Beribonese

LANGUAGE FAMILY: TYRILAN   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 7.1M / #6   SPOKEN IN: Beribon (North) - 3.3M / Beribon (South) - 2.5M / Uvan Empire - 1M / Kahrilo - 300K   PERIOD OF USE:   SCRIPT USED:   PARENT LANGUAGE:  

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  "...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."   Translation: ca˦l a˦rduh bau̯˦t pa˦nduh a˦ ma˦nke˦k ca˦l bu˦uh a˦ e˦l ki˦tau̯˦khe˦h ku˦ pu˦te˦   Pronunciation: ʧa˦l a˦rˈduh bau̯˦t pa˦nˈduh a˦ ma˦nˈke˦k ʧa˦l ˈbu˦uh a˦ e˦l ˈki˦tau̯˦khe˦h ku˦ ˈpu˦te˦     Beribonese word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b d f h j k l m n p r s t w ŋ ɡ ɲ ʤ ʧ/  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b		t d			k ɡ
Affricate				ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f	s				h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: /a ai̯ au̯ e i o u/   Diphthongs: ai̯, au̯   Tones: ˦  

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, d, fr, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, pl, pr, r, s, sh, st, t, tr, w, ɡ, ɡr, ɲ, ʤ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bʤ, d, f, h, hk, j, k, kh, kk, ks, kt, kɲ, l, lk, m, mb, ml, mp, n, nd, nk, ns, nt, ntr, nɲ, nʤ, nʧ, p, pk, pt, r, rb, rd, rh, rk, rl, rm, rn, rp, rs, rt, rɡ, rʤ, rʧ, s, sk, st, str, t, tk, w, ŋ, ŋh, ŋk, ŋl, ŋs, ŋɡ, ɡ, ɲ, ʤ, ʧ
Word final consonants: b, h, k, l, ll, m, n, nd, nt, p, r, rd, s, t, w, ŋ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• a → i / _k
• e → oe / _c
• c → q / _i
• u → uo / _n

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʧ	c
ɡ	g
ŋ	ng
j	y
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny

 

Grammar

  Main word order: Verb Subject Object (Prepositional phrase).
"Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Opened Mary the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions  

Nouns

  Nouns have six cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

Singular

 

	Animate	Inanimate
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sa˦- sa˦te˦la˦ /sa˦ˈte˦la˦/	Prefix bau̯˦- bau̯˦ta˦s /bau̯˦ˈta˦s/
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma˦- ma˦te˦la˦ /ˈma˦te˦la˦/	Prefix sho˦- sho˦ta˦s /ˈsho˦ta˦s/
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bo˦- bo˦te˦la˦ /bo˦ˈte˦la˦/	Prefix u˦- u˦ta˦s /ˈu˦ta˦s/
Dative	Prefix au̯˦- au̯˦te˦la˦ /ˈau̯˦te˦la˦/	Prefix la˦- la˦ta˦s /la˦ˈta˦s/
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix te˦- te˦te˦la˦ /te˦ˈte˦la˦/	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ti˦- ti˦ta˦s /ˈti˦ta˦s/
Ablative	Prefix ma˦- ma˦te˦la˦ /ˈma˦te˦la˦/	Prefix se˦- se˦ta˦s /ˈse˦ta˦s/

Plural

 

	Animate	Inanimate
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mu˦- mu˦te˦la˦ /ˈmu˦te˦la˦/	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix se˦- se˦ta˦s /ˈse˦ta˦s/
Accusative	Prefix e˦- e˦te˦la˦ /ˈe˦te˦la˦/	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ta˦- ta˦ta˦s /ˈta˦ta˦s/
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʤ- Else: Prefix ʤe˦- je˦te˦la˦ /ˈʤe˦te˦la˦/	Prefix bi˦- bi˦ta˦s /ˈbi˦ta˦s/
Dative	Prefix a˦- a˦te˦la˦ /ˈa˦te˦la˦/	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix du˦- du˦ta˦s /ˈdu˦ta˦s/
Locative	Prefix ai̯˦- ai̯˦te˦la˦ /ˈai̯˦te˦la˦/	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix be˦- be˦ta˦s /ˈbe˦ta˦s/
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku˦- ku˦te˦la˦ /ˈku˦te˦la˦/	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mi˦- mi˦ta˦s /mi˦ˈta˦s/

 

Articles

 

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	o˦ /o˦/ the	nyau̯˦n /ɲau̯˦n/ a
Plural	te˦ /te˦/ the	u˦k /u˦k/ some

 

Pronouns

 

