Arkann (AWR-kan)

Natively known as: arkan /æɹˈkæn/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
yú kǔuht aw aǔ saǔwh kaí yú aǔ fíuhn weyví waí yekvuh ki
Pronunciation: /jɜː kʊə̯t ɔː aʊ̯ saʊ̯ʍ kaɪ̯ jɜː aʊ̯ fɪə̯n wɛjˈvɪ waɪ̯ jɛkˈvʌ kiː/
Arkann word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʍ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	ʍ w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɑː ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɛə̯ ɜː ɪ ɪə̯ ʊ ʊə̯ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛə̯ ɪə̯ ʊə̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ ɑː

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)(C)
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
iː	i
uː	u
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɑ	o
ɜː	ú
ɔː	aw
ɔ	aw
ʊ	ǔ
ʌ	uh
ɪ	í
eɪ̯	ay
ə̯	uh
aʊ̯	ou
aɪ̯	ie
ɪə̯	ia
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɹ	r
θ	th
ð	dh
j	y
ʃ	sh
ŋ	ng
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
ʍ	wh
Vː	á
̯

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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 yás /jɑːs/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -aɪ̯s yásaís /jɑːˈsaɪ̯s/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	No affix yás /jɑːs/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -zhaɪ̯ Else: Suffix -aʊ̯zhaɪ̯ yásaǔzhaí /jɑːˈsaʊ̯zhaɪ̯/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	fawí /fɔɪ̯/ the	aí /aɪ̯/ a
Plural	whoǔr /ʍoʊ̯ɹ/ the	kǔuh /kʊə̯/ 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 for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ú /ɜː/ I	wǔng /wʊŋ/ me
2nd singular	if /iːf/ you	aǔ /aʊ̯/ you
3rd singular masc	kǔuht /kʊə̯t/ he, it (masc)	wíuh /wɪə̯/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	jǔuhh /ʤʊə̯h/ she, it (fem)	kí /kɪ/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	eí /eɪ̯/ we	daw /dɔː/ us
2nd plural	íuh /ɪə̯/ you all	reí /ɹeɪ̯/ you all
3rd plural	bǔuh /bʊə̯/ they	sa /sæ/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	whoǔ /ʍoʊ̯/ my
2nd singular	daw /dɔː/ your
3rd singular masc	aǔ /aʊ̯/ his
3rd singular fem	kidh /kiːð/ her
1st plural	wa /wæ/ our
2nd plural	vi /viː/ your (pl)
3rd plural	má /mɑː/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix buhz /bʌz/ learn
Past	Suffix -eɪ̯v buhzeív /bʌˈzeɪ̯v/ learned

Arkann uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: woʊ̯ - woǔ buhz /woʊ̯ bʌz/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ɹɪə̯ - ríuh buhz /ɹɪə̯ bʌz/ 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).
Arkann uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: faɪ̯ - faí buhz /faɪ̯ bʌz/ 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.
Arkann uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -ɜːh buhzúh /bʌˈzɜːh/ have learned

Numbers

Arkann has a base-10 number system:
1 - íuh
2 - maǔ
3 - wawí
4 - wha
5 - vuh
6 - waǔ
7 - oǔ
8 - kuhr
9 - fad
10 - mesh
100 - ugyaí
1000 - shú

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -æt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ʊð
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɑːb
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɪə̯ɹ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ɪn
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧiː
Else: Suffix -uːʧiː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -uːb
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mbɔɪ̯
Else: Suffix -ɪə̯mbɔɪ̯
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -aʊ̯
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -eɪ̯ð
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -oʊ̯d
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -oʊ̯s
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dnɔː
Else: Suffix -oʊ̯dnɔː
Augmentative = Suffix -iː

Dictionary

1856 Words.

Spoken by

• Arkanmeran