Thünard (θuˈNARD)

Thünard (literally “green speak”), colloquially known as Dwarvish, is the predominant language of dwarven societies throughout the Clarkwoods Literary Universe. And because the dwarves are reality’s preeminent technological civilization—traveling here, there, and everywhere—their mother tongue has also become the interstellar language of commerce and diplomacy. In the land of Eden during Interregnums, there are nearly as many speakers of Thünard as there are of the halfling language Lüota—which is saying something, as Eden is like Halfling Central.

Spoken By

Dwarves

Common Phrases

Sna aud jül ust so.

Never forget who you are.

Vauk slüng, slüng, slüng, slüng, slüng, slüng, slüng fjamerdig trï er!

We dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig the whole day through.

Ejfstrë thëks ïkaflatrem!

Nobody tosses a dwarf!

Vü so prags kë splüso shtëgïmp fits fja. Së vü shpriso kë, baum brï ï vü.

It’s not easy being drunk all the time. If it were easy, everyone would do it.

Laun sprë ïkamoko. Mïmn narn.

Mark my words. There’s trouble brewing.

Ï prags vo fjaplaus!

Don’t tell the elf!

Phonology

Consonant Inventory

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	b p			t d			k g
Fricative		v f	θ ð	s	ʃ			h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel Inventory

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	e	o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable Structure

(C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)(C)

Stress Pattern

Stress in Thünard follows a predictable pattern:

• A “foot” is defined as 2 syllables
• Feet are built from the left edge of the word
• Stress falls on the 2nd syllable of each foot

Spelling & Pronunciation

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʃ	sh
e	ë
ɛ	e
fi	phi
jɪk	jk
i	ï
ɪ	i
u	ü
ʊ	u
d	dh / _o
ɔ	au
au	aw / _#
θ	th
ð	th
ŋ	ng

Grammar

Word Order

The main word order is subject–verb–object. Adjectives come before the nouns they modify, as do adpositions (prepositions). Possessors come before possessees.

Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st person	spre /spre/ I, me, mine	vauk /vɔk/ we, us, ours
2nd person	ust /ʊst/ you, yours	er /er/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd person	vü /vu/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its	sha /ʃa/ they, them, theirs

Noun Cases

Nominative	No affix pri /pri/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ik- Else: Prefix ika- ikapri /iˈkapri/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ta Else: Suffix -ata prita /priˈta/ dogʼs

Noun Definiteness

Definite	If starts with vowel: Prefix fj- Else: Prefix fja- fjapri /fjaˈpri/ the dog
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix fl- Else: Prefix fla- flapri /flaˈpri/ a/some dog

Noun Number

Singular	No affix pri /pri/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Suffix -ko Else: Suffix -ako priako /priˈako/ dogs

Verb Aspects

Habitual	If starts with vowel: Prefix spl- Else: Prefix splu- splüslüng /spluˈsluŋ/ dig (often, habitually)
Progressive	If starts with vowel: Prefix lut- Else: Prefix lu- lüslüng /luˈsluŋ/ be digging
Perfect	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tu- tüslüng /tuˈsluŋ/ have dug

Verb Tenses

Past	Prefix ʃpri- shprislüng /ʃpriˈsluŋ/ dug
Present	No affix slüng /sluŋ/ dig
Future	Prefix e- eslüng /eˈsluŋ/ will dig

Numbers

Thünard has a base-12 number system:

1 - stre
2 - ko
3 - to
4 - griv
5 - spri
6 - gli
7 - aump
8 - prü
9 - po
10 - splo
11 - aund
12 - aundi
144 - düja
1728 - ets

Derivational morphology

• Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nd; Else: Suffix -ind
• Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ja
• Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-; Else: Prefix sa-
• Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ji
• Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Suffix -n; Else: Suffix -an
• Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l; Else: Suffix -il
• Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mp; Else: Suffix -imp
• Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nts; Else: Suffix -ɛnts
• Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ns; Else: Suffix -ons
• Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃp-; Else: Prefix ʃpɔ-
• One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃd; Else: Suffix -uʃd
• Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nu; Else: Suffix -u
• Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃr-; Else: Prefix ʃro-
• Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix fr-