Pai

Natively known as: pai /pʲəu̯/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
chlibh trunt piang mídi tai son chlibh piang lanno uac miráthrá fruacht fí
Pronunciation: /xɫɪvʲ tʲɾʲʊnʲtʲ pˠiə̯ŋg ˈmʲiːdʲɪ t̪ˠəu̯ sˠɔnʲ xɫɪvʲ pˠiə̯ŋg ˈlʲaɲɔ uə̯k ˈmʲɪɾˠɑːhɾˠɑː fʲɾʲuə̯xt̪ˠ fʲiː/
Pai word order: and he hat his holding stood and his face wet the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: bʲ bˠ c dʲ d̪ˠ fʲ fˠ g h k lʲ mʲ mˠ nʲ n̪ˠ pʲ pˠ sˠ tʲ t̪ˠ vʲ vˠ x ç ŋ ɟ ɫ ɲ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʃ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	mˠ mʲ		n̪ˠ	nʲ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	bˠ bʲ pˠ pʲ		d̪ˠ t̪ˠ	tʲ dʲ		c ɟ	k g
Fricative		fˠ fʲ vʲ vˠ		sˠ	ʃ	ç	x	h
Tap				ɾˠ ɾʲ
Lateral approximant				lʲ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Velarized alveolar
Lateral approximant	ɫ

Vowel inventory: a eː ia̯ iə̯ iː oː uə̯ uː ɑː ɔ əi̯ əu̯ ɛ ɪ ʊ
Diphthongs: ia̯ iə̯ uə̯ əi̯ əu̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	eː	oː
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a	ɑː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ca	cea
coː	ceo
cu	ciu
kɪ	coi | cai | cui
k	c
h	th
x	ch
ç	ch
ɲ	nn
#n̪ˠ	n
nʲ	n
n̪ˠ	nn
ŋg	ng
ŋ	ng
mʲ	m
mˠ	m
pʲ	p
pˠ	p
bʲ	b
bˠ	b
lʲ	l
ɫ	l
ʃa	sea
sˠɪ	sai
sˠi	suí
sˠeː	sao
ʃɔ	seo | sio
ʃo	seo
ʃu	siu
ʃ	s
sˠ	s
tʲu	tiu
tʲ	te / _{a,ɑː}
tʲ	t
t̪ˠoː	teo
t̪ˠɛ	te
t̪ˠ	t
fˠi	faoi
fˠɪ	fui
fˠuː	fiú
fˠ	f
fʲ	f
ɟ	g
ɪ	i
ɑː	á
eːɾˠ	éar
ɾˠ	r
ɾʲ	r
vˠ	bh | mh
vʲ	bh
d̪ˠ	d
dʲ	d
əi	a
eː	é
ɛ	ei
ɔ	o
oː	ó
iː	í
uː	ú
iə	ia
əu	ai
uə	ua
ʊ	u
̯

---

Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have five 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.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.

Nominative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n̪ˠuː Else: Suffix -eːn̪ˠuː triannú /ˈt̪ˠɾˠiə̯n̪ˠuː/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -dʲia̯ Else: Suffix -eːdʲia̯ triadia /ˈt̪ˠɾˠiə̯dʲia̯/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -ʊɲ triaunn /ˈt̪ˠɾˠiə̯ʊɲ/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃtʲ Else: Suffix -əi̯ʃtʲ triast /t̪ˠɾˠiə̯ʃtʲ/ to dog
Locative	Suffix -ʊ triau /ˈt̪ˠɾˠiə̯ʊ/ near/at/by dog

Singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ Else: Suffix -əi̯ʃ trias /t̪ˠɾˠiə̯ʃ/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʲ Else: Suffix -iːnʲ trian /t̪ˠɾˠiə̯nʲ/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	cu /kʊ/ the	ia /ia̯/ a
Plural	bhia /vʲia̯/ the	gia /giə̯/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’

