Uurdu Ladi

Natively known as: qüri dül quri tul /ˈquri tul/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
gàch bɶ̏ bìn ɬȅch pìm shø̄m gàch ɫø̀ pìm shȅn rɤ̏β ɶ̀ɬ qȅ gàʧ bɶ̏ wìn ɬȅʧ pìm ʃø̄m gàʧ ɫø̀ pìm ʃȅn rɤ̏β ɶ̀ɬ qȅ
Pronunciation: /gàʧ bɶ̏ wìn ɬȅʧ pìm ʃø̄m gàʧ ɫø̀ pìm ʃȅn rɤ̏β ɶ̀ɬ qȅ/
Uurtu Ladi word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b f g j k kʰ m n nʲ r s t tʰ w wʲ x xʲ ɮ ɮʲ ʃ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ ʧʰ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n nʲ
Stop	b		t tʰ			k kʰ g
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ	ʧ ʧʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ		x xʲ
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral fricative			ɮ ɮʲ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w wʲ

Vowel inventory: a e i u ɔ ɵ ʊ
Tones: ̀ ̏ ̌ ̂ ̄

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid	e	ɵ
Low-mid			ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	b
t	d / !_ʰ
tʰ	t
ʧʰ	ch
ʧ	ch
ʦʰ	c
ʦ	c
kʰ	k
ɮ	l
ʃ	sh
ɔ	o
ɵ	ö
pʰ	p
u	ü
ʊ	u
j	y
ʲ

---

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 bòç bòç /bòç/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɫ- Else: Prefix ɫɯ̌- ɫɯ̌bòç ɫɯ̌bòç /ˈɫɯ̌bòç/ dogs

Articles

Uurtu Ladi has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

1st singular	kě kě /kě/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	kǐk kǐk /kǐk/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	bɶ̏ bɶ̏ /bɶ̏/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	mɯ̀ mɯ̀ /mɯ̀/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	pɶ̏ɬ pɶ̏ɬ /pɶ̏ɬ/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	çø̏ç çø̏ç /çø̏ç/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	shɶ̌β ʃɶ̌β /ʃɶ̌β/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	pɶ̂ pɶ̂ /pɶ̂/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	āl āl /āl/ my
2nd singular	βǚ βǔ /βǔ/ your
3rd singular masc	pìm pìm /pìm/ his
3rd singular fem	pɤ̌ pɤ̌ /pɤ̌/ her
1st plural inclusive	mɶ̌ch mɶ̌ʧ /mɶ̌ʧ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	sǎk sǎk /sǎk/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	bɶ̀ wɶ̀ /wɶ̀/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ʙɯ̌ ʙɯ̌ /ʙɯ̌/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
1st person	Prefix è- èshên èʃên /ˈèʃên/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mø̀- mø̀shên mø̀ʃên /ˈmø̀ʃên/ (I/we) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix β- Else: Prefix βɯ̌- βɯ̌shên βɯ̌ʃên /ˈβɯ̌ʃên/ (I/we) will learn
2nd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pø̂- pø̂shên pø̂ʃên /ˈpø̂ʃên/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pȕ- pü̏shên pȕʃên /ˈpȕʃên/ (you/you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pȅ- pȅshên pȅʃên /ˈpȅʃên/ (you/you all) will learn
3rd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bȁ- bȁshên bȁʃên /ˈbȁʃên/ (he/she/it/they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɯ̀- mɯ̀shên mɯ̀ʃên /ˈmɯ̀ʃên/ (he/she/it/they) learned	Prefix wī- bīshên wīʃên /ˈwīʃên/ (he/she/it/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.
Uurtu Ladi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix sȅ- sȅshên sȅʃên /ˈsȅʃên/ have learned

Numbers

Uurtu Ladi has a base-10 number system:
1 - qēɬ qēɬ
2 - ɬǎ ɬǎ
3 - qɶ̀d qɶ̀t
4 - ɫȍʙ ɫȍʙ
5 - shè ʃè
6 - βȍ βȍ
7 - ǚ ǔ
8 - ɬǐ ɬǐ
9 - bɯ̀ bɯ̀
10 - gǖ gū
Hundred - rěd rět
Thousand - ʙü̏d ʙȕt

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ø̄
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ād
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -β
Else: Suffix -ø̀β
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ǎ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ûβ
Noun to verb = Suffix -ā
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɬȉ-
Tending to = Suffix -ȉ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -àt
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -ìr
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ȁ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɯ̂
Diminutive = Suffix -ù
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -ø̄m
Of magic = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -ø̏m
Opposite = Suffix -àk
Of place = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sī-
Of life = Suffix -ûʙ
Of death = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ç
Else: Suffix -ȅç
Again = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɬ-
Else: Prefix ɬǎ-

Distribution & Variants

Uurdu Ladi is the official language of the Empire of Laran and is native of the Desert of the Saviour. It is found there in its "purest" form, with the least amount of foreign influence in its drift. In the Dead Ones Mesa, the language tends to be more airy, an example being the Central High pronunciation of the u sound. An h is often added before as and os as well. 

In the Everlasting Jungle, the language has been influenced by the native Nahuatl of the Coatl there, keeping its grammatical structure, however, many words are switched out for those of the Nahuatl. The further south one travels, more of the words are swapped out for those in Nahuatl until a select few Uurdu Ladi nouns and its grammar are used, with entirely Nahuatl terms. However, these are rare cases, found only in Larani client cities rather than in the empire's bounds. 

The other foreign influence of note would be that of Gui Biaozhun. Many words, mostly nouns, are taken from the language and incorporated into Uurdu Ladi, largely to refer to things foreign from the Jungles, Badlands, or Deserts of Laran's core territory.  Near the front lines of conflict with Akronis, a bastardized pigmy language of Uurdu Ladi, Gui Biaozhun, and Devkarin is spoken, however, this varies from region to region so that despite using the same base languages, a foreign speaker really needs to understand all three to properly make sense of it.

Dictionary

3027 Words.

Spoken by

• Larani