Phǔshi

Natively known as: phŭshi /pʰɯˈʃi/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...

che me shu amŭgŭmungu tǔshu che bed’ŭe shu ono gitsʰa so

Pronunciation: /ʧe me ʃu aˈmɯ gɯˈmuŋu tɯˈʃu ʧe beˈɗɯ e ʃu oˈno giˈʦʰa so/

Phǔshi word order: and he hat his holding stood and the wind to his face wet turned

The grasslands and hills of Ratomae is the home of the Phŭshi language. One of the national languages of the Tomrak Nation. Legends of its origins hint at it being one of the original pre-Elivera languages, similar to the Paigke Language or the precursor to the Elivera Trade Language.

The tonal aspects of the language have a dark timbre that is reminiscent of the timbre of the wind through the grasslands, where the fungi webs rumble with each gust.

---

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 after 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 thimongŭ /tʰiˈmoŋɯ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -na thimongŭna /tʰiˈmoŋɯˌna/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -tʰa thimongŭtha /tʰiˈmoŋɯˌtʰa/ dogʼs

Singular	No affix thimongŭ /tʰiˈmoŋɯ/ dog
Plural	Suffix -sa thimongŭsa /tʰiˈmoŋɯˌsa/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

.

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	ga /ga/ I	ki /ki/ me	mi /mi/ mine
2nd singular	si /si/ you	mǔ /mɯ/ you	mu /mu/ yours
3rd singular masc	me /me/ he, it	ge /ge/ him, it	le /le/ his, its
3rd singular fem	bŭ /bɯ/ she, it	pi /pi/ her, it	kho /kʰo/ hers, its
1st plural	tŭ /tɯ/ we	la /la/ us	ti /ti/ ours
2nd plural	i /i/ you all	b’o /ɓo/ you all	sho /ʃo/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	pa /pa/ they	d’e /ɗe/ them	khi /kʰi/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	cho /ʧo/ my
2nd singular	phŭ /pʰɯ/ your
3rd singular masc	shu /ʃu/ his
3rd singular fem	la /la/ her
1st plural	b’a /ɓa/ our
2nd plural	chŭ /ʧɯ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	mi /mi/ their

Verbs

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Present	Suffix -gu gachagu /gaˈʧagu/ (I/we) learn	Suffix -mo gachamo /gaˈʧamo/ (you/you all) learn	Suffix -ki gachaki /gaˈʧaki/ (he/she/it/they) learn
Past	Suffix -to gachato /gaˈʧato/ (I/we) learned	Suffix -ma gachama /gaˈʧama/ (you/you all) learned	Suffix -ko gachako /gaˈʧako/ (he/she/it/they) learned
Remote past	Suffix -mu gachamu /gaˈʧamu/ (I/we) learned (long ago)	Suffix -be gachabe /gaˈʧabe/ (you/you all) learned (long ago)	Suffix -mɯ gachamǔ /gaˈʧamɯ/ (he/she/it/they) learned (long ago)
Future	Suffix -tʰa gachatha /gaˈʧatʰa/ (I/we) will learn	Suffix -ɗɯ gachad’ŭ /gaˈʧaɗɯ/ (you/you all) will learn	Suffix -tɯ gachatǔ /gaˈʧatɯ/ (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.

Phǔshi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -me gachame /gaˈʧame/ have learned

Numbers

Phǔshi has a base-10 number system:

• 1 - kha
• 2 - d’o
• 3 - o
• 4 - phi
• 5 - phŭ
• 6 - d’e
• 7 - milo
• 8 - motsa
• 9 - balepu
• 10 - le
• 11 - le che kha “ten and one”
• 100 - chuta “hundred”
• 101 - chuta che kha “hundred and one”
• 200 - d’o chuta
• 1000 - gŭsa “thousand”

Phonology

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ ŋ ɓ ɗ ʃ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p pʰ b	t tʰ d		k kʰ g
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ
Affricate		ʦ ʦʰ	ʧ
Fricative		s	ʃ
Lateral approximant		l

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ɯ

	Front	Back
High	i	ɯ u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Morphology

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɓa
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -to
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ʧa
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -mo
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -mɯ
Noun to verb = Suffix -la
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -gɯ
Tending to = Suffix -sɯ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -nɯ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -di
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʃɯ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -le
Diminutive = Suffix -ʃɯ
Augmentative = Suffix -su

Phonetics

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: second syllable unless velarized consonant starts word, then first syllable
Word initial consonants: b g k kʰ l m p pʰ s t tʰ ɓ ɗ ʃ ʦ ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b d g k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ ŋ ɓ ɗ ʃ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ
Word final consonants:

Phonological changes (in order of application):

• d → ∅ / V_V
• s → h / V_V
• p → b / m_
• e → i / _#
• s → ʃ / _i
• b → w / V_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɯ	ŭ
kʰ	kh
pʰ	ph
tʰ	th
ŋ	ng
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ʃ	sh
ʦ	ts
ʧ	ch

Sentence Structure

Sentence structure is based on Subject (Prepositional phrase) + Object + Verb.
For example, Mary opened the door with a key would be written as:
Mary khu b’ŭd’e ida tioto.

Mary	khu	b’ŭd’e	ida	tioto
Mary	with	a key	the door	opened.

Dictionary

4431 Words.

Common Phrases

Tad’a ga matsagu

Spirit Protect me

Common Unisex Names

common surnames
• Boshǔ (cook-person)
• Mokishǔ (traveler)
• Mutheshǔ(scientist)
• Phamushǔ(hunter)
• ǔchashǔ(fisherperson)
• Bishǔ(farmer)
• Phetsʰeshǔ (miner, or more literal: digging person)
• Toseshǔ (diplomat)
• Chokoshǔ (leader of a town, governor)
• Tǔlashǔ(mechanic, technologist)

Most surnames are formed using the following construction: verb + shǔ (suffix that denotes the person does the verb)