Kartall

Kartall is the common language used throughout the entire Rift. It was created as an amalgam of the first worlds to join the Spirit Cartel and from there has evolved.

Natively known as: eʃjofe / eʃjofe / /eʃjoˈfe/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
sni u uf nijap kjamne ʃet sni ɲuf mas uf toji ftus mjassika / sni u uf nijap kjamne ʃet sni ɲuf mas uf toji ftus mjassika /
Pronunciation: /sni u uf ˈnijap ˈkjamne ʃet sni ɲuf mas uf ˈtoji ftus mjasˈsika/
Kartall word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: h k l m n p ʋ ʔ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p			k	ʔ
Fricative					h
Approximant		ʋ
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: a ae̯ ai̯ ao̯ au̯ aː aːi̯ aːu̯ e eː i iː o oi̯ ou̯ oː u uː
Diphthongs: ae̯ ai̯ ao̯ au̯ aːi̯ aːu̯ oi̯ ou̯

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable Word initial consonants: h k l m n p ʋ ʔ Mid-word consonants: h k l m n p ʋ ʔ Word final consonants:
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʋ	w
ʔ	ʻ
aː	ā
eː	ē
iː	ī
oː	ō
uː	ū
̯

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix teɲo / teɲo / /teˈɲo/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix kji- kjiteɲo / kjiteɲo / /kjiteˈɲo/ (verb done to) dog

Articles

Definite	op / op / /op/ the
Indefinite	mjas / mjas / /mjas/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ʃi / ʃi / /ʃi/ I	muf / muf / /muf/ me
2nd singular	fki / fki / /fki/ you	knif / knif / /knif/ you
3rd singular	u / u / /u/ he, she, it	pip / pip / /pip/ him, her, it
1st plural	ki / ki / /ki/ we	pfan / pfan / /pfan/ us
2nd plural	fkis / fkis / /fkis/ you all	kaʃ / kaʃ / /kaʃ/ you all
3rd plural	ɲek / ɲek / /ɲek/ they	mjo / mjo / /mjo/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ma / ma / /ma/ my
2nd singular	ke / ke / /ke/ your
3rd singular	uf / uf / /uf/ his, her, its
1st plural	ftus / ftus / /ftus/ our
2nd plural	nje / nje / /nje/ your (pl)
3rd plural	im / im / /im/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st person	Prefix ɲa- ɲanjam / ɲanjam / /ɲaˈnjam/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix tʃ- Else: Prefix tʃi- tʃinjam / tʃinjam / /tʃiˈnjam/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mi- minjam / minjam / /miˈnjam/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- kanjam / kanjam / /kaˈnjam/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	Prefix pfi- pfinjam / pfinjam / /pfiˈnjam/ (he/she/it/they) learn	Prefix i- injam / injam / /iˈnjam/ (he/she/it/they) learned

Kartall uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: khes - khes njam / khes njam / /khes njam/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Kartall uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: kji - kji njam / kji njam / /kji njam/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Kartall uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix kna- knanjam / knanjam / /knaˈnjam/ learns

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.
Kartall uses the word for ‘already’ pfas / pfas / for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Kartall has a base-10 number system:
1 - tʃa / tʃa /
2 - nja / nja /
3 - kje / kje /
4 - ti / ti /
5 - meʃe / meʃe /
6 - ɲjun / ɲjun /
7 - ko / ko /
8 - upo / upo /
9 - kjef / kjef /
10 - nu / nu /
11 - tʃa / tʃa / sni / sni / nu / nu / “one and ten”
100 - tʃa / tʃa / tʃi / tʃi / “one hundred”
101 - tʃa / tʃa / tʃi / tʃi / sni / sni / tʃa / tʃa / “one hundred and one”
200 - nja / nja / tʃi / tʃi /
1000 - tʃa / tʃa / muʃ / muʃ / “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix tʃ-
Else: Prefix tʃu-

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

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix e-

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

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

Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pe-

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pa-

Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix ks-
Else: Prefix ksu-

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

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

One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix ma-

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

Diminutive = Prefix a-

Augmentative = Prefix ke-

Opposite = Suffix -ni

Of kartall = Suffix -muː

From = Suffix -ʔi

Geographical Distribution

Most people living in Metropolitan, or at least vaguely connected areas speak Kartall, and the language is amalgamized into many native languages of small tribes living on Spirit Cartel planets.

Numbers

1	twichy; twic
2	ny'ai; ɲːai̯ʔ
3	no; no
4	o; o
5	kuch; kuc
6	lwo; lwo
7	e; ɛ
8	awitt; ɔi̯t
9	nyiai; ɲəi̯
10	chyenn; cɛn'
11	chyenn toi twichy; cɛn' toi twic; ten & one
100	nyenno; ɲɛnno
101	nyenno toi twichy; ɲɛnno toi twic; Hundred & One
200	ny'ai nyenno; ɲːai̯ʔ ɲɛnno; Two Hundred
1000	pwan; pwən

Dictionary

4525 Words.

Common Unisex Names

Most names are unisex, but due to the widespread use and absorption of Kartall into other cultures, it will depend on where one is in Inkalli's Rift.