M'hani (m'hani)

Natively known as: m'hana /haˈna/

is the protolanguage of the M'hani speaking peoples.
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ti fa suf pim ke sakuk ti nuf ke tuti fumlo tuf ongri
Pronunciation: /ti fa suf pim ke saˈkuk ti nuf ke tuˈti fuˈmlo tuf oˈŋri/
M'hani word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f h k l m n p r s t w ŋ ʔ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n	ŋ
Stop	p		t	k	ʔ
Fricative		f	s		h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ŋ	ng

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

Singular	No affix fefle /feˈfle/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -af feflef /feˈflef/ dogs

Articles

Definite	mak /mak/ the
Indefinite	ma /ma/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ki /ki/ I	nam /nam/ me
2nd singular	ti /ti/ you	mung /muŋ/ you
3rd singular masc	fa /fa/ he, it	kom /kom/ him, it
3rd singular fem	pam /pam/ she, it	en /en/ her, it
1st plural	mo /mo/ we	kof /kof/ us
2nd plural	sep /sep/ you all	ma /ma/ you all
3rd plural	fun /fun/ they	i /i/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	fa /fa/ my
2nd singular	tek /tek/ your
3rd singular masc	ke /ke/ his
3rd singular fem	mep /mep/ her
1st plural	pa /pa/ our
2nd plural	rof /rof/ your (pl)
3rd plural	fi /fi/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	Suffix -uŋ masroung /masroˈuŋ/ (I) learn	Suffix -o masroo /masroˈo/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Suffix -i masroi /masroˈi/ (you) learn	Suffix -ip masroip /masroˈip/ (you) learned
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -en masron /maˈsron/ (he/she/it) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ik masrok /maˈsrok/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	Suffix -aŋ masroang /masroˈaŋ/ (we) learn	Suffix -of masroof /masroˈof/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -el masrol /maˈsrol/ (you all) learn	Suffix -il masroil /masroˈil/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -iŋ masrong /maˈsroŋ/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -um masrom /maˈsrom/ (they) learned

M'hani uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mam - mam masro /mam maˈsro/ will learn

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.
M'hani uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -u masrou /masroˈu/ have learned

Numbers

M'hani has a base-10 number system:
1 - kum
2 - pa
3 - nip
4 - tup
5 - ra
6 - ilrun
7 - ma
8 - min
9 - sulhi
10 - map
100 - rup
1000 - nen

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ne
Else: Suffix -ine
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʔne
Else: Suffix -aʔne
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ep
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -a
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p
Else: Suffix -ip
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -if
Tending to = Suffix -um
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -la
Else: Suffix -ila
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -em
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -am
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ek
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ik
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p
Else: Suffix -ap