Otor

LANGUAGE FAMILY: TYRILAN   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 5.05M / #10   SPOKEN IN: Otoron - 3M / Tralgon - 1M / Bim - 800K / Loy - 250K   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: lei bre viomhe qahe bre fludioni lei grerhe bre qob prerta qers tist   Pronunciation: ˈlei breː ˈwiomhe ˈqahe breː fluːˈdioniː ˈlei ˈɡrerhe breː qob ˈprerta qers tist     Otor word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b d f h k kʷ l m n p q r s t w z ɡ/  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	k kʷ ɡ	q
Fricative		f	s z			h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: /a ae au aː e ei eu eː i io iu iː o oe oː u ui uː/   Diphthongs: ae, au, ei, eu, io, iu, oe, ui  

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, br, d, f, fl, fr, h, k, kl, kr, kʷ, l, m, n, p, pl, pr, q, r, s, sk, sp, st, t, tr, w, z, ɡ, ɡl, ɡr
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, br, bs, bt, d, dd, dkʷ, dm, dw, f, ff, h, k, kk, kkʷ, kr, ks, ksk, ksp, kspl, kssp, kst, kstr, kt, kʷ, l, lk, ll, ln, lp, ls, lt, ltr, lw, lɡ, m, mb, mkʷ, mm, mn, mp, mpl, mpr, mw, n, nd, nf, nfl, nfr, nk, nkl, nkr, nkʷ, nl, nn, ns, nskr, nsp, nst, nstr, nt, ntr, nw, nɡ, nɡr, p, pl, pp, ppl, ppr, pr, ps, pt, r, rb, rd, rf, rk, rkʷ, rm, rn, rp, rr, rs, rsp, rt, rw, rɡ, s, sd, sk, skʷ, sm, sp, ss, st, stkʷ, str, t, tkʷ, tr, ts, tt, ttr, w, ɡ, ɡm, ɡn, ɡr, ɡɡ
Word final consonants: b, d, k, ks, l, m, n, nk, ns, nt, ps, r, rs, s, st, t   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• ɡ → k / #_
• u → a / a_

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɡ	g
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː

 

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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions  

Nouns

 

Singular	No affix gliulib /ɡliˈulib/ doɡ
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -iːn gliulibin /ˌɡliuˈlibiːn/ doɡs

 

Articles

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

Pronouns

 

1st singular	cest /keːst/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	qa /qa/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	bre /breː/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	bi /biː/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	gliub /ɡliub/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	qua /kʷa/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	sant /saːnt/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	cest /keːst/ my
2nd singular	qa /qa/ your
3rd singular masc	bre /breː/ his
3rd singular fem	bi /biː/ her
1st plural	gliub /ˈɡliub/ our
2nd plural	qua /kʷa/ your (pl)
3rd plural	sant /saːnt/ their

 

Verbs

 

	Future
1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lui- luicabhe /luiˈkaːbhe/ (I) will learn
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -as cabhes /ˈkaːbhes/ (you) will learn
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ib cabheb /ˈkaːbheb/ (he/she/it) will learn
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -uːr cabher /ˈkaːbher/ (we) will learn
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -es cabhes /ˈkaːbhes/ (you all) will learn
3rd plural	Suffix -ons cabheons /kaːbˈheons/ (they) will learn

  Otor uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: fruim - fruim cabhe /fruim ˈkaːbhe/ learned

  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).   Otor uses an affix for imperfective:  

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ns Else: Suffix -aens cabhens /ˈkaːbhens/ learns/is learninɡ

  Perfect aspect   The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.   Otor uses an affix for the perfect aspect:  

Perfect

Suffix -a cabhea /kaːbˈhea/ have learned

 

Numbers

  Otor has a base-10 number system:   1 - cas
2 - qua
3 - rud
4 - voent
5 - hiubrus
6 - sti
7 - qi
8 - qu
9 - stil
10 - gu
11 - cas lei gu “one and ten”
100 - cas nonc “one hundred”
101 - cas nonc cas “one hundred one”
200 - qua nonc
1000 - cas rest “one thousand”
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix ui-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -es
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -aul
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix i-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -a
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix br- Else: Prefix briː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ib
Tending to = Prefix ti-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -uːs
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -iod
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -aer
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -aem
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nk Else: Suffix -unk
Augmentative = Suffix -i