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'''Cabot Creole''' /ˈkæbət/ (<small>Cabot Creole:&nbsp;</small><span class="nowrap" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" style="font-family:Gentium,'DejaVu Sans','Segoe UI',sans-serif">Khąmu:tnų̀ [[IPA for Cabot Creole|[kʰãmə̃ːtnə̃̀]]]</span>) is a North Iroquoian language (not a proper creole despite its name) spoken on the Cabot Island, a fictional island approximately 200 miles east-southeast from the coast of Newfoundland.
'''Cabot Creole''' /ˈkæbət/ (<small>Cabot Creole:&nbsp;</small><span class="nowrap" title="Representation in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)" style="font-family:Gentium,'DejaVu Sans','Segoe UI',sans-serif">Khąmu:tnų̀ [[IPA for Cabot Creole|[kʰãmə̃ːtnə̃̀]]]</span>) is a North Iroquoian language (heavily lexified by English and French but not a proper creole despite its name) spoken on the Cabot Island, a fictional island approximately 200 miles east-southeast from the coast of Newfoundland.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
Line 55: Line 55:
|-
|-
! colspan="2" | !! [[w:Labial consonant|Labial]] !! [[w:Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] !! [[w:Palatal consonant|Palatal]] !! [[w:Velar consonant|Velar]] !! [[w:Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
! colspan="2" | !! [[w:Labial consonant|Labial]] !! [[w:Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]] !! [[w:Palatal consonant|Palatal]] !! [[w:Velar consonant|Velar]] !! [[w:Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| ([[w:Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]) || ([[w:Voiced alveolar nasal|n]]) || || ([[w:Voiced velar nasal|ŋ]])
|-
|-
! rowspan="3" | [[w:Stop consonant|Stop]]
! rowspan="3" | [[w:Stop consonant|Stop]]
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|-
|-
! [[w:Aspiration|Aspirated]]
! [[w:Aspiration|Aspirated]]
| kʷʰ || tʰ t͡sʰ || (t͡ʃʰ) || (g)
| kʷʰ || tʰ t͡sʰ || (t͡ʃʰ) || kʰ
|-
|-
! [[w:Voiced consonant|Voiced]]
! [[w:Voiced consonant|Voiced]]
| (gʷ) || (ɾ d͡z) || (d͡ʒ) || kʰ
| (gʷ) || (ɾ d͡z) || (d͡ʒ) || (g)
|-
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
Line 73: Line 70:
|-
|-
! colspan="2" | [[w:Approximant|Approximant]]
! colspan="2" | [[w:Approximant|Approximant]]
| [[w:Voiced labial–velar approximant|w]] || [[w:Voiced alveolar lateral approximant|ɹ]] [[w:Voiced alveolar approximant|l]] || [[w:Voiced palatal approximant|j]]
| [[w:Voiced labial–velar approximant|w]] ([[w:Voiced bilabial nasal|m]]) || [[w:Voiced alveolar lateral approximant|ɹ]] [[w:Voiced alveolar approximant|l]] ([[w:Voiced alveolar nasal|n]]) || [[w:Voiced palatal approximant|j]] || ([[w:Voiced velar nasal|ŋ]])
|}
|}


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*Plain stops and affricates are voiced intervocalically, including across word boundaries; /t/ is voiced as [ɾ].
*Plain stops and affricates are voiced intervocalically, including across word boundaries; /t/ is voiced as [ɾ].
*Sibilants are realized as postalveolar before /j/ and front vowels, including across word boundaries.
*Sibilants are realized as postalveolar before /j/ and front vowels, including across word boundaries.
*Some speakers insert [ʔ] between vowels on word boundaries and before utterance-initial vowels.


