Hewirski

Hewirski^listen is the native tongue of the Álfuríki and is the only language officially allowed within their borders. The language is only spoken by a few outside the Álfuríki, as the elves do not teach it to outsiders.  

Natively known as: Hýwøsk /ˈhyːwøsk/^listen

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
djón œ ás hlǫunn tú hrís djón męld á ás ulp skeín læ^listen
Pronunciation: /djõːn øː aːs hlɔunn tuː hriːs djõːn mɛld aː aːs ulp skɛiːn lɛː/
Hewirski word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
 

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b c d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w ð ŋ θ/  

↓Manner/ Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	p b			t d	c
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s
Approximant					j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

↓Manner/ Place→	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	ŋ
Stop	k g
Fricative		h

    Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labio-velar
Approximant	w

    Vowel inventory: /a ai au e eo eu i io o u y ø œ ɔu ɛ ɛi/   Diphthongs: ai, au, eo, eu, io, ɔu, ɛi  

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e ø	o
Low-mid	ɛ œ
Low	a

    Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bj, br, d, dj, dl, drv, dv, dw, f, fj, fl, fr, g, gj, gl, gr, h, hj, hl, hn, hr, hv, j, k, kj, kl, kn, knj, kr, kv, l, lj, m, mj, n, p, pj, pl, pr, r, rj, s, sj, sk, sl, sn, st, sv, t, tj, tr, v, vj, vl, w, θ, θj, θr, θv
Mid-word consonants: b, br, d, dr, dw, f, fn, fð, g, gg, gh, gj, gl, gr, gð, h, hj, hl, hn, hr, hv, j, k, kj, kk, kl, kn, knj, kr, kv, l, ld, ldr, lg, lgh, lk, ll, lm, lt, m, mb, mj, mn, n, nct, nd, nk, nn, nt, p, pj, pl, pp, pr, r, rg, rh, rj, rk, rkj, rl, rm, rn, rst, rð, s, sj, sk, skr, sl, ss, st, sv, t, tj, tr, tt, v, vj, vl, vm, w, ð, ðj, ðk, ðr, ðs, ŋ, ŋn, θ, θj, θv
Word final consonants: d, k, kt, ld, ldr, lm, lp, mb, n, nd, nn, nt, pp, r, rg, rm, s, sk, st, t, tt, ð, ŋ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• ð → θ / _C[-voice]
• {p,b} → v / V_V
• g → k / _s
• g → k / _t
• gi → jɪ / V_
• g → ːɣ / V_V
• i → ĩ / _N
• a → ã / _N
• u → ũ / _N
• o → õ / _N
• ɛ → ɛ̃ / _N
• e → ẽ / _N
• ɔ → ɔ̃ / _N
• y → ỹ / _N
• ø → ø̃ / _N
• œ → œ̃ / _N
• V → $&ː / _CV
• V → $&ː / _pr
• V → $&ː / _tr
• V → $&ː / _kr
• V → $&ː / _sr
• V → $&ː / _pj
• V → $&ː / _tj
• V → $&ː / _kj
• V → $&ː / _sj
• V → $&ː / _tv
• V → $&ː / _kv
• V → $&ː / #C_#
• V → $&ː / #CC_#
• V → $&ː / #_#
• V → $&ː / #_C#
• V → $&ː / #C_C#
• V → $&ː / #CC_C#
• (?<=ˈC*)V(?=C)(?!C) → $&ː

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
aː	á
eː	é
iː	í
oː	ó
uː	ú
yː	ý
øː	œ
ŋ	ng
œ	ø
œː	æ
ɔ	ǫ
ɔː	ǫ́
ɛ	ę
ɛi	ei
ɛː	æ
ɣ	gg
ː	́
̃
θ	Þ

   

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject-Oblique-Object-Verb. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions  

Nouns

  Nouns have three 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.

Nominative	No affix ombǫúkau /ˈõmbɔuːkau/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix peu- peuombǫúkau /ˈpeuõmˌbɔuːkau/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix sn- Else: Prefix snɛi- snombǫúkau /ˈsnõmbɔuːkau/ dogʼs

   

Singular	No affix ombǫúkau /ˈõmbɔuːkau/ dog
Plural	Prefix ai- aiombǫúkau /ˈaiõmˌbɔuːkau/ dogs

   

Articles

 

Definite	aúð /auːð/ the
Indefinite	weopp /weopp/ a, some

   

Pronouns

 

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	ljæ /ljɛː/ I	irm /irm/ me	hœ /høː/ mine
2nd singular	eí /ɛiː/ you	mó /moː/ you	kró /kroː/ yours
3rd singular	œ /øː/ he, she, it	svaú /svauː/ him, her, it	ás /aːs/ his, hers, its
1st plural	í /iː/ we	hlǫú /hlɔuː/ us	kaí /kaiː/ ours
2nd plural	ió /ioː/ you (all)	drvę /drvɛ/ you (all)	á /aː/ yours
3rd plural	kaú /kauː/ they	æ /ɛː/ them	djost /djost/ theirs

   

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	hœ /høː/ my
2nd singular	kró /kroː/ your
3rd singular	ás /aːs/ his, her, its
1st plural	kaí /kaiː/ our
2nd plural	kró /kroː/ your
3rd plural	djost /djost/ their

   

Verbs

 

	Singular	Plural
Present	Prefix frau- fraújost /ˈfrauːjost/ (I/you/he/she) studies	Suffix -y josty /ˈjosty/ (we/they) study
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -dwɛ Else: Suffix -odwɛ jostodwę /ˈjostodwɛ/ (I/you/he/she) studied	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rki Else: Suffix -erki josterki /ˈjosterki/ (we/they) studied
Future	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -uk jostuk /ˈjostuk/ (I/you/he/she) will study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ky Else: Suffix -euky josteúky /ˈjosteuːky/ (we/they) will study

   

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. Hewirski uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -go Else: Suffix -eugo josteúggo /ˈjosteuːɣo/

   

Numbers

  Hewirski has a base-10 number system:   1 - hœ
2 - ió
3 - ár
4 - œ
5 - drvę
6 - dwé
7 - slantǫúvi
8 - skǫund
9 - ít
10 - øðrø
11 - øðrø djón hœ “ten and one”
100 - prønd “hundred”
101 - prønd hœ “hundred one”
200 - ió prønd
1000 - dló “thousand”
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix bau-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix iv-
Else: Prefix ivai-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix au-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix θr-
Else: Prefix θry-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ykj-
Else: Prefix ykjo-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔusl-
Else: Prefix ɔuslau-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix su-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix œkr-
Else: Prefix œkre-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix hri-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If starts with vowel: Prefix œkn-
Else: Prefix œkno-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix dɔu-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɛ-
Diminutive = Prefix i-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix œðj-
Else: Prefix œðja-