Vortian

Natively known as: meudin /ˈmœdɛ̃/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
prede uerche cas glatme rierche ceuvarge prede biu o cas nirt irdre frige
Pronunciation: /pʁɛd wɛʁʃ kɑs glɑtm ʁʤɛʁʃ ˈkøvɑʁʒ pʁɛd bʤʌ ɔ kɑs nɪʁ ɪʁdʁ fʁɪʒ/
Meudin word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n p s t v w z ɥ ɲ ʁ ʃ ʒ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d			k g
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ			ʁ
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y ø œ ɑ̃ ɔ ɔ̃ ɛ ɛ̃

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e ø	o
Low-mid	ɛ ɛ̃ œ	ɔ ɔ̃
Low	a	ɑ̃

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
e	e*4 | er / _#
ksj	cti
ks	xe / _#
ks	x
k	que / _#
kt	ct
sk	squ
k	c / !_{i,e,ɛ}
k	qu
d	de / _#
t#	te
wi	oui
wɛ̃	oin
jɛ̃	ien
ɛ̃	in
wɑ{a,ɑ}	oi
ʒ	g / _{i,e,ɛ}
ʒm	gem
ɥ	u
y	u
j	i
ʒ	ge / _#
ʒ	j
ʃ	che / _#
ɲ	gn
∅	e / CC_#
v	ve / _#
ʃ	ch
ʁ	r | rd | rt / _#
ʁ	r
ɔ̃	on | om / _#
ɔ̃	on
ɔ	o
ɑ̃	an
ɛ	e
ø	eu
œ	eu
w	u
ɑ	a
b	b
ʧ	ch
d	d
f	f
g	g
h	h
ɪ	i
ʤ	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
ŋ	ng
n	n
o	o
p	p
ɹ	r
s	s
θ	th
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	w
z	z

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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 three 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.

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: i - i plaque /ɪ plɑk/ dogs

Nominative	No affix plaque /plɑk/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -im plaquim /ˈplɑkɪm/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -ɛst plaqueste /ˈplɑkɛst/ dogʼs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	er /ɛ/ the	erd /ɛʁ/ a
Plural	eu /ø/ the	pres /pʁɛs/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	fouicte /fwɪkt/ I	a /ɑ/ me	conrle /kɔ̃ʁl/ mine
2nd singular	seu /sø/ you	grade /gʁɑd/ you	pua /pɥɑ/ yours
3rd singular masc	uerche /wɛʁʃ/ he, it	churche /ʃʌʁʃ/ him, it	vanfre /vɑ̃fʁ/ his, its
3rd singular fem	i /ɪ/ she, it	nim /nɪm/ her, it	om /ɔ̃/ hers, its
1st plural	louique /lwɪk/ we	flo /flɔ/ us	pios /pʤɔs/ ours
2nd plural	ceul /kœl/ you all	strogne /stʁɔɲ/ you all	non /nɔ̃/ yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	eu /œ/ they (masc)	chue /ʃwɛ/ them (masc)	grerme /gʁɛʁm/ theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	ipre /ɪpʁ/ they (fem)	riu /ʁʤi/ them (fem)	bonrme /bɔ̃ʁm/ theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	suom /sɥɔ̃/ my
2nd singular	sanrde /sɑ̃ʁd/ your
3rd singular masc	cas /kɑs/ his
3rd singular fem	se /sɛ/ her
1st plural	ofre /ɔfʁ/ our
2nd plural	ner /nɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	leug /løg/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	veurte /vœʁt/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	Suffix -e gravre /ˈgʁɑvʁɛ/ learn
Past	No affix gravre /gʁɑvʁ/ learned
Future	If ends with vowel: Suffix -zne Else: Suffix -azne gravrazne /gʁɑvˈʁɑznɛ/ will learn

Numbers

Meudin has a base-10 number system:
1 - erse
2 - o
3 - i
4 - strarme
5 - zoche
6 - pes
7 - seubefo
8 - luaclepsien
9 - quert
10 - lien
100 - spuge
1000 - nu

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁt
Else: Suffix -ɑ̃ʁt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɑ̃
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -v
Else: Suffix -ɔv
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -œbʁ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ks
Else: Suffix -ɑ̃ks
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -bʁ
Else: Suffix -ɔbʁ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -oʁʒ
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ksja
Else: Suffix -øksja
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -es
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁm
Else: Suffix -iʁm
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -ab
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɔl
Diminutive = Suffix -ɔʁ
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -gmi
Else: Suffix -ogmi

Dictionary

3125 Words.