Dilʾokian (/diːlˈʔok/)

Dilʾokian is one of the languages of Cury.

Natively known as: dilʾok /diːlˈʔok/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ru a xāh šā ru hotšā ru šand ru zarb ʾum est zor
Pronunciation: /ruː æ xɒːh ʃɒː ruː hotˈʃɒː ruː ʃænd ruː zærb ʔuːm est zor/
Dilʾokian 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 x z ɣ ʃ ʒ ʔ ʤ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d			k g	q	ʔ
Affricate				ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ		x ɣ		h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: e iː o uː æ ɒː

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
High-mid	e	o
Near-low	æ
Low		ɒː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʾ
j	y
ʤ	j
ʧ	č
ʒ	ž
ʃ	š
ɣ	q
æ	a
ɒː	ā
uː	u
iː	i

---

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 lumr /luːmr/ dog
Plural	Change all X* to __ lumrlumr /luːˈmrluːmr/ dogs

Articles

Definite	čād /ʧɒːd/ the
Indefinite	žlest /ʒlest/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• 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	vā /vɒː/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ard /ærd/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	a /æ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	ži /ʒiː/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	bal /bæl/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	hā /hɒː/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	la /læ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	hav /hæv/ my
2nd singular	košt /koʃt/ your
3rd singular masc	ru /ruː/ his
3rd singular fem	ho /ho/ her
1st plural	qā /qɒː/ our
2nd plural	žem /ʒem/ your (pl)
3rd plural	lu /luː/ their

Verbs

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Present	Prefix uː- ukayr /uːˈkæjr/ (I/we) learn	Prefix nɒː- nākayr /nɒːˈkæjr/ (you/you all) learn	Prefix iː- ikayr /iːˈkæjr/ (he/she/it/they) learn
Past	Prefix ɒː- ākayr /ɒːˈkæjr/ (I/we) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɒːmk- Else: Prefix ɒːmkæ- āmkakayr /ɒːmkæˈkæjr/ (you/you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pæ- pakayr /pæˈkæjr/ (he/she/it/they) learned
Remote past	Prefix e- ekayr /eˈkæjr/ (I/we) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix viː- vikayr /viːˈkæjr/ (you/you all) learned (long ago)	Prefix qɒː- qākayr /qɒːˈkæjr/ (he/she/it/they) learned (long ago)
Future	Prefix liː- likayr /liːˈkæjr/ (I/we) will learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɒːʤ- Else: Prefix ɒːʤæ- ājakayr /ɒːʤæˈkæjr/ (you/you all) will learn	Prefix de- dekayr /deˈkæjr/ (he/she/it/they) 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).
Dilʾokian uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix e- ekayr /eˈkæjr/ 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.
Dilʾokian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix te- tekayr /teˈkæjr/ have learned

Numbers

Dilʾokian has a base-10 number system:
1 - fam
2 - žmat
3 - qang
4 - tu
5 - ta
6 - or
7 - re
8 - žlo
9 - šus
10 - sān
Hundred - ʾi
Thousand - hābumr

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix iː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix r-
Else: Prefix ræ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix uː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ɒː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix bɒː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃe-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ke-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʒ-
Else: Prefix ʒe-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix x-
Else: Prefix xæ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix fæ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix fæ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix r-
Else: Prefix ræ-
Diminutive = Prefix o-
Augmentative = Prefix æ-
Maker = Prefix luː-

Dilʾokian Library

A depiction of a Dilʾokian librarian among the books.

Dictionary

3175 Words.

Dilʾokian text

Faded text in an old Dilʾokian book.