Language: Aitauan

Aitauan is an ancient language that was spoken by the Aitauan Empire. It is still spoken in Neatt Kaed and Ikvihuvai, but is no longer in common use by the human nations within the Shielded Sea. Its influence, however, can be heard in modern languages.

Natively known as: aitaua /aˌitaˈua/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
kù tas vikk ju meldedt sùg kù ju zan not hvù aur di
Pronunciation: /ky tas vikk ju ˈmeldedt syg ky ju zan not hvy ˈaur di/
Aitauan 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 ʃ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		d t		c	k g
Affricate				ʧ
Fricative		v f	s z	ʃ			h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ǔ y

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

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

• c → ch
• x → sh
• ù → aɪ

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
y	ù
ʧ	c
ʃ	x

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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 seven 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.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Prefix du- duveht /ˈduveht/ dogs

Nominative	No affix veht /veht/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -dt Else: Suffix -idt vehtidt /ˈvehtidt/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -a vehta /ˈvehta/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -old vehtold /ˈvehtold/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	Suffix -o vehto /ˈvehto/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	Suffix -ǔ vehtǔ /ˈvehtǔ/ from (the/a) dog
Instrumental	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tt Else: Suffix -ytt vehtùtt /ˈvehtytt/ with/using (the/a) dog

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	nhù /nhy/ the	co /cho/ a
Plural	dhù /dhy/ the	trù /try/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular masc	3rd singular fem	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Nominative	ho /ho/ I	lli /lli/ you	tas /tas/ he, it	tus /tus/ she, it	ko /ko/ we	hviwn /hviwn/ you all	flath /flath/ they
Accusative	flu /flu/ me	sùth /syth/ you	har /har/ him, it	cwac /chwach/ her, it	se /se/ us	jam /jam/ you all	jù /jy/ them
Genitive	hemp /hemp/ mine	la /la/ yours	cwe /chwe/ his, its	da /da/ hers, its	bris /bris/ ours	cwa /chwa/ yours (pl)	prodd /prodd/ theirs
Dative	sǔ /sǔ/ to me	gu /gu/ to you	ledas /ˈledas/ to him, at it	ledus /ˈledus/ to her, at it	sa /sa/ to us	sump /sump/ to you all	po /po/ to them
Locative	me /me/ at me	dwi /dwi/ at you	no /no/ at him, at it	hve /hve/ at her, at it	kva /kva/ at us	tu /tu/ at you all	mùdt /mydt/ at them
Ablative	predt /predt/ from me	bro /bro/ from you	lle /lle/ from him, from it	cǔ /chǔ/ from her, from it	cuk /chuk/ from us	hva /hva/ from you all	dùdd /dydd/ from them
Instrumental	coth /choth/ with/using me	fe /fe/ with/using you	ùg /yg/ with/using him/it	wek /wek/ with/using her/it	kin /kin/ with/using us	fill /fill/ with/using you all	ha /ha/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	lidd /lidd/ my
2nd singular	lla /lla/ your
3rd singular masc	ju /ju/ his
3rd singular fem	vur /vur/ her
1st plural	fi /fi/ our
2nd plural	to /to/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nus /nus/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix fe /fe/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -g Else: Suffix -yg feg /feg/ learned
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ld Else: Suffix -uld feld /feld/ learned (long ago)

Aitauan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: snakk - snakk fe /snakk fe/ will learn

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.
Aitauan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -e fee /ˈfee/ have learned

Numbers

Aitauan has a base-10 number system:
1 - gudd
2 - kùn
3 - lùx
4 - gùs
5 - ku
6 - gind
7 - hù
8 - nupp
9 - noll
10 - down
100 - uk
1000 - tru

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tt
Else: Suffix -utt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ynt
Else: Suffix -syn
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -u
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -an
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kk
Else: Suffix -akk
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -de
Else: Suffix -ade
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rdu
Else: Suffix -erdu
Tending to = Suffix -o
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ir
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ut
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -et
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -er
Augmentative = Suffix -e
Opposite = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bi-

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Aitauan Dictionary

Dictionary

3113 Words.