Elven

Natively known as: Nualá /ˈn̪ˠuəɫɑː/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
lí gi mór a trar íbo lí a eis aná rúma cann gi
Pronunciation: /ɫiː gɪ mˠoːɾˠ a tʲɾʲəiɾʲ iːˈbˠɔ ɫiː a ɛsˠ aˈnʲɑː ˈɾˠuːmˠa kaɲ gɪ/
Nualáian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /bʲ bˠ c dʲ d̪ˠ fʲ fˠ g h k lʲ mʲ mˠ nʲ n̪ˠ pʲ pˠ sˠ tʲ t̪ˠ vʲ vˠ x ç ŋ ɟ ɫ ɲ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʃ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	mˠ mʲ		n̪ˠ nʲ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pˠ pʲ bˠ bʲ		t̪ˠ tʲ d̪ˠ dʲ		c ɟ	k g
Fricative		fˠ fʲ vʲ vˠ	sˠ	ʃ	ç	x	h
Tap			ɾˠ ɾʲ
Lateral approximant			lʲ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Velarized alveolar
Lateral approximant	ɫ

Vowel inventory: /a eː ia iə iː oː uə uː ɑː ɔ əi əu ɛ ɪ ʊ/
Diphthongs: ia, iə, uə, əi, əu

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	eː	oː
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a	ɑː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: bʲ, bʲɾʲ, bˠ, bˠɾˠ, c, cɾʲ, dʲ, dʲɾʲ, d̪ˠ, fʲ, fʲɾʲ, fˠ, g, gɫ, gɾˠ, h, k, kɫ, kɾˠ, lʲ, mʲ, mˠ, n̪ˠ, pʲ, pˠ, sˠ, sˠk, sˠt̪ˠ, sˠɾˠ, tʲ, tʲɾʲ, t̪ˠ, t̪ˠɾˠ, vʲ, x, xɫ, ç, ɟ, ɫ, ɾˠ, ʃ, ʃc, ʃcɾʲ
Mid-word consonants: bˠ, c, dʲ, d̪ˠ, fʲ, fˠ, g, gɫ, h, hɾˠ, k, lʲ, mʲ, mˠ, mˠpˠ, nʲ, nʲʃ, n̪ˠ, n̪ˠt̪ˠ, pˠ, sˠ, sˠk, sˠt̪ˠ, tʲ, t̪ˠ, vʲ, vˠ, x, xt̪ˠ, ŋ, ɟ, ɫ, ɫt̪ˠ, ɲ, ɾʲ, ɾˠ, ɾˠsˠ, ɾˠɫ, ʃ, ʃtʲ
Word final consonants: dʲ, d̪ˠ, g, h, k, lʲ, mʲ, mˠ, nʲ, nʲtʲ, n̪ˠ, sˠ, sˠt̪ˠ, tʲ, vʲ, vˠ, x, xt̪ˠ, ŋg, ɟ, ɫ, ɲ, ɾʲ, ɾʲtʲ, ɾˠ, ɾˠd̪ˠ, ɾˠtʲ, ɾˠt̪ˠ, ʃ, ʃtʲ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• h → Ø / V_C
• C → Ø / _#
• {k,g} → [+palato-alveolar] / _a
• a → ə / _Ca
• N → ŋ / _#
• h → q / _#
• N → n / _#
• h → w / #_
• x → s / _k
• h → Ø / V_C
• S → S[-voice] / _#

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
^n̪ˠ	n
bʲ	b
bˠ	b
ca	cea
coː	ceo
cu	ciu
dʲ	d
d̪ˠ	d
eː	é
eːɾˠ	éar
fʲ	f
fˠ	f
fˠi	faoi
fˠuː	fiú
fˠɪ	fui
h	th
iə	ia
iː	í
k	c
kɪ	coi | cai | cui
lʲ	l
mʲ	m
mˠ	m
nʲ	n
n̪ˠ	nn
oː	ó
pʲ	p
pˠ	p
sˠ	s
sˠeː	sao
sˠi	suí
sˠɪ	sai
tʲ(?=a|ɑː)	te
tʲ	t
tʲu	tiu
t̪ˠ	t
t̪ˠoː	teo
t̪ˠɛ	te
uə	ua
uː	ú
vʲ	bh
vˠ	bh | mh
x	ch
ç	ch
ŋ	ng
ŋg	ng
ɑː	á
ɔ	o
əi	a
əu	ai
ɛ	ei
ɟ	g
ɪ	i
ɫ	l
ɲ	nn
ɾʲ	r
ɾˠ	r
ʃ	s
ʃa	sea
ʃo	seo
ʃu	siu
ʃɔ	seo | sio
ʊ	u

