Cavellan Language

Natively known as: cavellan /caveˈllan/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
vni duvf mɑθva tjɑ θæ brurc vni cɤ θæ fvab lɑ æn bra
Pronunciation: /vni duwf mɑˈθwa tjɑ θæ brurk vni kɤ θæ fwab lɑ æn bra/
Cavellan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w x z ð ɸ θ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	b p			d t	c	k g
Fricative	ɸ	v f	θ ð	s z		x	h
Approximant					j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: a e i o u æ ɑ ɛ ɤ  

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o ɤ
Low-mid	ɛ
Near-low	æ
Low	a	ɑ

  Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː
̯

 

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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: postpositions ?  

Nouns

 

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix hvɛbi /hwɛˈbi/ boy	Prefix a- ahvɛbi /ahwɛˈbi/ boys
Feminine	No affix smɑmt /smɑmt/ girl	If starts with vowel: Prefix ubm- Else: Prefix ubmɛ- ubmɛsmɑmt /ubmɛsˈmɑmt/ girls
Neuter	No affix dæn /dæn/ dog	Prefix vo- vodæn /voˈdæn/ dogs

 

Articles

 

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	so /so/ the	cat /kat/ a
Plural	amp /amp/ the	bu /bu/ some

  Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	ɑ /ɑ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	sɤ /sɤ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	duvf /duwf/ he, him, his,
3rd singular fem	fvo /fwo/ she, her, hers,
3rd singular neuter	vɑz /wɑz/ it (neut), its (neut)
1st plural	xej /xej/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	han /han/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	e /e/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	xlejc /xlejk/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
3rd plural neuter	fvurc /fwurk/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	rɑ /rɑ/ my
2nd singular	hva /hwa/ your
3rd singular masc	θæ /θæ/ his
3rd singular fem	nvo /nwo/ her
3rd singular neuter	æg /æg/ his, her, its (neut)
1st plural	ho /ho/ our
2nd plural	cæd /kæd/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ra /ra/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	so /so/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	soz /soz/ their (neut)

 

Verbs

 

Present	No affix lo /lo/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix inr- Else: Prefix inrɑ- inrɑlo /inrɑˈlo/ learned

  Cavellan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: nak - nac lo /nak lo/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Cavellan has a base-10 number system:   1 - ut
2 - snoɸ
3 - xru
4 - lu
5 - a
6 - drog
7 - li
8 - bvo
9 - ce
10 - romp
100 - ðo
1000 - plɤmp
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sp
Else: Suffix -usp
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ær-
Else: Prefix æri-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix rɛ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -z
Else: Suffix -uz
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɛz
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -aj
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix æk-
Else: Prefix æku-
Tending to = Suffix -imp
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ɛk
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɑ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix dn-
Else: Prefix dnæ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix smɛ-
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -at
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ðd
Else: Suffix -ɤðd