Language of the Diabolic Tribes

Natively known as: zlemmûg /zlemˈmʊg/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... nru ryæ tû dr̊å̃k d’ũːd yũː nru dr̊å̃k tvoz kwu vnê rõ kho[alt] Pronunciation: /nru rjæ tʊ dʁə̃k ɗũːd jũː nru dʁə̃k tvoz kwu vnɛ rõ χo/ Zlemmûgian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to[/alt]  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n q r s t v w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ɢ ʁ ʃ ʄ ʒ ʣ ʤ ʦ ʧ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Stop	b		t d			k g	q ɢ
Implosive	ɓ		ɗ		ʄ
Affricate			ʦ ʣ	ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ			χ ʁ
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

  Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

  Vowel inventory: a e ẽ i ĩ o õ u ũː æ ɑ ɔ ə ə̃ ɛ ɪ ɪ̃ ʊ ʊ̃

	Front	Central	Back
High	i ĩ		u ũː
Near-high	ɪ ɪ̃		ʊ ʊ̃
High-mid	ẽ e		o õ
Mid		ə ə̃
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Near-low	æ
Low	a		ɑ

  Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable Word initial consonants: b bn bw bʁ df dj dl dn dv dw dz dʁ fj fk fl fr fw g gj j k kj kr ks kw kʃ l lj ml n nl nr q r rj rw s sd sl sr sw t tv tʃ v vj vl vn vr vw z zl ŋw ɓ ɗ ɢ ʁ ʁj ʁw ʃk ʃn ʄ ʒ ʒw ʣ ʦ ʦw ʧ ʧt χ Mid-word consonants: b bb bj bl bm br bs bv bw bʁ bʃ bʒ d db dj dl ds dt dʃ f ff fg fj fk fm ft fw g gd gf gg gj gm gr gt gv gz gʁ gʤ gʧ j jd jg jr jv k kd kj kl km kt kz kʦ kʧ l lb ld lg lm lq lr lt lz m mk mm mv mz mʃ mʤ n nf nm nn ns nt nw nz nʁ nʃ nʒ q r rb rf rg rk rl rn rr rt rv rw rʃ rʧ s sd sl sn sr ss sv sχ t td tg tm tr tz tʃ tʤ tʦ tʧ v vl vr vv w wb wg wl ww wʃ z zd zj zm zv zz ŋ ŋb ŋd ŋt ŋz ɓ ɗ ɢ ʁ ʁb ʁd ʁj ʁm ʁs ʁt ʁv ʁw ʁʃ ʁʒ ʃ ʃk ʃl ʃr ʃʧ ʄ ʒ ʒd ʒl ʒn ʣ ʤ ʤl ʤr ʦ ʦl ʦn ʦs ʦw ʧ ʧf ʧk ʧl ʧn χ χk χm χn χr Word final consonants: d f g k l n q r s t v w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ɢ ʁ ʃ ʄ ʒ ʣ ʤ ʦ ʧ χ   Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɔ	aw
ɑ	â
ɛ	ê
ə	å
ɪ	î
ʊ	û
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɓ	p
ɗ	d’
ʃ	sh
ʤ	j
ʄ	j’
ʒ	zh
ʣ	dz
ʦ	ts
ʧ	ch
χ	kh
ɢ	g̊
ʁ	r̊

 

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key. Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. Adposition: postpositions  

Nouns

  Nouns have four 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 recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.

Nominative	No affix fyĩ /fjĩ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix o- ofyĩ /oˈfjĩ/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix sw- Else: Prefix swʊ- swûfyĩ /swʊˈfjĩ/ dogʼs
Dative	Prefix ʊ̃- û̃fyĩ /ʊ̃ˈfjĩ/ to (the/a) dog

Definite	No affix fyĩ /fjĩ/ the dog
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix dw- Else: Prefix dwæ- dwæfyĩ /dwæˈfjĩ/ a dog

 

Articles

  Zlemmûgian encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.  

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	å̃ /ə̃/ I	ûsh /ʊʃ/ me	rî̃d’ /rɪ̃ɗ/ mine	gak /gak/ to me
2nd singular	ê /ɛ/ you	û /ʊ/ you	qî̃ /qɪ̃/ yours	lĩ /lĩ/ to you
3rd singular	ryæ /rjæ/ he, she, it	rwuk /rwuk/ him, her, it	dr̊å̃k /dʁə̃k/ his, hers, its	swo /swo/ to him, her, it
1st plural	u /u/ we	ryå /rjə/ us	tsûr /ʦʊr/ ours	zhe /ʒe/ to us
2nd plural	dzû /ʣʊ/ you all	chũː /ʧũː/ you all	fyê /fjɛ/ yours (pl)	r̊ê /ʁɛ/ to you all
3rd plural	qêk /qɛk/ they	shkawn /ʃkɔn/ them	r̊yĩg /ʁjĩg/ theirs	ksêq /ksɛq/ to them

 

Possessive determiners

1st singular	rî̃d’ /rɪ̃ɗ/ my
2nd singular	qî̃ /qɪ̃/ your
3rd singular	dr̊å̃k /dʁə̃k/ his, her, its
1st plural	tsûr /ʦʊr/ our
2nd plural	fyê /fjɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	r̊yĩg /ʁjĩg/ their

 

Verbs

Future

Prefix ɓũː- pũːræq /ɓũːˈræq/ will learn

  Zlemmûgian uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ʊʃ - ûsh ræq /ʊʃ ræq/ learned

 

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Prefix dla- dlaræq /dlaˈræq/ is 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).   Zlemmûgian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: vũː - vũː ræq /vũː ræq/ learns

 

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.   Zlemmûgian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zi- ziræq /ziˈræq/ have learned

 

Numbers

  Zlemmûgian has a base-10 number system:   1 - kshåz 2 - kyû 3 - fyor 4 - zhash 5 - vræ 6 - vlõ 7 - lyikh 8 - ê 9 - dr̊âs 10 - î̃ 11 - î̃kshåz “ten-one” 100 - kshåz vwõ “one hundred” 101 - kshåz vwõ kshåz “one hundred one” 200 - kyû vwõ 1000 - kshåz zhi “one thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix u- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix fjɛ- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fw- Else: Prefix fwɪ- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʦ- Else: Prefix ʦʊ- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ʊ- Noun to verb = Prefix ɪ- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kj- Else: Prefix kji- Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix dw- Else: Prefix dwæ- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fk- Else: Prefix fkɪ̃- Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ke- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʄ- Else: Prefix ʄo- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri- Diminutive = Prefix ə- Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧa-