Nillu

LANGUAGE FAMILY: TYRILAN   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 2M / #22   SPOKEN IN: Loy - 2M   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: zai mer sefhu mool mer nang zai ress mer reck kschehn a lebendt   Pronunciation: ʦaɪ meʁ ˈzəfhʊ moːl meʁ naːŋ ʦaɪ rɛs meʁ rɛk kʃeːn a ˈləbənt     Nillu 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 kʰ l m n nʲ p r s t tʰ v x z ç ŋ ɟ ɮ ɲ ʁ ʃ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ ʧʰ/  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n nʲ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b		t tʰ d		ɟ	k kʰ g
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ	ʧ ʧʰ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ	ç	x	ʁ	h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral fricative			ɮ
Lateral approximant			l

  Vowel inventory: /a aɪ aʊ aː e eː i iː o oː u uː y yː øː œ ɐ ɔ ɔʏ ə ɛ ɛː ɪ ʊ ʏ/   Diphthongs: aɪ, aʊ, ɔʏ  

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː i yː y		uː u
Near-high	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
High-mid	eː e øː		oː o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː œ		ɔ
Near-low		ɐ
Low	a aː

  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bb, bl, br, d, dv, f, g, gf, gh, gl, h, j, jt, k, kk, kʃ, l, ld, lg, lh, lj, lk, ll, lm, ln, lr, lt, ltʃ, lv, lʃ, m, mb, mʃ, n, nd, ndt, ng, ngz, nk, nl, nn, nt, nʃ, p, pv, pʃ, r, rd, rf, rg, rj, rk, rl, rm, rn, rr, rt, rtʃ, rv, rʃ, t, tk, tl, tm, tʃ, v, z, zd, zk, zl, zn, zt, zz, ɟ, ɟʃ, ɲ, ʃ, ʃk, ʃl, ʃt, ʃʃ, ʦ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bɮ, f, fh, g, j, kʰ, kʰtʰ, m, n, ntʰ, nʲ, pt, r, s, t, tʰ, x, ʃ, ʦ, ʦʰ, ʧ, ʧʰ
Word final consonants: f, ft, gŋ, k, ks, kt, l, lk, lp, lpst, ls, lt, lʃ, m, mpf, n, nf, nft, ns, nst, nt, nts, nʃ, p, pf, pt, pʃ, s, st, t, tl, ts, tst, x, xt, ç, çt, çts, ŋ, ŋk, ŋks, ŋkt, ŋst, ʁ, ʁf, ʁk, ʁl, ʁn, ʁnst, ʁt, ʁts, ʁç, ʁʃ, ʃ, ʧ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• t → ʔ / _#
• k → g / n_
• p → v / Vn_
• h → ∅ / V_C

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
v	w
p	b / _#
t	dt / _#
ks	chs
x	ch
ç	ch
ʃ	sch
ʁ	r
z	s
ʦ	z
k	ck / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
{m,b,l,t,n,p,s}	@@ / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
ʦj	ti
ʦ	zt / _#
ʦ	z
iː	ie
ɛː	ä
ɛ	ä | e
œ	ö
aʊ	au
oː	o | oh | oo
ɔ	o
ɔʏ	eu
aɪ	ei | ai
yː	ü
ʏ	ü
uː	u | uh
ʊ	u
aː	a
ɐ	er / !_r
ɐ	e
ɪ	i
øː	ö
ø	ö
eː	ä | äh | e | eh | ee
ə	e
ʔ	∅

 

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	No affix idt /ɪt/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -ɐŋ itterng /ˈɪtɐŋ/ dogs

 

Articles

 

Definite	kemm /kɛm/ the
Indefinite	loo /loː/ a, some

 

Pronouns

 

1st singular	schschi /ʃʃɪ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ri /rɪ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	mer /meʁ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	ga /ga/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	lai /laɪ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	ta /ta/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	a /a/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	schschi /ʃʃɪ/ my
2nd singular	ri /rɪ/ your
3rd singular masc	mer /meʁ/ his
3rd singular fem	ga /ga/ her
1st plural	lai /laɪ/ our
2nd plural	ta /ta/ your (pl)
3rd plural	a /a/ their

 

Verbs

  Nillu uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: rɐ - rer schti /rɐ ʃtɪ/ learned

  Nillu uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: raɪ - rei schti /raɪ ʃtɪ/ will learn

  Progressive aspect   The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.   Nillu uses a standalone particle word for progressive:  

Progressive

Particle before the verb: aɪ - ei schti /aɪ ʃtɪ/ is learning

  Habitual aspect   The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).   Nillu uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: pə - pe schti /pə ʃtɪ/ learns

 

Numbers

  Nillu has a base-10 number system:   1 - nlänn
2 - luh
3 - lech
4 - eindt
5 - noübann
6 - ghaudt
7 - dafhi
8 - rai
9 - tann
10 - se
11 - senlänn “ten-one”
100 - wie “hundred”
101 - wie zai nlenn “hundred and one”
200 - luh wie
1000 - leber “thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix ə-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix gf- Else: Prefix gfaʊ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -ɪnt
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ə
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix toː-
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ʊm
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zə-
Tending to = Suffix -ʏ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ən
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix zə-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ə-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix dɐ-
Diminutive = Suffix -aɪ
Augmentative = Prefix ə-