Eoin

The official language of the Eoion Empire and the most widely spoken language on the continent.

Geographical Distribution

This language is spoken across the empire. Merchants from Yzel also use it.

Phonology

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... he bo wû ripe pìdzi ngùnuse he ina no wû beriba dabangù wudzû[alt] Pronunciation: /he bɑ wɯ ˈreepe ˈpɵʣi ɴyˈnuse he ˈinæ nɑ wɯ beˈribæ dæˈbæɴy ˈwuʣɯ/ Eoin word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned[/alt]

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g h j k n p r s t w y z ɴ ʣ ʦ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		n			ɴ
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Affricate		ʦ ʣ
Fricative		s z sh		x	v	h
Approximant			j
Trill		r

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: e i u y æ ɑ ɯ ɵ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		ɯ u
High-mid	e	ɵ
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable Word initial consonants: b d g h j k m n p r t w z ɴ ʣ sh ʦ (names only: f y l) Mid-word consonants: b d g h j k l n p r s t v w y z ɴ ʣ sh ʦ Word final consonants: (names only: f, m), l n r s v x
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
æ	a
ɑ	o
ɵ	ì
y	ù
ɯ	û
ya	y
ɴ	ng
ʣ	dz
ʦ	ts

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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. When using two or more adjectives to describe a noun, -a- (ah) is placed between them. Ex (the cute blue dress -> the cute ah blue dress). Adposition: postpositions, excepting 'of' which uses the same form as the possessive

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 gùzo /ˈgyzɑ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix he- hegùzo /heˈgyzɑ/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	No affix gùzo /ˈgyzɑ/ dog
Plural	Prefix we- wegùzo /weˈgyzɑ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	wu /wu/ the
Indefinite	nù /ny/ 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’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for the school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

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

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	pù /py/ I	hù /hy/ me
2nd singular	i /i/ you	ù /y/ you
3rd singular masc	bo /bɑ/ he, it	a /æ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	ngi /ɴi/ she, it	tsù /ʦy/ her, it
1st plural	no /nɑ/ we	e /e/ us
2nd plural	ì /ɵ/ you all	ba /bæ/ you all
3rd plural	ge /ge/ they	bù /by/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	do /dɑ/ my
2nd singular	bu /boo/ your
3rd singular masc	wû /wɯ/ his
3rd singular fem	nga /ɴæ/ her
1st plural	ì /ɵ/ our
2nd plural	dze /ʣe/ your (pl)
3rd plural	u /u/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix dzìkibù /ʣɵˈkiby/ learn
Past	Prefix wy- wùdzìkibù /ˌwyʣɵˈkiby/ learned
Future	Prefix gy- gùdzìkibù /ˌgyʣɵˈkiby/ 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).
Eoinn uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix ʣe- dzedzìkibù /ˌʣeʣɵˈkiby/ 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.
Eoin uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix dɯ- dûdzìkibù /ˌdɯʣɵˈkiby/ have learned

Numbers

Eoin has a base-10 number system:

• 1 - ù
• 2 - re
• 3 - wi
• 4 - a
• 5 - we
• 6 - ku
• 7 - nagù
• 8 - ga
• 9 - ewi
• 10 - hu
• 11 - hu he ù "ten and one"
• 12 - hu he re
• 13 - hu he wi
• 14 - hu he a
• 15 - hu he we
• 16 - hu he ku
• 17 - hu he nagù
• 18 - hu he ga
• 19 - hu he ewi
• 20 - rehu "two ten"
• 21 - ù he rehu “one and twenty”
• 100- ù tùkù "one onehundred"
• 400 - a tùkù “four onehundred”
• 401 - a tùkù he ù “four onehundred and one”
• 800 - ga tùkù “eight onehundred”
• 1000 - ù dzu "one onethousand"
• 1061 - ù dzu kuhu he ù "one onethousand six ten and one"
• 8000 - ga dzù “eight onethousand”

