Naikaumi Language

Naikaumi (/nai̯.ka.u.mi/) is an analytic OSV language with a moderately permissive syllable template, up to (C)(C)V(C)(C)(C). It has 11 consonant phonemes and 8 vowel nuclei: four monomoraic vowels /a i o u/ and four contour nuclei /oi oa ui ja/. Only monomoraic vowels carry a binary register contrast (High vs Low); contour nuclei are toneless. Mora count is phonologically relevant for rhythm and phonotactics, but does not function as a simple length. Its script is a featural two-tier segmental system. Consonants are anchored to a horizontal baseline, and vowel nuclei are written above it as contour curves that encode nucleus type and moraic shape. Consonant clusters are commonly ligatured, especially in codas. In fast handwriting and space-constrained writing, vowel curves can be reduced or dropped, yielding a consonant-skeleton shorthand with optional dot diacritics that mark the underlying vowel class.