Nelek

Natively known as: nelek /ˈnelek/

 

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n p r s t v x z ŋ ɦ ʋ  

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

  Vowel inventory: aː eː i oː u y øː œy̯ ɑ ɑu̯ ɔ ə ɛ ɛi̯ ɪ ʏ   Diphthongs: œy̯ ɑu̯ ɛi̯ ?  

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high	ɪ ʏ
High-mid	eː øː		oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	aː		ɑ

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

• ɣ → g

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
sx	sch
x	g / _#
x	ch
ʋ	w
p	b / _#
t	d / _#
d	t / C_#
ɣ	g
ɦ	h
ŋk	ng
ŋ	ng
yu	uw
u	oe / !_w
ɑoe̯	ou
eː	ee
aː	a
ɑ	a
oː	o
ɛi̯	ij / _#
ɛi̯	ei
ɛ	e
ɔ	o
i	ie / C_#
œy̯	ui
ɪ	i
ʏ	u
y	u
øː	eu
ə	e
̯

 

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Grammar

  Sentence word order: Direct object-Indirect object-Verb-Subject. “She gave the dog a bone” turns into A bone the dog gave she.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?  

Nouns

 

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix zeeveus /ˈzeːvøːs/ the dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix əʋ- Else: Prefix əʋɛ- ewezeeveus /ˌəʋɛˈzeːvøːs/ the dogs
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tə- tezeeveus /təˈzeːvøːs/ a dog	Prefix ɛ- ezeeveus /ɛˈzeːvøːs/ some dogs

 

Articles

  Opera Gnomish encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.
 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	eift /ɛi̯ft/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	zui /zœy̯/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ij /ɛi̯/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	scheecht /sxeːxt/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	kwe /kʋɛ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	lan /laːn/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	volf /vɔlf/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	vokt /vɔkt/ my
2nd singular	uircht /œy̯rxt/ your
3rd singular masc	zwo /zʋoː/ his
3rd singular fem	dreecht /dreːxt/ her
1st plural	bud /byt/ our
2nd plural	twint /tʋɪnt/ your (pl)
3rd plural	roe /ru/ their

 

Verbs

 

Present	No affix tre /trə/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɦ- Else: Prefix ɦʏ- hutre /ˈɦʏtrə/ learned
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix vɔ- votre /ˈvɔtrə/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Opera Gnomish has a base-10 number system:   1 - buins
2 - malf
3 - blie
4 - vrins
5 - gou
6 - bes
7 - re
8 - slig
9 - drikt
10 - kor
100 - blee
1000 - snars
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix st-
Else: Prefix stʏ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ufx-
Else: Prefix ufxɑ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix mɪ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pœy̯-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix plaː-
Noun to verb = Prefix jɛ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kʋ-
Else: Prefix kʋeː-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pɔ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bɔ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix pri-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ə-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z-
Else: Prefix zə-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix bl-
Else: Prefix bleː-
Augmentative = Prefix ɪ-
Language of = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nɛ-