Elvast

There are very few dialects in the elven tongue compared to other languages. Since most elven societies are very traditional and due to their longevity, their language remains somewhat static.

Natively known as: Elvast /Elvast/, commonly known as Elven Tongue

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
rû wu sug fingu ræb wippu rû mas ræb rûgkut vot zivgægræ ræ
Pronunciation: /ɹy wu sug ˈfiŋu ɹæb ˈwippu ɹy mas ɹæb ˈɹygkut vot ˈzivgægɹæ ɹæ/
Elven Tongue word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d		k g
Fricative		f v	s z			h
Approximant				j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u y æ/

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable Word initial consonants: b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, p, s, t, v, z Mid-word consonants: b, bb, bm, bn, bw, d, df, dn, dv, dw, f, fk, fl, fw, g, gb, gg, gh, gj, gk, gl, gm, gn, gv, h, hd, hj, hk, hl, hm, hv, j, jd, jf, jg, jk, jl, jm, jt, jv, k, kb, kh, kj, kk, kl, kn, l, lb, ld, lf, lg, lk, lm, lt, lw, m, mb, md, mh, mj, mk, mp, mt, mv, mz, n, nd, nj, nk, np, nv, nz, p, pf, pj, pl, pm, pn, ps, pv, pw, s, sd, sf, sk, sl, sp, sw, sz, t, tf, tk, tm, ts, tt, v, vg, vj, vn, vw, w, wb, wd, wg, wk, wl, ws, ww, wz, z, zd, zg, zh, zl, zn, zv, zw, zz Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• b → m / #_a

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
y	û
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɹ	r

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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: postpositions

Nouns

Singular	No affix zafkû /ˈzafky/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix su- suzafkû /ˈsuzafky/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	hat /hat/ the	mu /mu/ a
Plural	wi /wi/ the	bo /bo/ some

Pronouns

1st singular	nup /nup/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ka /ka/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	wu /wu/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	feg /feg/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	sob /sob/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	wi /wi/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ga /ga/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	e /e/ my
2nd singular	zew /zew/ your
3rd singular masc	ræb /ɹæb/ his
3rd singular fem	læ /læ/ her
1st plural	nge /ŋe/ our
2nd plural	mu /mu/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ge /ge/ their

Verbs

Elvast uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ge - ge gal /ge gal/ learned

Elven Tongue uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: vos - vos gal /vos gal/ will learn

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: mi - mi gal /mi gal/ 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).
Elvast uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix ly- lûgal /ˈlygal/ 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.
Elvast uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix næ- nægal /ˈnægal/ have learned

Numbers

Elvast has a base-20 number system:
1 - ers 2 - vit 3 - sab 4 - is 5 - dûirt 6 - khlip 7 - ziharg 8 - khu 9 - ngo 10 - ûag 11 - akhmimt 12 - vir 13 - trebûu 14 - ûavuksemb 15 - dnusi 16 - spuns 17 - armo 18 - zlars 19 - gagutso 20 - khognue 21 - khognue rû ers “twenty and one” 400 - ers ngavvong “one fourhundred” 401 - ers ngavvong rû ers “one fourhundred and one” 800 - vit ngavvong “two fourhundred” 8000 - ers ngamnûs “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix a- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix su- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix su- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix wi- Noun to verb = Prefix u- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma- Tending to = Prefix wu- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix za- Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix su- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix ga- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix e- Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix ga- Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix me-

Dictionary

4434 Words.