Gui Biaozhun (Goo-ey Bee-ow-zhu-n)

Natively known as: bûn bûn /pu˥˩n/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
zhuâ châ zau mìr fon beng zhuâ fē leing zau waing düng nang zhuâ châ zau mìr fon beng zhuâ fē leing zau uaing dung nang
Pronunciation: /ʈʂwa˥˩ ʈʂʰa˥˩ ʦau̯˧ mi˨˩˦ʐ fo˧n pə˧ŋ ʈʂwa˥˩ fə˥ lei̯˧ŋ ʦau̯˧ wai̯˧ŋ ty˧ŋ na˧ŋ/
Gui Biaozhun word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f j k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ w x ŋ ɥ ʂ ʂʰ ʈ ʐ ʦ ʦʰ ʨ ʨʰ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ		t tʰ	ʈ			k kʰ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ		ʨ ʨʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʂ ʂʰ ʐ			x
Approximant						j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ ei̯ i o ou̯ u y ə ɛ ɤ ʊ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ei̯ ou̯
Tones: ˧ ˥ ˧˥ ˨˩˦ ˥˩

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid			ɤ o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	u / C_
p	b / !_ʰ
k	g / !_ʰ
t	d / !_ʰ
ʨʰ	q
ʦʰ	c
ʈʂʰ	ch
ʈʂ	zh
ʦ	z
ʐ	r
ʰ
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
x	h
ʂ	sh
ɤ	e
ə	e
ʊ	o
y	ü / C_
y	yu
j	y
ʨ	j
ɛ	a
˥˩	̂
˥	̄
˧˥	̌
˨˩˦	̀
˧
̯

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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 three cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Nominative	No affix le le /lɤ˧/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -o˧˥ŋ leōng leōng /lɤ˧ˈo˧˥ŋ/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ Else: Suffix -i˧ʐ ler ler /lɤ˧ʐ/ dogʼs

Articles

Gui Biaozhun has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	pu bu /pʰu˧/ I	rong rong /ʐo˧ŋ/ me	hī hī /xi˥/ mine
2nd singular	shû shû /ʂu˥˩/ you	ɥīn ɥīn /ɥi˧˥n/ you	zaû zaû /ʦau̯˥˩/ yours
3rd singular masc	châ châ /ʈʂʰa˥˩/ he, it	ōng ōng /ʊ˧˥ŋ/ him, it	zau zau /ʦau̯˧/ his, its
3rd singular fem	aûn aûn /au̯˥˩n/ she, it	gī gī /ki˥/ her, it	kān gān /kʰɛ˧˥n/ hers, its
1st plural	qau qau /ʨʰau̯˧/ we	moū moū /mou̯˥/ us	bōng bōng /po˧˥ŋ/ ours
2nd plural	maun maun /mau̯˧n/ you all	tir dir /tʰi˧ʐ/ you all	shi shi /ʂi˧/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	eī eī /ei̯˥/ they	nī nī /ni˥/ them	nē nē /nɤ˧˥/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	hī hī /xi˥/ my
2nd singular	zaû zaû /ʦau̯˥˩/ your
3rd singular masc	zau zau /ʦau̯˧/ his
3rd singular fem	kān gān /kʰɛ˧˥n/ her
1st plural	bōng bōng /po˧˥ŋ/ our
2nd plural	shi shi /ʂi˧/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nē nē /nɤ˧˥/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
Singular	No affix se se /sɤ˧/ (I/you/he/she/it) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ Else: Suffix -i˧˥ʐ ser ser /sɤ˧ʐ/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned
Plural	Suffix -ɤ˧˥ seē seē /sɤ˧ˈɤ˧˥/ (we/they) learn	Suffix -ai̯˧ seai seai /sɤ˧ˈai̯˧/ (we/they) learned

Gui Biaozhun uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: a˥n - ān se ān se /a˥n sɤ˧/ 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).
Gui Biaozhun uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: sai̯˥˩n - saîn se saîn se /sai̯˥˩n sɤ˧/ 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.
Gui Biaozhun uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable sese sese /sɤ˧ˈsɤ˧/ have learned

Numbers

Gui Biaozhun has a base-10 number system:
1 - yā yā
2 - cheing cheing
3 - qēr qēr
4 - lê lê
5 - shaū shaū
6 - ūr ūr
7 - za za
8 - āng āng
9 - â â
10 - shan shan
Hundred - ti di
Thousand - yànhyaû yànhyaû

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ə˨˩˦n
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -ai̯˥ŋ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -i˧˥ŋ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -ə˧ʐ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ei̯˨˩˦
Noun to verb = Suffix -o˧
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -ɛ˨˩˦ŋ
Tending to = Suffix -ə˨˩˦
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ou̯˥n
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ei̯˧˥
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -u˧ʐ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ʊ˥n
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -i˧n
Augmentative = Suffix -au̯˧˥ʐ
Opposite = Suffix -ɛ˥ŋ

Distribution & Variations

Gui Biaozhun is spoken by everyone in Diyu as a base language, so varies wildly from region to region. Since the death fo Xixuegui, no one, not even the remnants of the empire in Tarnith-Shi speaks it as a first language. As such, the language will be spoken with everything from different words and phrases to completely different grammar depending on what the speaker's first language is. There is no one "pure" version of the language, nor original to draw from. As such, Gui is more often used as another weapon in culture wars, especially between big powers like Laran and Akronis. Currently, the Akroniu variant of the language, with its Devkarin influence has more traction among the independent states in between the two.

Dictionary

3052 Words.