Elven

Natively known as: Elfîégue /lfiˈeɡy/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... meû rée ré çeoueû ahî me meû çeouethàŋ nnouue rée boudî hieûsso lée Pronunciation: /mø ʁe ʁe ˈsøy ɑj mə mø sœˈtaŋ nuj ʁe bœˈdi ˈʒysɔ le/ Elfique word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f j k l m n p s t v w z ŋ ɡ ɥ ɲ ʁ ʃ ʒ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b		t d			k ɡ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ			ʁ
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u y ø œ œ̃ ɑ ɑ̃ ɔ ɔ̃ ə ɛ ɛː ɛ̃/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
High-mid	e ø		o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː œ ɛ̃ œ̃		ɔ̃ ɔ
Low	a		ɑ ɑ̃

Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: No fixed stress Word initial consonants: b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, w, z, ɡ, ʁ, ʃ, ʒ Mid-word consonants: d, j, l, m, n, p, s, t, w, z, ɡ, ɥ, ɲ, ʁ, ʒ Word final consonants: f, j, k, l, ŋ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• l → n / _#
• s → h / V_V
• d → r / V_V
• k → ɡ / _#
• d → Ø / _N

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
a	a|e|à
e	é|e|ée
g	g|gu
i	i|î|ie
j	hi|y
k	c
n	n|nn
o	au|eau|o
s	s|ç|ss
t	t|th
u	ou|oue
v	v|w
w	ou
y	u|ue|û
ø	eue|eû
œ	eu|u
œ̃	un|um
ɑ	â|a
ɑ̃	an|am|en|em|ean|aon
ɔ	o|u|ô
ɔ̃	on|om
ə	e|on|ai
ɛ	aie|ai|ei
ɛː	ê|aî|eî|es
ɛ̃	in|im|ain|ein|eim|yn|ym|em
ɥ	ui|ut
ɲ	gn
ʁ	r
ʃ	ch
ʒ	j|gg

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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).

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: a - a vâdeoue /a ˈvɑdœ/ doɡs

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mø- meoueaououâdeou /møˈvɑdœ/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb to somethinɡ)
Absolutive	No affix vadoue /ˈvɑdœ/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb, but not to somethinɡ)

Articles

Definite	be /be/ the
Indefinite	bie /bi/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	pỗŋ /pɔ̃ŋ/ I	ssi /si/ me, I
2nd singular	ceî̃ /kɛ̃/ you	cé /ka/ you
3rd singular masc	rée /ʁe/ he, it	aieːu /ɛːj/ him, it
3rd singular fem	ta /ta/ she, it	baîeː /bɛː/ her, it
1st plural	bé /be/ we	a /a/ us, we
2nd plural	fâu /fɑj/ you all	reieːc /ʁɛːk/ you all
3rd plural	choueŋ /ʃuŋ/ they	dõhî /dɔ̃j/ them, they

Possessive determiners

1st singular	põŋ /pɔ̃ŋ/ my
2nd singular	ceĩ /kɛ̃/ your
3rd singular masc	ré /ʁe/ his
3rd singular fem	thée /ta/ her
1st plural	bée /be/ our
2nd plural	fahi /fɑj/ your (pl)
3rd plural	chouŋ /ʃuŋ/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	Prefix lɛ- laieu /ˈlɛej/ (I) learn	Prefix ky- cuéehî /ˈkyej/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Prefix wi- aoueoueiéeû /ˈwiej/ (you) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- céehie /kej/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Prefix a- ééu /ˈaej/ (he/she/it) learns	Prefix pɑ- paéhie /ˈpɑej/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	Prefix zo- zoéhi /ˈzoej/ (we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa- péu /pej/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nɑ̃- néue /nej/ (you all) learn	Prefix ø- eoueeéue /ˈøej/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	Prefix œ̃- oũehi /ˈœ̃ej/ (they) learn	Prefix ta- tééue /ˈtaej/ (they) learned

Elfique uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: zo - zaou éhi /zo ej/ 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).
Elfique uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix ɛ̃- aĩéehi /ˈɛ̃ej/ 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.
Elfique uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix sə- seaounehi /ˈsəej/ have learned

Numbers

Elfique has a base-10 number system:
1 - lâc 2 - laie 3 - bà 4 - mie 5 - meouee 6 - gououa 7 - ssî 8 - leîŋ 9 - ooueaŋ 10 - nnueouîuehî 11 - lac meoue nuouîuu “one and ten” 100 - lâc dã “one hundred” 101 - lac dã lâc “one hundred one” 200 - lai dẫ 1000 - lâc oouea “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix ve- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix y- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɛ- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʒ- Else: Prefix ʒy- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ø- Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix do- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix si- Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix mi- Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix nœ̃- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɔ- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ta- Diminutive = Prefix u- Augmentative = Prefix pɑ-

Dictionary

4409 Words.