Salomese

Natively known as: tīqa /ˈtiːkɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
rā lā ti lā tuha ḑī rā lā suhu zīb naz’ qaʻā mū
Pronunciation: /ɹaː laː tɪ laː ˈtʌhɑ dˤiː ɹaː laː ˈsʌhʌ ziːb nɑzʔ ˈkɑʕaː muː/
Tīqan word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d dˤ f h j k l m n q r s sˤ t tˤ w x z ð ðˤ ħ ɣ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	b			t tˤ d dˤ			k	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʤ
Fricative		f	θ ð ðˤ	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aː i iː u uː

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Sound changes (in order of application):

• a → ɑ
• b → b
• ch → ʧ
• c → k
• d → d
• e → ɛ
• f → f
• g → g
• h → h
• i → ɪ
• j → ʤ
• kk → k
• k → k
• ll → l
• l → l
• m → m
• ng → ŋ
• nn → n
• n → n
• o → o
• p → p
• q → k
• r → ɹ
• sh → ʃ
• s → s
• th → θ
• t → t
• u → ʌ
• v → v
• w → w
• x → ks
• y → i
• z → z

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	’
θ	th
j	y
ʤ	j
x	kh
ð	dh
ʃ	sh
sˤ	ş
dˤ	ḑ
tˤ	ţ
ʕ	ʻ
ɣ	gh
ħ	ḩ
aː	ā
iː	ī
uː	ū
ɑ	a
b	b
ʧ	ch
d	d
ɛ	e
f	f
g	g
h	h
ɪ	i
k	k
l	l
m	m
ŋ	ng
n	n
o	o
p	p
ɹ	r
s	s
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	w
z	z

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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 two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix ḩauh /ˈħɑʌh/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -uːħ ḩauhūḩ /ħɑˈʌhuːħ/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	Suffix -iːw ḩauhīw /ħɑˈʌhiːw/ dog
Plural	No affix ḩauh /ˈħɑʌh/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	lah /lɑh/ the	’a /ʔɑ/ a
Plural	muk /mʌk/ the	āḩ /aːħ/ 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 with place names: ‘The London’

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’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ī /iː/ I	ma /mɑ/ me
2nd singular	thī /θiː/ you	shārḑ /ʃaːɹdˤ/ you
3rd singular masc	lā /laː/ he, it	wīţ /wiːtˤ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	ʻad /ʕɑd/ she, it	’ūn /ʔuːn/ her, it
1st plural	ḑi’ /dˤɪʔ/ we	mul /mʌl/ us
2nd plural	ayy /ɑʤʤ/ you all	’ar /ʔɑɹ/ you all
3rd plural	bi /bɪ/ they	shā /ʃaː/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ī /iː/ my
2nd singular	thī /θiː/ your
3rd singular masc	lā /laː/ his
3rd singular fem	ʻad /ʕɑd/ her
1st plural	ḑi’ /dˤɪʔ/ our
2nd plural	ajj /ɑʤʤ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	bi /bɪ/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
1st person	Suffix -aː dhalā /ˈðɑlaː/ (I/we) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -muː Else: Suffix -imuː dhalimū /ðɑˈlɪmuː/ (I/we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -iːf dhalīf /ˈðɑliːf/ (I/we) will learn
2nd person	Suffix -aːr dhalār /ˈðɑlaːɹ/ (you/you all) learn	Suffix -im dhalim /ˈðɑlɪm/ (you/you all) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -am dhalam /ˈðɑlɑm/ (you/you all) will learn
3rd person	Suffix -iː dhalī /ˈðɑliː/ (he/she/it/they) learn	Suffix -a dhala /ˈðɑlɑ/ (he/she/it/they) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʔ Else: Suffix -iʔ dhali’ /ˈðɑlɪʔ/ (he/she/it/they) will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: aː - ā dhal /aː ðɑl/ 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).
Tīqan uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Suffix -al dhalal /ˈðɑlɑl/ 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.
Tīqan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -tiː Else: Suffix -utiː dhalutī /ðɑˈlʌtiː/ have learned

Numbers

Tīqan has a base-20 number system:
1 - ji
2 - dhu
3 - ayy
4 - ţā
5 - ruh
6 - dūwa
7 - jull
8 - marraq
9 - fu
10 - dha
11 - şi
12 - si
13 - mūb
14 - tu
15 - ku
16 - unā
17 - ād
18 - mid
19 - ḩaḩ
20 - ’u
400 - ūha
8000 - shābu

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ak
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lliː
Else: Suffix -iːlliː
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ajj
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ifl
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -uːl
Noun to verb = Suffix -iːm
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ul
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -uːk
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ll
Else: Suffix -all
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -um
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ak
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -un
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -bbiː
Else: Suffix -uːbbiː
Augmentative = Suffix -a

Dictionary

3131 Words.