mhigiwipian nouns and adjectives also have special dual forms, as will be seen in later lessons). To form the dual, take the first vowel of the stem, add r or l, and then add this to the appropriate form of the standard plural verb. For example, “you two pray” is o + r + odoījō (m) or ozoījō (f), i.e. orodoījō or orozoījō. The complete paradigm is this:
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oroboījō — we two pray |
orovoījō — we two pray |
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orodoījō — you two pray |
orozoījō — you two pray |
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orogoījō — they two pray |
oroġoījō — they two pray |
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*Addressed to two men.
†Addressed to two women.
N.B. Unfortunately, use of the dual involves a somewhat complicated aspect of Mhigiwipian phonology. The standard dual suffix is r, but if the stem of the verb contains w, it sometimes becomes l. For example, iewj, “sing (a hymn)”, has these dual forms:
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ilibiewj — we two sing |
iliviewj — we two sing |
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ilidiewj — you two sing |
iliziewj — you two sing |
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iligiewj — they two sing |
iliġiewj — they two sing |
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Except for the imperative, which always has r, l is used when w occurs in the stem either a) without j or b) before j. For example, jww, “pluck (a flower)”, has r in its dual, because w occurs after j. eow, “make a ritual obeisance” and wujew, “blow (a sacred conch)”, on the other hand, have l, because w occurs without j and before j, respectively. There are exceptions to these rules, however: iūaww, “instruct”, has r despite its w’s, and eējūw, “to copy (a sacred text)”, has l despite w occurring after j. These exceptions are noted in Mhigiwipian lexicons.
When the verb is used with a standard noun, the pronoun marker agrees with the gender and number of the noun (which comes after the verb):
= oqoījō ŕeŕičit — the man prays
= oxoījō šešaĺal — the woman prays
= ogoījō ŕeŕiźit — the men pray
= oġoījō šešalal — the women pray
However, with certain singular nouns the verb is used in the plural form to show respect or honor:
= ogoījō memiẃil — the king prays
= oġoījō memaẃal — the queen prays
Note that when the plural form is used of both masculine and feminine nouns, the general rule in Mhigiwipian is to use the masculine form: ogoījō memiwil memawal-ele, “the kings and queens pray”.
Fill in the appropriate pronominal form and check against the table above.
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o_oījō — I pray |
o_oījō — I pray |
o_oījō — we pray |
o_oījō — we pray |
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o_oījō — you pray |
o_oījō — you pray |
o_oījō — you pray |
o_oījō — you pray |
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o_oījō — he prays |
o_oījō — she prays |
o_oījō — they pray |
o_oījō — they pray |
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jo_oījō — pray! |
jo_oījō — pray! |
jo_oījō — pray! |
jo_oījō — pray! |
Translate.
1. = oġoījō
2. = ofoījō
3. = opoījō
4. = oqoījō
5. = ozoījō
6. We (m) pray
7. They (f) pray
8. You (f, sg) pray
9. We (f) pray
10. We (f, dual) pray
Vocabulary
= aāa — to strike (with a wand or scepter)
= aāūjū — to shave (with a ritually sharpened shell)
= ēīujī — to genuflect
= ieiēj — to sing a hymn (to a god)
= iewj — to sing a hymn (to a goddess)
= iīoaū — to sing a hymn (to a nature-spirit)
= iūaww — to instruct (r-dual)
= oaūoī — to pray (after a period of meditation)
= jīū — to bless (with an aspergillum)
= jww — to pluck (a flower)
= wujew — to blow (a sacred conch)
The negative is formed simply by the addition of h- to the tense marker:
= oxoījō — she prays > = hoxoījō — she does not pray
= aqaiwīo — he worships > = haqaiwīo — he does not worship
The imperative j- becomes ć- in the negative:
= jorozoījō — pray! (addressed to two women) > = ćorozoījō — do not pray! (addressed to two women)
Translate.