===Vowels===
===Vowels===
Line 88: Line 86:
|-
|-
! [[w:Close vowel|High]]
! [[w:Close vowel|High]]
| [[w:Close front unrounded vowel|i]] || || rowspan="2" | [[w:Close back rounded vowel|u]]~[[w:Close-mid back rounded vowel|o]]
| [[w:Close front unrounded vowel|i]] || [[w:Mid central vowel|ə]] || rowspan="2" | [[w:Close back rounded vowel|u]]~[[w:Close-mid back rounded vowel|o]]
|-
! [[w:Mid vowel|Mid]]
| [[w:Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e]] || [[w:Mid central vowel|ə]]
|-
|-
! [[w:Open vowel|Low]]
! [[w:Open vowel|Low]]
| || [[w:Open front unrounded vowel|a]]
| [[w:Close-mid front unrounded vowel|e]] || [[w:Open front unrounded vowel|a]]
|}
|}


All vowels may be long and/or nasalized.
*[u o] are in free variation, but [o] is more common when short and [uː] is more common when long.
*Epenthetic [a] is inserted to break illegal clusters.
*Coda /{i,e,o,a}ɹ/ are realized as /e,ə,a,ə/.
 
All vowels may be long and/or nasalized. Length and nasalization are also separable features on the left bound of some verb roots and affixes; when following consonants these variably either move to the preceding vowel or causes preceding epenthetic [a] to appear.


===Pitch accent===
===Pitch accent===
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! Short
! Short
| á || à
| á || à
|-
! Long
! Long
| âː || ǎː
| âː || ǎː
Line 116: Line 116:
==Morphology==
==Morphology==
===Nouns===
===Nouns===
====Pronouns====
Non-predicate nouns have no inflectional marking, but possessive marking is mandatory on inalienable nouns. Possessed nouns are treated as verbs, with animate agent and patient agreement marking alienable and inalienable possession respectively by the other argument, except masculine alienable possessives are marked as if both arguments are animate.
 
Incorporated nouns lose their accent, and some nouns have suppletive incorporated forms.
====Pronouns and Determiners====
Reflexive ''yusél'' is generally treated as an inalienable noun, and relative/interrogative proform ''ǫtą̀:'' which also has non-pronominal uses. ''Aquát'' "near" and ''i:lù'' "far" are also often used as proximal and distal demonstratives respectively.
 
===Verbs===
===Verbs===
===Adjectives===
====Agreement====
===Negation===
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
! !! >{{gcl|1}} !! >{{gcl|2}} !! >{{gcl|3M}} !! >{{gcl|3A}} !! >{{gcl|3}} !! >{{gcl|3I}}
|-
! {{gcl|1SG}}
| style="background-color:#D0D0D0" rowspan="5" | || ku- || rį- || khe- || ke- || khe-
|-
! {{gcl|1+2DU}}
| style="background-color:#D0D0D0" rowspan="2" | || sęthi- || colspan="2" | thi- || rowspan="2" | yethi-
|-
! {{gcl|1+2PL}}
| sętha- || colspan="2" | tha-
|-
! {{gcl|1+3DU}}
| rowspan="2" | qua- || sąkhi- || colspan="2" | yakhi- || rowspan="2" | yakhi-
|-
! {{gcl|1+3PL}}
| sąqua- || colspan="2" | yaqua-
|-
! {{gcl|2SG}}
| skę- || style="background-color:#D0D0D0" rowspan="2" | || hęse- || colspan="3" | sę-
|-
! {{gcl|2PL}}
| squą- || sętsha- || colspan="3" | tsha-
|-
! {{gcl|3M}}
| rąke- || yą- || rowspan="2" | ∅- || colspan="3" | rų:ma-
|-
! {{gcl|3A}}
| yuque- || yetsa- || colspan="3" | ku:wa-
|-
! {{gcl|3}}
| wake- || tsa- || rowspan="2" colspan="2" | yo- || ako- || yako-
|-
! {{gcl|3I}}
| yuke- || yetsa- || colspan="2" | ku:wa-
|}
 
*Final vowels in agreement prefixes are deleted before other vowels; deleted nasalized vowels nasalize the following vowel.
*Indefinite patient agreement is also used for intransitive verbs, and indefinite>indefinite agreement is used for impersonal verbs.
 
See also [[Cabot Creole#Nouns|Nouns]] for agreement as possessive marking.
 
