G̈aami (ɣaːˈmi)

Natively known as: g̈aami /ɣaːˈmi/

is the protolanguage of the human tribes of the Nimforyim savannah.
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
oo bif bi fibam diadz uu bi oo gikh deedz tsii uu bi ee shup
Pronunciation: /oː bif bi fiˈbam diˈaʣ uː bi oː ɢiχ deːʣ ʦiː uː bi eː ɬup/
G̈aami word order: and stood he holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f h j k kʰ l m n p r s t w ħ ɢ ɣ ɬ ʒ ʔ ʕ ʣ ʦ ʧ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d			k kʰ	ɢ		ʔ
Affricate			ʦ ʣ	ʧ
Fricative		f	s	ʒ		ɣ	χ	ħ ʕ	h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral fricative			ɬ
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
j	y
χ	kh
ɢ	g
ɬ	sh
ʒ	z
ʣ	dz
ʦ	ts
ʧ	ch
ħ	ḧ
ʕ	h́
kʰ	k̈
ɣ	g̈
Vː	VV

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Grammar

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

Noun affixes

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Singular	No affix k̈oo /kʰoː/ man	No affix k̈oo /kʰoː/ woman	No affix k̈oo /kʰoː/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix da- dak̈oo /daˈkʰoː/ men	Prefix uː- uuk̈oo /uːˈkʰoː/ women	Prefix o- ok̈oo /oˈkʰoː/ dogs
Dual	Prefix iː- iik̈oo /iːˈkʰoː/ two men	If starts with vowel: Prefix ijt- Else: Prefix ijtiː- iytiik̈oo /ijtiːˈkʰoː/ two women	Prefix jeː- yeek̈oo /jeːˈkʰoː/ two dogs

Pronouns

1st person

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Masculine	e /e/ I (masc), me (masc), mine (masc)	ri /ri/ we (masc), us (masc), ours (masc)	wuf /wuf/
Feminine	loom /loːm/ I (fem), me (fem), mine (fem)	hus /hus/ we (fem), us (fem), ours (fem)	tsam /ʦam/
Neuter	khik /χik/ I, me, mine	yoo /joː/ we, us, ours	k̈ii /kʰiː/

2nd person

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Masculine	wuup /wuːp/ you (masc), yours (masc)	k̈i /kʰi/ you all (masc), yours (pl masc)	u /u/
Feminine	wi /wi/ you (fem), yours (fem)	suum /suːm/ you all (fem), yours (pl fem)	um /um/
Neuter	zodz /ʒoʣ/ you, yours	tsii /ʦiː/ you all, yours (pl)	dzee /ʣeː/

3rd person

	Singular	Plural	Dual
Masculine	bi /bi/ he, him, his	noo /noː/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)	uu /uː/
Feminine	ziish /ʒiːɬ/ she, her, hers	ra /ra/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)	zii /ʒiː/
Neuter	o /o/ it, its	ee /eː/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)	hii /hiː/

Noun case

Nominative

No affix k̈oo /kʰoː/ dog (doing the verb)

Numbers

G̈aami has a base-10 number system:
1 - aa
2 - yuu
3 - chikh
4 - need
5 - na
6 - fo
7 - nug̈
8 - ti
9 - daaf
10 - dzii
100 - zuusyo
1000 - shabyi

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɣe-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ħ-
Else: Prefix ħoː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix iː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix eː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix uː-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɣ-
Else: Prefix ɣi-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix o-
Tending to = Prefix ju-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix e-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix woː-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix ha-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix foː-
Diminutive = Prefix a-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʣ-
Else: Prefix ʣoː-