Ndatohi

Natively known as: ndatoh /ˈndatoh/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
pe nda mazah uh bu zutu pe utih bu zyoluh tanu bu katu
Pronunciation: /pe nda ˈmazah uh bu ˈzutu pe ˈutih bu ˈzjoluh ˈtanu bu ˈkatu/
Ndatohi word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	b p		d t	c	k g
Fricative		f v	z s			h
Approximant				j
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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y

 

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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

 

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- kanse /ˈkanse/ boy	If starts with vowel: Prefix und- Else: Prefix undi- undikili /ˈundiˌkili/ girl
Plural	Prefix ndo- ndonse /ˈndonse/ boys	Prefix ku- kukili /ˈkukili/ girls

 

Articles

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

Pronouns

 

1st singular	cha /cha/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	chah /chah/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	nda /nda/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	ka /ka/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	a /a/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	kih /kih/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	zya /zja/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	ki /ki/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	chu /chu/ my
2nd singular	ah /ah/ your
3rd singular masc	bu /bu/ his
3rd singular fem	bo /bo/ her
1st plural	me /me/ our
2nd plural	ka /ka/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	mba /mba/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	kwa /kwa/ their (fem)

 

Verbs

 

Singular

 

	Masculine	Feminine
Future	Prefix u- undesi /ˈundesi/ (I (masc)/you (masc)/he/it (masc)) will learn	Prefix pu- pundesi /ˈpundesi/ (I (fem)/you (fem)/she/it (fem)) will learn

Plural

 

	Masculine	Feminine
Future	Prefix o- ondesi /ˈondesi/ (we (masc)/you (masc) all/they (masc)) will learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix und- Else: Prefix undi- undindesi /ˈundinˌdesi/ (we (fem)/you (fem) all/they (fem)) will learn

  Ndatohi uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: nu - nu ndesi /nu ˈndesi/ learned

 

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ndeh - ndeh ndesi /ndeh ˈndesi/ 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).
Ndatohi uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix u- undesi /ˈundesi/ learn (often, habitually)

 

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.
Ndatohi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:  

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix ch- Else: Prefix chi- chindesi /ˈchindesi/ have learned

 

Numbers

  Ndatohi has a base-12 number system:   1 - nza
2 - chi
3 - mpo
4 - wi
5 - ku
6 - ko
7 - na
8 - bikwah
9 - ka
10 - noh
11 - ta
12 - mbi
144 - beh
1728 - tulyuh
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fi
Else: Suffix -afi
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ba
Else: Suffix -aba
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -ih
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -i
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix osj-
Else: Prefix osju-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ch-
Else: Prefix cha-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -o
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -oh
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ih
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix u-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ih
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -uh
Diminutive = Prefix i-
Augmentative = Suffix -oh