The Language of Soi̯ngan

Natively known as: soi̯nga /ˈsɔɪ̯ŋɑ/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ca doi gacur feeshou doi thoiree ca loipur doi eethou yoidee thoi naipor
Pronunciation: /kɑ dɔˈɪ gæˈkɜː fiːˈʃaʊ ˈdɔɪ θɔɪˈɹiː kɑ ˈlɔɪpɜː ˈdɔɪ iːˈθaʊ jɔɪˈdiː ˈθɔɪ ˈnaɪpɔː/
Soi̯ngan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ ʌ   Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ?  

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

  Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: No fixed stress ?   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	qu
kt#	cked
k	c / !_{ɪ,i,ɛ,e,s}
ð	th
θ	th
ʍ	wh
ŋɡ	ng
ŋk	nk
ɡ	g
ŋ	ng
ʧ	ch
ʃ	sh
ɹ	r
z#	s
cc	ck
c#	k
aʊ#	ow
aʊ	ou
ɔɪ	oi
ɪə	ear
ɪ#	y
eɪ	ei̯
ɪ	i
ji	yi
j	y
iː#	y
yy#	yi
#y#	i
ʌ	u
iː	ee
oʊ	o
ʊ	oo
ɛ	e
ɑː?	a
æ	a
#ʤ	j
ʤ#	ge
ʤ	dg
ɜː	ur
ɔː	or
uː	u
quur	quir
eə	ere

 

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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: prepositions ?  

Nouns

 

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	Suffix -giː soigy /ˈsɔɪgiː/ man	Suffix -piː soipy /ˈsɔɪpiː/ men
Feminine	Prefix wɔː- worwur /ˈwɔːwɜː/ woman	Prefix huː- huwur /huːˈwɜː/ women
Neuter	Suffix -mɑ cahurma /ˈkæhɜːmɑ/ dog	Prefix hʌ- hucahur /ˈhʌkæhɜː/ dogs

 

Articles

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

Pronouns

 

1st singular	gy /giː/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	cur /kɜː/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	doi̯ /dɔɪ̯/ he, him, his
3rd singular fem	wy /wiː/ she, her, hers
3rd singular neut	fur /fɜː/ it, its
1st plural	yu /juː/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	a /ɑ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	ga /gɑ/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	jor /ʤɔː/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
3rd plural neut	hu /huː/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	gy /giː/ my
2nd singular	cur /kɜː/ your
3rd singular masc	doi /dɔˈɪ/ his
3rd singular fem	wy /wiː/ her
3rd singular neut	fur /fɜː/ its
1st plural	yu /juː/ our
2nd plural	a /ɑ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ga /gɑ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	jor /ʤɔː/ their (fem)
3rd plural neut	hu /huː/ their (neut)

 

Verbs

 

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Masculine	Suffix -zɜː moisazur /mɔˌɪsɑˈzɜː/	Suffix -kuː moisacu /ˌmɔɪˈsɑkuː/	Prefix zæ- zamoisa /ˌzæmɔˈɪsɑ/
Feminine	Suffix -wiː moisawy /ˌmɔɪˈsɑwiː/	Prefix ʧɔː- chormoisa /ʧɔːˌmɔɪˈsɑ/	Suffix -vɔː moisavor /ˌmɔɪˈsɑvɔː/
Neuter	Prefix vɔː- vormoisa /vɔːˌmɔɪˈsɑ/	Prefix kɑ- camoisa /kɑˌmɔɪˈsɑ/	Suffix -pɑ moisapa /ˌmɔɪˈsɑpɑ/

  Soi̯ngan uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ɔː - or moisa /ɔː ˈmɔɪsɑ/ learned

  Soi̯ngan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ðaʊ̯ - thou̯ moisa /ðaʊ̯ mɔˈɪsɑ/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Soi̯ngan has a base-20 number system:
1 - ga
2 - a
3 - gy
4 - coi
5 - ga
6 - mow
7 - now
8 - zur
9 - a
10 - ju
11 - worby
12 - ʒalow
13 - yoily
14 - thoimoda
15 - ornu
16 - thoihy
17 - loithy
18 - doichobay
19 - naizy
20 - fursor
21 - ga ca fursor “one and twenty”
400 - ga peewoicur “one fourhundred”
401 - ga peewoicur ca ga “one fourhundred and one”
800 - a peewoicur “two fourhundred”
8000 - ga ʒahu “one eightthousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ðoʊ̯
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -tiː
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix gɔː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -piː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix piː-
Noun to verb = Prefix wiː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix gɔː-
Tending to = Suffix -tiː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix giː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ʒæ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -baɪ̯
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix dɑ-
Diminutive = Prefix ʒɛ-
Augmentative = Prefix zæ-