Kemutye Language
Contents |
Introduction
Kemutye (IPA: [kɛˈmutjɛ] but more commonly [kɛˈmucɛ] in fast speech) is an extinct language of unknown origin. The language was assumed to be spoken by a small group of ethnic speakers who managed to preserve their traditional language only in oral form, through seven so-called "farewell songs" (keyedet kirose). Each of the seven farewell songs are sung in a different parting, such as between lovers, between brother and sister, between a child and their parents, between friends, etc. The language remains mostly undeciphered due to the lack of information, since not even the singers of the farewell songs understand what the lyrics mean. The language is transcribed using a 23-letter alphabet, based on the standard Latin alphabet minus B, C, P, Q, W, and including the hyphen and apostrophe as two separate letters.
Phonology
Consonants
A very noticeable feature of Kemutye language is that it lacks both bilabial plosives /p/ and /b/, which are among the world's most common phonemes.
| Bilabial | Labio- dental |
Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
| Nasal | m | n | (ŋ) 1 | |||||
| Plosive | t d | c 2 | k | ʔ 3 | ||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ɣ 4 | ħ ʕ 3 | h | |||
| Approximant | r 4 l | j | w |
- 1. [ŋ] is an allophone of /n/ before velar consonants.
- 2. /c/ is written as <j>.
- 3. The glottal plosive /ʔ/ is written as <x> and the pharyngeal fricatives /ħ/ and /ʕ/ are written as <-> (a hyphen) and <'> (an apostrophe) respectively. They are incredibly rare, appearing in less than 2% of the total known Kemutye lexicon.
- 4. Kemutye does not possess a voiced velar plosive, but a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ instead, written <g>.
- 5. The sound /r/ in Kemutye is unique, it can be described as pronouncing an alveolar approximant [ɹ] and a palato-alveolar sibilant [ʒ] at the same time. It is somewhat similar to the Czech letter ř but without the trill. For English speakers, it sounds like a "harsh" /r/ with a hiss.
Vowels
Kemutye has a very basic five-vowel system consisting of /a/, /ɛ/, /ɪ/, /o/ and /u/. Vowels are used quite extensively, there are few consonant clusters. Long vowels exist, but it is unknown whether they constrast phonemically with short vowels.
Because the only remains of Kemutye language are songs, it is impossible to determine stress pattern.
