Shugbo

Natively known as: cugbo /ˈcugbo/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
gbì̙ tó̙ kpù̙ ɹó̙tl tó̙ wò̙ɹɹì̙ gbì̙ cçó̘n tó̙ ò̙w cì̙kʷ gʷì̙gb cçò̘tò̘ní̘
Pronunciation: /gbì̙ tó̙ kpù̙ ɹó̙tl tó̙ wò̙ˈɹɹì̙ gbì̙ cçó̘n tó̙ ò̙w cì̙kʷ gʷì̙gb ˈcçò̘tò̘ní̘/
Shugbo word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b c d g gʷ j k kʷ l lː n p r t w x ç ŋ ŋʷ ɟ ɣ ɹ ʝ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		n		ŋ ŋʷ
Stop	p b	t d	c ɟ	k kʷ g gʷ
Fricative			ç ʝ	x ɣ
Approximant		ɹ	j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l lː

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: i̘ i̙ o̘ o̙ u̘ u̙
Tones: ́ ̀

	Front	Back
High	i̘ i̙	u̘ u̙
High-mid		o̘ o̙

Stress pattern: No fixed stress Word initial consonants: c cç d gb gʷ j kp kʷ l n t w x ɟʝ ɣ ɹ ʝ Mid-word consonants: c cç d dd gb gʷ j jj kkʷ kp kpɹ kʷ l ll n nd nn nt r t tl tɟʝ w ww x ŋgʷ ŋkʷ ŋʷ ɟʝ ɣ ɹɹ ʝ Word final consonants: cç cŋʷ d gb gʷ kp kʷ l lː n t tl w x ŋʷ ɹ ɹd ʝ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• j → t / _#
• w → b / C_
• x → g / V_
• V → [+round] / w_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	’
θ	th
ʤ	j
x	kh
ð	dh
ʃ	sh
sˤ	ş
dˤ	ḑ
tˤ	ţ
ʕ	ʻ
ɣ	gh
ħ	ḩ
aː	ā
iː	ī
uː	ū
j	y

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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 before the noun. Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: í̙kp - í̙kp ɟʝí̘w /í̙kp ɟʝí̘w/ dogs

Articles

Definite	ù̘ /ù̘/ the
Indefinite	tì̙n /tì̙n/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

1st singular	gʷù̙ /gʷù̙/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	cçú̘ /cçú̘/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	tó̙ /tó̙/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	yí̘ /jí̘/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	ú̙ /ú̙/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	tì̙cç /tì̙cç/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	kʷó̘ʝ /kʷó̘ʝ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	gʷù̙ /gʷù̙/ my
2nd singular	cçú̘ /cçú̘/ your
3rd singular masc	tó̙ /tó̙/ his
3rd singular fem	yí̘ /jí̘/ her
1st plural	ú̙ /ú̙/ our
2nd plural	tì̙cç /tì̙cç/ your (pl)
3rd plural	kʷó̘ʝ /kʷó̘ʝ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix ɟʝó̙ /ɟʝó̙/ learn
Past	If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ú̙- Else: Prefix ì̘- ì̘ɟʝó̙ /ˈì̘ɟʝó̙/ learned
Remote past	If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix gʷù̙- Else: Prefix ɹú̘- ɹú̘ɟʝó̙ /ɹú̘ɟˈʝó̙/ learned (long ago)
Future	If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ì̙- Else: Prefix ú̘- ú̘ɟʝó̙ /ˈú̘ɟʝó̙/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Shugbo uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix wó̙- Else: Prefix ɹú̘- ɹú̘ɟʝó̙ /ˈɹú̘ɟʝó̙/ 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).
Shugbo uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: wú̘ - wú̘ ɟʝó̙ /wú̘ ɟʝó̙/ 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.
Shugbo uses the word for ‘already’ ó̙ʝ for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Shugbo has a base-10 number system:
1 - tò̙d 2 - ò̙ 3 - kpí̘ 4 - ì̙ 5 - nú̘ɹ 6 - ɹì̙cì̙ɹ 7 - kpí̘ɹ 8 - wí̘ 9 - ɹí̘ 10 - kpó̘ 11 - kpó̘ gbì̙ tò̙d “ten and one” 100 - tò̙d gbó̙kp “one hundred” 101 - tò̙d gbó̙kp gbì̙ tò̙d “one hundred and one” 200 - ò̙ gbó̙kp 1000 - tò̙d ní̘cŋʷ “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ɣì̙- Else: Prefix jí̘- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix tù̙- Else: Prefix wù̘- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix cçì̙- Else: Prefix ʝó̘- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix gbó̙- Else: Prefix nì̘- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix kpù̙- Else: Prefix ɟʝò̘- Noun to verb = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ú̙- Else: Prefix ó̘- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ò̙- Else: Prefix ó̘- Tending to = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix dì̙- Else: Prefix ɟʝò̘- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix í̙- Else: Prefix ó̘- Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix lú̙- Else: Prefix kpì̘- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ʝò̙- Else: Prefix gʷó̘- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix í̙- Else: Prefix í̘- Diminutive = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix í̙- Else: Prefix ì̘- Augmentative = If contains {i̙,u̙,o̙}: Prefix ú̙- Else: Prefix í̘-

Dictionary

4499 Words.