Yimzhāian (jimˈʒaːian)

Natively known as: yimzhā /jimˈʒaː/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...   bã jo ōg jo hōv bīw bã jo d’ichõ pa sach dilo pĩn[alt]   Pronunciation: /bã ʤo oːɣ ʤo hoːβ biːw bã ʤo ɗiˈʧõ pa saʧ diˈlo pĩn/   Yimzhāian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to[/alt]  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d h j k l m n p r s t w z ɓ ɗ ɣ ɲ ɸ ʃ ʄ ʒ ʤ ʧ β  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ɲ
Stop	p b	t d			k
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ		ʄ
Affricate			ʧ ʤ
Fricative	ɸ β	s z	ʃ ʒ		ɣ	h
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l

    Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

    Vowel inventory: a aː ã e eː ẽ i iː ĩ o oː õ u uː ũ  

	Front	Back
High	i iː ĩ	u uː ũ
High-mid	e eː ẽ	o oː õ
Low	aː a ã

    Syllable structure: (C)V(C) Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable Word initial consonants: b d h j k l m n p r s t w z ɓ ɗ ɣ ɲ ʃ ʄ ʒ ʤ ʧ β Mid-word consonants: b bs bz d db dd dj dl dm dt dw dʃ dʒ dʤ h hb hd hw j jb jj jl jm jn js jʒ k kb kd kh kj kk kl km kr ks kt kɲ kʧ l ll lm lr ls lz lʒ lʤ m mb md mj mm mp mr ms mʃ mʒ mʧ n nb nh nm nr ns nt nw nz nɲ nʃ p pj pn pw pʃ r rh rj rk rl rn rp rs rw rɲ rʃ rʒ s sb sd sm sn ss sz sɲ sʧ t th tk tl tn tp tr ts tt tɲ tʃ tʧ w wb wp ws wt ww wβ z zl zp zw zz ɓ ɗ ɣ ɣj ɣm ɣn ɲ ɲb ɲj ɲz ɲɲ ɲʃ ɲʤ ɸ ʃ ʃb ʃh ʃk ʃn ʃr ʃs ʃt ʄ ʒ ʒb ʒl ʒm ʒɲ ʤ ʤl ʧ ʧk ʧl ʧm ʧɲ β Word final consonants: b d l n r s w z ɓ ɗ ɣ ɲ ɸ ʃ ʄ ʒ ʤ ʧ β   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ɣ	g
ɲ	ny
ɸ	ph
β	v
ʃ	sh
ʤ	j
ʄ	j’
ʒ	zh
ʧ	ch
Vː	V̄

   

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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 two cases:

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

Nominative	No affix lẽph /lẽɸ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bo- bolẽph /boˈlẽɸ/ (verb done to) dog

   

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix e /e/ man	No affix nālro /naːˈlro/ woman
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix te- te /te/ men	Prefix u- unālro /unaːˈlro/ women

   

Articles

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

Pronouns

 

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	rẽv /rẽβ/ I	j’ī /ʄiː/ me
2nd singular	zhō /ʒoː/ you	lu /lu/ you
3rd singular masc	jo /ʤo/ he, it	chē /ʧeː/ him, it
3rd singular fem	j’ā /ʄaː/ she, it	ō /oː/ her, it
1st plural	wõ /wõ/ we	sũ /sũ/ us
2nd plural	wē /weː/ you all	ā /aː/ you all
3rd plural masc	miw /miw/ they (masc)	ũ /ũ/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	shāg /ʃaːɣ/ they (fem)	ya /ja/ them (fem)

   

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	rẽv /rẽβ/ my
2nd singular	zhō /ʒoː/ your
3rd singular masc	jo /ʤo/ his
3rd singular fem	j’ā /ʄaː/ her
1st plural	wõ /wõ/ our
2nd plural	wē /weː/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	miw /miw/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	shāg /ʃaːɣ/ their (fem)

   

Verbs

  Yimzhāian uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ʄe - j’e uhōb /ʄe uˈhoːb/ learned

    Yimzhāian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: roːɣ - rōg uhōb /roːɣ uˈhoːb/ 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).   Yimzhāian uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:  

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: ɲõ - nyõ uhōb /ɲõ uˈhoːb/ 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.   Yimzhāian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:  

Perfect

Prefix iː- īuhōb /iːuˈhoːb/ have learned

   

Numbers

  Yimzhāian has a base-10 number system:   1 - we 2 - sād 3 - ho 4 - yōd 5 - vē 6 - me 7 - keshā 8 - wõ 9 - ī 10 - nyu 11 - nyuwe “ten-one” 100 - wū “hundred” 101 - wū bã we “hundred and one” 200 - sād wū 1000 - zhũ “thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -eːʧ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix iː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɲ Else: Suffix -aɲ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɣ Else: Suffix -iɣ
Noun to verb = Prefix eː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ur
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ũd
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ẽβ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -e
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -oːb
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɲ Else: Suffix -aɲ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -aːl
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɗ Else: Suffix -aɗ