1. = hataāa
2. = ćaradaāūjū
3. = jesēīujī
4. = hiġieiēj
5. = hibiewj
6. You (f, sg) do not sing a hymn (to a nature-spirit)
7. Do not instruct (m, sg)
8. I (f) do not bless
9. She does not pluck (the flower)
10. We (f, dual) do not pray (after a period of meditation)
Questions are formed by the addition of w- to the tense marker:
= oxoījō — she prays > = ¿woxoījō — does she pray?
= aqaiwīo — he worships > = ¿waqaiwīo — does he worship
Note the Mhigiwipian question mark, which is inverted and placed before the word or phrase in question. Negative questions are formed by the addition of ẃ:
= oxoījō — she prays > = ¿woxoījō — does she pray? > = ¿ẃoxoījō — does she not pray?
= aqaiwīo — he worships > = ¿waqaiwīo — does he worship? > = ¿ẃaqaiwīo — does he not worship?
Question tags, as in the English “she prays, does she not?”, are formed by repeating the tense marker with the appropriate prefix:
= oxoījō — she prays > = oxoījō ¿ẃo — she prays, does she not?
= aqaiwīo — he worships > = aqaiwīo ¿ẃa — he worships, does he not?
= hoxoījō — she does not pray > = hoxoījō ¿wo — she does not pray, does she?
= haqaiwīo — he does not worship > = haqaiwīo ¿wa — he does not worship, does he?
Convert to questions and translate.
1. = oġoījō
2. = ofoījō
3. = opoījō
4. = oqoījō
5. = ozoījō
6. = oboījō
7. = oroġoījō
8. = osoījō
9. = ovoījō
10. = orovoījō
In English, a thought like “she praises him” or “he worships her” is expressed with three separate words; in Mhigiwipian, it is expressed in a single word using the following rule:
TENSE MARKER + PRONOUN (object) (+ epenthetic vowel) + PRONOUN (subject) + VERB-STEM
For example, as we have seen, “she praises” is exeiōeū, where -x- is the pronoun marker corresponding to English “she”. “She praises him” is therefore eqxeiōeū, which breaks down as e- (tense marker) + -q- (masculine pronoun marker) + -x- (feminine pronoun marker) + -eiōeū (verb stem). -q- is the pronoun marker corresponding to English “him” and -x-, as before, is the pronoun marker corresponding to English “she”. The order of the pronoun markers is vital: the recipient of the action, -q-, precedes the performer of it, -x-.
The rule is more complicated for the second sentence, “he worships her”, where the sexes of the recipient and actor are reversed. “He worships her” is axaqaiwīo, with the insertion of the vowel -a- because of a phonological rule in Mhigiwipian stating that consonants from the female series cannot directly precede consonants from the male series. This inserted vowel is the same as the first vowel of the verb stem. “He worships them (m/f)” similarly takes a vowel because of a rule that consonants from the plural series, masculine or feminine, cannot directly precede (or follow) consonants from the singular series, masculine or feminine: / — agaqaiwīo/aġaqaiwīo, “he worships them (m)”/“he worships them (f)”.
Translate.
1. = aġagaiwīo
2.
= ipxīiī
3. = exepeiōeū
4. = ixitiīw
5. = ixxijūēe
6. They (m, dual) instruct you (f, sg)
7. She blesses him
8. They (m) purify you (f, pl)
9. I (m) paint her (with a sacred spot etc)
10. We (m) sing (to) her
As we have already seen, the tense marker for the present is the first vowel of the verb stem: oījō, “pray” > oxoījō, “she prays”; aiwīo, “worship” > aqaiwīo, “he worships”. The tense markers for the past and future are more complicated, as can be seen from the table.
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a, ā |
a- |
ā- |
ara-/ala- |
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e, ē |
e- |
ere-/ele- |
ew- |
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i, ī, j |
i- |
ī- |
iw- |
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o, ō |
o- |
ui- |
ow- |
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u, ū, w |
u- |
uru-/ulu- |
uw- |
The use of / ara-/ala- (a-stem future), / ere-/ele- (e-stem past), and / uru-/ulu- (u/w-stem past) is governed by the same rules as the use of r or l in the dual, and has the same exceptions. The past or future marker precedes the dual marker: oroboījō — we (m) two pray > uiroboījō — we two prayed / owroboījō — we two shall pray.
