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Chimelbas

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SINNUTIAN   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 1.2M / #30   SPOKEN IN: Rello - 1.2M   PERIOD OF USE:   SCRIPT USED:   PARENT LANGUAGE:  
  "...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."   Translation: á ké hì rsa̋y hai̋ híj á ɑ̃̋ˈká ka̋ hì hāmp aī ksaw̋   Pronunciation: á ké hì rsa̋j hai̋ híʤ á ɑ̃̋ˈká ka̋ hì hāmp aī ksɔ̋     Chimelbas word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p r s t w ŋ ɲ ʋ ʔ ʤ ʧ/  
↓Manner/Place→BilabialLabiodentalAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmnɲŋ
Stopp bt dk gʔ
Affricateʧ ʤ
Fricativefsh
Approximantʋj
Trillr
Lateral approximantl
  Co-articulated phonemes  
↓Manner/Place→Labial-velar
Approximantw
  Vowel inventory: /a ae ai ao au aːi aːu e eː i iː o oi ou oː u uː y ø œ ɑ̃ ɔ ɔ̃ ɛ ɛ̃/   Diphthongs: ae, ai, ao, au, aːi, aːu, oi, ou   Tones: ̋ ́ ̄ ̀ ̏  
FrontBack
Highi iː yu uː
High-mide eː øo oː
Low-midɛ ɛ̃ œɔ ɔ̃
Lowaɑ̃
  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, d, g, h, k, ks, l, m, mb, n, nh, p, r, rh, rs, s, t, ŋ, ʋ, ʔ
Mid-word consonants: h, k, l, m, n, p, ʋ, ʔ
Word final consonants: bʤ, f, hk, j, kh, kk, kt, kɲ, lk, ml, mp, nd, nk, ns, ntr, nɲ, nʤ, nʧ, pk, pt, rb, rd, rg, rk, rl, rm, rn, rp, rt, rʤ, rʧ, sk, st, str, tk, w, ŋg, ŋh, ŋk, ŋl, ŋs, ɲ, ʤ, ʧ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  
  • ʔ → ∅ / _C
  • e → i / _{m,ŋ}
  Spelling rules:  
PronunciationSpelling
ʋw
ʔʻ
ā
ē
ī
ō
ū
ɔaw
ɛ
y
ŋng
jy
ɲny
ʧch
ʤj
V₁ːV₁V₁
 

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.
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 recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
NominativeNo affix goȍ /goː̏/ dog (doing the verb)
AccusativeSuffix -íŋk ˈgooíngk /ˈgoːíŋk/ (verb done to) dog
GenitiveSuffix -ū ˈgooū /ˈgoːū/ dogʼs
DativeIf ends with vowel: Suffix -ɲ Else: Suffix -ȁɲ ˈgooȁny /ˈgoːȁɲ/ to (the/a) dog
   
SingularPlural
DefiniteSuffix -ɑ̃̋rʤ ˈgooɑ̃̋rj /ˈgoːɑ̃̋rʤ/ the dog Suffix -œ̋ ˈgooœ̋ /ˈgoːœ̋/ the dogs
IndefiniteNo affix goȍ /goː̏/ a dog Suffix -ɛ́ʤ ˈgooé́j /ˈgoːɛ́ʤ/ some dogs
 

Articles

  Chimelbas encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.  

Pronouns

 
NominativeAccusativeGenitiveDative
1st singularlai̋ /lai̋/ I /ò/ me rhœ́ /rhœ́/ mine ká /ká/ to me
2nd singularka̋ /ka̋/ you (masc) mȉ /mȉ/ you kàngk /kàŋk/ yours mī /mī/ to you
3rd singularké /ké/ he, she, it űch /űʧ/ him, her, it hì /hì/ his, hers, its dúrt /dúrt/ to him, her, it
1st pluralhuúngk /huː́ŋk/ we paw̃̄ngk /pɔ̃̄ŋk/ us maw̃̀ /mɔ̃̀/ ours ngé̃̄ /ŋɛ̃̄/ to us
2nd plurallá /lá/ you all mángg /máŋg/ you all koìtk /koìtk/ yours (pl) mi̋ /mi̋/ to you all
3rd pluralmaw̃́ /mɔ̃́/ they me̋ /me̋/ them geény /geː́ɲ/ theirs maẃ /mɔ́/ to them
 

Possessive determiners

 
1st singularrhœ́ /rhœ́/ my
2nd singularkàngk /kàŋk/ your
3rd singularhì /hì/ his, her, its
1st pluralmaw̃̀ /mɔ̃̀/ our
2nd pluralkoìtk /koìtk/ your (pl)
3rd pluralgeény /geː́ɲ/ their
 

Verbs

 
PresentNo affix rȁ /rȁ/ learn
PastSuffix -ɛ̋mp rȁˈé̋mp /rȁˈɛ̋mp/ learned
Remote pastIf ends with vowel: Suffix -rt Else: Suffix -aȅrt rȁrt /rȁrt/ learned (long ago)
  Chimelbas uses a standalone particle word for future tense:
FutureParticle before the verb: kámp - kámp rȁ /kámp rȁ/ will learn
  Progressive aspect   The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.   Chimelbas uses a standalone particle word for progressive:  
ProgressiveParticle before the verb: pɔ̃̏ - paw̃̏ rȁ /pɔ̃̏ rȁ/ 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).   Chimelbas uses a standalone particle word for habitual:
HabitualParticle before the verb: dò - dò rȁ /dò rȁ/ learns
 

Numbers

  Chimelbas has a base-10 number system:   1 - ɑ̃́ns
2 - māy
3 - e̋y
4 - mú́y
5 - pé̀y
6 - ő
7 - hø̏ny
8 - wú̏w
9 - pɑ̃̀ˈné̄
10 - ø̋hk
11 - ø̋hkɑ̃́ns “ten-one”
100 - nɑ̃̋ “hundred”
101 - nɑ̃̋ ɑ̃́ns “hundred one”
200 - māy nɑ̃̋
1000 - aw̃̀ “thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -e̋ʧ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nd Else: Suffix -ɑ̃́nd
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɔ̃̋mp
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -ɛ̄ʧ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɔ̋ŋk
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rg Else: Suffix -írg
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pk Else: Suffix -oː̋pk
Tending to = Suffix -ìrʤ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ē
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋk Else: Suffix -īŋk
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ȅj
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -ɑ̃̀w
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɲ Else: Suffix -a̋ɲ
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rt Else: Suffix -aːűrt

Dictionary

4428 Words.

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