Derivational morphology

• Adjective → adverb = Prefix we-
• Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ge-
• Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -kæ
• Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -bɵ
• Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -su
• Noun to verb = Suffix -ni
• Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -pe (pron. peh)
• Tending to = Prefix nɑ-
• Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix pi-
• Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -bu
• One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɴu-
• Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix kæ-
• Diminutive = Prefix rɑ-
• Augmentative = Prefix pæ-
• Possessive (e.g. Svente → Svantei = "Svante's" or "of Svante")= Suffix -i
• Adverb → Adjective = Suffix -yl (e.g. careful → carefully)
• Noun → Title (e.g. 'Taras is the emperor → Emperor Taras) = Suffix -vela (Wu Taras wu baejan su → baejanvela Taras), trans. lit. The Taras the emperor is → Emperor Taras
• To show respect or higher position = Prefix ta- (derived from tahin, meaning high)
• To show a lower position = Prefix vla- (derived from vlahu, meaning underling, junior, lower status)
• To make a statement into a yes/no question = ro at the beginning of a sentence (i wu heeoin bu "you speak eoin (you eoin speak)" → ro i wu heeoin bu "do you speak eoin?"
• To turn a word negative = suffix -dzen, lit. no (soul → soulless), can also be used for titles (baker → former baker or ex-baker, former girlfriend or ex-girlfriend)
• Turn a number to a counting word = Prefix b- if starts with a vowel, else ba-

Dictionary

707 Words.

Common Phrases

Greetings

wozuyl rano (pronunciation wɑzu'ehl rla'noh) = good morning, lit. early today
iyo kanbuje tahin (pronunciation ee'oh kahn'bu'jeh tah'hin) = good afternoon, lit. sun time high
orosh uru (pronunciation oh'rohsh oo'roo) = good evening
tsengenany ùbeba (pronunciation tz'ehn'gehnahn'ee ɯˈbebæ) = good night, lit. safe darkness
gediru (pronunciation gey'dee'roo) = hello, lit. a contraction of the phrase 'good to see you' (georosh ù widiru)
neùstre (pronunciation neh'y'streh) = good bye, derived from ne ù stredstibu lit. to you balance, a concept that was much more important in Bolugama than it is currently

Useful Phrases

hupy (pronunciation hoo'py) = please, used when speaking to someone a person is close to or of lower rank, lit. derived from hù pù (hy py), meaning 'give to me'
hùemi (pronunciation hy'eh'mee) = please, used when speaking to someone of equal or lower rank, a shortened form of the polite 'please'
rotaahùemi (pronunciation roh'taah'hy'emee) = please, used when speaking to someone of higher rank and is more polite. a contraction of ro tai a hù gehumi (roh tah'i ae hy geh'oo'mee) lit. will you (respectful prefix ta-) grace this to me. When being extremely polite, the full phrase is used
pù bu doakizha ze su (pronunciation py boo do'ah'kee'jah zeh soo)= thank you, used when speaking to someone of higher rank and is more polite, lit. I am in your debt (I your debt in am). sometimes shortened to 'budoakizhasu'
tsakapir (tsah'ka'peer) = thank you, used when speaking to someone of lower or equal rank
dzumosha (pronunciation dzoo'moh'sha) = help
tan _______ tate (pronunciation tahn ________ tah'te) = welcome to _______, lit. to ______ welcome

Insults

ruketsixiudzen buro (pronunciation roo'keh'tsi'xioh'dzehn burɑh) = sleeveless idiot, sleeve length in Eoin culture is closely tied to wealth and status. Only slaves or the very poor have sleeveless garments. this insult is fundamentally used to state that a person is uncultured and no better than a slave.
pù bu wetsudareri gùwikir (pronunciation py boo weh'tsoo'dah'rehree gy'wee'keer) = I'll cut your beads, lit. I your beads will cut. Hair ornamentation is highly important. Stealing or tampering with them is a high insult. The phrase is roughly equivalent to 'fuck off or else'.
nuiokauanii subia (pronunciation noo'ee'oh'kah'ooah'nee'ee soo'beeah) = sailor's bitch. Eoion's rival nation, Yzel, is famous for their navy and sailing ability. The expression means, more or less, that the person is a traitor and weak

Types of Love

gatneke (pronunciation gat'neh'ke) = romantic
yugedza (pronunciation yoo'geʣæ) = obsessive, manic, possessive
rěnchi (pronunciation run'chee) = calm, stable (used in terms of long lasting relationships that have become routine)
yu (pronunciation yoo) = general expression of affection
peitanhi (pronunciation pay'tahn'hee) = admiration
koeon (pronunciation koh'eeon) = affection for an object