Catfolk

Natively known as: melul /mɛˈlʌl/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ce naw naw musoff mrel lyser ce myryff mrrle naw mryla rrlforr cas
Pronunciation: /kɛ nɑw nɑw mʌˈsof mɹɛl lɪˈsɛɹ kɛ mɪˈɹif məˈʀlɛ nɑw mɹɪˈlɑ ʀlfoʀ kɑs/
Melulish word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: c d f l m n p r s w

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p		d	c
Fricative		f	s
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable ?
Sound changes (in order of application):

• a → ɑ
• b → b
• ch → ʧ
• c → k
• d → d
• e → ɛ
• ff → f
• f → f
• g → g
• h → h
• i → ɪ
• j → ʤ
• kk → k
• k → k
• ll → l
• l → l
• mrr → məʀ
• m → m
• ng → ŋ
• nn → n
• nrr → nəʀ
• n → n
• o → o
• p → p
• q → k
• rr → ʀ
• r → ɹ
• sh → ʃ
• s → s
• th → θ
• t → t
• u → ʌ
• v → v
• w → w
• x → ks
• y → i
• z → z

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɑ	a
əʀ	rr
b	b
ʧ	ch
d	d
ɛ	e
f	f
g	g
h	h
i	y
ɪ	i
ʤ	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
ŋ	ng
n	n
o	o
p	p
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
s	s
θ	th
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	w
x	ks
z	z

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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 lorr /loʀ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix rrlf- Else: Prefix rrlfe- rrlfelorr /ʀlfɛˈloʀ/ (verb done to) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma- marrlfos /mɑˈʀlfos/ man	Prefix mre- mreurly /mɹɛˈʌɹli/ woman
Plural	No affix rrlfos /ʀlfos/ men	No affix urly /ʌˈɹli/ women

Articles

Definite	mrrla /məˈʀlɑ/ the
Indefinite	nrrow /nəˈʀow/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	nrrlrres /nəˈʀlʀɛs/ I	nrra /nəˈʀɑ/ me
2nd singular	cu /kʌ/ you	na /nɑ/ you
3rd singular masc	naw /nɑw/ he, it	nrrlrra /nəˈʀlʀɑ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	mor /moɹ/ she, it	rrlfyl /ʀlfil/ her, it
1st plural	my /mi/ we	mry /mɹɪ/ us
2nd plural	rrlfo /ʀlfo/ you all	o /o/ you all
3rd plural masc	ny /ni/ they (masc)	nrraw /nəˈʀɑw/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	nrrlrrys /nəˈʀlʀis/ they (fem)	mrrlyr /məˈʀlɪɹ/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	nrrlʀes /nəˈʀlʀɛs/ my
2nd singular	ku /kʌ/ your
3rd singular masc	naw /nɑw/ his
3rd singular fem	mor /moɹ/ her
1st plural	mi /mɪ/ our
2nd plural	ʀlfo /ʀlfo/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ni /nɪ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	nrrlʀis /nəˈʀlʀɪs/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix lew /lɛw/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix el- Else: Prefix ela- elalew /ɛˈlɑlɛw/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix mrrl- Else: Prefix mrrlo- mrrlolew /məˈʀlolɛw/ learned (long ago)

Melulish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: mo - mo lew /mo lɛw/ 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).
Melulish uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: rrlfo - rrlfo lew /ʀlfo lɛw/ learns/is learning

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.
Melulish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix ni- nylew /nɪˈlɛw/ have learned

Numbers

Melulish has a base-20 number system:
1 - no
2 - mryf
3 - nol
4 - mol
5 - ny
6 - myreff
7 - u
8 - lol
9 - nrrow
10 - nel
11 - cuf
12 - mraw
13 - nrrlrro
14 - rrlfu
15 - ypry
16 - nyr
17 - a
18 - rrlfe
19 - y
20 - mra
400 - owryw
8000 - yrerr

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix mrrl-
Else: Prefix mrrly-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix li-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix mo-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ywr-
Else: Prefix ywra-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix ny-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lu-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix el-
Else: Prefix elu-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix c-
Else: Prefix co-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix my-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mrrl-
Else: Prefix mrrle-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix e-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix ne-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ar-
Else: Prefix aro-
Augmentative = Prefix e-

Dictionary

3062 Words.