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique. "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: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Ergative	Prefix iə- iaár /ˈiəɑːɾˠ/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix ár /ɑːɾˠ/ dog (doing the verb not to something)

Singular	No affix ár /ɑːɾˠ/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -oːk áróc /ˈɑːɾˠoːk/ dogs

Articles

Definite	frúnt /fʲɾʲuːnʲtʲ/ the
Indefinite	dís /d̪ˠiːʃ/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	bia /bˠiə/ I	cás /kɑːsˠ/ me, I
2nd singular	cim /cɪmˠ/ you	a /a/ you
3rd singular masc	gi /gɪ/ he	dár /d̪ˠɑːɾʲ/ him, he
3rd singular fem	cha /ça/ she	crei /cɾʲɛ/ her, she
1st plural	sei /ʃɛ/ we	ba /bʲa/ us, we
2nd plural	bró /bʲɾʲoː/ you (all)	beir /bˠɛɾʲ/ you (all)
3rd plural	cai /kɪ/ they	srei /sˠɾˠɛ/ them, they

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ul /ʊɫ/ my
2nd singular	pí /pˠiː/ your
3rd singular masc	a /a/ his
3rd singular fem	rúnt /ɾˠuːnʲtʲ/ her
1st plural	tai /tʲəu/ our
2nd plural	fa /fˠa/ your
3rd plural	dé /d̪ˠeː/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix trést /t̪ˠɾˠeːʃtʲ/ study
Past	Suffix -eːn̪ˠ trésténn /t̪ˠɾˠeːʃˈtʲeːn̪ˠ/ studied
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾʲ Else: Suffix -oːɾʲ tréstór /ˈt̪ˠɾˠeːʃtʲoːɾʲ/ studied (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɪɾˠ- Else: Prefix ɪɾˠeː- irétrést /ɪˈɾˠeːt̪ˠɾˠeːʃtʲ/ will study

Numbers

Nualáian has a base-10 number system:

• 1 - pé
• 2 - dart
• 3 - ré
• 4 - gu
• 5 - ann
• 6 - ó
• 7 - bhon
• 8 - cha
• 9 - seó
• 10 - ei
• 11 - pé lí ei “one and ten”
• 100 - pai “hundred”
• 101 - pai lí pé “hundred and one”
• 200 - dart pai
• 1000 - om “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix iː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɛ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɪ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix uː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix iə-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɫ-
Else: Prefix ɫeː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix sˠɔ-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix iəɾʲ-
Else: Prefix iəɾʲeː-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix mˠɛ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix uə-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ça-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix sˠ-
Else: Prefix sˠuː-
Augmentative = Prefix gɾˠɪ-

Dictionary

4294 Words.

Root Languages

• Sylvan

Common Female Names

• Pai /pʲəu/
• Dria /dʲɾʲiə/
• Taich /tʲəux/
• Pail /pʲəulʲ/
• Cithor /cɪˈhɔɾʲ/
• Pínt /pˠiːnʲtʲ/
• Cadán /ˈkadʲɑːnʲ/
• Bart /bˠəiɾʲtʲ/
• Faoianaingar /ˈfˠianʲəuŋaɾˠ/
• Cilín /ˈcɪlʲiːnʲ/

Common Male Names

• Mialú /ˈmʲiaɫuː/
• Ceart /caɾʲtʲ/
• Triathí /ˈtʲɾʲiahiː/
• Lírleicht /ˈlʲiːɾˠɫɛxt̪ˠ/
• Sruac /sˠɾˠuək/
• Guathán /ˈɟuəhɑːnʲ/
• Mócht /mˠoːxt̪ˠ/
• Baist /bˠəuʃtʲ/
• Siúra /ˈʃuːɾˠa/
• Únnéd /uːˈɲeːdʲ/

Common Unisex Names

• Pia /pʲiə/
• Ia /iə/
• Gridús /ˈgɾˠɪd̪ˠuːʃ/
• Baing /bˠəuŋg/
• Pail /pʲəulʲ/
• Dai /dʲəu/
• Ba /bˠəi/
• Bhord /vʲɔɾˠd̪ˠ/
• Seórd /ʃoːɾˠd̪ˠ/
• Seoba /ʃɔˈbˠa/