Mai

LANGUAGE FAMILY: TYRILAN
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 850K / #36
SPOKEN IN: Mai - 450K / Uvan Empire - 300K / T'Jau - 100K
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: yim ho dok moto ho pas yim lāmik ho buko sepe ho ezrʲ
Pronunciation: jiːm ho dok ˈmoto ho pæs jiːm ˈlɒːmiːk ho ˈbuːko ˈsepe ho ezr

Mai word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʲ d dʲ f fʲ g h j k l lʲ m mʲ n nʲ p pʲ q r rʲ s sʲ t tʲ v vʲ w x z zʲ ɕː ɣ ɾ ʂ ʃ ʎ ʐ ʔ ʤ ʦ ʧ ʨ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m mʲ		n nʲ
Stop	p pʲ b bʲ		t tʲ d dʲ					k g	q	ʔ
Affricate			ʦ	ʧ ʤ		ʨ
Fricative		f fʲ v vʲ	s sʲ z zʲ	ʃ	ʂ ʐ	ɕː		x ɣ		h
Approximant							j
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r rʲ
Lateral approximant			l lʲ				ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /e iː o uː æ ɒː/

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
High-mid	e	o
Near-low	æ
Low		ɒː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bz, d, f, ft, g, h, hr, j, jr, k, l, m, mr, mʔ, n, nd, ng, p, q, qt, r, rb, rd, rg, rk, rm, rn, rs, s, sr, st, t, tr, tʃ, v, vr, vʔ, x, xt, z, zv, ɣ, ʃ, ʃm, ʃq, ʃt, ʔ, ʔd, ʔr, ʤ
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, bɾ, d, dɾ, f, fl, fɾ, g, gɾ, k, kl, kw, kɾ, l, m, n, p, pl, pɾ, r, s, sɾ, t, tɾ, x, ʎ, ʧ
Word final consonants: b, bl, blʲ, br, brʲ, bʲ, d, dlʲ, dn, dr, drʲ, dv, dvʲ, dʲ, f, fk, fklʲ, fp, fpr, fr, fsk, fsp, fst, fstrʲ, fsʲ, fsʲlʲ, ft, fx, fʲ, fʲpʲ, g, gdʲ, gl, glʲ, gr, grʲ, j, k, kl, klʲ, knʲ, kr, krʲ, kst, kt, kv, l, lʲ, m, mgn, ml, mn, mnʲ, mʲ, n, nr, nʲ, p, pl, plʲ, pr, prʲ, ptʲ, pʲ, r, rʲ, s, sj, sk, skr, skv, sl, sm, smʲ, sn, sp, spr, sprʲ, spʲ, sr, srʲ, st, str, strʲ, stv, sv, svʲ, sx, sxv, sʦ, sʲ, sʲlʲ, sʲnʲ, sʲtʲ, t, tk, tr, trʲ, tv, tvʲ, tʲ, v, vd, vdr, vl, vlʲ, vmʲ, vn, vnʲ, vr, vrʲ, vzd, vzglʲ, vzr, vzʲ, vʲ, x, xlʲ, xr, xv, z, zd, zdr, zl, zn, zrʲ, zv, zvʲ, zʲ, zʲdʲ, ɕː, ʂ, ʂk, ʂlʲ, ʂt, ʐ, ʐd, ʦ, ʦvʲ, ʨ, ʨlʲ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• d → l / #_
• d → ʔ / _#
• o → ∅ / _Cr
• h → ʔ / _#
• V → [+long] / _#

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʾ
ʤ	j
ʧ	č
ʒ	ž
ʃ	š
ɣ	q
æ	a
ɒː	ā
uː	u
iː	i
j	y

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: prepositions

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ɒːd kakād /ˈkækɒːd/ man	Prefix o- okak /ˈokæk/ men
Feminine	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -iːm lākem /ˈlɒːkem/ woman	Suffix -em lākeem /lɒːˈkeem/ women
Neuter	Prefix iː- irnap /ˈiːrnæp/ dog	Suffix -erʲ rnaperʲ /ˈrnæperʲ/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular	me /me/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	se /se/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ho /ho/ he, him, his
3rd singular fem	mo /mo/ she, her, hers
3rd singular neut	sen /sen/ it, its
1st plural	yo /jo/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	fo /fo/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	ndep /ndep/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	goy /goj/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
3rd plural neut	em /em/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	me /me/ my
2nd singular	se /se/ your
3rd singular masc	ho /ho/ his
3rd singular fem	mo /mo/ her
3rd singular neut	sen /sen/ its
1st plural	yo /jo/ our
2nd plural	fo /fo/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ndep /ndep/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	goy /goj/ their (fem)
3rd plural neut	em /em/ their (neut)

Verbs

Present	No affix mub /muːb/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tiː- timub /ˈtiːmuːb/ learned

Mai uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kuːs - kus mub /kuːs muːb/ 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).
Mai uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix uː- umub /ˈuːmuːb/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Mai has a base-10 number system:
1 - kāp
2 - don
3 - ye
4 - kupado
5 - motu
6 - mezl
7 - moy
8 - motɾok
9 - hri
10 - osprʲ
11 - kāp yim osprʲ “one and ten”
100 - os “hundred”
101 - os yim kāp “hundred and one”
200 - don os
1000 - ox “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -uːp
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -iːp
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -vlʲ Else: Suffix -ɒːvlʲ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -em
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -iːm
Noun to verb = Prefix mo-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -iːm
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix læ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -or
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bæ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -of
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɒːsrʲ
Diminutive = Suffix -o
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -oj

Dictionary

4451 Words.