Mothfolk (Language)

Natively known as: Vivǔzm /viˈvʏzm/

(Warning: This language was designed to be spoken by people with a biology utterly alien to our own. These words were not meant to be spoken by human tongue, so don't get upset if you can't pronounce this bullshit.)
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
vǔn ǔnz vǔntúar vunz núnz vuar vǔn vunz ǔntmǔ ẑiwǔm únvúwar únvúwar nûar
Pronunciation: /vʏn ʏnz vʏnˈtʉar vynz nʉnz vyˈar vʏn vynz ʏntˈmʏ ʑiˈwʏm ʉnˈvʉwar ʉnˈvʉwar nɯˈar/
Wiwǔzm word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /m n t v w z ǀ ʑ ʣ/

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↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Alveolo-palatal	Labio-velar
Nasal	m			n
Stop				t
Affricate				ʣ
Fricative		v		z	ʑ
Approximant						w
Click			ǀ

Vowel inventory: /i y ɯ ʉ ʏ/

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	Front	Central	Back
High	i y	ʉ	ɯ
Near-high	ʏ

Syllable structure: (C)(C)(C)V(C)(C)
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: m, n, t, v, w, z, ǀ, ʑ, ʣ
Mid-word consonants: m, n, nt, ntm, nv, nz, t, tw, v, vw, w, z, ǀ, ʣ
Word final consonants: m, n, nt, nz, w, wt, z, zm
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• t → s / _i
• n → Ø / _ti

Spelling rules:

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Pronunciation	Spelling
y	u
ɯ	û
ʉ	ú
ʏ	ǔ
ʑ	ẑ
ʣ	dz

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Noun

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Neuter

Suffix -i dzûnvúwi /ʣɯnˈvʉwi/

Nouns have six cases: Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man. The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence. Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog. Absolutives are always no affix. Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man. Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog. Locative is the location of something: man walks to town. Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

To make a noun plural, add a -z at the end.

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Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ntmʉ Else: Suffix -ʏntmʉ dzûnvúwǔntmú /ʣɯnˈvʉwʏntˌmʉ/
Absolutive	No affix dzûnvúw /ʣɯnˈvʉw/
Genitive	Prefix wʉ- wúdzûnvúw /wʉˈʣɯnvʉw/
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -ʉw dzûnvúwúw /ʣɯnˈvʉwʉw/
Locative	Suffix -ʉnt dzûnvúwúnt /ʣɯnˈvʉwʉnt/
Ablative	Suffix -ɯ dzûnvúwû /ʣɯnˈvʉwɯ/

Articles

Wiwǔzm has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

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	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Ergative	ú /ʉ/ I	ẑúnt /ʑʉnt/ you	ǔnz /ʏnz/ he, she, it	wuzm /wyzm/ we	mú /mʉ/ you (all)	vuz /vyz/ they
Absolutive	tǔ /tʏ/ me	zǔnt /zʏnt/ you	tûnt /tɯnt/ him, her, it	dzǔ /ʣʏ/ us	úzm /ʉzm/ you (all)	vú /vʉ/ them
Genitive	wu /wy/ my, mine	ǀunt /ǀynt/ your, yours	vunz /vynz/ his, her, hers, its	wi /wi/ our, ours	zûnz /zɯnz/ your, yours (all)	wú /wʉ/ their, theirs
Dative	nǔnz /nʏnz/ to me	mi /mi/ to you	zǔ /zʏ/ to him, to her	úz /ʉz/ to us	ǔ /ʏ/ to you (all)	únz /ʉnz/ to them
Locative	vu /vy/	nǔ /nʏ/	zú /zʉ/	tûnz /tɯnz/	dzû /ʣɯ/	ǀu /ǀy/
Ablative	ǀi /ǀi/	muz /myz/	wuz /wyz/	nûnz /nɯnz/	nǔzm /nʏzm/	vunt /vynt/

Verbs

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Present	No affix ǀuvwǔar /ǀyˈvwʏar/
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʉ Else: Suffix -ɯnʉ ǀuvwǔarûnú /ǀyˈvwʏaˌrɯnʉ/
Future	If ends with vowel: Suffix -zm Else: Suffix -yzm ǀuvwǔaruzm /ǀyˈvwʏaˌryzm/

Numbers

Wiwǔzm has a base-10 number system:

1 - tú
2 - dzǔwt
3 - ú
4 - dzúzm
5 - nû
6 - zúw
7 - muw
8 - wi
9 - ǔwt
10 - úmû
11 - úmû vǔn tú “ten and one”
100 - mim “hundred”
101 - mim vǔn tú “hundred and one”
200 - dzǔwt mim
1000 - vi “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ʉ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wy
Else: Suffix -ɯwy
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɯnz
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix tʏ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wɯ
Else: Suffix -ywɯ
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʉntm-
Else: Prefix ʉntmɯ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt
Else: Suffix -ynt
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -y
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -zy
Else: Suffix -ɯzy
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʣ-
Else: Prefix ʣɯ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w
Else: Suffix -yw
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʏ
Else: Suffix -ytʏ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nz
Else: Suffix -ʏnz
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt
Else: Suffix -ɯnt

Dictionary

4309 Words.