Beflan (/ɓɛˈfla/)

Beflan is one of the languages of Cury.

Natively known as: befla /ɓɛˈfla/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ni du kim shablal mpetty dhill ni mbwo mpetty nguvi re it jor
Pronunciation: /ni ɗu kim ʃaˈɓlal mpɛttj ðill ni mbwɔ mpɛttj ŋguˈvi rɛ it ʄɔr/
Beflan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

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	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
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a i u ɔ ɛ

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

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

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Singular	No affix vyun /vjun/ dog
Plural	Prefix i- ivyun /iˈvjun/ dogs

Articles

Definite	mcho /mʧɔ/ the
Indefinite	swe /swɛ/ a, 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’.

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st singular	mkah /mkah/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	chi /ʧi/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	du /ɗu/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	nnusy /nnusj/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	nywa /ɲwa/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	yitty /jittj/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	bigh /ɓiɣ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	nnon /nnɔn/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	swu /swu/ my
2nd singular	gugh /ɠuɣ/ your
3rd singular masc	mpetty /mpɛttj/ his
3rd singular fem	we /wɛ/ her
1st plural inclusive	sot /sɔt/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	sat /sat/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	wit /wit/ your (pl)
3rd plural	chu /ʧu/ their

Verbs

1st person	Prefix ʄɔ- jomnyim /ʄɔmˈɲim/ (I/we) learn/learned/will learn
2nd person	Prefix ri- rimnyim /rimˈɲim/ (you) learn/learned/will learn
3rd person	Prefix mɔ- momnyim /mɔmˈɲim/ (he/she/it/they) learn/learned/will learn

Beflan uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: kisj - kisy mnyim /kisj mɲim/ learned

Beflan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: pɔ - po mnyim /pɔ mɲim/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Beflan uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix nda- ndamnyim /ndamˈɲim/ learns/is learning

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.
Beflan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Change all X* to __ mnyimmnyim /mɲimmˈɲim/ have learned

Numbers

Beflan has a base-10 number system:
1 - mva
2 - kot
3 - yih
4 - ur
5 - ya
6 - na
7 - njoss
8 - bishekh
9 - bigh
10 - nnuh
Hundred - sigh
Thousand - mesy

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mu-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt
Else: Suffix -ɔnt
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rʧ
Else: Suffix -ɔrʧ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɔl
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -i
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix v-
Else: Prefix vi-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɗɛ
Else: Suffix -aɗɛ
Tending to = Suffix -attj
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix hu-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɛ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix umj-
Else: Prefix umja-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix va-
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lmi
Else: Suffix -ɔlmi
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix mv-
Else: Prefix mvu-
Maker = Suffix -a

Beflan Library

One of the rooms in a majestic Beflan library.

Dictionary

3141 Words.

Beflan Name Generator

Roll the dice!

Beflan Tome

The cover of an aging Beflan book of legend.