Xaben

Natively known as: xaben /ˈxaben/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nyu nɛ son tan an kewaze nyu bu an xɛkewi wenli ɖo nugelɔ
Pronunciation: /ɲu nɛ son tan an keˈwaze ɲu bu an xɛˈkewi ˈwenli ɖo nuˈgelɔ/
Xaben word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d d͡ʑ f g j k l m n p r s t t͡ɕ v w x xʷ z ɖ ɣ ɣʷ ɲ  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n			ɲ
Stop	b p		t d	ɖ			k g
Affricate					t͡ɕ d͡ʑ
Fricative		f v	s z				ɣ x ɣʷ xʷ
Approximant						j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes  

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: a e i o u ɔ ɛ  

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
t͡ɕ	c
ɣʷ	hw
ɣ	h
j	y
d͡ʑ	j
ɲ	ny
xʷ	xw

 

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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	If starts with vowel: Prefix tl- Else: Prefix tlu- tluhwɛla /tluˈɣʷɛla/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix we- wehwɛla /weˈɣʷɛla/ dogs

 

Articles

 

Definite	wa /wa/ the
Indefinite	zɔ /zɔ/ a, some

  Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

  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	coh /t͡ɕoɣ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	nɔn /nɔn/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	nɛ /nɛ/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	ɖɛ /ɖɛ/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	tun /tun/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	na /na/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ɖin /ɖin/ they, them, theirs

 

Possessive determiners

 

	Possessive
1st singular	fɛn /fɛn/ my
2nd singular	wa /wa/ your
3rd singular masc	an /an/ his
3rd singular fem	we /we/ her
1st plural	bɔ /bɔ/ our
2nd plural	ɔ /ɔ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	te /te/ their

 

Verbs

 

Present	Prefix wɔ- wɔuxan /wɔˈuxan/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔj- Else: Prefix ɔjɔ- ɔyuxan /ɔˈjuxan/ learned

  Xaben uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kpa - kpa uxan /kpa ˈuxan/ will learn

 

Numbers

  Xaben has a base-12 number system:   1 - mɔ
2 - ɖɔ
3 - cɔ
4 - nɔn
5 - ɖɛn
6 - e
7 - nyun
8 - zɔrin
9 - en
10 - bon
11 - mɔn
12 - usen
144 - gbaɖene
1728 - yan
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɖi-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix o-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix oɖ-
Else: Prefix oɖɔ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix bu-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -un
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɔ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d͡ʑla
Else: Suffix -ɔd͡ʑla
Tending to = Prefix u-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -o
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -en
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -en
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix vl-
Else: Prefix vle-
Diminutive = Prefix tɔ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix no-