VAIRUVAND

LANGUAGE FAMILY: TYRILAN
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 21.27M / #1
SPOKEN IN: Uvan Empire - 16M / Kahrilo - 2M / Beribon (North) - 800K / Beribon (South) - 600K / Rello - 500K / Liij - 350K / Jolim - 250K / Kalio - 200K / Sassam - 150K / Najamur - 100K / Oralt - 100K / T'Jau - 100K / Loy - 50K / Mai - 50K / Ansal - 20K
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: ja bu bi staco daugind kailo ja tauce daum bi ewa gangsard hord
Pronunciation: ʤa bu bi staˈʧo dauˈɡind kaiˈlo ʤa tauˈʧe daum bi eˈwa ɡaŋˈsard hord

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

Alphabet

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f h j k l m n p r s t w ŋ ɡ ɲ ʤ ʧ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b		t d			k ɡ
Affricate				ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f	s				h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a ai au e i o u/
Diphthongs: ai, au

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, fr, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, pl, pr, r, s, sh, st, t, tr, w, ɡ, ɡr, ɲ, ʤ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bʤ, d, f, h, hk, j, k, kh, kk, ks, kt, kɲ, l, lk, m, mb, ml, mp, n, nd, nk, ns, nt, ntr, nɲ, nʤ, nʧ, p, pk, pt, r, rb, rd, rh, rk, rl, rm, rn, rp, rs, rt, rɡ, rʤ, rʧ, s, sk, st, str, t, tk, w, ŋ, ŋh, ŋk, ŋl, ŋs, ŋɡ, ɡ, ɲ, ʤ, ʧ
Word final consonants: b, h, k, l, ll, m, n, nd, nt, p, r, rd, s, t, w, ŋ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• a → aː / _{w,j}
• b → ∅ / _s{t,k}

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʧ	c
ɡ	g
ŋ	ng
j	y
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny̼̼

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 after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have three 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).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Ergative	Prefix e- eairaugab /eˈairauˌɡab/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb to somethinɡ)
Absolutive	No affix airaugab /aiˈrauɡab/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb, but not to somethinɡ)
Genitive	Prefix u- uairaugab /uˈairauˌɡab/ doɡʼs

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pe- paing /paiŋ/ man	Prefix ai- aiaing /aiˈaiŋ/ men
Feminine	Prefix da- daplu /daˈplu/ woman	If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix rau- rauplu /rauˈplu/ women
Neuter	If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix le- lairaugab /laiˈrauɡab/ doɡ	If starts with vowel: Prefix sh- Else: Prefix sha- shairaugab /shaiˈrauɡab/ doɡs

Articles

Definite	stat /stat/ the
Indefinite	trail /trail/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive
1st singular	ub /ub/ I	gab /ɡab/ me, I	tai /tai/ mine
2nd singular	urd /urd/ you	o /o/ you	gri /ɡri/ yours
3rd singular masc	bu /bu/ he	i /i/ him, he	yo /jo/ his
3rd singular fem	le /le/ she	mi /mi/ her, she	u /u/ hers
3rd singular neut	stak /stak/ it	taul /taul/ it	ny̼̼aul /ɲaul/ its
1st plural	rau /rau/ we	us /us/ us, we	om /om/ ours
2nd plural	ob /ob/ you all	shaub /shaub/ you all	fri /fri/ yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	hu /hu/ they (masc)	ta /ta/ them (masc), they (masc)	da /da/ theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	ai /ai/ they (fem)	ci /ʧi/ them (fem), they (fem)	ho /ho/ theirs (fem)
3rd plural neut	kau /kau/ they (neut)	tro /tro/ them (neut), they (neut)	pit /pit/ theirs (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ni /ni/ my
2nd singular	rai /rai/ your
3rd singular masc	bi /bi/ his
3rd singular fem	ci /ʧi/ her
3rd singular neut	a /a/ its
1st plural	cir /ʧir/ our
2nd plural	prau /prau/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	fri /fri/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	yo /jo/ their (fem)
3rd plural neut	gru /ɡru/ their (neut)

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st person	No affix sunga /suˈŋa/ (I/we) learn	Prefix ma- masunga /maˈsuŋa/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	No affix sunga /suˈŋa/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa- pasunga /paˈsuŋa/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	No affix sunga /suˈŋa/ (he/she/it/they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma- masunga /maˈsuŋa/ (he/she/it/they) learned

Vairuvand uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: hol - hol sunga /hol suˈŋa/ 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).
Vairuvand uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix ai- aisunga /aiˈsuŋa/ learns/is learninɡ

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.
Vairuvand uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix la- lasunga /laˈsuŋa/ have learned

Numbers

Vairuvand has a base-10 number system:
1 - wurd
2 - uw
3 - ni
4 - pe
5 - ne
6 - ci
7 - su
8 - tau
9 - aurd
10 - kai
11 - kaiwurd “ten-one”
100 - wurd nin “one hundred”
101 - wurd nin ja wurd “one hundred and one”
200 - uw nin
1000 - wurd bunt “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix me-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tai-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix hu-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix i-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix me-
Noun to verb = Prefix ai-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix da-
Tending to = Prefix e-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jo-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ho-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fr- Else: Prefix fre-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix u-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kai-
Augmentative = Prefix e-

Dictionary

4440 Words.