We have mentioned the regular letter groups, so you can imagine that we also have irregular letter groups. Letters in irregular letter groups do not follow the "voiceless sound", "voiced sound" and "nasal sound" pattern. Thus, you need greater effort in memorizing them.
Except the letter groups "p, b, m", "t, d, n" and "k, g, ņ", all the other letter groups are irregular. Below is a list of irregular letter groups:
"f, v, w"
"s, z, r"
"h, x, '"
"l, y, ñ"
Same procedure is used when we are going to conjugate a verb. Take "xepte" /ˈʁepte/ (to swim) as an example. If we want to find out its second person mutation, first we need to figure out the letter group it belongs to. It starts with an "x", so it's in the letter group "h, x, '". We want to get its second person mutation, so the shift amount is 1. Thus, the initial consonant becomes "'". "'" is not a nasal consonant, but it's in the position of nasal consonant of the letter group. Therefore, we apply the nasal marker "n-" to the first letter and get "nxepte", pronounced as /ˈʔepte/ .
Words starting with "c" belong to a unique letter group, called "c, z, ņy". The pronunciation is /s/, /z/ and /ŋʲ/ respectively.
For example, the PVIM of "cirlo" /ˈsiɬo/ (to occur) is "cirlo" /ˈsiɬo/ , "hcirlo" /ˈziɬo/ and "ncirlo" /ˈŋʲiɬo/ .
Note that the C letter group is for words starting with "c" and "ņy", but not for words starting with "z". ("z" belongs to the letter group "s, z, r")
You may have noticed that "ņy" is a compound letter and we do have PVIM for compound letters. We will discuss the letter groups for compound letters in the next part.
But be careful when we are dealing with words that start with a vowel. They also belong to a special letter group "Ø, h, x", where "Ø" indicates any vowel. Though, the marker for third person mutation is not "n-", but "hh-" instead.
For example, the PVIM of "anu" /ˈanu/ (to know) is "anu" /ˈanu/ , "hanu" /ˈhanu/ and "hhanu" /ˈʁanu/ .
One more thing to notice is we should not mix up the letter group "h, x, '" and "Ø, h, x". "Ø, h, x" is exclusively for words starting with a vowel, meaning that if a word starts with "h" or "x", they belong to the letter group "h, x, '", but not "Ø, h, x".
Let's learn a few more verbs and nouns so that we can practice PVIM and construct more sentences.
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| anu | /ˈanu/ | to know |
| cirlo | /ˈsiɬo/ | to happen; to occur |
| fop | /ɸor/ | to fly |
| isma | /ˈisma/ | to break |
| ley | /lej/ | to taste |
| orle | /ˈoɬe/ | to clean |
| sanu | /ˈsanu/ | to learn |
| wer | /wer/ | to finish |
| xepte | /ˈʁepte/ | to swim |
| ye | /je/ | to do |
| zo | /zo/ | to sit on |
| 'wipteptep | /ʔwipˈteptep/ | to chase |
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| sukdi | /ˈsukdi/ | homework |
| teibəl | /ˈtei̯bl̩/ | table |
| tix | /tiʁ/ | floor |
| tyep | /tɕep/ | bird |
| vurún | /βuˈrun/ | mouse |
| yesin | /ˈjesin/ | work; task |
| yúnə | /ˈjunə/ | nothing |
| 'yizok | /ˈʔjizok/ | chair |
Remainder: Do you still remember the accent marker? (i.e. The ú in vurún). It shows the stress of a word. If no accent marker presents, the stress falls on the second last syllable by default. And don't forget the letter "ə" (producing an /ə/ sound) even it rarely appears.
| Sentence | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ņris tolontenPwék sanu. | We learn Pwekish. |
| Ņra xepte. | I swim. |
| Ntyu sukdi wher. | You finish the homework. |
| Ntyu 'yizok hisma. | You break the chair. |
| Ntyu tix nzo. | You sit on the floor. |
| Ntyus yesin hanu. | You guys know the task. |
| Tyep nfop. | The bird flies. |
| Awú maw h'wipteptep. | The dog chases the cat. |
| Nrows teibəl hhorle. | They clean the table. |
| Yúnə ncirlo. | Nothing happen. |
1. Write down the 2nd person and the 3rd person mutations of the following words.
i. adi ii. eki iii. fuku iv. heku v. lwo
vi. runi vii. sato viii. wob ix. xoyye x. yesi
i. hadi hhadi
ii. heki hheki
iii. hfuku nfuku
iv. hheku nheku
v. hlwo nlwo
vi. rhuni hruni
vii. hsato nsato
viii. whob hwob
ix. nxoyye xhoyye
x. nyesi yhesi
2. Translate the following sentences into English.
i. Nrow tyep nley.
ii. Ntyu yúne hsanu.
iii. Vurún nfop.
iv. Ņra tix orle.
v. Má yesin hwer.
i. (S)He/It tastes the bird.
ii. You learn nothing.
iii. The mouse flies.
iv. I clean the floor.
v. My mum finishes the work/task.
3. Translate the following sentences into Pwekish.
i. I know nothing.
ii. The dog eats the homework.
iii. You swim.
iv. You guys break the floor.
v. The cat chases a mouse.
i. Ņra yúnə anu.
ii. Awú sukdi dhip.
iii. Ntyu nxepte.
iv. Ntyus tix hisma.
v. Maw vurún h'wipteptep.