Telim

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /f h j k l m p t w ŋ ʧ/

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m					ŋ
Stop	p		t			k
Affricate				ʧ
Fricative		f						h
Approximant					j		w
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u ɑ/

 

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a	ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: f, h, j, k, l, m, p, t, w, ŋ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: f, fl, h, hw, j, jk, k, kp, l, m, mp, p, pw, t, w, ŋ, ŋh, ʧ
Word final consonants: f, k, m, t, ŋ, ʧ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• w → h / _C
• ŋ → ŋ̊ / _#
• t → l / V_V
• h → w / #_
• w → b / V_V
• o → ɔ / _N
• S → F / _S
• f → v / _{p,t,k}
• t → s / _{u,i}

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɑ	ǎ
ʧ	ch

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -a
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -u
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fla
Else: Suffix -ufla
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -u
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix e-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ok
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -af
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -aŋ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -uŋ
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fo
Else: Suffix -ifo
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ji
Else: Suffix -ɑji
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -em
Diminutive = Suffix -u
Augmentative = Prefix e-

Grammar

  Main word order: Subject-Oblique-Object-Verb. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions
 

Noun

  Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

ya /ja/ plural particle

Masculine	If ends with vowel: Suffix -pɑ Else: Suffix -ɑpɑ wufǎpǎ /wuˈfɑpɑ/
Feminine	Suffix -e wufe /ˈwufe/
Neuter	If ends with vowel: Suffix -pi Else: Suffix -api wufapi /ˈwufapi/

Nouns have six cases: Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man. The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence. Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog. Absolutives are always no affix. Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man. Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog. Locative is the location of something: man walks to town. Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

 

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɑŋ- Else: Prefix ɑŋa- ǎngabuf /ˈɑŋabuf/
Absolutive	No affix wuf /wuf/
Genitive	Prefix e- ebuf /ˈebuf/
Dative	Suffix -am wufam /wuˈfam/
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -um wufum /ˈwufum/
Ablative	Prefix ɑ- ǎbuf /ˈɑbuf/

Articles

 

Definite	mo /mo/ the
Indefinite	lo /lo/ a, some

Pronouns

 

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	pach /paʧ/ I	mif /mif/ me	tang̊ /taŋ̊/ my, mine	i /i/ to me	pang̊ /paŋ̊/	ma /ma/
2nd singular	wu /wu/ you	of /of/ you	yak /jak/ your, yours	ta /ta/ to you	a /a/	ot /ot/
3rd singular masc	ngof /ŋof/ he, it	chǎ /ʧɑ/ him, it	fem /fem/ his, its	o /o/ to him	pi /pi/	u /u/
3rd singular fem	wǎ /wɑ/ she, it	lu /lu/ her, it	loch /loʧ/ her, hers, its	pa /pa/ to her	ngech /ŋeʧ/	lɔng̊ /lɔŋ̊/
1st plural	lǎk /lɑk/ we	chu /ʧu/ us	ɔm /ɔm/ our, ours	feng̊ /feŋ̊/ to us	lung̊ /luŋ̊/	ǎm /ɑm/
2nd plural	wuk /wuk/ you (all)	ngem /ŋem/ you (all)	ak /ak/ your, yours (all)	yu /ju/ to you (all)	yǎ /jɑ/	fu /fu/
3rd plural masc	ǎ /ɑ/ they (masculine)	kaf /kaf/ them (masculine)	peng̊ /peŋ̊/ their, theirs (masculine)	fe /fe/ to them (masculine)	wǎ /wɑ/	pech /peʧ/
3rd plural fem	lo /lo/ they (feminine)	yich /jiʧ/ them (feminine)	chuch /ʧuʧ/ their, theirs (feminine)	mi /mi/ to them (feminine)	yi /ji/	cho /ʧo/

Verbs

  Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

pa /pa/ future tense particle

Verbs are conjugated depending on the gender of the doer of the verb.  

	Present	Past	Remote past
Masculine	Prefix e- echohwo /ˈeʧohwo/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -ɑʧ chohwoch /ˈʧohwoʧ/	Suffix -ɑ chohwoǎ /ˈʧohwoɑ/
Feminine	Suffix -a chohwoa /ʧoˈhwoa/	Prefix a- achohwo /ˈaʧohwo/	Suffix -i chohwoi /ʧoˈhwoi/
Neuter	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kpo Else: Suffix -akpo chohwoxpo /ˈʧohwoxpo/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -em chohwɔm /ˈʧohwɔm/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɑk chohwok /ˈʧohwok/

Perfect aspect

  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.   In Telimish, the perfect is constructed with an affix

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -mpɑ Else: Suffix -umpɑ chohwɔmpǎ /ˈʧohwɔmpɑ/