Transform verbs in the previous lesson into the past and future and translate.
Vocabulary
= aūī — to pour a libation of holy water (in)
= aūw — to pour a libation of holy water (on)
= ūīō — to shriek
= hff — scroll (m)
= qsš — gold (f)
= gĺč — hand (m)
= ghñč — voice (m/f)
= lĺc — flower (f)
= ŋcš — vessel (f)
= ŋšc — voice (male) (m)
= ñfč — palm (of hand) (m)
= ršs — nose (f)
= sšt — falcon (m)
= zŕt — pyx (sacred container) (f)
= zcš — tongue, language (m)
= bhp — mouth (m)
= bšš — eyebrow (m/f)
= vĺr — scallop (m)
= vŕf — voice (female) (f)
= mqš — shoulder (f)
As noted in lesson one, nouns are listed in Mhigiwipian lexicons in what is called the shell, that is, without vowels. With very rare exceptions, there are three consonants in the shell and the middle consonant is always taken from the unvoiced male or unvoiced female series. The shell is an artificial form adopted for the convenience of lexicographers and grammarians and is never encountered in living Mhigiwipian, where these three consonants, sometimes modified by grammatical or phonological rules, always occur with vowels, typically i for masculine nouns and a for feminine nouns. The following table gives further details.
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sšt, falcon |
lĺc, flower |
sžt, falcons |
llc, flowers |
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Nominative |
sišit |
laĺac |
sižit |
lalac |
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Ergative |
sesišit |
lelaĺac |
sesižit |
lelalac |
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Genitive |
shišit |
lhaĺac |
shižit |
lhalac |
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Accusative |
usuš(u)t |
ulaĺ(a)c |
ūsužd, ūsužut |
ūlalg, ūlalac |
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Prepositional |
isižd, isišid |
alalg, alaĺag |
īsiž(i)d |
ālal(a)g |
Note the way the central consonant of the shell changes from the unvoiced male or female series in the singular to the voiced male or female series in the plural (except for words with central h: bihip, “mouth” > bihip, “mouths”). If a central unvoiced consonant is written with a glyph from one of two possible series, its voiced equivalent will usually use a glyph of the same series, if one is available: for example, , ziciš, “tongue”, uses for c rather than . The plural shell is therefore , zźš, using for ź rather than . , macaf, “head”, on the other hand, uses for c, and its plural shell is therefore , mźf, using for ź. When a plural noun breaks this rule and uses a voiced central consonant from a different series, the plural shell is recorded in its lexicon entry: for example, maqaš, “shoulder”, has the plural shell , using for g and not the expected .
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Nominative |
grilič |
mragaš |
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Ergative |
gergilič |
mermagaš |
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Genitive |
ghirilič |
mharagaš |
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Accusative |
ūrgul(u)č |
ūrmagž, ūrmagaš |
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Prepositional |
īrgil(i)ź |
ārmag(a)ž |
As for verbs, the dual involves a somewhat complicated phonological rule. The standard dual form is r, but it becomes l if the shell of the noun a) contains / r/ŕ either without or before l; b) contains / j/ć either without or before w. The first rule has no exceptions; the second has a few that are noted in lexicons. If the shell begins with l or r, a vowel is inserted in the nominative: for example, ršs, “nose” and lĺc, “flower”, yield rilišis, “two noses” and laralac, “two flowers”.
As has been seen, nouns in Mhigiwipian have two genders, masculine and feminine. Parts of the male body, with a few exceptions, are masculine, and parts of the female body, with a few exceptions again, are feminine. Parts common to both the male and the female body sometimes use a single name that takes grammatical masculine or feminine form depending on the body in question. bšš, for example, is “eyebrow”: bišiš is therefore “(male) eyebrow” and bašaš “(female) eyebrow”.
Sometimes the names of these shared parts have a jocular or facetious connotation when used of one or the other sex, and all shared parts also have names applied in standard usage to one sex only. ghñč, “voice”, for example, can be used of men ( giñič) or women ( gañač), but there are also the words vŕf, used of the female voice, and ŋšc, used of the male voice. viŕif and ŋašac are possible forms, but they will have a special meaning — jocular or insulting, for example — that must be deduced from context.
