Ensasian

Natively known as: Ensas /ˈensas/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
yēm kās at sūra kpe pad yēm kpedris ba at tabo dar mo
Pronunciation: /jeːm kaːs at ˈsuːra kpe pad jeːm ˈkpedris ba at taˈbo dar mo/
Ensasian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
Spelling & Phonology Consonant inventory: /b d g gb h j k kp l m n p r s t ŋ ɓ ɗ ʄ ʔ ʧ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Stop	p b	t d			k g	ʔ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ		ʄ
Affricate			ʧ
Fricative		s				h
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l

Vowel inventory: /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, d, g, gb, h, j, k, kp, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, ŋ, ɓ, ɗ, ʄ, ʔ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bd, bl, bt, d, dr, g, gl, h, j, jk, k, kp, kt, l, m, n, nd, nh, ns, p, pl, pr, pt, r, rm, rt, s, st, t, tg, tk, ts, tʧ, ŋ, ʔ, ʧ
Word final consonants: b, d, k, l, m, n, r, s, t, ŋ, ʧ
Phonological rules (in order of application):

• p→b / V_V
• {p,t,k}→[+voice] / N_
• d→Ø / C_
• ʔ→h / _C
• s→ɟ / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɓ	b
ɗ	d̈
ʔ	’
ʧ	ch
ː	macron over vowel

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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.
Adposition: postpositions

Noun

Nouns have six cases:

Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence

Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix

Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man

Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog

Locative is the location of something: man walks to town

Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town

	Singular	Plural
Ergative	Suffix -i kāngibi /kaːˈŋibi/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -at kāngibat /kaːŋiˈbat/
Absolutive	No affix kāngib /ˈkaːŋib/	Suffix -iŋ kāngibing /kaːˈŋibiŋ/
Genitive	Suffix -iːʧ kāngibīch /kaːŋiˈbiːʧ/	Suffix -ir kāngibir /kaːˈŋibir/
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -jkoː Else: Suffix -ajkoː kāngibaykō /kaːˌŋibajˈkoː/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -oːb kāngibōb /kaːˈŋiboːb/
Locative	Suffix -er kāngiber /kaːŋiˈber/	Suffix -aʧ kāngibach /kaːˈŋibaʧ/
Ablative	Suffix -is kāngibis /kaːˈŋibis/	Suffix -eː kāngibē /kaːŋiˈbeː/

Articles

Definite	gbāch /gbaːʧ/ the
Indefinite	pa /pa/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	ī /iː/ I	o /o/ me	d̈ach /ɗaʧ/ my, mine	lu /lu/ to me	ur /ur/	gbo /gbo/
2nd singular	’ī /ʔiː/ you	muk /muk/ you	ti /ti/ your, yours	kī /kiː/ to you	sēs /seːs/	d̈ik /ɗik/
3rd singular masc	kās /kaːs/ he, it	cho /ʧo/ him, it	at /at/ his, its	ū /uː/ to him	kpeb /kpeb/	gbāng /gbaːŋ/
3rd singular fem	pu /pu/ she, it	i /i/ her, it	gbūs /gbuːs/ her, hers, its	’ā /ʔaː/ to her	ngi /ŋi/	ō /oː/
1st plural	ūng /uːŋ/ we	sō /soː/ us	mo /mo/ our, ours	lo /lo/ to us	mal /mal/	ko /ko/
2nd plural	pud /pud/ you (all)	kāch /kaːʧ/ you (all)	am /am/ your, yours (all)	rāb /raːb/ to you (all)	mul /mul/	ās /aːs/
3rd plural	pa /pa/ they	hī /hiː/ them	kpō /kpoː/ their, theirs	d̈i /ɗi/ to them	kpēt /kpeːt/	sān /saːn/

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

a /a/ future tense particle

	Present	Past
1st singular	Suffix -i utsoi /utˈsoi/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -bda Else: Suffix -ubda utsobda /utsobˈda/
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -uːb utsob /ˈutsob/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -iːʧ utsoch /ˈutsoʧ/
3rd singular masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ek utsok /ˈutsok/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -iːs utsos /ˈutsos/
3rd singular fem	Suffix -eːs utsoēs /utˈsoeːs/	Suffix -iː utsoī /utsoˈiː/
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rmuː Else: Suffix -irmuː utsormū /utˈsormuː/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mi Else: Suffix -imi utsomi /utsoˈmi/
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ndiː Else: Suffix -indiː utsondī /utˈsondiː/	Suffix -is utsois /utsoˈis/
3rd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -eːb utsob /utˈsob/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -bli Else: Suffix -iːbli utsobli /utˈsobli/

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying,band habitual actions, such as I study (every night). It is indicated with the word:

Imperfect particle

nī /niː/ imperfect particle

Perfect aspect

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. In Ensasian, the perfect is constructed with an affix.

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -bda Else: Suffix -ubda utsobda /utˈsobda/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -li Else: Suffix -ili
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -piː Else: Suffix -apiː
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kpiː Else: Suffix -ukpiː
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -o
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -keː Else: Suffix -iːkeː
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -koː Else: Suffix -ukoː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -glaː Else: Suffix -iːglaː
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -iːl
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -uːr
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -ak
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -od
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -o
Diminutive = Suffix -aːt
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋaː Else: Suffix -iːŋaː

Dictionary

4339 Words.