Vabaan (vaˈbaːn)

Natively known as: vabaa /vaˈbaː/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ji kii da nyafi nyare kadome ji da nyaaha makoaa daafi nya chyiibo
Pronunciation: /ʤi kiː da ɲaˈfi ɲaˈɾe kadoˈme ʤi da ɲaːˈha makoˈaː daːˈfi ɲa ciːˈbo/
Vabaan word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d f h j k m n t v ɟ ɣ ɲ ɾ ʤ ʧ

Manner/Place	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	b		t d		c ɟ	k
Affricate				ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v				ɣ	h
Approximant					j
Tap			ɾ

Vowel inventory: a aː e i iː o

	Front	Back
High	i iː
High-mid	e	o
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: (C)V
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: c d f k m t v ɟ ɣ ɲ ɾ ʤ
Mid-word consonants: b c d f h j k m n t v ɟ ɣ ɲ ɾ ʤ ʧ
Word final consonants:

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
c	chy
ʧ	ch
j	y
ʤ	j
ɣ	g
ɲ	ny
ɾ	r
ɟ	j́
Vː	VV

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Grammar

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

Nouns

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 recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.

Nominative	No affix goma /ɣoˈma/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -ɣi gomagi /ɣomaˈɣi/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -mi gomami /ɣomaˈmi/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -jiː gomayii /ɣomaˈjiː/ to (the/a) dog

Singular	No affix goma /ɣoˈma/ dog
Plural	Suffix -ba gomaba /ɣomaˈba/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	nye /ɲe/ the	fo /fo/ a
Plural	nyii /ɲiː/ the	mi /mi/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	fi /fi/ I	aa /aː/ me	mo /mo/ mine	kaa /kaː/ to me
2nd singular	rii /ɾiː/ you	nyi /ɲi/ you	j́o /ɟo/ yours	ke /ke/ to you
3rd singular masc	kii /kiː/ he, it	ga /ɣa/ him, it	da /da/ his, its	gaa /ɣaː/ to him, at it
3rd singular fem	me /me/ she, it	dii /diː/ her, it	jii /ʤiː/ hers, its	re /ɾe/ to her, at it
1st plural	ko /ko/ we	j́aa /ɟaː/ us	chye /ce/ ours	maa /maː/ to us
2nd plural	ve /ve/ you all	chya /ca/ you all	mi /mi/ yours (pl)	fa /fa/ to you all
3rd plural	ka /ka/ they	to /to/ them	go /ɣo/ theirs	je /ʤe/ to them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	mo /mo/ my
2nd singular	j́o /ɟo/ your
3rd singular masc	da /da/ his
3rd singular fem	jii /ʤiː/ her
1st plural	chye /ce/ our
2nd plural	mi /mi/ your (pl)
3rd plural	go /ɣo/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix diho /diˈho/ learn
Past	Suffix -ɟi dihoj́i /dihoˈɟi/ learned
Remote past	Suffix -ki dihoki /dihoˈki/ learned (long ago)
Future	Suffix -hi dihohi /dihoˈhi/ will learn

Numbers

Vabaan has a base-10 number system:
1 - ro
2 - machi
3 - fo
4 - j́a
5 - gi
6 - ochyika
7 - jaachi
8 - chyo
9 - chyaamo
10 - gami
11 - ro ji gami “one and ten”
100 - maadaa “hundred”
101 - maadaa ji ro “hundred and one”
200 - machi maadaa
1000 - nyogo “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -da
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ke
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -faː
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -vaː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -me
Noun to verb = Suffix -fa
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ɲo
Tending to = Suffix -ɲaː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ji
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ba
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -jiː
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -be
Diminutive = Suffix -ja
Augmentative = Suffix -ɣaː

Geographical Distribution

This is the common language of Telshia. It is spoken by most Telshians and some regions of Fulira.

Dictionary

4563 Words.

Vabaan is the dominant language of the largest city in Imnnacon, Telshia. It is not spoken by nor derived from a specific ethnicity or group. It was developed by official decree of the Doki at the Goj́aa E j́aa Telshia to address the need for a communication bridge across the many ethnicities that live, work, and trade in the city. As a result of the city's population numbers, demographics, location, and commerce, it's influence is spreading outside of the city. However, there are still pockets within the city that still speak their original language.

Created by

Philosophers at the Goj́aa E jaa Telshia in 1012 ME at the bequest of the Doki.