Bone Tongue

This is the language used by Bone Writers to perform magic. Knowledge of the language outside of Bone Writers themselves is rare - a few researchers have studied it, but have nothing close to a full understanding, and Manashins who know Bone Writers personally may have passing familiarity with it, but actual fluency is limited to the tiny percentage of Manashins who become Bone Writers. It is passed from one Bone Writer to another, and its origins are as mysterious as the magic it commands.   The language is rarely spoken aloud. It only needs to be written to perform magic, and it is nobody's mother tongue, so it is not often used for conversation. Sometimes, Bone Writers will speak to each other in this language for the sake of secrecy.  

Hiwepan

Hiwepan is the language's name for itself.

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d g h k l m n p s t w z ŋ ɹ ʃ ʤ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Affricate			ʤ
Fricative		s z	ʃ		h
Approximant		ɹ
Lateral approximant		l

    Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

    Vowel inventory: a e i o u  

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

 

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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: postpositions  

Nouns

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: te - te kora /te ˈkoɹa/ dogs

   

Animate	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix se- sedluz /ˈsedluz/
Inanimate	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bo- boshuha /ˈboʃuha/

   

Articles

Definite	pu /pu/ the
Indefinite	ku /ku/ a, some

    Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used with place names: ‘The London’

  Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

 

Pronouns

1st singular	dlo /dlo/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ma /ma/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	a /a/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	pu /pu/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	o /o/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	zu /zu/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	sa /sa/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	bung /buŋ/ they, them, theirs

   

Possessive determiners

1st singular	dlo /dlo/ my
2nd singular	ma /ma/ your
3rd singular masc	a /a/ his
3rd singular fem	pu /pu/ her
1st plural inclusive	o /o/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	zu /zu/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	sa /sa/ your (pl)
3rd plural	bung /buŋ/ their

   

Verbs

Present	No affix juz /ʤuz/ learn
Past	Prefix i- ijuz /ˈiʤuz/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mo- mojuz /moˈʤuz/ learned (long ago)

    Hiwepan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: zak - zak juz /zak ʤuz/ will learn

   

Numbers

  Hiwepan has a base-10 number system:   1 - dlu
2 - ba
3 - ku
4 - ko
5 - se
6 - ble
7 - ga
8 - su
9 - zi
10 - u
11 - u sle dlu “ten and one”
100 - dlu pletla “one hundred”
101 - dlu pletla dlu “one hundred one”
200 - ba pletla
1000 - dlu oka “one thousand”
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʤ- Else: Prefix ʤo-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix sl- Else: Prefix sle-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zi-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix u-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix dl- Else: Prefix dlu-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix o-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix se-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ka-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ke-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix hi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ki-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pa-
Augmentative = Suffix -a