Zid Valen Language

Natively known as: thearn /θɪə̯n/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
twoi shirn dikscleith slear brirks squeish twoi squood brirks buth pu thu chirms
Pronunciation: /twɔɪ̯ ʃɪɹn ˈdɪkskleɪ̯θ slɪə̯ bɹɪɹks skweɪ̯ʃ twɔɪ̯ skwʊd bɹɪɹks bʌθ puː ðuː ʧɪɹmz/
Zid Valen word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʍ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	ʍ w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɑː ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɛə̯ ɜː ɪ ɪə̯ ʊ ʊə̯ ʌ   Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛə̯ ɪə̯ ʊə̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ ɑː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable   Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	qu
kt	cked / _#
k	c / !_{ɪ,i,ɛ,e,s}
oʊC₁	oC₁e
uːC₁	uC₁e / _#
eɪC₁	aC₁e / _#
ð	th
θ	th
ʍ	wh
ŋg	ng
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
ʧ	ch
ʃ	sh
ɹ	r
z	s / _#
ju	u / C_
cc	ck
c	k / _#
{t,d}	ed / C_#
aʊ	ow / _#
aʊ	ou
ɔɪ	oi
ɪə	ear
ɪ	y / _#
ɪ	i
ji	yi
j	y
iː	y / _#
yy	yi / _#
y	i / #_#
ʌ	u
iː	ee
oʊ	o
ʊ	oo
ɛ	e
ɑ(ː)	a
t	tt / æ_#
l	ll / æ_#
s	ss / æ_#
z	zz / æ_#
æ	a
ʤ	j / #_
ʤ	ge / _#
ʤ	dg
ɜː	ur
ɔː	or
uː	u
quur	quir
eə	ere
̯

 

---

Grammar

  Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions  

Nouns

  Nouns have both a plural affix and dual affix for precisely two things.

Singular	No affix bass /bæs/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bɪ- bibass /ˈbɪbæs/ dogs
Dual	Prefix ɛ- ebass /ˈɛbæs/ two dogs

 

Articles

Definite	goids /gɔɪ̯dz/ the
Indefinite	fuls /fuːls/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

 

Pronouns

1st singular	parm /pæɹm/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	whur /ʍɜː/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	shirn /ʃɪɹn/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	doi /dɔɪ̯/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	erelf /ɛə̯lf/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	thry /θɹiː/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	sised /sɪst/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

1st singular	taiv /taɪ̯v/ my
2nd singular	cooə /kʊə̯/ your
3rd singular masc	brirks /bɹɪɹks/ his
3rd singular fem	sloik /slɔɪ̯k/ her
1st plural	twedsed /twɛdst/ our
2nd plural	dou /daʊ̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural	paith /paɪ̯ð/ their

 

Verbs

Present	No affix na /nɑ/ learn
Past	Prefix ʧɪ- china /ˈʧɪnɑ/ learned
Future	Prefix ʊ- oona /ˈʊnɑ/ will learn

 

Progressive aspect

  The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Zid Valen uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: slæbd - slabed na /slæbd nɑ/ is learning

 

Habitual aspect

  The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Zid Valen uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix kl- Else: Prefix klʌ- cluna /ˈklʌnɑ/ learns

 

Numbers

  Zid Valen has a base-20 number system:   1 - grai
2 - dy
3 - quere
4 - voovs
5 - whooə
6 - frarn
7 - floos
8 - rooə
9 - flo
10 - por
11 - dreired
12 - hoosed
13 - spuzed
14 - blage
15 - swursoi
16 - horlf
17 - strus
18 - whurs
19 - tup
20 - rooflu
(Four) hundred - lou
(Eight) thousand - splorrms  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧt
Else: Suffix -ɑʧt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɔɪ̯nt
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -oʊ̯ɹkt
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sʊ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix skɹɔɪ̯-
Noun to verb = Suffix -aʊ̯
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -iːlz
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kt
Else: Suffix -eɪ̯kt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -iːn
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -oʊ̯ʤ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pɑ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -ɪb
Diminutive = Prefix aʊ̯-
Augmentative = Suffix -ɑst