Chalibeth Language

Natively known as: chalibeth /ʧælɪbɛθ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
shles tulth corrn page tulth gwlem shles o tulth ponf syoge vyi etdgi
Pronunciation: /ʃlez tuːlθ kɔːɹn peɪ̯g tuːlθ gwlem ʃlez o tuːlθ ponf sjoʤ vji ɛtʤi/
Chalibeth word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ e eɪ̯ i iː o oʊ̯ uː æ œ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ?

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	e		o
Low-mid	ɛ œ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

Sound changes (in order of application):

• ll → l
• ph → f
• gh → f
• sch → sk
• ks → x

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	qu
kt	cked / _#
k	c / !_{ɪ,i,ɛ,e,s}
oʊ̯C₁	oC₁e / _#
uːC₁	uC₁e / _#
eɪ̯C₁	aC₁e / _#
eɪ̯	ay / _#
eɪ̯	a
ð	th
θ	th
ʍ	wh
ŋg	ng
ŋ{k,c}	nk
ŋ	ng
ʧ	ch
ʃ	sh
ɹ	r
z	s / _#
ju	u / C_
cc	ck
c	k / _#
{t,d}	ed / C_#
aʊ̯	ow / _#
aʊ̯	ou
ʊə̯	ou
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɪə̯	ear
aɪ̯	i
ɪ	y / _#
ɪ	i
ji	yi
j	y
iː	y / _#
yy	yi / _#
y	i / #_#
ʌ	u
iː	ee
oʊ̯	o
ʊ	oo
ɛ	e
ɑ(ː)	a
t	tt / æ_#
l	ll / æ_#
s	ss / æ_#
z	zz / æ_#
æ	a
ʤ	j / #_
ʤ	ge / _#
ʤ	dg
ɜː	ur
ɔː	or
uː	u
quur	quir
eə̯	ere

---

Grammar

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

Nouns

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix swoth /swoθ/ man	No affix bry /bɹiː/ woman
Plural	Suffix -e swothe /swoθe/ men	If ends with vowel: Suffix -vd Else: Suffix -ivd bryvd /briːvd/ women

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	mgna /mgnɑ/ the	vuwm /vʌwm/ a
Plural	trorngn /tɹɔːŋn/ the	wur /wɜː/ 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’.
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

1st singular	tu /tjuː/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	toi /tɔɪ̯/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	tulth /tuːlθ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	fre /fɹe/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	zyuryl /zjɜːjl/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	œ /œ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	ped /pɛd/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	dlo /dloʊ̯/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	tu /tjuː/ my
2nd singular	toi /tɔɪ̯/ your
3rd singular masc	tulth /tuːlθ/ his
3rd singular fem	fre /fɹe/ her
1st plural	zyuryl /zjɜːjl/ our
2nd plural	œ /œ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ped /pɛd/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	dlo /dloʊ̯/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past
Masculine	No affix marf /mɑɹf/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tm Else: Suffix -itm marfitm /mɑɹfitm/
Feminine	No affix marf /mɑɹf/	Suffix -eɹs marfers /mɑɹfeɹs/

Chalibeth uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: timʧ - timch marf /timʧ mɑɹf/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Chalibeth uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: kiws - kiws marf /kiws mɑɹf/ 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).
Chalibeth uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If ends with vowel: Suffix -nz Else: Suffix -ɔɪ̯nz marfoins /mɑɹfɔɪ̯nz/ 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.
Chalibeth uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Change all #(C)*V to __ mamarf /mɑmɑɹf/ have learned

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -uːʃ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nf
Else: Suffix -aɪ̯nf
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹ
Else: Suffix -ɔːɹ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɜː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ndli
Else: Suffix -endli
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nθ
Else: Suffix -inθ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -uː
Tending to = Suffix -iː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -œ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃd
Else: Suffix -oʃd
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -khi
Else: Suffix -ɛkhi
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -on
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ik
Augmentative = Suffix -ɪb

Numbers

Chalibeth has a base-10 number system:

1 - es
2 - a
3 - dak
4 - o
5 - voa
6 - dre
7 - so
8 - ai
9 - soo
10 - voo
Hundred - mœwf
Thousand - rœsh

Common Phrases

Yes. Rized /ɹɪzt/

No. Amdgem /ɑmʤem/

Maybe. Cvib /kvɪb/

By the Master’s skeletal hand. Refers to LLontel: God of The Deadlands and expresses shock, surprise, or discovery.
Ksoised cviymoi flour fstewo /xɔɪ̯st kvijmɔɪ̯ floɜː fstewo/

Gods guide your steps. A blessing.
Cyimne aws toi trayvd /kjimne æws tɔɪ̯ tɹeɪ̯vd /

Master, don’t take me. An expression of fear of death, chest pain, or sickness.
Cviymoi psorshed gins tu /kvijmɔɪ̯ psɔːʃd gins tjuː/

Shadow children.
thegch vshobbige /thegʧ vʃobbige/

Dictionary

3068 Words.

Spoken by

• Chalibeth