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

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	chleig /xɫɛg/ I	még /mʲeːɟ/ me	bónn /bˠoːn̪ˠ/ mine	siúr /ʃuːɾʲ/ to me	té /t̪ˠeː/ to me
2nd singular	lur /lʲʊɾʲ/ you	íl /iːɫ/ you	mi /mʲɪ/ yours	cha /xa/ to you	pínn /pˠiːn̪ˠ/ to you
3rd singular masc	trunt /tʲɾʲʊnʲtʲ/ he, it (masc)	rai /ɾˠəu̯/ his, it (masc)	seir /ʃɛɾˠ/ his, its (masc)	fó /fʲoː/ to his, to it (masc)	tiú /tʲuː/ to his, to it (masc)
3rd singular fem	scé /ʃceː/ she, it (fem)	só /sˠoː/ her, it (fem)	có /koː/ hers, its (fem)	bhia /vʲiə̯/ to her, to it (fem)	di /d̪ˠɪ/ to her, to it (fem)
1st plural	chó /çoː/ we	cramh /kɾˠavˠ/ us	faim /fˠəu̯mˠ/ ours	chí /xiː/ to us	cho /xɔ/ to us
2nd plural	dó /d̪ˠoː/ you all	fád /fˠɑːd̪ˠ/ you all	sta /sˠt̪ˠa/ yours (pl)	sa /sˠəi̯/ to you all	dú /dʲuː/ to you all
3rd plural	dé /d̪ˠeː/ they	mar /mˠaɾˠ/ them	dol /dʲɔɫ/ theirs	bia /bˠia̯/ to them	brin /bʲɾʲɪnʲ/ to them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ba /bˠa/ my
2nd singular	a /əi̯/ your
3rd singular masc	piang /pˠiə̯ŋg/ his
3rd singular fem	cla /kɫəi̯/ her
1st plural	lóng /ɫoːŋg/ our
2nd plural	fur /fˠʊɾˠ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	dua /d̪ˠuə̯/ their

Verbs

Present	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɟ Else: Suffix -aɟ crúrirteag /ˈkɾˠuːɾʲɪɾʲtʲaɟ/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -vʲ Else: Suffix -uə̯vʲ crúrirtiuabh /ˈkɾˠuːɾʲɪɾʲtʲuə̯vʲ/ learned

Pai uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kɪɾʲ - coir crúrirt /kɪɾʲ ˈkɾˠuːɾʲɪɾʲtʲ/ 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.
Pai uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -vʲ Else: Suffix -ɔvʲ crúrirtobh /ˈkɾˠuːɾʲɪɾʲtʲɔvʲ/ have learned

Numbers

Pai has a base-10 number system:
1 - ur
2 - úmh
3 - fia
4 - grua
5 - thart
6 - sea
7 - gír
8 - mách
9 - bún
10 - du
100 - bri
1000 - da

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -oː
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -vˠ
Else: Suffix -əu̯vˠ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾʲ
Else: Suffix -eːɾʲ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -oːɾˠ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃtʲ
Else: Suffix -ɛʃtʲ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ia̯nʲtʲ
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mˠpˠəi̯
Else: Suffix -ɪmˠpˠəi̯
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dʲɛ
Else: Suffix -adʲɛ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ʊ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ia̯ʃ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾˠsˠɪ
Else: Suffix -ʊɾˠsˠɪ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾˠ
Else: Suffix -iːɾˠ
Augmentative = Suffix -uːh

These runes are written in order from top to bottom, often written on trees to mark territory and directions. They’re written together, sharing a line down the middle of the runes. Some letters don’t exist in Pai, like W, so it’s often either omitted, or replaced with a similar sounding letter. Double letters are also often omitted to save space.
A few examples of words in Pai:

Dictionary

1850 Words.

Spoken by

• Illyrian

Common Phrases

"May your steps echo softly in the heart of the forest, and your spirit find the dawn in every shadow." -> “A crisír úr mog thei in bhia bàgich of bhia theil, chlibh a glu úr bhia las rua in gan clóbhair”