Celestial

Natively known as: Wuhan /ˈwuhan/

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...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
for shil vam vawim kwegh now for fomker mter vam ah riw fomker
Pronunciation: /fɔr ʃil vam ˈvawim kwɛɣ nɔw fɔr ˈfɔmkɛr mtɛr vam ah riw ˈfɔmkɛr/
Wuhan word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

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Spelling & Phonology

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Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x z ð ŋ ɓ ɗ ɠ ɣ ɲ ʃ ʄ ʤ ʧ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g		q
Implosive	ɓ			ɗ		ʄ	ɠ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ		x ɣ			h
Approximant						j		w
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel inventory: /a i u ɔ ɛ/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: f, h, j, k, kr, kw, l, m, mb, mbw, mf, mk, ml, mp, mpj, mr, ms, mst, mt, mv, mw, mz, mɠ, mɲ, mʃ, mʄ, mʧ, n, nd, nn, nz, nʤ, nʧ, p, pr, pw, q, r, s, sw, t, tr, v, vj, w, z, ð, ŋg, ɓ, ɓl, ɓw, ɗ, ɠ, ɣ, ɲ, ɲw, ʃ, ʄ, ʧ, θ
Mid-word consonants: f, ff, fl, fs, h, j, k, ks, kt, kw, l, lf, lm, m, mb, mj, mk, ml, mp, mr, mt, mv, mw, mz, mʧ, n, nd, nk, ns, nz, nʤ, nʧ, p, r, rn, rð, s, sk, sl, st, t, tw, v, vj, w, z, zw, ð, ŋg, ŋgw, ɓ, ɓl, ɓw, ɓɗ, ɗ, ɠ, ɣ, ɲ, ɲw, ʃ, ʄ, ʧ, ʧw, θ
Word final consonants: h, l, ll, m, n, nt, p, r, rʧ, sj, ss, t, ttj, w, x, ɣ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → h / #_
• k → x / _{p,t}
• h → w / #_
• C → Ø / _#
• w → Ø / k_a

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
nʤ	nj
x	kh
ð	dh
ŋ	ng'
ŋg	ng
ɓ	b
ɔ	o
ɗ	d
ɛ	e
ɠ	g
ɣ	gh
ɲ	ny
ʃ	sh
ʄ	j
ʧ	ch
θ	th

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Grammar

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Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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

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Noun

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Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

mi /mi/ plural particle

Nouns have five cases: Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man. The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence. Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog. Absolutives are always no affix. Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man. Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog. Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.

	Definite	Indefinite
Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɣ- Else: Prefix ɣa- ghahemekh /ɣaˈhɛmɛx/	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nɔ- nohemekh /nɔˈhɛmɛx/
Absolutive	Prefix wu- wuhemekh /wuˈhɛmɛx/	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛz- Else: Prefix ɛzi- ezihemekh /ˌɛziˈhɛmɛx/
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix ah- Else: Prefix ahu- ahuhemekh /ˌahuˈhɛmɛx/	Prefix i- ihemekh /iˈhɛmɛx/
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa- pahemekh /paˈhɛmɛx/	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ku- kuhemekh /kuˈhɛmɛx/
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix am- Else: Prefix ama- amahemekh /ˌamaˈhɛmɛx/	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ta- tahemekh /taˈhɛmɛx/

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Pronouns

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	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	for /fɔr/ I	ri /ri/ me	me /mɛ/ my, mine	si /si/ to me	hu /hu/
2nd singular	ta /ta/ you	mi /mi/ you	pi /pi/ your, yours	mow /mɔw/ to you	chi /ʧi/
3rd singular masc	shil /ʃil/ he, it	tap /tap/ him, it	vam /vam/ his, its	non /nɔn/ to him	mal /mal/
3rd singular fem	pa /pa/ she, it	kikh /kix/ her, it	mge /mɠɛ/ her, hers, its	yim /jim/ to her	miss /miss/
1st plural	pam /pam/ we	sal /sal/ us	ki /ki/ our, ours	i /i/ to us	mup /mup/
2nd plural	hem /hɛm/ you (all)	vall /vall/ you (all)	hen /hɛn/ your, yours (all)	lal /lal/ to you (all)	mu /mu/
3rd plural	shim /ʃim/ they	norch /nɔrʧ/ them	hegh /hɛɣ/ their, theirs	kap /kap/ to them	pan /pan/

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Verbs

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Present	Prefix i- ikinga /iˈkiŋga/
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix is- Else: Prefix isi- isikinga /ˌisiˈkiŋga/
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ju- yukinga /juˈkiŋga/

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Perfect aspect

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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.

In Wuhan, the perfect is constructed with the word for ‘finish’ ɲwɔjɔkɔ + present tense of the verb.

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Numbers

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Wuhan has a base-20 number system:

1 - kar
2 - wu
3 - mrene
4 - tap
5 - tambi
6 - map
7 - zih
8 - dhu
9 - ta
10 - dufuh
11 - ndun
12 - tacha
13 - yewat
14 - ghapakh
15 - pasi
16 - sia
17 - kimull
18 - yistum
19 - yiyin
20 - kanomow
21 - kanomow for kar “twenty and one”
400 - kar ira “one fourhundred”
401 - kar ira kar “one fourhundred one”
800 - wu ira “two fourhundred”
8000 - kar memoki “one eightthousand”

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Derivational morphology

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Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛj-, Else: Prefix ɛji-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix nz-, Else: Prefix nzu-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix si-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ku-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix sa-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Prefix ji-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix mɛ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix im-, Else: Prefix imi-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-, Else: Prefix ta-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix iw-, Else: Prefix iwɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-, Else: Prefix si-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix izw-, Else: Prefix izwɛ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-, Else: Prefix ju-

Dictionary

4337 Words.