Otzeipaonese
The Otzeipaonese language (Oikan: otseipauto or paunadu) (Azkali: Anotzeipaona patua) (Otzeipaonese: Ro-otzibao a-patoa), also known as the Otzeipao dialect, or Paonadu, is a language variously described as a mixed language or occasionally a creole, or dialect of Oikan or Azkali spoken in Western Azkali, particularly centered around Otzeipao, and Pordmisktpelha, and to a lesser extant widely across Kalilonde, Sunteria. Due to it's nature as a mixed language, Otzeipaonese is not a part of the Mallo-Brausian language family, nor is it a member of the Azkali languages. Otzeipaonese is mutually intelligible with both Oikan and Azkali, though it remains somewhat more intelligible — though not to an extent where it would be completely intelligible — to Azkali.
With an estimated three and a half million speakers, Otzeipaonese remains the second largest mixed language in which Azkali is a parent language of (the first being Turku Azkali). Otzeipaonese has remained a lingua franca across the Suntero-Azkali border, though declining in recent years due to the influence of both Oikan and Azkali — which virtually all Otzeipaonese speakers can also speak. Otzeipaonese
Otzeipaonese remains phonologically distinct from either of its parent languages, by the innovation of phonemic pitch accent or tone, a rich inventory of palatal sounds and vowels, and a complicated ergative verbal morphology system and nominative nominal system. Otzeipaonese retains many features of Contemporary Azkali, and generally features more verbal morphology than Azkali. However, it retains less verbal morphology than Oikan.
History
Geographic distribution
Phonology
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Labiovelar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m
/m/ |
n
/n/ |
ng
/ŋ/ |
ngm
/ŋ͡m/ | |||
| Plosive | p
/p/ |
t
/t/ |
ch
/tɕ/ |
k
/k/ |
kp
/k͡p/ | ||
| Affricate | tz
/t͡s/ |
ts
/t̠͡ʂ/ |
|||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f
/f/ |
z
/s/ |
s
/ʂ/ |
h
/x/ |
||
| voiced | v
/v/ |
zh
/ʐ/ |
|||||
| Approximant | l
/l/ |
y
/j/ |
w
/w/ | ||||
| Rhotic | r
/ɾ~r/ |
||||||
| Front | Back | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | Unrounded | i
/i/ |
|
| Rounded | ú
/y/ |
u
/u/ | |
| Mid | Unrounded | e
/e/ |
|
| Rounded | ó
/ø/ |
o
/o/ | |
| Open | a | ||
Morphology
The morphology of Otzeipaonese remains remarkably unusual, and distinct from both Azkali and Oikan.
Nouns
Pronouns
| Nominative | Accusative
and Genitive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1p | ego | en | |
| 2p | Informal | tu | tung | |
| Formal | ius | iuntz | ||
| 3p | Masculine | mai | men | |
| Feminine | kut | kuen | ||
| Neutral | he | hent | ||
| Plural | 1p | tou | ten | |
| 2p | tere | touru | ||
| 3p | tin | eti | ||