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Sivor

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SINNUTIAN   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 1.6M / #27   SPOKEN IN: Mersi - 1.6M   PERIOD OF USE:   SCRIPT USED:   PARENT LANGUAGE:  
  "...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."   Translation: dyː̀ ktaɪ̋ lmɵ̏ ɵ̏l voyː̋ voɪ̀mbaɪ̏ dyː̀ mpeː̋ flə̏ lmɵ̏ ʊ̀byì ə̋ vobaʊ̋   Pronunciation: ɗyː̀ ktaɪ̋ lmɵ̏ ɵ̏l ˈvoyː̋ voˈɪ̀mbaɪ̏ ɗyː̀ mpeː̋ flə̏ lmɵ̏ ˈʊ̀bjì ə̋ ˈvoɓaʊ̋     Sivor 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 kʷ l m n p r s t v w z ð ŋ ɓ ɗ ɠ ɣ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʄ ʤ ʧ θ/  
↓Manner/Place→BilabialLabiodentalDentalAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmnɲŋ
Stopp bt dk kʷ g
Implosiveɓɗʄɠ
Affricateʧ ʤ
Fricativef vθ ðs zʃɣh
Approximantj
Tapɾ
Trillr
Lateral approximantl
  Co-articulated phonemes  
↓Manner/Place→Labial-velar
Approximantw
  Vowel inventory: /a aɪ aʊ aː e eː i ie iː o oː u uː y yː æy øi øː œ ɐ ɔ ɔʏ ə ɛ ɛː ɪ ɵ ʊ ʏ/   Diphthongs: aɪ, aʊ, ie, æy, øi, ɔʏ   Tones: ̀ ̋ ̏  
FrontCentralBack
Highiː i yː yuː u
Near-highɪ ʏʊ
High-mideː e øːɵoː o
Midə
Low-midɛ ɛː œɔ
Near-lowɐ
Lowa aː
  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: f, ff, fl, fs, h, j, k, ks, kt, kw, l, lf, lm, m, mb, mj, mk, ml, mp, mr, mt, mv, mw, mz, mʧ, n, nd, nk, ns, nz, nʤ, nʧ, p, r, rn, rð, s, sk, sl, st, t, tw, v, vj, w, z, zw, ð, ŋg, ŋgw, ɓ, ɓl, ɓw, ɓɗ, ɗ, ɠ, ɣ, ɲ, ɲw, ʃ, ʄ, ʧ, ʧw, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, bj, d, g, gj, h, hj, j, k, kj, m, mb, mj, mp, n, nj, ns, nt, nw, nɾ, p, pj, s, t, w, z, ŋg, ɾ, ɾj
Word final consonants: b, br, d, f, fl, fr, g, gl, gr, h, k, kl, kr, kʷ, l, m, n, p, pl, pr, r, s, sk, sp, st, t, tr, w   Phonological changes (in order of application):  
  • ʧ → i / C_
  • z → h / V_a
  • w → b / #_
  • s → h / #_
  • u → o / _Ca
  • b → ∅ / V_V
  • s → h / V_V
  Spelling rules:  
PronunciationSpelling
ɛe
ɔo
ɲny
ɓb
jy
ʄj
ɗd
ɠg
ðdh
θth
ŋgng
ŋng'
ʃsh
ɣgh
xkh
ʧch
nj
 

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 two cases:
  • Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
  • Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
ErgativePrefix eː̀- eː̀shȁ /ˈeːʃȁ/ dog (doing the verb to something)
AbsolutiveNo affix shȁ /ʃȁ/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something)
   
SingularNo affix shȁ /ʃȁ/ dog
PluralIf starts with vowel: Prefix ð- Else: Prefix ðoː̏- dhoː̏shȁ /ˈðoːʃȁ/ dogs
 

Articles

 
Definitery̏br /ry̏br/ the
Indefinitekɵ̏ /kɵ̏/ a, some
 

Pronouns

 
ErgativeAbsolutive
1st singularkə̀ /kə̀/ I fly̋fl /fly̋fl/ me, I
2nd singularkɵ̋ /kɵ̋/ you mʏ̏pr /mʏ̏pr/ you
3rd singular mascktaɪ̋ /ktaɪ̋/ he, it geː̏ /ɠeː̏/ him, it
3rd singular fem /a̋/ she, it òk /ɔ̀k/ her, it
1st plural inclusivesha̋ /ʃa̋/ we (including you) fæy̋ /fæy̋/ us, we (including you)
1st plural exclusivebwő /ɓwő/ we (excluding you) lè /lɛ̀/ us, we (excluding you)
2nd pluralhe̋ /hɛ̋/ you all nʏ̀p /nʏ̀p/ you all
3rd pluralnuː̋ /nuː̋/ they ndə̀ /ndə̀/ them, they
 

Possessive determiners

 
1st singularvyɪ̀pl /vjɪ̀pl/ my
2nd singularka̋ /ka̋/ your
3rd singular masclmɵ̏ /lmɵ̏/ his
3rd singular femwòsp /wɔ̀sp/ her
1st plural inclusivevaʊ̀ /vaʊ̀/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive /ɛ̏/ our (excluding you)
2nd pluralkɵ̀ /kɵ̀/ your (pl)
3rd pluralɵ̋ /ɵ̋/ their
 

Verbs

 
FutureIf starts with vowel: Prefix mj- Else: Prefix mjaɪ̋- myaɪ̋voksàd /mjaɪˈvoksàd/ will learn
  Sivor uses a standalone particle word for past tense:
PastParticle before the verb: leː̋gr - leː̋gr voksàd /leː̋gr ˈvoksàd/ learned
  Progressive aspect   The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.   Sivor uses an affix for progressive:  
ProgressiveIf starts with vowel: Prefix ŋg- Else: Prefix ŋgɛ̋- nge̋voksàd /ŋgɛ̋ˈvoksàd/ 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).   Sivor uses an affix for habitual:
HabitualIf starts with vowel: Prefix ŋg- Else: Prefix ŋgaɪ̀- ngaɪ̀voksàd /ŋgaɪˈvoksàd/ learns
 

Numbers

  Sivor has a base-10 number system:   1 - leː̀n
2 - mbȁ
3 - styː̋
4 - lȅ
5 - thɵ̏kʷ
6 - sà
7 - tő
8 - thɵ̀sk
9 - nyː̀
10 - jòst
11 - jòst dyː̀ leː̀n “ten and one”
100 - leː̀n hè “one hundred”
101 - leː̀n hè leː̀n “one hundred one”
200 - mbȁ hè
1000 - leː̀n nyweː̀ “one thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix naʊ̀-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧaɪ̀-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ə̀-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix aɪ̀-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ə̋-
Noun to verb = Prefix ɪ̀-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɣɔʏ̏-
Tending to = Prefix a̋-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sà-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix støː̀-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ȁ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix a̋-
Diminutive = Prefix ə̏-
Augmentative = Prefix aː̀-

Dictionary

4430 Words.

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