====Aspect====
Verbs supplete to mark aspect, or for newer loaned or derived verbs are with suffixes ''-∅/V̀sk/(y)ą'' for imperfective/perfective/punctual aspect respectively.
 
====Verb affix order====
{| class="wikitable"
! {{gcl|Q}} !! {{gcl|REP|repetitive}} !! {{gcl|COIN}} !! {{gcl|NEG}} !! {{gcl|OPT}} !! {{gcl|CLOC}}<br>{{gcl|TLOC}} !! {{gcl|PTV}} !! agreement !! incorporated<br>noun
| stem
! {{gcl|PFV}}<br>{{gcl|PUNC}} !! {{gcl|CAUS}} !! {{gcl|NZ}}
|}
 
====Questions and negation====
Questions and negation are marked by verb prefixes ''to-'' and ''te-'' (realized as ''tow-'' and ''te’-'' before vowels) respectively.
 
===Numerals===
===Numerals===
Cabot Creole uses base-10 numerals, and numbers 1-10 have separate forms for human referents.
{|class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|+ Numerals
|-
! !! 0 !! 1 !! 2 !! 3 !! 4 !! 5 !! 6 !! 7 !! 8 !! 9 !! 10 !! 100 !! 1,000 !! 1,000,000
|-
! Nonhuman
| rowspan="2" | si:rò: || mų́n || thó: || thurí: || ho:rù || háy || síks || semų̀n || é:t || ną́:y || thę́n || rowspan="2" | hųrèt || rowspan="2" | thawsų̀n || rowspan="2" | mįyų̀n
|-
! Human
| lu:tsì:k || tekhì: || a:są̀ || ke:rì || quhìsk || tshatarę́ || tshatàk || tekhų́ || mąthų́ || wa:tshą̀:
|}
*Billions and above are borrowed ad hoc from English.
Ordinal numerals are derived with ''-wa:'', except for "first" this suffix is directly attached to the head noun.
==Syntax==
==Syntax==
===Constituent order===
===Constituent order===

Latest revision as of 16:10, 11 May 2026

Cabot Creole
Khąmu:tnų̀
Pronunciation[kʰãmə̃ːtnə̃̀]
Created byDillon Hartwig
Date2026
SettingCabot Island, United Kingdom
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Cabot Creole /ˈkæbət/ (Cabot Creole: Khąmu:tnų̀ [kʰãmə̃ːtnə̃̀]) is a North Iroquoian language (heavily lexified by English and French but not a proper creole despite its name) spoken on the Cabot Island, a fictional island approximately 200 miles east-southeast from the coast of Newfoundland.

Etymology

Cabot Creole is named after Cabot Island, which is named after navigator John Cabot.

Orthography

Cabot Creole is written with the Latin script.

A a Ą ą E e Ę ę H h
/a/ /ã/ /e/ /ẽ/ /h/
I i Į į K k Kh kh L l
/i/ /ĩ/ /k/ /kʰ/ /l/
M m N n O o Ǫ ǫ Qu qu
[m] [n,ŋ] /o/ /õ/ /kʷ/
Quh quh R r S s T t Th th
/kʷʰ/ /ɹ/ /s/ /t/ /tʰ/
Ts ts Tsh tsh U u Ų ų W w
/t͡s/ /t͡sʰ/ /ə/ /ə̃/ [w]
Y y ’ á à :
/j/ /ʔ/ /à/ /á/ /ː/

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Stop Voiceless kʷ t t͡s (t͡ʃ) k ʔ
Aspirated kʷʰ tʰ t͡sʰ (t͡ʃʰ) kʰ
Voiced (gʷ) (ɾ d͡z) (d͡ʒ) (g)
Fricative s (ʃ) h
Approximant w (m) ɹ l (n) j (ŋ)
  • /l w/ are realized as [n m] adjacent to nasal vowels or other [n m].
    • [n] assimilates in place to following velar consonants, including across word boundaries.
  • Plain stops and affricates are voiced intervocalically, including across word boundaries; /t/ is voiced as [ɾ].
  • Sibilants are realized as postalveolar before /j/ and front vowels, including across word boundaries.
  • Some speakers insert [ʔ] between vowels on word boundaries and before utterance-initial vowels.

