The Ilö Language

Natively known as: Ilö /ˈil̥œː/ ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
le mýdd kæl fó löývö tig leý fó döýgu dýng̊el ge ge no
Pronunciation: /leiː miʰt kʰaiːl̥ pou ˈlœiːvœː tʰɪːk leiː pou tœiːˈkʏː tʰiˈŋ̊ɛːl̥ cɛː cɛː nɔ/
Ilöian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /c cʰ f h j k kʰ l l̥ m m̥ n n̥ p pʰ r r̥ s t tʰ v x xʷ ç ð ŋ ŋ̊ ɣ ɲ ɲ̊ ʰc ʰk ʰp ʰt θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m m̥			n n̥	ɲ ɲ̊	ŋ ŋ̊
Stop	p pʰ ʰp			t tʰ ʰt	c cʰ ʰc	k kʰ ʰk
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s	ç	xʷ x ɣ	h
Approximant					j
Trill				r r̥
Lateral approximant				l l̥

Vowel inventory: /a ai aiː au auː aː ei eiː i iː ou ouː u uː œ œi œiː œː ɔ ɔː ɛ ɛː ɪ ɪː ʏ ʏː/

Diphthongs: ai, aiː, au, auː, ei, eiː, ou, ouː, œi, œiː
[

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Near-high	ɪ ɪː ʏ ʏː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː œ œː	ɔ ɔː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: c, cʰ, f, h, j, k, kʰ, l, m, n, n̥, p, pʰ, r, r̥, s, t, tʰ, v, xʷ, ç, θ
Mid-word consonants: f, j, k, l̥, m̥, p, t, v, x, ð, ŋ, ŋ̊, ɣ, ɲ, ɲ̊, ʰc, ʰk, ʰp
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• i → e / _m
• S → S[-voice] / _#
• v → p / _s
• f → w / _V
• t → k / _j
• a → Ø / _i

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ai	æ
aiː	æ
au	á
auː	á
aː	a
c	g
cʰ	k
ei	e
eiː	ei
f	f|p
i	i|ý
iː	í|ý
j	j|g
k	g|k
kʰ	k
l̥	l
m̥	m
n̥	hn
ou	ó
ouː	ó
p	b|p|f
pʰ	p
r̥	hr
t	t|d|ll
tʰ	t
uː	ú
v	v|f
x	k|g
xʷ	hv
ç	hj
ŋ	ng
ŋ̊	ng
œ	ö
œi	au
œiː	au
œː	ö
ɔ	o
ɔː	o
ɛ	e
ɛː	e
ɣ	g
ɪ	y|i
ɪː	y|i
ɲ	n
ɲ̊	n
ʏ	u
ʏː	u
ʰc	kk
ʰk	kk
ʰp	pp
ʰt	tt
θ	þ

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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

Noun

Singular	No affix idd /ɪːʰt/
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l̥ Else: Suffix -ouːl̥ illllól /ˈɪːʰtouːl̥/

Nouns have four 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 recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.

Nominative	No affix yːdd /ɪːʰt/
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l̥ Else: Suffix -ɔl̥ iːllllol /ˈɪːʰtɔl̥/
Genitive	Suffix -iː yːttí /ɪːˈʰtiː/
Dative	Prefix pʰa- bʰæːtt /ˈpʰaɪːʰt/

Articles

Definite	seː /seiː/ the
Indefinite	gʷeýː /xʷeiː/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	my /mɪ/ I	hnæ /n̥ai/ me	váːl /vauːl̥/ my, mine	hjaý /çai/ to me
2nd singular	hnuːk /n̥ʏːk/ you	sá /sau/ you	feýː /peiː/ your, yours	dʰýl /tʰil̥/ to you
3rd singular	midd /miʰt/ he, she, it	þú /θuː/ him, her, it	pó /pou/ his, her, hers, its	meː /mɛː/ to him, to her
1st plural	þo /θɔ/ we	riː /rɪː/ us	döýd /tœit/ our, ours	no /nɔ/ to us
2nd plural	nyː /nɪː/ you (all)	löýːl /lœiːl̥/ you (all)	gʰöː /cʰœː/ your, yours (all)	hrud /r̥ʏt/ to you (all)
3rd plural	ýː /iː/ they	jýll /jit/ them	hgæː /çaiː/ their, theirs	a /a/ to them

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

lla /ta/ future tense particle

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	Suffix -ɔl̥ tíjeːttol /tʰiːˈjeiːʰtɔl̥/	If starts with vowel: Prefix pʰ- Else: Prefix pʰœi- bʰöidʰýgeːdd /pʰœiˈtʰiːjeiːʰt/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l̥ɪː Else: Suffix -ɔːl̥ɪː llʰýːgeýːlllloːlyː /ˈtʰiːjeiːˌʰtɔːl̥ɪː/
2nd singular	Suffix -aiːk dʰýgeːddæːk /tʰiːˈjeiːʰtaiːk/	Prefix œi- öýtýːjeýːtt /ˈœitʰiːjeiːʰt/	Suffix -auː dʰígeːddáː /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰtauː/
3rd singular	Suffix -iː llʰýːjeýːllllýː /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰtiː/	If starts with vowel: Prefix n̥- Else: Prefix n̥aiː- hnæːtýgeːtt /ˈn̥aiːtʰiːjeiːʰt/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋu Else: Suffix -œŋu tígeːttöngu /tʰiːˈjeiːʰtœˌŋu/
1st plural	Prefix ciː- gítíjeːtt /ciːˈtʰiːjeiːʰt/	Prefix pouː- póːllʰýːgeýːllll /ˈpouːtʰiːjeiːʰt/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -vʏː Else: Suffix -œivʏː dʰýjeːddöifuː /ˈtʰiːjeiːˌʰtœivʏː/
2nd plural	Suffix -a týːgeýːtta /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰta/	Prefix xʷœi- gʷöýtýːjeýːtt /ˈxʷœitʰiːjeiːʰt/	Suffix -ɔːt dʰígeːddoːd /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰtɔːt/
3rd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tɪː Else: Suffix -œːtɪː týːjeýːttöːtiː /ˈtʰiːjeiːˌʰtœːtɪː/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l̥ Else: Suffix -ɪːl̥ dʰígeːddyːl /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰtɪːl̥/	Suffix -aː llʰýgeːlllla /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰtaː/

Perfect aspect

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.
In Ilöːian, the perfect is constructed with an affix

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʰt Else: Suffix -uʰt týgeːttutt /ˈtʰiːjeiːʰtuʰt/

Numbers

Ilöːian has a base-10 number system:

1 - kʷet
2 - rý
3 - te
4 - hjöː
5 - bʰe
6 - gíllöiːllö
7 - hrú
8 - hgu
9 - hröː
10 - hju
11 - hgu leýː kʷeýd “ten and one”
100 - höýːnu “hundred”
101 - höýːnu leýː kʷet “hundred and one”
200 - rýː höiːnu
1000 - lat “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix çʏː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix mɛː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ouʰk-
Else: Prefix ouʰkiː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix uːɲ̊-
Else: Prefix uːɲ̊ɔ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix au-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix œiŋ-
Else: Prefix œiŋʏ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix œiː-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix eiːɣ-
Else: Prefix eiːɣaiː-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix r̥-
Else: Prefix r̥œ-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix cɛː-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix œːʰk-
Else: Prefix œːʰkɪː-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix a-
Diminutive = Prefix aiː-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix aiʰk-
Else: Prefix aiʰki-

Dictionary

4315 Words.

Spoken by

• Ilö