Terran
Natively known as: Terran /ˈerran/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
a rey rey ipo sain tausae a bodousou maes rey hiho diha ule
Pronunciation: /a rey rey ˈipo sain ˈtausae a ˈbodousou maes rey ˈhiho ˈdiha ˈule/
Terran word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: /b d h k l m n p r s t ʋ/
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | |||
| Stop | p b | t d | k | ||
| Fricative | s | h | |||
| Approximant | ʋ | ||||
| Trill | r | ||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
Vowel inventory: /a ae ai ao au e i o oi ou u/
Diphthongs: ae, ai, ao, au, oi, ou
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| High-mid | e | o |
| Low | a |
Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Antepenult — stress is on the third last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, ʋ
Mid-word consonants: d, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, ʋ
Word final consonants: d, n, r, s
Phonological changes (in order of application):
- k → c / V_V
How to read phonological rules
Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| ʋ | w |
| ʔ | ʻ |
| aː | ā |
| eː | ē |
| iː | ī |
| oː | ō |
| uː | ū |
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 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 dair /dair/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb) |
| Accusative | Suffix -dao dairdao /ˈdairdao/ (verb done to) doɡ |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Definite | No affix dair /dair/ the doɡ | Suffix -sy dairsy /ˈdairsy/ the doɡs |
| Indefinite | Suffix -na dairna /ˈdairna/ a doɡ | Suffix -kay dairkay /ˈdairkay/ some doɡs |
Articles
Terran encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.
Pronouns
| Nominative | Accusative | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | u /u/ I | nai /nai/ me |
| 2nd singular | dye /dye/ you (masc) | ay /ay/ you |
| 3rd singular masc | rey /rey/ he, it | ke /ke/ him, it |
| 3rd singular fem | pey /pey/ she, it | ai /ai/ her, it |
| 1st plural | dae /dae/ we | wae /ʋae/ us |
| 2nd plural | y /y/ you all | sai /sai/ you all |
| 3rd plural | ha /ha/ they | le /le/ them |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | u /u/ my |
| 2nd singular | ay /ay/ your |
| 3rd singular masc | rey /rey/ his |
| 3rd singular fem | pey /pey/ her |
| 1st plural | dae /dae/ our |
| 2nd plural | y /y/ your (pl) |
| 3rd plural | ha /ha/ their |
Verbs
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Suffix -moi moinmoi /ˈmoinmoi/ (I/you/he/she) learns | Suffix -ly moinly /ˈmoinly/ (we/they) learn |
| Past | Suffix -myi moinmyi /ˈmoinmyi/ (I/you/he/she) learned | Suffix -lu moinlu /ˈmoinlu/ (we/they) learned |
| Future | Suffix -ha moinha /ˈmoinha/ (I/you/he/she) will learn | Suffix -mey moinmey /ˈmoinmey/ (we/they) 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.
Terran uses an affix for the perfect aspect:
| Perfect | Suffix -rae moinrae /ˈmoinrae/ have learned |
Numbers
Terran has a base-10 number system:
1 - os
2 - nau
3 - houd
4 - rae
5 - kor
6 - i
7 - sau
8 - oid
9 - soi
10 - usai
11 - os a usai “one and ten”
100 - buhau “hundred”
101 - buhau os “hundred one”
200 - nau buhau
1000 - laerao “thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ʋey
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ly
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -koi
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -no
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -le
Noun to verb = Suffix -dae
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -sa
Tending to = Suffix -kye
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -dao
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -dyi
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ly
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ʋyi
Diminutive = Suffix -ʋoi
Augmentative = Suffix -so
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