Mhigiwipian does not use definite or indefinite articles: sišit, laĺac can mean “a falcon/flower” or “the falcon/flower”, depending on context. However, definiteness can be conveyed using the demonstratives (see lesson 15).
The nominative is used when ascribing permanent qualities or states to a noun and comes after the adjective or verbal adjective: for example, ĺiuxaq ŋacaš, “(the) vessel (is) costly”. It is also used when addressing a person or object: ,
jotoījō !ŕičit, “pray, o man!”.
The ergative should be particularly noted by English-speakers, who tend to use the nominative instead. The ergative is used of an noun performing an action and comes after the verb: uqūīō sesišiq, “(the) falcon shrieks”. It is also used of a noun possessing what Mhigiwipian regards as an active state, such as heat, cold, or wet: xēepap ŋeŋacaš, “(the) vessel (is) hot”.
The accusative is used when the noun is the object of an action and comes before the verb:
= usužd uixoījō — she prayed (to) (the) falcon.
= ulaĺac eleqjww — he plucked (the) flower
= usužd uivoījō — they (f) prayed (to) (the) falcon.
= ūrbužuš ēbeiōeū — we (m) praised (someone’s) eyebrows
Note that when there is an explicit accusative noun, no accusative intrafix is used in the verb:
usužd uixoījō — “she prayed (to) the falcon” vs uiqoxoījō — “she prayed (to) it”; ulaĺac eleqjww — “he plucked the flower” vs elexqjww — “he plucked it”.
The genitive is equivalent to the English ’s possessive but comes after the noun: sišit ŕhičit, “the man’s falcon”, laĺac šhaĺal, “the woman’s flower”. Note that the h of the genitive is always pronounced as a distinct separate sound: except for the aspirated nasals hŋ, hñ, hm, transliterated Mhigiwipian has no digraphs, that is, single sounds represented by two or more letters, like English sh, th, ch. The genitives shišit and lhaĺac, “of a falcon” and “of a flower”, are therefore pronounced “s’hišit” and “l’haĺac”, though there is no catch or pause between the initial consonant and the aspirate — compare the -sh- and -lh- of English “glasshouse” and “bilharzia”.
Note also the use of the second Mhigiwipian aspirate, , with the l of lhaĺac. This is a general rule when an aspirate follows a consonant from the velar series ( , q x g g ġ ġ ŋ hŋ). Nouns and adjectives beginning with the first or second aspirate replace it in the genitive with the third aspirate: for example, the genitive singular of hifif, “scroll”, is hifif, “of a scroll”. The pronunciation of these two forms is identical, and nouns and adjectives beginning with the third aspirate do not change for the genitive.
Finally, the prepositional, as might be expected, is used with prepositions, which can go either before or after the noun in Mhigiwipian:
= ĺ-iziciž / = iziciž-iĺ — on (the) tongue
= ŕ-aŋacaž / = aŋacaž-aŕ — in (the) vessel
The prepositional is also used without a preposition to express such concepts as instrumentality or location and takes first places in a phrase or sentence:
= iviĺir āqaāūjū — he shaved (with a) scallop
= aŋacaž qasaš — (the) gold (is) (by the/near the) vessel
Translate.
1. = sižit
2. = uñuvuč
3. = lelaĺac
4. = šhaĺal
5. = šhalal
6. Pyx (erg pl)
7. Noses (acc)
8. Tongue (prep)
9. Men’s
10. Hands (prep pl)
As was seen in the previous lesson, Mhigiwipian does not always mark possession explicitly when it is clear from context:
= ūrbažaš erebeiōeū — we (m) praised (someone’s) eyebrows
When context is not clear, however, or possession needs to be explicitly marked for some other reason, possessive markers are used:
= usuqužd uixoījō — she prayed (to) his falcon.
= ulaxaĺac ereqeiōeū — he praised her flower
= usuqužd uivoījō — they (f) prayed (to) his falcon.
