Lati {Language}

Natively known as: Lati / Lati / /aˈti/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
do˩p gy˩˥ se˧n la˥˩ bae˧ du˩n do˩p wu˩˥l ga˧ se˧n lo˩t mae˩ my˩t / do˩p gɤ˩˥ ʃe˧n la˥˩ ʙɶ˧ du˩n do˩p wu˩˥ɫ ga˧ ʃe˧n ɫø˩t mɶ˩ mɤ˩t /
Pronunciation: /do˩p gɤ˩˥ ʃe˧n la˥˩ ʙɶ˧ du˩n do˩p wu˩˥ɫ ga˧ ʃe˧n ɫø˩t mɶ˩ mɤ˩t/
Lati word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g k k͡w l m n p q r s t v w ç ɫ ɬ ʃ ʙ β

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d			k g	q
Fricative	β	v	s	ʃ	ç
Trill	ʙ		r
Lateral fricative			ɬ
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar	Velarized alveolar
Approximant	w
Lateral approximant		ɫ

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ø ɤ ɯ ɶ
Tones: ̄ ̀ ̏ ̌ ̂ ́

	Front	Back
High	i	ɯ u
High-mid	e ø	ɤ o
Low	a ɶ

Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable Word initial consonants: b d g k k͡w l m n p q r s t w ç ɫ ɬ ʃ ʙ β Mid-word consonants: b bl bm bn bt bv d dd dg dl dn ds dt dw g gb gr gs gʃ k kl km kn kr kt kv kʃ k͡w l lb ld lm lp lq lr lv lw lç m md mg mn mp ms mt mv mw mɬ mʃ n nb nd nk nm nn np nt nw nʃ p pn ps pt pw pɫ pʃ q qd qq r rb rg rk rn rr rw rç rʃ s sk sl sm sn sp sr ss sç t tg tt tv tç tʃ v vb vg vn vr vv w wg wk wp wt ww wʃ ç çk ɫ ɫd ɫk ɫm ɫn ɫp ɫt ɬ ɬw ʃ ʃm ʃv ʙ β βl βw Word final consonants: d g k k͡w l m n p q s t v w ç ɫ ɬ ʃ ʙ β
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɣ	g
ɾ	r
ʃ	s
ʤ	c
ʧ	c
y	u
j	y
ø	o
ɯ	i
ø	o
ɤ	y
ɶ	ae
ɯ	w
ɫ	l
ɬ	l
β	b
ʙ	b
ç	c
ʃ	ts

---

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 three 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.

Definite

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mu˧- mu˧do˨ / mu˧do˨ / /mu˧ˈdo˨/	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka˧- ka˧do˨ / ka˧do˨ / /ka˧ˈdo˨/
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʙ- Else: Prefix ʙɯ˩˥- bi˩˥do˨ / ʙɯ˩˥do˨ / /ʙɯ˩˥ˈdo˨/	Prefix me˩˥- me˩˥do˨ / me˩˥do˨ / /me˩˥ˈdo˨/
Genitive	Prefix ɤ˩- y˩do˨ / ɤ˩do˨ / /ɤ˩ˈdo˨/	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix de˩- de˩do˨ / de˩do˨ / /de˩ˈdo˨/

Indefinite

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Prefix qɤ˩˥- qy˩˥do˨ / qɤ˩˥do˨ / /qɤ˩˥ˈdo˨/	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɬ- Else: Prefix ɬɤ˩- ly˩do˨ / ɬɤ˩do˨ / /ɬɤ˩ˈdo˨/
Accusative	Prefix wa˩- wa˩do˨ / wa˩do˨ / /wa˩ˈdo˨/	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix ba˩˥- ba˩˥do˨ / ba˩˥do˨ / /ba˩˥ˈdo˨/
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix gɶ˧- gae˧do˨ / gɶ˧do˨ / /gɶ˧ˈdo˨/	Prefix ɶ˨- ae˨do˨ / ɶ˨do˨ / /ɶ˨ˈdo˨/

