Natively known as: yiila /ˈjiːla/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nah ên den mêlê bê anun nah vuu bê dêl iinve nuu isa[alt]
Pronunciation: /nah ɛn den ˈmɛlɛ bɛ ˈanun nah vuː bɛ dɛl ˈiːnve nuː ˈisa/
Yiilan word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind[/alt]
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d dː g h j l m n r s v w
↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
---|
Nasal | m | | n | | | |
Stop | b | | d dː | | g | |
Fricative | | v | s | | | h |
Approximant | | | | j | | |
Trill | | | r | | | |
Lateral approximant | | | l | | | |
Co-articulated phonemes
↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-velar |
---|
Approximant | w |
Vowel inventory: a aː e i iː o u uː y ɛ ɛː ɪ ʏ
| Front | Back |
---|
High | i iː y | uː u |
Near-high | ɪ ʏ | |
High-mid | e | o |
Low-mid | ɛ ɛː | |
Low | a aː | |
Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b d dː h j l m n v vj
Mid-word consonants: b g h l lj lm n nv r s w
Word final consonants: h l m n
Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|
ɛ | ê |
ɪ | î |
y | û |
ʏ | ú |
j | y |
Vː | VV |
Cː | CC |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into
Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions
Nouns
Singular | No affix
lû /ly/
dog
|
Plural | Prefix ɛ-
êlû /ˈɛly/
dogs
|
Articles
Yiilan has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.
Pronouns
1st singular | ma /ma/
I, me, mine
|
2nd singular | vya /vja/
you, yours
|
3rd singular masc | ên /ɛn/
he, him, his, it, its
|
3rd singular fem | no /no/
she, her, hers, it, its
|
1st plural | be /be/
we, us, ours
|
2nd plural | haam /haːm/
you all, yours (pl)
|
3rd plural | nêl /nɛl/
they, them, theirs
|
Possessive determiners
1st singular | ya /ja/
my
|
2nd singular | vam /vam/
your
|
3rd singular masc | bê /bɛ/
his
|
3rd singular fem | ê /ɛ/
her
|
1st plural | niim /niːm/
our
|
2nd plural | non /non/
your (pl)
|
3rd plural | haa /haː/
their
|
Verbs
Present | No affix
vabuu /ˈvabuː/
learn
|
Past | Prefix niː-
niivabuu /niːˈvabuː/
learned
|
Remote past | Prefix aː-
aavabuu /aːˈvabuː/
learned (long ago)
|
Yiilan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:
Future | Particle before the verb: niː -
nii vabuu /niː ˈvabuː/
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.
Yiilan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:
Perfect | Prefix a-
avabuu /aˈvabuː/
have learned
|
Numbers
Yiilan has a base-10 number system:
1 -
vii
2 -
nê
3 -
nal
4 -
la
5 -
alal
6 -
nam
7 -
haluu
8 -
ddil
9 -
yon
10 -
dewi
11 -
vii nah dewi “one and ten”
100 -
vii dala “one hundred”
101 -
vii dala vii “one hundred one”
200 -
nê dala
1000 -
vii dû “one thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɪ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix v-
Else: Prefix vɛː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix v-
Else: Prefix ve-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix i-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix liː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix dɛː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix e-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix la-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix la-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix dːuː-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix jɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix ha-
Diminutive = Prefix ɪ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix dɛ-
Mer-Elvish is the language of Valmea and it's one of the oldest, if not the oldest language still in use. Drifeyan partly developed from Mer-Elvish and Kaatim has some influences from it, but isn't directly related. Mer-Elvish is only spoken by the about 250 northern Sea Elves living in Valmea nowadays, it's an endangered language.
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