= ūrbaxažaš erebeiōeū — we (m) praised her eyebrows
As can be seen, these possessive markers take the same form as the pronoun markers in verbs: compare the following forms of iewj, “sing”, with possessive forms of zcš, “tongue”:
= ipiewj — I (m) sing : = zipiciš — my (m) tongue
= itiewj — you (m) sing : = ziticiš — your (m) tongue
= iqiewj — he sings : = ziqiciš — his tongue
= ifiewj — I (f) sing : = zificiš — my (f) tongue
= isiewj — you (f) sing : = zisiciš — your (f) tongue
= ixiewj — she sings : = zixiciš — her tongue
Note that, in the appropriate context, a second-person possessive marker can supply the sense of a vocative. In this case, the possessive marker will match the gender and number of the entity addressed:
= sitišit — your (m, sg) falcon / o thou falcon!
= lazalac — your (f, pl) flowers / o ye flowers!
Translate.
1. = ūlaġalac
2. = braxašaš
3. = sesigižit
4. = ābaġažaš
5. = bhigišiš
6. Our (m) tongues (erg)
7. Your (f) tongues (acc)
8. My (f) palm (prep)
9. Her voice (gen)
10. Their (m) tongues (nom)
Vocabulary
= ĺiuq — costly
= qīaš — ritually shaved (of eyebrows)
= quēt — beautiful
= ŕāwt — pious
= ŕūac — broad (of women's shoulders etc only)
= cēīc — small
= taūĺ — ritually unclean (of the hands)
= tiūp — praise-worthy
= tuiq — narrow (of shoulders)
= ñńš — navel (f)
= mcš — knee (f)
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quētit, beautiful |
xuētat, beautiful |
guēdit, beautiful |
ġuēdat, beautiful |
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Nominative |
quētit |
xuētat |
guēdit |
ġuēdat |
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Ergative |
qequētit |
xexuētit |
qeguēdit |
xeġuēdat |
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Genitive |
ghuētit |
xhuētat |
ghuēdit |
ġhuēdat |
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Accusative |
uquētut |
uxuētat |
ūguēdut |
ūġuēdat |
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Prepositional |
iquētid |
axuētad |
īguēdid |
āġuēdad |
Adjectives are listed in the lexicon as masculine shells, even when in practice they can never be used with masculine nouns or pronouns (for example, ŕūac, “broad”, is used only of women’s shoulders). With rare exceptions, the masculine shell consists of two vowels enclosed by two consonants, the first generally an unvoiced male liquid or plosive, ĺ ŕ q c c č t p, the second an unvoiced male or female consonant. If the first consonant is an unvoiced plosive, it can indicate both gender and number, as can be seen from examination of the table; if it is a liquid, it can indicate only number; if a voiced plosive, only gender. The second consonant of the shell indicates number and also reduplicates to form an adjectival suffix.
As so often in Mhigiwipian, word order is important for adjectives: adjectives after the noun modify the noun, before it supply the sense of English “to be X”, which has no strict equivalent in Mhigiwipian:
= sibišit quētit — our (m) beautiful falcon
= quētit sibišit — our (m) falcon (is) beautiful
= ŋaġacaš ĺiuxaq — their (f) costly vessel
= ĺiuxaq ŋaġacaš — their (f) vessel (is) costly
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Nominative |
gruēdit |
ġruēdat |
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Ergative |
qerguēdit |
xerġuēdat |
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Genitive |
ghuruēdit |
ġhuruēdat |
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Accusative |
ūrguēdit |
ūrġuēdat |
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Prepositional |
īrguēdid |
ārġuēdad |
= griqiliźi draūliĺ — his unclean hands (dual)
= draūliĺi griqiliź — his hands (are) unclean
= braxažaša ġruēdat — her beautiful eyebrows
= ġruēdata braxažaš — her eyebrows (are) beautiful
Note the addition of vowels to the adjectives to break up what would otherwise be lengthy consonant clusters: griqiliŹ DRaūliĺ > griqiliŹi DRaūliĺ, ġruēdaT BRaxažaš > ġruēdaTa BRažaš.