Kumâian

Kumâian is a very old language of the Iɉen peoples. In modern day it has mostly fallen out of use in favor of Närgon or other tribal mixes and dialects except among a few tribes in the extreme north of Koljorn such as the people of Helɉarva.

Kumâian is an unusual language in that it's vocabulary is unlike more modern languages that have developed in Koljorn. Kumâian includes a lot of vocabulary around agriculture, seasons, crops and vegetations that are impossible to grow in the region due to the cold climate. Some point to this as evidence that Koljorn was not always such a frigid place while other theories present the Iɉen peoples having migrated from southern areas where such things were common.

Natively known as: Kumâian

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
gr̀uv dyu chti tyinyu pyur wiwu gr̀uv kyani yi chti gur̀ trarfu plav
Pronunciation: /ɣɾuv dju ʧti tjiˈɲu pjur wiˈwu ɣɾuv kjaˈni ji ʧti ɣuɾ trarˈfu plav/
Kumâian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d f h j k l m n p r t v w ɟ ɣ ɦ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d		c ɟ	k
Affricate				ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v		ʃ ʒ		ɣ	h ɦ
Approximant					j
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a i u

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
c	chy
ʧ	ch
j	y
ʤ	j
ɣ	g
ɦ	gh
ɲ	ny
ʃ	sh
ʒ	z
ɟ	j̀
ɾ	r̀

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have five 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.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.

Nominative	No affix br̀ukr̀un /bɾuˈkɾun/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix ɲji- nyibr̀ukr̀un /ɲibɾuˈkɾun/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Prefix a- abr̀ukr̀un /abɾuˈkɾun/ dogʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ- Else: Prefix ɾa- r̀abr̀ukr̀un /ɾabɾuˈkɾun/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix fr- Else: Prefix fra- frabr̀ukr̀un /frabɾuˈkɾun/ near/at/by (the/a) dog

Singular	No affix br̀ukr̀un /bɾuˈkɾun/ dog
Plural	Prefix mi- mibr̀ukr̀un /mibɾuˈkɾun/ dogs

Articles

Definite	un /un/ the
Indefinite	liw /liw/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

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

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	kmi /kmi/ I	tyu /tju/ me	ka /ka/ mine	hu /hu/ to me	lu /lu/ at me
2nd singular	dna /dna/ you	ib /ib/ you	j̀am /ɟam/ yours	bri /bri/ to you	knu /knu/ at you
3rd singular masc	dyu /dju/ he, it	fri /fri/ him, it	a /a/ his, its	nyuj /ɲuʤ/ to him, at it	nyyaj̀ /ɲjaɟ/ at him, at it
3rd singular fem	wa /wa/ she, it	fruh /fruh/ her, it	kma /kma/ hers, its	kni /kni/ to her, at it	chlu /ʧlu/ at her, at it
1st plural	aj̀ /aɟ/ we	chyi /ci/ us	ma /ma/ ours	daf /daf/ to us	pyuj̀ /pjuɟ/ at us
2nd plural	gha /ɦa/ you all	kagh /kaɦ/ you all	fi /fi/ yours (pl)	nyip /ɲip/ to you all	nyu /ɲu/ at you all
3rd plural	pyu /pju/ they	shpu /ʃpu/ them	tu /tu/ theirs	ku /ku/ to them	ti /ti/ at them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	nim /nim/ my
2nd singular	dyi /dji/ your
3rd singular masc	chti /ʧti/ his
3rd singular fem	vi /vi/ her
1st plural	pya /pja/ our
2nd plural	bru /bru/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nyyi /ɲji/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix jduf /ʤduf/ learn
Past	Prefix a- ajduf /aʤˈduf/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ- Else: Prefix ɾi- r̀ijduf /ɾiʤˈduf/ learned (long ago)

Kumâian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mu - mu jduf /mu ʤduf/ 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).
Kumâian uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: pja - pya jduf /pja ʤduf/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Kumâian has a base-10 number system:
1 - un
2 - di
3 - wi
4 - if
5 - mihli
6 - gr̀am
7 - da
8 - fr̀ichy
9 - ghah
10 - bra
Hundred - ghr̀ir̀
Thousand - char

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix fɾu-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix u-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix kri-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ci-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix bɾa-
Noun to verb = Prefix u-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ʧlu-
Tending to = Prefix ʤda-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix vn-
Else: Prefix vni-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix ja-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɾa-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix dru-
Diminutive = Prefix u-
Augmentative = Prefix u-

Sentence Structure

Subject Object (Prepositional phrase) Verb.
“Mary opened the door with a key” becomes "Mary the door with a key opened."

Adjective Order

Adjectives are positioned before the noun.

Dictionary

2665 Words.

Spoken by

• Helɉan
• Iɉen