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	mai̯˦ /mai̯˦/ I	do˦ /do˦/ me	tu˦ /tu˦/ mine	u˦n /u˦n/ to me	re˦n /re˦n/ at me	plai̯˦ /plai̯˦/ from me
2nd singular	ca˦h /ʧa˦h/ you (masc)	a˦ /a˦/ you	te˦ /te˦/ yours	mi˦n /mi˦n/ to you	ma˦k /ma˦k/ at you	lau̯˦n /lau̯˦n/ from you
3rd singular masc	bau̯˦t /bau̯˦t/ he, it	ni˦ng /ni˦ŋ/ him, it	do˦ll /do˦ll/ his, its	sa˦ng /sa˦ŋ/ to him, at it	trau̯˦ll /trau̯˦ll/ at him, at it	i˦n /i˦n/ from him, from it
3rd singular fem	bo˦ /bo˦/ she, it	pa˦ /pa˦/ her, it	ma˦h /ma˦h/ hers, its	ti˦ /ti˦/ to her, at it	e˦n /e˦n/ at her, at it	nyau̯˦h /ɲau̯˦h/ from her, from it
1st plural	wu˦ /wu˦/ we	u˦ /u˦/ us	mu˦ /mu˦/ ours	o˦ /o˦/ to us	ma˦nt /ma˦nt/ at us	ki˦ /ki˦/ from us
2nd plural	ta˦ /ta˦/ you all	ma˦ /ma˦/ you all	i˦ /i˦/ yours (pl)	bi˦ /bi˦/ to you all	se˦m /se˦m/ at you all	ba˦ /ba˦/ from you all
3rd plural	bai̯˦ /bai̯˦/ they	pu˦ng /pu˦ŋ/ them	ki˦h /ki˦h/ theirs	ku˦ /ku˦/ to them	a˦t /a˦t/ at them	ke˦ /ke˦/ from them

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	me˦rd /me˦rd/ my
2nd singular	ku˦ /ku˦/ your
3rd singular masc	a˦ /a˦/ his
3rd singular fem	e˦ /e˦/ her
1st plural	pu˦h /pu˦h/ our
2nd plural	sto˦ /sto˦/ your (pl)
3rd plural	bu˦ /bu˦/ their

 

Verbs

 

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	Prefix a˦- a˦po˦ruh /ˈa˦po˦ruh/ (I) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa˦- pa˦po˦ruh /pa˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (I) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧa˦- ca˦po˦ruh /ˈʧa˦po˦ruh/ (I) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
2nd singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ti˦- ti˦po˦ruh /ti˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (you) learn	Prefix be˦- be˦po˦ruh /be˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (you) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku˦- ku˦po˦ruh /ˈku˦po˦ruh/ (you) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
3rd singular	Prefix ta˦- ta˦po˦ruh /ˈta˦po˦ruh/ (he/she/it) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʤ- Else: Prefix ʤe˦- je˦po˦ruh /ˈʤe˦po˦ruh/ (he/she/it) learned	Prefix bu˦- bu˦po˦ruh /bu˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (he/she/it) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
1st plural	Prefix mi˦- mi˦po˦ruh /mi˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki˦- ki˦po˦ruh /ˈki˦po˦ruh/ (we) learned	Prefix e˦- e˦po˦ruh /ˈe˦po˦ruh/ (we) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
2nd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix tr- Else: Prefix trai̯˦- trai̯˦po˦ruh /ˈtrai̯˦po˦ruh/ (you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sa˦- sa˦po˦ruh /sa˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma˦- ma˦po˦ruh /ˈma˦po˦ruh/ (you all) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
3rd plural	Prefix ma˦- ma˦po˦ruh /ˈma˦po˦ruh/ (they) learn	Prefix ba˦- ba˦po˦ruh /ba˦ˈpo˦ruh/ (they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix be˦- be˦po˦ruh /ˈbe˦po˦ruh/ (they) learned (lonɡ aɡo)

  Beribonese uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: e˦k - e˦k po˦ruh /e˦k po˦ˈruh/ 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).   Beribonese uses an affix for imperfective:  

Imperfective

If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix te˦- te˦po˦ruh /ˈte˦po˦ruh/ learns/is learninɡ

 

Numbers

  Beribonese has a base-20 number system:   1 - o˦ll
2 - me˦
3 - ti˦rd
4 - tu˦
5 - ba˦h
6 - re˦
7 - mi˦
8 - a˦k
9 - je˦
10 - be˦
11 - ki˦we˦
12 - mai̯˦nd
13 - du˦w
14 - ta˦ha˦
15 - me˦tkai̯˦ko˦s
16 - pau̯˦rsi˦
17 - a˦nti˦
18 - e˦pkau̯˦kai̯˦w
19 - re˦nai̯˦ta˦
20 - re˦nglau̯˦tau̯˦
21 - re˦nglau̯˦tau̯˦o˦ll “twenty-one”
400 - o˦ll mi˦b “one fourhundred”
401 - o˦ll mi˦b o˦ll “one fourhundred one”
800 - me˦ mi˦b “two fourhundred”
8000 - o˦ll e˦p “one eightthousand”
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix ma˦-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a˦-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix e˦-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ai̯˦-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ku˦-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tu˦-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix a˦-
Tending to = Prefix i˦-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix e˦-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix ba˦-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix u˦-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma˦-
Diminutive = Prefix i˦-
Augmentative = Prefix bai̯˦-