Mugbian (/mug͡bi'an/)

Natively known as: mugb /mug͡b/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ko naw̃ bapãl kpak chũ mawtu ko ku chũ yèk èÿÿè i kawnĩ
Pronunciation: /ko nɔ̃ baˈpãl k͡pak ʧũ mɔˈtu ko ku ʧũ jɛk ɛʎˈʎɛ i kɔˈnĩ/
Mugbian word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g g͡b j k k͡p l m n p r s t w ʎ ʔ ʧ

Manner/Place	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p b	t d			k g	ʔ
Affricate			ʧ
Fricative		s
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

Manner/Place	Labial-velar
Stop	k͡p g͡b
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ã e i ĩ o u ũ ɔ ɔ̃ ɛ ɛ̃

	Front	Back
High	i ĩ	u ũ
High-mid	e	o
Low-mid	ɛ ɛ̃	ɔ ɔ̃
Low	a ã

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: b g͡b j k k͡p l m n s t w ʎ ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b bb bd bj bm bn bs bw d dj dm dn dw g gb gg gj gk gr gs g͡b j jl jm jr jʔ k kb kk kl km kw kʧ k͡p l lb ln lr ls lʧ m mb mn mr ms mw mʔ n nb ng nj nm np ns nw p pn pp pr r rb rd rk rl rm rn rt s sg sl sr ss t td tg tm tn tr ts tt w wk wl wt ww ʎ ʎʎ ʔ ʔd ʔn ʧ ʧg ʧk ʧl ʧn
Word final consonants: b d g g͡b k k͡p l n p s t w ʎ

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ɔ	aw
ɛ	è
g͡b	gb
j	y
k͡p	kp
ʧ	ch
ʎ	ÿ

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix yètnèp /jɛtˈnɛp/ the dog	Prefix u- uyètnèp /ujɛtˈnɛp/ the dogs
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mi- miyètnèp /mijɛtˈnɛp/ a dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wi- wiyètnèp /wijɛtˈnɛp/ some dogs

Articles

Mugbian encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	gba /g͡ba/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	mu /mu/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	naw̃ /nɔ̃/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	sã /sã/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	kè̃ /kɛ̃/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	a /a/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	me /me/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	kpĩ /k͡pĩ/ my
2nd singular	mũk /mũk/ your
3rd singular masc	chũ /ʧũ/ his
3rd singular fem	ku /ku/ her
1st plural	aws /ɔs/ our
2nd plural	ko /ko/ your (pl)
3rd plural	mĩ /mĩ/ their

Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Present	No affix bĩrkè /bĩrˈkɛ/ (I/you/he/she/it) learn	Prefix ma- mabĩrkè /mabĩrˈkɛ/ (we/they) learn
Past	Prefix ɛ̃- è̃bĩrkè /ɛ̃bĩrˈkɛ/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sũ- sũbĩrkè /sũbĩrˈkɛ/ (we/they) learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix k͡p- Else: Prefix k͡pu- kpubĩrkè /k͡pubĩrˈkɛ/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɔ- mawbĩrkè /mɔbĩrˈkɛ/ (we/they) learned (long ago)
Future	Prefix jũ- yũbĩrkè /jũbĩrˈkɛ/ (I/you/he/she/it) will learn	Prefix ũ- ũbĩrkè /ũbĩrˈkɛ/ (we/they) 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.
Mugbian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect	If starts with vowel: Prefix k͡p- Else: Prefix k͡pɔ-
	kpawbĩrkè /k͡pɔbĩrˈkɛ/ have learned

Numbers

Mugbian has a base-10 number system:
1 - waw
2 - yũs
3 - gbaw
4 - u
5 - kĩ
6 - law
7 - gbĩn
8 - awokp
9 - wu
10 - kawb
11 - kawb ko waw “ten and one”
100 - waw orkuk “one hundred”
101 - waw orkuk waw “one hundred one”
200 - yũs orkuk “two hundred"
1000 - waw kpit “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɛn
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nɛ̃-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ĩ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix tũ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k͡p- Else: Prefix k͡pɛ-
Noun to verb = Suffix -ɛ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ut
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ok
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɛ̃
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ug͡b
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ek
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ũ-
Diminutive = Suffix -ɔ̃k
Augmentative = Suffix -ɔd

Dictionary

4512 Words.

Spoken by

• Upian

Common Female Names

• Nũnã /nũˈnã/
• Sabsun /sabˈsun/
• Yĩtod /jĩˈtod/

Common Male Names

• Ÿũwlaws /ʎũˈwlɔs/
• Chutnup /ʧutˈnup/
• Nè̃rki /nɛ̃rˈki/

Common Unisex Names

• Bè̃ /bɛ̃/
• On /on/
• Chaw̃ /ʧɔ̃/