Nʼebibucian

Natively known as: nʼebibuc /nʼeˈbibuc/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nto ndi nes mi cec nembah nto mekabec cec carac bwuh se nduminkwe
Pronunciation: /nho ndi nes mi cec nemˈbɑh nho meˈkɑbec cec cɑˈɾɑc bwuh se nduˈmiŋxwe/
Nʼebibucian word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b c cʼ d d͡ʒ f g h j jʼ k l m n nʼ p s t v w wʼ x xʼ z ŋ ɲ ɾ ʃ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n nʼ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	b p		d t		c cʼ	k g
Affricate				d͡ʒ
Fricative		v f	s z	ʃ		xʼ x	h
Approximant					j jʼ
Tap			ɾ
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w wʼ

  Vowel inventory: e i o u ɑ  

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

  Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable ?   Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʃ	sh
mh	mp
ŋx	nk
nh	nt
dz	z
ɲ	ny
ɑ	a
j	y
d͡ʒ	j
ɾ	r

 

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?  

Nouns

 

Singular	Prefix i- ibwuc /iˈbwuc/ dog
Plural	Prefix e- ebwuc /eˈbwuc/ dogs

 

Articles

 

Definite	nʼus /nʼus/ the
Indefinite	ryʼe /ɾjʼe/ a, some

  Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

  Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• 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	gi /gi/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ye /je/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ndi /ndi/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	nʼas /nʼɑs/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	bu /bu/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	ris /ɾis/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	bes /bes/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	gi /gi/ my
2nd singular	mi /mi/ your
3rd singular masc	cec /cec/ his
3rd singular fem	goh /goh/ her
1st plural	mpu /mhu/ our
2nd plural	nte /nhe/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nya /ɲɑ/ their

 

Verbs

 

Present	Prefix i- ingeh /inˈgeh/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix c- Else: Prefix cu- cungeh /cunˈgeh/ learned
Future	Prefix ŋxʼi- nkʼingeh /ŋxʼinˈgeh/ will learn

 

Progressive aspect

  The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Nʼebibucian uses an affix for progressive:  

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɑ- kangeh /kɑnˈgeh/ be 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).
Nʼebibucian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix vjʼ- Else: Prefix vjʼɑ- vyʼangeh /vjʼɑnˈgeh/ learn (often, habitually)

 

Numbers

  Nʼebibucian has a base-12 number system:   1 - gu
2 - bi
3 - bas
4 - vyʼe
5 - yo
6 - be
7 - nsha
8 - kunori
9 - rwu
10 - no
11 - kuc
12 - nʼe
144 - we
1728 - goh
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix bw-
Else: Prefix bwi-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ke-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ko-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix u-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix be-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix go-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix kɑ-
Tending to = Prefix ho-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mi-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix eɾ-
Else: Prefix eɾɑ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix gu-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɑ-
Diminutive = Prefix ɑ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bɑ-