Rahuki

Natively known as: rahuki /ɹahɯˈki/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
i zha yimi shazhe yu vemi i kevu yu tuhotu yashu wuri e
Pronunciation: /i ʒa jiˈmi ʃaˈʒe jɯ veˈmi i keˈvɯ jɯ tɯhoˈtɯ jaˈʃɯ wɯˈɹi e/
Rahuki word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: h j k m t v w z ɹ ʃ ʒ ʔ ʣ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m
Stop			t			k	ʔ
Affricate			ʣ
Fricative		v	z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant			ɹ		j

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o ɯ

	Front	Back
High	i	ɯ
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)V ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ɯ	u
j	y
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʣ	dz

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Grammar

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

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix yuzhu /jɯˈʒɯ/ the dog	Suffix -ʃi yuzhushi /jɯʒɯˈʃi/ the dogs
Indefinite	Suffix -te yuzhute /jɯʒɯˈte/ a dog	Suffix -va yuzhuva /jɯʒɯˈva/ some dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular	ro /ɹo/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	he /he/ you, yours
3rd singular	zha /ʒa/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	o /o/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	u /ɯ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	wi /wi/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	wo /wo/ my
2nd singular	ra /ɹa/ your
3rd singular	yu /jɯ/ his, her, its
1st plural	ya /ja/ our
2nd plural	ti /ti/ your (pl)
3rd plural	dze /ʣe/ their

Verbs

1st singular	Suffix -tɯ kimatu /kimaˈtɯ/ (I) learn
2nd singular	Suffix -zi kimazi /kimaˈzi/ (you) learn
3rd singular	Suffix -ʔa kimaʻa /kimaˈʔa/ (he/she/it) learns
1st plural	Suffix -ʔɯ kimaʻu /kimaˈʔɯ/ (we) learn
2nd plural	Suffix -ha kimaha /kimaˈha/ (you all) learn
3rd plural	Suffix -ma kimama /kimaˈma/ (they) learn

Rahuki uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ɹɯ - ru kima /ɹɯ kiˈma/ learned

Rahuki uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ko - ko kima /ko kiˈma/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: wi - wi kima /wi kiˈma/ 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).
Rahuki uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: wo - wo kima /wo kiˈma/ 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.
Rahuki uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate whole word kimakima /kiˌmakiˈma/ have learned

Numbers

Rahuki has a base-10 number system:
1 - vu
2 - to
3 - ki
4 - ke
5 - ho
6 - zodza
7 - rizha
8 - zhi
9 - titi
10 - yuzhi
100 - tayo
1000 - wora

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ʃɯ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ʃa
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -jo
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ʒa
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ʒa
Noun to verb = Suffix -ti
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ka
Tending to = Suffix -jɯ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ho
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ʒi
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʒɯ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ʒa
Diminutive = Suffix -ʔɯ
Augmentative = Suffix -kɯ

Rahuki is the most spoken language in Keta, the common name of the world itself being a Rahuki word meaning "earth" or "ground". It's often considered the common tongue of Keta and is a first or second language to more than three-quarters of the world.

Dictionary

3008 Words.

Successor Languages

• Tsōdīian

Common Phrases

auze zoteʻa dzemi dzavahisha a

A common phrase amongst the older generation in the south and east, roughly translating to "The sun shines brightest in the dark." It's meant to encourage those going through hard times to look for the good in their life, as many of the older folk had to during the various wars and famines they grew up during.

zhuvi zo zha ayeʻa yo zo zha rewe

Meaning "By night she drinks, by day she sleeps". An insult typically used by people who consider themselves to be more sophisticated then their counterpart, who may spend the night at parties and spend the day sleeping off a hangover. It's also, and more commonly, often said mockingly to those who are withdrawn and reliable, and have trouble loosening up.

Common Female Names

Vesha, Ru'o, Dzayi, Auze, Izhawi

Common Male Names

Rumi, Zaki, Kohe, Uva, Zhavu

Common Unisex Names

Zhuzhu, Ozhewi, Ri'i, Hakiyi, Ita

Common Family Names

Hazizhu, Yewakazhu, Ehizhu, Dzerozhu, Zhokiti, Karitu