Dagfian

Natively known as: dagfiiu /dagˈfiiu̯w/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
tjoil poi yr piv lĭp poib tjoil gi tryv yr tnaapjoh si pvønko
Pronunciation: /tjoi̯l poi̯ yr piv lɪp poi̯b tjoi̯l gi tryv yr ˈtnɔpjoh si ˈpvønko/
Dagfian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p r s t v z ŋ ɣ χ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	b p		t d		k g
Fricative		v f	s z		ɣ	χ	h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Vowel inventory: a au̯w i iu̯w o oi̯ u y ø ɔ ɛ ɪ   Diphthongs: au̯w iu̯w oi̯ ?  

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid	ø	o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

  Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?   Sound changes (in order of application):  

• ɛ → ə / _#

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ə	e
ɛ	e
ɔ	aa
ŋ	ng
χ	kh
ɣ	gh
k	ck / _#
iu̯w	iu
au̯w	aw
oi̯	oi
ɪ	ĭ

 

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) 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 ?  

Nouns

  Nouns have two cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).

Ergative	Prefix i- itjybfyda /ˌitjybˈfyda/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix tjybfyda /tjybˈfyda/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)

 

Singular	No affix tjybfyda /tjybˈfyda/ dog
Plural	Reduplicate whole word tjybfydatjybfyda /ˌtjybfyˌdatjybˈfyda/ dogs

 

Articles

 

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	na /na/ the	pkhawck /pχau̯wk/ a
Plural	to /to/ the	tva /tva/ 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’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

  Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

 

Pronouns

 

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	pnot /pnot/ I	mli /mli/ me
2nd singular	pvoi /pvoi̯/ you	psiu /psiu̯w/ you
3rd singular masc	poi /poi̯/ he, it (masc)	priu /priu̯w/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	oim /oi̯m/ she, it (fem)	tjim /tjim/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	kvawg /kvau̯wg/ we	di /di/ us
2nd plural	pnoi /pnoi̯/ you all	il /il/ you all
3rd plural	aat /ɔt/ they	mbi /mbi/ them

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	ksi /ksi/ my
2nd singular	lo /lo/ your
3rd singular masc	yr /yr/ his
3rd singular fem	psof /psof/ her
1st plural	tvĭb /tvɪb/ our
2nd plural	oj /oj/ your (pl)
3rd plural	psaw /psau̯w/ their

 

Verbs

 

Present	No affix klaal /klɔl/ learn
Past	Prefix psa- psaklaal /ˈpsaklɔl/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix um- Else: Prefix umɔ- umaaklaal /uˈmɔklɔl/ learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix kj- Else: Prefix kjɛ- kjeklaal /ˈkjɛklɔl/ will learn

 

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: mryb - mryb klaal /mryb klɔl/ 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).
Dagfian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: fyŋ - fyng klaal /fyŋ klɔl/ learns

 

Numbers

  Dagfian has a base-10 number system:   1 - saw
2 - plem
3 - mnaah
4 - syg
5 - yg
6 - proi
7 - oi
8 - prack
9 - psa
10 - pvem
100 - tjoz
1000 - nzud
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -im
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix mja-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ym-
Else: Prefix ymoi̯-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -bsoi̯
Else: Suffix -ibsoi̯
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix tj-
Else: Prefix tjiu̯w-
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɔg
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -oi̯
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -oi̯f
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -ɔj
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mo
Else: Suffix -ɪmo
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -z
Else: Suffix -yz
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɛh
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix kn-
Else: Prefix kni-
Augmentative = Suffix -uɣ
Language of = Suffix -iu̯w
Region or country of = Suffix -ɔj
Children or descendants of = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lvi
Else: Suffix -ɔlvi
Region of = Prefix i-