Vrabish Language

The Language spoken in Poille, Sannes, and Ville Sensa

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
dúrs zhó byoaw̃ døksyœ̃rsh faw̃n dœrt dúrs sro faw̃n bruny kwepr go lwaw̃ts
Pronunciation: /dyʁs ʒə ˈbjoɔ̃ ˈdøksjœ̃ʁʃ fɔ̃n dœʁt dyʁs sʁo fɔ̃n bʁuɲ kwepʁ go lwɔ̃ts/
Vrabrish word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind    

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b d f g j k l m n p s t v w z ɥ ɲ ʁ ʃ ʒ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Labial-palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d				k g
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ					ʁ
Approximant					j	ɥ		w
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u y ø œ œ̃ ɑ ɑ̃ ɔ ɔ̃ ə ɛ ɛ̃/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
High-mid	e ø		o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ ɛ̃ œ œ̃		ɔ ɔ̃
Low	a		ɑ ɑ̃

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, bj, bʁ, d, dw, dʁw, f, fw, fʁ, g, gʁ, k, kw, kʁ, kʁw, l, lj, lw, lɥ, m, mj, mw, n, p, pl, pw, pɥ, pʁ, s, sw, sɥ, sʁ, t, tʁ, tʁw, v, vj, vw, vʁ, ʁ, ʁj, ʃ, ʃw, ʒ, ʒɥ
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, d, dɥ, f, g, gz, gʁ, j, k, kn, ksj, kspl, kt, ktɥ, l, lj, lm, lɥ, lʒ, m, mj, n, p, pt, pɥ, s, sj, stj, sɥ, t, tfw, tɥ, v, vj, vw, vʁ, z, zj, ʁ, ʁfw, ʁj, ʁnj, ʁs, ʁt, ʁv, ʁʃ, ʃ, ʒ
Word final consonants: N/A   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• m → w / #_

Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
y	ú
ɑ	á
ɔ	aw
ə	ó
ɛ	é
ɲ	ny
ʁ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. "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
 

Noun

	Singular	Plural
Definite	Suffix -œ̃ʁt omóvrœ̃rt /ˈoməvʁœ̃ʁt/	Prefix œ̃- œ̃omóvr /ˈœ̃oməvʁ/
Indefinite	Suffix -i omóvri /ˈoməvʁi/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -so Else: Suffix -oso omóvroso /ˈoməvˌʁoso/

Pronouns

1st singular	a /a/ I, me
2nd singular	bro /bʁo/ you
3rd singular masc	zhó /ʒə/ he, him, it
3rd singular fem	fawrm /fɔʁm/ she, her, it
1st plural	túv /tyv/ we, us
2nd plural	sɥivr /sɥivʁ/ you (all)
3rd plural	u /u/ they, them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	drwá /dʁwɑ/ my
2nd singular	gist /gist/ your
3rd singular masc	faw̃n /fɔ̃n/ his, its
3rd singular fem	fwó /fwə/ her, its
1st plural	trœ̃zh /tʁœ̃ʒ/ our
2nd plural	byodr /bjodʁ/ your
3rd plural	nu /nu/ their

Verbs

  Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

mwis /mwis/ future tense particle

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st person	Prefix vwɛ̃- vwé̃krurs /vwɛ̃kˈʁuʁs/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -lmø Else: Suffix -almø krursalmø /ˈkʁuʁsalmø/	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix be- bekrurs /ˈbekʁuʁs/
2nd person	Suffix -a krursa /kʁuʁˈsa/	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛpɥ- Else: Prefix ɛpɥe- épɥekrurs /ˈɛpɥekʁuʁs/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tɔ̃ Else: Suffix -ətɔ̃ krursótaw̃ /ˈkʁuʁsətɔ̃/
3rd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix ok- Else: Prefix okɑ̃- oká̃krurs /oˈkɑ̃kʁuʁs/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ɑm krursám /ˈkʁuʁsɑm/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tfwɑ̃ Else: Suffix -itfwɑ̃ krursitfwá̃ /kʁuʁˈsitfwɑ̃/

Imperfective aspect

  The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying, and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).   It is indicated with the affix:

Imperfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁjɔ̃ Else: Suffix -aʁjɔ̃ krursaryaw̃ /ˈkʁuʁsaʁjɔ̃/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sɛ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix u-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ʁy-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix i-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix nu-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix œ̃z-
Else: Prefix œ̃ze-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix vwɛ̃-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ljɑ-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix mja-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix fɑ̃-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix umj-
Else: Prefix umjɔ̃-
Diminutive = Prefix ɑ̃-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɑb-
Else: Prefix ɑba-