Vowels

Vowels
Front Central Back
High i ə u~o
Low e a
  • [u o] are in free variation, but [o] is more common when short and [uː] is more common when long.
  • Epenthetic [a] is inserted to break illegal clusters.
  • Coda /{i,e,o,a}ɹ/ are realized as /e,ə,a,ə/.

All vowels may be long and/or nasalized. Length and nasalization are also separable features on the left bound of some verb roots and affixes; when following consonants these variably either move to the preceding vowel or causes preceding epenthetic [a] to appear.

Pitch accent

High Low
Short á à
Long âː ǎː

Accent is always final.

Phonotactics

Cabot Creole maximal syllables are CCVCC; /kʷ kʷʰ ʔ h/ are disallowed in coda, and only /sk skʷ/ clusters may be word-intial.

Morphology

Nouns

Non-predicate nouns have no inflectional marking, but possessive marking is mandatory on inalienable nouns. Possessed nouns are treated as verbs, with animate agent and patient agreement marking alienable and inalienable possession respectively by the other argument, except masculine alienable possessives are marked as if both arguments are animate.

Incorporated nouns lose their accent, and some nouns have suppletive incorporated forms.

Pronouns and Determiners

Reflexive yusél is generally treated as an inalienable noun, and relative/interrogative proform ǫtą̀: which also has non-pronominal uses. Aquát "near" and i:lù "far" are also often used as proximal and distal demonstratives respectively.

Verbs

Agreement

>1 >2 >3m >3a >3 >3i
1sg ku- rį- khe- ke- khe-
1+2du sęthi- thi- yethi-
1+2pl sętha- tha-
1+3du qua- sąkhi- yakhi- yakhi-
1+3pl sąqua- yaqua-
2sg skę- hęse- sę-
2pl squą- sętsha- tsha-
3m rąke- yą- ∅- rų:ma-
3a yuque- yetsa- ku:wa-
3 wake- tsa- yo- ako- yako-
3i yuke- yetsa- ku:wa-
  • Final vowels in agreement prefixes are deleted before other vowels; deleted nasalized vowels nasalize the following vowel.
  • Indefinite patient agreement is also used for intransitive verbs, and indefinite>indefinite agreement is used for impersonal verbs.

See also Nouns for agreement as possessive marking.

Aspect

Verbs supplete to mark aspect, or for newer loaned or derived verbs are with suffixes -∅/V̀sk/(y)ą for imperfective/perfective/punctual aspect respectively.

Verb affix order

q rep coin neg opt cloc
tloc		 ptv agreement incorporated
noun 		stem pfv
punc		 caus nz

Questions and negation

Questions and negation are marked by verb prefixes to- and te- (realized as tow- and te’- before vowels) respectively.

Numerals

Cabot Creole uses base-10 numerals, and numbers 1-10 have separate forms for human referents.

Numerals
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1,000 1,000,000
Nonhuman si:rò: mų́n thó: thurí: ho:rù háy síks semų̀n é:t ną́:y thę́n hųrèt thawsų̀n mįyų̀n
Human lu:tsì:k tekhì: a:są̀ ke:rì quhìsk tshatarę́ tshatàk tekhų́ mąthų́ wa:tshą̀:
  • Billions and above are borrowed ad hoc from English.

Ordinal numerals are derived with -wa:, except for "first" this suffix is directly attached to the head noun.

Syntax

Constituent order

Cabot Creole word order is strictly SVO, not including incorporated objects.

Noun and verb phrases

Numerators precede their head, and adjectives and possessives follow. Verb modifiers follow their head, except numerators when used as adverbs.

Dependent clauses

Dependent clauses follow their phrase, generally directly, but may be disjointed if verb agreement provides enough context.

Example texts

Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 1

Template:Interlinear: no lines supplied.;
Template:Interlinear: no lines supplied.;

Linguifex-hosted translations

Conlang Atlas of Language Structures-hosted translations

Other resources

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