Naalean (Bliyj)

The Language of Naalean

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...

i ṭe ḍaʻu so ṇese d’aʻi i so puṣe ṭiya nyika j’acha b’i

Pronunciation: /i ʈɛ ˈɖaʔu sɔ ˈɳɛsɛ ˈɗaʔi i sɔ ˈpuʂɛ ˈʈija ˈɲika ˈʄaʧa ɓi/

Naalean word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d g h j k l m n p r s t w x ɓ ɖ ɗ ɟ ɲ ɳ ɻ ʂ ʃ ʄ ʈ ʔ ʧ

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Bilabial

Alveolar

Palato-alveolar

Retroflex

Palatal

Velar

Glottal

Nasal

m

n

ɳ

ɲ

Stop

p b

t d

ʈ ɖ

c ɟ

k g

ʔ

Implosive

ɓ

ɗ

ʄ

Affricate

ʧ

Fricative

s

ʃ

ʂ

x

h

Approximant

ɻ

j

Trill

r

Lateral approximant

l

Co-articulated phonemes

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Labial-velar

Approximant

w

Vowel inventory: a i u ɔ ɛ

Front

Back

High

i

u

Low-mid

ɛ

ɔ

Low

a

Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.

Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have four cases:

Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.

Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.

Nominative

No affix

j’eyi /ˈʄɛji/

dog (doing the verb)

Accusative

Suffix -ha

j’eyiha /ˈʄɛjiha/

(verb done to) dog

Genitive

Suffix -pɛ

j’eyipe /ˈʄɛjipɛ/

dogʼs

Dative

Suffix -sɔ

j’eyiso /ˈʄɛjisɔ/

to (the/a) dog

Singular

No affix

j’eyi /ˈʄɛji/

dog

Plural

Suffix -ʔɛ

j’eyiʻe /ˈʄɛjiʔɛ/

dogs

Articles

Naalean has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

Nominative

Accusative

Genitive

Dative

1st singular

nyi /ɲi/

I

ko /kɔ/

me

b’a /ɓa/

mine

ṇa /ɳa/

to me

2nd singular

lo /lɔ/

you

ro /rɔ/

you

no /nɔ/

yours

bi /bi/

to you

3rd singular masc

ṭe /ʈɛ/

he, it

ya /ja/

him, it

we /wɛ/

his, its

ṣo /ʂɔ/

to him, at it

3rd singular fem

bo /bɔ/

she, it

cho /ʧɔ/

her, it

khi /xi/

hers, its

pa /pa/

to her, at it

1st plural

ba /ba/

we

j’e /ʄɛ/

us

hi /hi/

ours

re /rɛ/

to us

2nd plural

she /ʃɛ/

you all

pi /pi/

you all

chi /ʧi/

yours (pl)

kho /xɔ/

to you all

3rd plural

ha /ha/

they

ki /ki/

them

u /u/

theirs

ge /gɛ/

Possessive determiners

1st singular

se /sɛ/

my

2nd singular

we /wɛ/

your

3rd singular masc

so /sɔ/

his

3rd singular fem

kha /xa/

her

1st plural

d’a /ɗa/

our

2nd plural

ḍi /ɖi/

your (pl)

3rd plural

chyi /ci/

their

Verbs

Present

No affix

yepa /ˈjɛpa/

learn

Past

Suffix -pi

yepapi /ˈjɛpapi/

learned

Naalean uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʄi -

j’i yepa /ʄi ˈjɛpa/

will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).

Boṭuj’uian uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: xu -

khu yepa /xu ˈjɛpa/

learns/is learning

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.

Boṭuj’uian uses the word for ‘already’ ṣej’a for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Boṭuj’uian has a base-20 number system:

1 - aku

2 - ŕi

3 - d’a

4 - khonu

5 - khiyo

6 - d’ukhi

7 - woṣoshu

8 - shu

9 - nime

10 - hesu

11 - ua

12 - daŕa

13 - yima

14 - dayu

15 - gosi

16 - ṣiṣi

17 - saha

18 - woshi

19 - nuʻi

20 - khikhu

21 - khikhu i aku “twenty and one”

400 - aku khae “one fourhundred”

401 - aku khae aku “one fourhundred one”

800 - ŕi khae “two fourhundred”

8000 - aku nad’e “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -gu

Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -xɔ

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ʂɛ

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -nu

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -di

Noun to verb = Suffix -ɳɔ

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -xa

Tending to = Suffix -ɟu

Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -sɛ

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɓi

One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -mu

Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ki

Diminutive = Suffix -wi

Augmentative = Suffix -ɖi