Riber, Tam Bor, Ta Methim, 31st, 3598, Dry

Natively known as: Riber /ˈɹibeɹ/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... tuth nom ma therfesh tunlash shefu tuth kane a ma nathfi shon thuv Pronunciation: /tuθ nom ma ˈθeɹfeʃ ˈtunlaʃ ˈʃefu tuθ ˈkane a ma ˈnaθfi ʃon θuv/ Riberish word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b f k l m n t v ɹ ʃ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar
Nasal	m			n
Stop	b			t		k
Fricative		f v	θ		ʃ
Approximant				ɹ
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u/

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

Syllable structure: (C)V(C) Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable Word initial consonants: f, k, m, n, t, v, ɹ, ʃ, θ Mid-word consonants: b, bb, bl, bn, bt, bv, bɹ, f, ft, fʃ, k, kf, km, kt, kv, kɹ, l, lf, ll, ln, lt, lɹ, lθ, m, mb, mf, mk, mm, mɹ, mʃ, n, nf, nk, nl, nn, nt, nɹ, nʃ, t, tf, tk, tl, tt, tʃ, v, vm, vn, vv, vɹ, ɹ, ɹb, ɹf, ɹn, ɹʃ, ʃ, ʃb, ʃl, θ, θf, θl, θm Word final consonants: b, f, k, m, n, t, v, ɹ, ʃ, θ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• v → m / #_V
• θ → s / _k
• t → d / #_
• i → e / _(C)e
• l → h / _k
• N → ŋ / _#
• v → b / #_
• v → u / V_V
• a → ∅ / _i
• l → d / n_
• t → ʦ / _{i,ı̃}

  Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
θ	th
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) 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 six 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.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

  Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: ta - ta shen /ta ʃen/ doɡs

Nominative	No affix shen /ʃen/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -u shenu /ˈʃenu/ (verb done to) doɡ
Genitive	Suffix -af shenaf /ˈʃenaf/ doɡʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -v Else: Suffix -iv sheniv /ˈʃeniv/ to (the/a) doɡ
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -it shenit /ˈʃenit/ near/at/by (the/a) doɡ
Ablative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -at shenat /ˈʃenat/ from (the/a) doɡ

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	na /na/ the	at /at/ a
Plural	ni /ni/ the	vuth /vuθ/ some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	ru /ɹu/ I	shov /ʃov/ me	the /θe/ mine	vu /vu/ to me	na /na/ at me	mi /mi/ from me
2nd singular	no /no/ you (masc)	ma /ma/ you	fon /fon/ yours	thut /θut/ to you	nab /nab/ at you	mo /mo/ from you
3rd singular masc	nom /nom/ he, it	me /me/ him, it	ta /ta/ his, its	kat /kat/ to him, at it	fen /fen/ at him, at it	fom /fom/ from him, from it
3rd singular fem	fe /fe/ she, it	fam /fam/ her, it	fak /fak/ hers, its	i /i/ to her, at it	tak /tak/ at her, at it	fer /feɹ/ from her, from it
1st plural	a /a/ we	mit /mit/ us	tor /toɹ/ ours	fo /fo/ to us	rik /ɹik/ at us	thu /θu/ from us
2nd plural	vi /vi/ you all	tan /tan/ you all	tar /taɹ/ yours (pl)	sho /ʃo/ to you all	ri /ɹi/ at you all	ka /ka/ from you all
3rd plural masc	ti /ti/ they (masc)	vub /vub/ them (masc)	ni /ni/ theirs (masc)	am /am/ to them (masc)	ke /ke/ at them (masc)	ko /ko/ from them (masc)
3rd plural fem	thub /θub/ they (fem)	fa /fa/ them (fem)	rem /ɹem/ theirs (fem)	tu /tu/ to them (fem)	sheth /ʃeθ/ at them (fem)	vib /vib/ from them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ko /ko/ my
2nd singular	ru /ɹu/ your
3rd singular masc	ma /ma/ his
3rd singular fem	mot /mot/ her
1st plural	sho /ʃo/ our
2nd plural	tut /tut/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ath /aθ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	mi /mi/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Masculine	Feminine
Present	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak riltomrik /ˈɹiltomɹik/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -θ Else: Suffix -uθ riltomrith /ˈɹiltomɹiθ/
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -on riltomrin /ˈɹiltomɹin/	Suffix -ek riltomriek /ˈɹiltoˌmɹiek/
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -θ Else: Suffix -aθ riltomrith /ˈɹiltomɹiθ/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ot riltomrit /ˈɹiltomɹit/

Riberish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʃu - shu riltomri /ʃu ˈɹiltomɹi/ will learn

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.   Riberish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ub riltomrib /ˈɹiltomɹib/ have learned

Numbers

  Riberish has a base-10 number system:   1 - shom 2 - mu 3 - thim 4 - it 5 - thib 6 - met 7 - atshi 8 - i 9 - sholthi 10 - ko 11 - koshom “ten-one” 100 - kab “hundred” 101 - kab tuth shom “hundred and one” 200 - mu kab 1000 - fokra “thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -at Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ik Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -i Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -an Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ot Noun to verb = Suffix -in Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ak Tending to = Suffix -i Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -et Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -θ Else: Suffix -aθ One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ Else: Suffix -iʃ Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -at Diminutive = Suffix -ev Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak