Shigu

Natively known as: shigu /ˈʃɪgʌ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ruken gushi oj me shiangu agguni ruken me stenjin rergu stelbas jaselshi guclar
Pronunciation: /ˈɹʌkɛn ˈgʌʃɪ oʤ mɛ ʃɪˈɑŋʌ ɑˈgʌnɪ ˈɹʌkɛn mɛ ˈstɛnʤɪn ˈɹɛɹgʌ ˈstɛlbɑs ʤɑˈsɛlʃɪ ˈgʌklɑɹ/
Shiguian 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 x 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		x		h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: a á e i ì o ō u y

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

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

• a → ɑ
• b → b
• ch → ʧ
• c → k
• drr → dʀ / _V
• drr → dəʀ
• dr → dʀ / _V
• dr → dəʀ
• d → d
• e → ɛ
• 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
• p → p
• q → k
• rr → ʀ
• r → ɹ
• sh → ʃ
• 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
ɛ	e
ɪ	i
ʤ	j
ŋ	ng
o	o
ʀ	rr
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
s	s
θ	th
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	w

---

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).

Nouns have both a plural affix and ‘paucal’ affix for referring to a few of something.

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -i dricizi /dʀɪˈkɪzɪ/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix driciz /ˈdʀɪkɪz/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)

Singular	No affix driciz /ˈdʀɪkɪz/ dog
Plural	Suffix -udr dricizudr /ˌdʀɪkɪˈzʌdəʀ/ dogs
Paucal	Suffix -es dricizes /dʀɪˈkɪzɛs/ few dogs

Articles

Definite	e /ɛ/ the
Indefinite	il /ɪl/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	ranvih /ˈɹɑnvɪh/ I	guka /ˈgʌkɑ/ me
2nd singular	qok /kok/ you	gu /gʌ/ you
3rd singular masc	gushi /ˈgʌʃɪ/ he, it (masc)	shi /ʃɪ/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	an /ɑn/ she, it (fem)	guis /ˈgʌɪs/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	malna /ˈmɑlnɑ/ we	si /sɪ/ us
2nd plural	is /ɪs/ you all	guspar /ˈgʌspɑɹ/ you all
3rd plural	shigu /ˈʃɪgʌ/ they	men /mɛn/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	shi /ʃɪ/ my
2nd singular	yk /ik/ your
3rd singular masc	me /mɛ/ his
3rd singular fem	nes /nɛs/ her
1st plural	ba /bɑ/ our
2nd plural	kak /kɑk/ your (pl)
3rd plural	drank /dʀɑnk/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix ceycl /ˈkɛikl/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -sp Else: Suffix -e ceycle /kɛˈiklɛ/ learned
Remote past	Prefix da- daceycl /dɑˈkɛikl/ learned (long ago)
Future	Prefix va- vaceycl /vɑˈkɛikl/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Shiguian uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

Suffix -it ceyclit /kɛˈiklɪt/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Shiguian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Suffix -am ceyclam /kɛˈiklɑm/ learns

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.
Shiguian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -al ceyclal /kɛˈiklɑl/ have learned

Numbers

Shiguian has a base-20 number system:
1 - gugu
2 - kis
3 - clavilad
4 - hin
5 - shi
6 - sik
7 - stashi
8 - ensus
9 - gushiok
10 - narr
11 - gugushi
12 - shiha
13 - lizzon
14 - gugugu
15 - rurergt
16 - qesshiqar
17 - avl
18 - katlos
19 - casshi
20 - vonagu
400 - gansinevl
8000 - jembres

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix zu-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ja-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ann
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -el
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix te-
Noun to verb = Prefix ky-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -a
Tending to = Suffix -uh
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nn
Else: Suffix -y
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix re-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -a
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix du-
Diminutive = Prefix ra-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -a

Dictionary

3143 Words.