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	we˩˥ / we˩˥ / /we˩˥/ I	pi˨w / pɯ˨w / /pɯ˨w/ me	wi˥˩k͡w / wɯ˥˩k͡w / /wɯ˥˩k͡w/ mine
2nd singular	li˨ / ɬɯ˨ / /ɬɯ˨/ you	e˨ / e˨ / /e˨/ you	pe˥˩b / pe˥˩β / /pe˥˩β/ yours
3rd singular	gy˩˥ / gɤ˩˥ / /gɤ˩˥/ he, she, it	ly˩˥ / lɤ˩˥ / /lɤ˩˥/ him, her, it	se˩ / se˩ / /se˩/ his, hers, its
1st plural	le˥˩ / le˥˩ / /le˥˩/ we	le˥˩w / ɫe˥˩w / /ɫe˥˩w/ us	li˩˥ / ɫɯ˩˥ / /ɫɯ˩˥/ ours
2nd plural	mo˩ / mø˩ / /mø˩/ you all	lu˨ / ɬu˨ / /ɬu˨/ you all	bi˩l / bi˩ɬ / /bi˩ɬ/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	le˨ / le˨ / /le˨/ they	bo˧s / bø˧ʃ / /bø˧ʃ/ them	ru˨ / ru˨ / /ru˨/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	la˥˩t / ɬa˥˩t / /ɬa˥˩t/ my
2nd singular	cy˩˥w / çɤ˩˥w / /çɤ˩˥w/ your
3rd singular	se˧n / ʃe˧n / /ʃe˧n/ his, her, its
1st plural	mo˧q / mø˧q / /mø˧q/ our
2nd plural	lu˧n / ɬu˧n / /ɬu˧n/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ny˩˥ / nɤ˩˥ / /nɤ˩˥/ their

Verbs

Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- Else: Prefix ʃi˩- si˩wi˩ / ʃi˩wɯ˩ / /ʃi˩ˈwɯ˩/ learn
Past	No affix wi˩ / wɯ˩ / /wɯ˩/ learned

Lati uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ɫø˩n - lo˩n wi˩ / ɫø˩n wɯ˩ / /ɫø˩n wɯ˩/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Lati uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix nɯ˩- ni˩wi˩ / nɯ˩wɯ˩ / /nɯ˩ˈwɯ˩/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Lati has a base-10 number system:
1 - lo˩ / ɬo˩ /
2 - by˩k / ʙɤ˩k /
3 - lae˩d / ɬɶ˩d /
4 - so˨ / ʃo˨ /
5 - sae˧ / ʃɶ˧ /
6 - so˧v / ʃo˧v /
7 - le˧p / ɬe˧p /
8 - ae˨l / ɶ˨l /
9 - ce˩˥ / çe˩˥ /
10 - ga˩˥ / ga˩˥ /
11 - lo˩ / ɬo˩ / do˩p / do˩p / ga˩˥ / ga˩˥ / “one and ten”
100 - lo˩ / ɬo˩ / la˩ / la˩ / “one hundred”
101 - lo˩ / ɬo˩ / la˩ / la˩ / lo˩ / ɬo˩ / “one hundred one”
200 - by˩k / ʙɤ˩k / la˩ / la˩ /
1000 - lo˩ / ɬo˩ / lo˩ / ɬø˩ / “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ç
Else: Suffix -ɶ˨ç

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

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

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix kø˩-

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ɫe˧-

Noun to verb = Suffix -ɯ˥˩p

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -a˥˩

Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix ç-
Else: Prefix ço˧-

Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix a˩-

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix β-
Else: Prefix βe˩˥-

One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -a˥˩

Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n

Else: Suffix -e˧n

Diminutive = Prefix ɶ˧-

Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ç-
Else: Prefix çe˨-

Of inorganic = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mi˩˥-

Of magic = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɬ-
Else: Prefix ɬe˥˩-

Opposite = If ends with vowel: Suffix -g
Else: Suffix -e˩˥g

Of place = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w
Else: Suffix -o˨w

Of life = Suffix -ø˧

Of death = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -ɯ˧s

Again = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w
Else: Suffix -o˥˩w

Geographical Distribution

This is one of Laran's officially recognized languages, used most often by Lati and the Lerin who work closely with them.

Dictionary

4499 Words.

Root Languages

• Quri-Tul Lati

Successor Languages

• Larani

Spoken by

• Lati {Placeholder}
• Lerin

Common Unisex Names

See Lerin and Makassi.