Elemental

Natively known as: chawhda /ˈʧɔhda/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
daw tsaw dimhaw thur da der daw tsodz da bom yamfam ba ying
Pronunciation: /dɔ ʦɔ ˈdimhɔ θəɹ da dɛɹ dɔ ʦœʣ da bœm ˈjamfam ba jiŋ/
Elemental (Primordial) word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f h j k m s ŋ ɹ ʃ ʣ ʦ ʧ θ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m						ŋ
Stop	b			d			k
Affricate				ʣ ʦ	ʧ
Fricative		f	θ	s	ʃ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j

  Vowel inventory: a i œ ɔ ə ɛ  

	Front	Central	Back
High	i
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ œ		ɔ
Low	a

  Syllable structure: (C)V(C) ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɛ	e
œ	o
ə	u
ɔ	aw
ɹ	r
θ	th
j	y
ʃ	sh
ŋ	ng
ʧ	ch
ʣ	dz
ʦ	ts

 

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?  

Nouns

 

Singular	Prefix a- ayodzak /aˈjœʣak/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʦ- Else: Prefix ʦa- tsayodzak /ʦaˈjœʣak/ dogs

 

Articles

 

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	yi /ji/ the	su /sə/ a
Plural	sha /ʃa/ the	a /a/ some

  Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

  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’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	yaw /jɔ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ik /ik/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	tsaw /ʦɔ/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	ru /ɹə/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	ba /ba/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	chidz /ʧiʣ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	yob /jœb/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	chawch /ʧɔʧ/ my
2nd singular	tsa /ʦa/ your
3rd singular masc	da /da/ his
3rd singular fem	shu /ʃə/ her
1st plural	du /də/ our
2nd plural	bem /bɛm/ your (pl)
3rd plural	dur /dəɹ/ their

 

Verbs

 

	Present	Past	Future
1st singular	Prefix a- abaws /ˈabɔs/ (I) learn	Prefix da- dabaws /ˈdabɔs/ (I) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʦ- Else: Prefix ʦə- tsubaws /ˈʦəbɔs/ (I) will learn
2nd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɹ- Else: Prefix ɹa- rabaws /ˈɹabɔs/ (you) learn	Prefix ə- ubaws /ˈəbɔs/ (you) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɔ- sawbaws /ˈsɔbɔs/ (you) will learn
3rd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jə- yubaws /ˈjəbɔs/ (he/she/it) learns	Prefix sa- sabaws /ˈsabɔs/ (he/she/it) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɹ- Else: Prefix ɹœ- robaws /ˈɹœbɔs/ (he/she/it) will learn
1st plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɛ- sebaws /ˈsɛbɔs/ (we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sœ- sobaws /ˈsœbɔs/ (we) learned	Prefix ʧɛ- chebaws /ˈʧɛbɔs/ (we) will learn
2nd plural	Prefix œ- obaws /ˈœbɔs/ (you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θa- thabaws /ˈθabɔs/ (you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛb- Else: Prefix ɛbə- ebubaws /ɛˈbəbɔs/ (you all) will learn
3rd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʦ- Else: Prefix ʦœ- tsobaws /ˈʦœbɔs/ (they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix aŋʦ- Else: Prefix aŋʦə- angtsubaws /aŋˈʦəbɔs/ (they) learned	Prefix i- ibaws /ˈibɔs/ (they) 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).
Elemental (Primordial) uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:  

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: bi - bi baws /bi bɔs/ learn

 

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.
Elemental (Primordial) uses an affix for the perfect aspect:  

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ja- yabaws /ˈjabɔs/ have learned

 

Numbers

  Elemental (Primordial) has a base-10 number system:   1 - tsudz
2 - yaw
3 - de
4 - bum
5 - yu
6 - odz
7 - da
8 - yo
9 - saws
10 - bawm
100 - shumatsits
1000 - shim
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bœ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix jɛ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix θɔ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix ja-
Noun to verb = Prefix bœ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɛ-
Tending to = Prefix ə-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ɹɛ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix a-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ʃa-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix θ-
Else: Prefix θa-
Augmentative = Prefix ɛ-