Urchin
Natively known as: imkúth /ˈimkyth/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...uk gus ba leb úttu dri uk leb lag rorchyh virg erg eb
Pronunciation: /uk gus ba leb ˈyttu dri uk leb lag rorch virg erg eb/
Imkúthi word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w z↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ||||
Stop | b p | d t | c | g k | ||
Fricative | v f | s z | h | |||
Approximant | j | |||||
Trill | r | |||||
Lateral approximant | l |
↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-velar |
---|---|
Approximant | w |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i y | u |
High-mid | e | o |
Low | a |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
y | ú |
c | chy |
j | y |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “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 ?
Nouns
Nouns have six 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.
- Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
- Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
- Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
Nominative | No affix
yulvúdru /julˈvydru/ dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative | Prefix e-
eyulvúdru /ˌejulˈvydru/ (verb done to) dog |
Genitive | If starts with vowel: Prefix r-
Else: Prefix ro- royulvúdru /ˌrojulˈvydru/ dogʼs |
Dative | Prefix a-
ayulvúdru /ˌajulˈvydru/ to (the/a) dog |
Locative | If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix gy- gúyulvúdru /ˌgyjulˈvydru/ near/at/by (the/a) dog |
Ablative | If starts with vowel: Prefix kr-
Else: Prefix kro- kroyulvúdru /ˌkrojulˈvydru/ from (the/a) dog |
Singular | No affix
yulvúdru /julˈvydru/ dog |
Plural | Prefix wu-
wuyulvúdru /ˌwujulˈvydru/ dogs |
Articles
Imkúthi has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.Pronouns
Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative | Locative | Ablative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st singular | lu /lu/ I | dro /dro/ me | erk /erk/ mine | ghik /ghik/ to me | rot /rot/ at me | eb /eb/ from me |
2nd singular | la /la/ you | arnk /arnk/ you | girg /girg/ yours | wa /wa/ to you | yok /jok/ at you | fank /fank/ from you |
3rd singular masc | gus /gus/ he, it | bob /bob/ him, it | o /o/ his, its | drúrk /dryrk/ to him, at it | virk /virk/ at him, at it | lúnk /lynk/ from him, from it |
3rd singular fem | u /u/ she, it | fli /fli/ her, it | kra /kra/ hers, its | ú /y/ to her, at it | gi /gi/ at her, at it | re /re/ from her, from it |
1st plural | flu /flu/ we | vu /vu/ us | ya /ja/ ours | porchyh /porch/ to us | ga /ga/ at us | ri /ri/ from us |
2nd plural | vi /vi/ you all | gab /gab/ you all | fla /fla/ yours (pl) | pash /pash/ to you all | út /yt/ at you all | perk /perk/ from you all |
3rd plural | bú /by/ they | menk /menk/ them | ni /ni/ theirs | kle /kle/ to them | nis /nis/ at them | dre /dre/ from them |
Possessive determiners
1st singular | no /no/ my |
2nd singular | nek /nek/ your |
3rd singular masc | leb /leb/ his |
3rd singular fem | vush /vush/ her |
1st plural | ú /y/ our |
2nd plural | ri /ri/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | dro /dro/ their |
Verbs
Present | No affix
flez /flez/ learn |
Past | Prefix po-
poflez /ˈpoflez/ learned |
Remote past | If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bi- biflez /ˈbiflez/ learned (long ago) |
Future | Particle before the verb: bunk -
bunk flez /bunk flez/ will learn |
Numbers
Imkúthi has a base-10 number system: 1 - ma2 - chyhúwg
3 - a
4 - ra
5 - les
6 - go
7 - fú
8 - asank
9 - dro
10 - úg
100 - vese
1000 - ron
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Suffix -urchAdjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ish
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -as
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ok
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ak
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wg
Else: Suffix -awg
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kche
Else: Suffix -ukche
Tending to = Prefix jo-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -y
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix e-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ak
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -i
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix le-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rg
Else: Suffix -org
Dictionary
Common Female Names
Angbi, Non, Horbli, Omkú, Chyhadu, Roga
Common Male Names
Hoth, Goak, Klin, Ragtúrg, Hornk, Raknok