Undercommon

Undercommon is the most widely spoken language of the Darklands. It evolved from Elven and was repurposed by the drow over the centuries to fit their new homelands after the events of Earthfall. It incorporated words from Orvian, and eventually mutated so far that it was mutually unintelligible with its mother tongues.

Natively known as: geig /ɣɛi̯x/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
houst peen mes keelt sprusleilt beeb houst keelt tent nors vrirt twelf el
Pronunciation: /ɦɑu̯st peːn mɛs keːlt ˈsprʏslɛi̯lt beːp ɦɑu̯st keːlt tənt noːrs vrɪrt tʋəlf əl/
Geigian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f j k l m n p r s t v x z ŋ ɣ ɦ ʋ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	p b		t d		k
Fricative		f v	s z		x ɣ	ɦ
Approximant		ʋ		j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: aː eː i oː u y øː œy̯ ɑ ɑu̯ ɔ ə ɛ ɛi̯ ɪ ʏ
Diphthongs: œy̯ ɑu̯ ɛi̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high	ɪ ʏ
High-mid	eː øː		oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	aː		ɑ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
sx	sch
x	g / _#
x	ch
ʋ	w
p	b / _#
t	d / _#
d	t / C_#
ɣ	g
ɦ	h
ŋk	ng
ŋ	ng
yu	uw
u	oe / !_w
ɑoe̯	ou
eː	ee
aː	a
ɑ	a
oː	o
ɛi̯	ij / _#
ɛi̯	ei
ɛ	e
ɔ	o
i	ie / C_#
œy̯	ui
ɪ	i
ʏ	u
y	u
øː	eu
ə	e
̯

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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 four 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.

Nominative	No affix uik /œy̯k/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix eː- eeuik /ˈeːœy̯k/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Prefix oː- ouik /ˈoːœy̯k/ dogʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɑu̯- muik /mœy̯k/ to (the/a) dog

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix karkteegroug /ˈkɑrkteːɣrɑu̯x/ man	If starts with vowel: Prefix tʋ- Else: Prefix tʋi- twikarkteegroug /ˈtʋikɑrkˌteːɣrɑu̯x/ men
Feminine	No affix prilie /ˈprɪli/ woman	Prefix slɪ- sliprilie /ˈslɪprɪli/ women
Neuter	No affix uik /œy̯k/ dog	Prefix pə- peuik /ˈpəœy̯k/ dogs

Articles

Geigian has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	mui /mœy̯/ I	ak /aːk/ me	ik /ik/ mine	twoe /tʋu/ to me
2nd singular	ar /aːr/ you	plint /plint/ you	ek /ɛk/ yours	ne /nə/ to you
3rd singular masc	peen /peːn/ he	vo /voː/ him	twie /tʋi/ his	tou /tɑu̯/ to him
3rd singular fem	gre /ɣrə/ she	e /ə/ her	uicht /œy̯xt/ hers	zwos /zʋoːs/ to her
3rd singular neuter	ou /ɑu̯/ it	ge /ɣə/ it	reeb /reːp/ its	schel /sxəl/ to it
1st plural	e /ɛ/ we	ee /eː/ us	twokt /tʋoːkt/ ours	slie /sli/ to us
2nd plural	ple /plɛ/ you all	kwo /kʋoː/ you all	zo /zoː/ yours (pl)	ui /œy̯/ to you all
3rd plural masc	proe /pru/ they (masc)	gam /ɣɑm/ them (masc)	rag /rɑx/ theirs (masc)	nub /nyp/ to them (masc)
3rd plural fem	slan /slɑn/ they (fem)	or /oːr/ them (fem)	id /ɪt/ theirs (fem)	vou /vɑu̯/ to them (fem)
3rd plural neuter	zwie /zʋi/ they (neut)	rek /rɛk/ them (neut)	gert /ɣərt/ theirs (neut)	seb /sɛp/ to them (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	rilt /rɪlt/ my
2nd singular	scheng /sxəŋ/ your
3rd singular masc	keelt /keːlt/ his
3rd singular fem	plo /ploː/ her
3rd singular neuter	lon /lɔn/ its
1st plural	ekt /ɛkt/ our
2nd plural	grans /ɣrɑns/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	kant /kɑnt/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	la /laː/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	slins /slɪns/ their (neut)

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix br- Else: Prefix brɛ- bresnes /ˈbrɛsnəs/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɑu̯rst- Else: Prefix ɑu̯rstaː- ourstasnes /ˈɑu̯rstaːsnəs/ (I/we) learned	Prefix oː- osnes /ˈoːsnəs/ (I/we) will learn
2nd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix eːspr- Else: Prefix eːsprɪ- eesprisnes /ˈeːsprɪsnəs/ (you/you all) learn	Prefix øː- eusnes /ˈøːsnəs/ (you/you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix uŋ- Else: Prefix uŋeː- oengeesnes /ˈuŋeːsnəs/ (you/you all) will learn
3rd person	Prefix steː- steesnes /ˈsteːsnəs/ (he/she/it/they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix oːsl- Else: Prefix oːslɑu̯- oslousnes /ˈoːslɑu̯snəs/ (he/she/it/they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɣ- Else: Prefix ɣʏ- gusnes /ˈɣʏsnəs/ (he/she/it/they) will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Prefix ɪ- isnes /ˈɪsnəs/ 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).
Geigian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix ɦɑ- hasnes /ˈɦɑsnəs/ 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.
Geigian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable snesnes /ˈsnəsnəs/ have learned

Numbers

Geigian has a base-10 number system:
1 - mant
2 - da
3 - gu
4 - wo
5 - bers
6 - rui
7 - kwe
8 - brau
9 - spre
10 - woe
Hundred - spangie
Thousand - ne

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rs
Else: Suffix -ɛrs
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -oːŋ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bɔ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɛi̯t
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nlaː
Else: Suffix -eːnlaː
Noun to verb = Suffix -eː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ylt
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix əlt-
Else: Prefix əltə-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix eː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kl-
Else: Prefix klɛ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lf
Else: Suffix -ylf
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix stɑ-
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -xtxoː
Else: Suffix -œy̯xtxoː
Augmentative = Prefix zɑu̯-

Dictionary

3065 Words.

Root Languages

• Infernal

Spoken by

• Derro
• Duergar