Ajanasyian

The main language of Mauretania and of the Aprica System, despite the Imperia's attempts to popularize either Lusitani or Shutyilzh as the main language of this system.

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...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
i nizut ta yoss ta trum i but ta mjisy haw fot nchemtu
Pronunciation: /i ˈnizut ta jɔss ta trum i ɓut ta mʄisj haw fɔt ˈnʧɛmtu/
Ajanasyian word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

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Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x z ð ŋ ɓ ɗ ɠ ɣ ɲ ʃ ʄ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g	q
Implosive	ɓ			ɗ		ʄ	ɠ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ		x ɣ		h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

Vowel inventory: a i u ɔ ɛ

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

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Syllable structure: (C)V

Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable

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Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɛ	e
ɔ	o
ɲ	ny
ɓ	b
j	y
ʄ	j
ɗ	d
ð	dh
θ	th
ŋg	ng
ŋ	ng'
ɠ	g
ʃ	sh
ɣ	gh
x	kh
ʧ	ch
nʤ	nj

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Grammar

Main word order: Verb Subject Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Opened Mary the door with a key.

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.

Adposition: prepositions

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Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix mv- Else: Prefix mvi- mvimjasy /ˈmvimʄasj/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix mjasy /mʄasj/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something)

Singular	No affix mjasy /mʄasj/ dog
Plural	Noun duplicated mjasymjasy /ˈmʄasjmʄasj/ dogs

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Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	luw /luw/ the	kre /krɛ/ a
Plural	yo /jɔ/ the	ron /rɔn/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

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’
• 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’

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Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	akh /ax/ I	ble /ɓlɛ/ me, I
2nd singular	op /ɔp/ you	i /i/ you
3rd singular masc	ta /ta/ he, it	ro /rɔ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	kra /kra/ she, it	ngant /ŋgant/ her, it
1st plural	mbu /mbu/ we	qi /qi/ us, we
2nd plural	nywo /ɲwɔ/ you all	mval /mval/ you all
3rd plural	gha /ɣa/ they	ku /ku/ them, they

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Possessive Determiners

1st singular	akh /ax/ my
2nd singular	op /ɔp/ your
3rd singular masc	ta /ta/ his
3rd singular fem	kra /kra/ her
1st plural	mbu /mbu/ our
2nd plural	nywo /ɲwɔ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	gha /ɣa/ their

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Verbs

Present	No affix zoll /zɔll/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix nn- Else: Prefix nnɛ- nnezoll /ˈnnɛzɔll/ learned
Remote past	Prefix mʃu- mshuzoll /ˈmʃuzɔll/ learned (long ago)

Ajanasyian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: wi - wi zoll /wi zɔll/ 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.
Ajanasyian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix fu- fuzoll /ˈfuzɔll/ have learned

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Numbers

Ajanasyian has a base-10 number system:

1 - mje
2 - chu
3 - mko
4 - mkass
5 - mta
6 - nitty
7 - zi
8 - mti
9 - du
10 - ja
Hundred - mfuw
Thousand - sarch

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Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix aɗ-
Else: Prefix aɗi-

Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix mpa-

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ms-
Else: Prefix msɔ-

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix θa-

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sa-

Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔnʤ-
Else: Prefix ɔnʤɔ-

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɛ-

Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix aʄ-
Else: Prefix aʄu-

Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix as-
Else: Prefix asɔ-

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɔ-

One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɗu-

Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɔ-

Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɲ-
Else: Prefix ɲa-

Augmentative = Prefix ɠa-

Dictionary

3058 Words.