Halfling

Natively known as: porturn /poɹˈtʌɹn/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
fy der vonyfl wzi noch puisubr fy wzi wzickne braltrun qennack flernab nurtes
Pronunciation: /fi dɛɹ voˈnifl wɪ noʧ pʌˈɪsʌbɹ fi wɪ wɪkˈnɛ bɹɑlˈtɹʌn kɛˈnɑk flɛɹˈnɑb nʌɹˈtɛs/
Porturn word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w z

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	c	k g	q
Fricative		f v	s z				h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable ?
Sound changes (in order of application):

• a → ɑ
• bb → b
• b → b
• ch → ʧ
• c → k
• d → d
• e → ɛ
• ff → f
• f → f
• gg → g
• g → g
• h → h
• i → ɪ
• j → ʤ
• kk → k
• k → k
• ll → l
• l → l
• m → m
• ng → ŋ
• nn → n
• n → n
• o → o
• ph → f
• p → p
• q → k
• r → ɹ
• sh → ʃ
• ss → s
• s → s
• th → θ
• t → t
• u → ʌ
• v → v
• w → w
• x → ks
• y → i
• z → z

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɑ	a
b	b
ʧ	ch
d	d
ɛ	e
f	f
g	g
h	h
i	i
ɪ	i
ʤ	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
ŋ	ng
n	n
o	o
p	p
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
s	s
θ	th
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	wz

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).

Ergative	Suffix -ud pizackud /pɪˈzɑkʌd/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix pizack /pɪˈzɑk/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	in /ɪn/ I	uf /ʌf/ me
2nd singular	i /ɪ/ you	e /ɛ/ you
3rd singular masc	der /dɛɹ/ he, it (masc)	nach /nɑʧ/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	u /ʌ/ she, it (fem)	zi /zɪ/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	a /ɑ/ we	bre /bɹɛ/ us
2nd plural	fe /fɛ/ you all	fock /fok/ you all
3rd plural	o /o/ they	vo /vo/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ig /ɪg/ my
2nd singular	y /i/ your
3rd singular masc	wzy /wi/ his
3rd singular fem	fe /fɛ/ her
1st plural	az /ɑz/ our
2nd plural	ceth /kɛθ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	u /ʌ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix abwzuson /ɑˈbwʌson/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -c Else: Suffix -y abwzusony /ɑˈbwʌsoˌni/ learned
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -o abwzusono /ɑˈbwʌsoˌno/ learned (long ago)
Future	Prefix po- poabwzuson /poˈɑbwʌˌson/ 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).
Porturn uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: vilvick - vilvick abwzuson /vɪlˈvɪk ɑˈbwʌson/ 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.
Porturn uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix ne- neabwzuson /nɛˈɑbwʌˌson/ have learned

Numbers

Porturn has a base-20 number system:
1 - kyrbon
2 - nonmer
3 - nuckpoev
4 - umas
5 - gurrus
6 - githuqac
7 - ocivvu
8 - butryrn
9 - iznirn
10 - es
11 - rorwzryck
12 - ma
13 - wzabros
14 - qes
15 - covanha
16 - besof
17 - azfur
18 - prifyrron
19 - ymyfl
20 - ycnoruh
400 - eqdeth
8000 - farypkar

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ze-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -e
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix si-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -i
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix mu-
Noun to verb = Suffix -iq
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -a
Tending to = Suffix -uz
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ba-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -o
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix cy-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fl
Else: Suffix -e
Diminutive = Suffix -iz
Augmentative = Prefix bra-

Dictionary

3126 Words.