Maldigal (Maldigal: [ˈmældɪgæl])

Maldigal is a language originating from Laniakea which is spoken my a majority of orcs. It is the official language of many orc-dominated areas of Laniakea, Romiqla in Inciparia, as well as Lefthorn and Ringoq's Outpost in Pandora. Below is a translation of a famous motto among the orcs of Pandora.

Bar daga gozhimlazh linol modag rurzhin, bora qamang ngu.

“Bar daga gozhimlazh linol modag rurzhin, bora qamang ngu.”
/bæɽ ˈdægæ ˈgɑʐɪmlæʐ ˈlɪɳɑl mɑˈdæg ˈɽuɽʐɪɳ , ˈbɑɽæ ˈʁæmæŋ ŋu/
ABS.1st.PL be(exist)-PRS.1st.PL strong protect-INF who be(exist)-PRS.3rd.PL weak, (instead of) pity ABS.3rd.PL.
We are strong so that the weak may be protected, rather than pitied.

— Mazhug, Chieftain of Lefthorn

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g l m ŋ ɳ ɽ ʁ ʐ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		ɳ	ŋ
Stop	b	d		g
Fricative			ʐ		ʁ
Tap			ɽ
Lateral approximant		l

Vowel inventory: u æ ɑ ɪ

	Front	Back
High		u
Near-high	ɪ
Near-low	æ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: CV(C)
Stress pattern: Initial
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	ʁ	ɳ	ŋ	ʐ	ɽ	m	b	d	l	g	æ	ɑ	ɪ	u
Spelling	q	n	ng	zh	r	m	b	d	l	g	a	o	i	u

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key”
Other word order: PrepN, DemN, NumN, PossN, AdjN, NGen.
Names: Must have two syllables.

Articles and Nouns

Maldigal encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes.

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix ringoq /ˈɽɪŋɑʁ/ the dog	Suffix -ɽɑ ringoqro /ˈɽɪŋɑʁɽɑ/ the dogs
Indefinite	Suffix -bæ ringoqba /ˈɽɪŋɑʁbæ/ a dog	Suffix -ʐɑ ringoqzho /ˈɽɪŋɑʁʐɑ/ some dogs

Possessive Determiners

1st singular	luq /luʁ/ my
2nd singular	ga /gæ/ your
3rd singular	bad /bæd/ his
1st plural exclusive	bar /bæɽ/ we
2nd plural	go /gɑ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	bur /buɽ/ their

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Ergative	luq /luʁ/ I	ga /gæ/ you	bad /bæd/ he, she, it	bar /bæɽ/ we	go /gɑ/ you all	bur /buɽ/ they
Absolutive	rang /ɽæŋ/ me	lad /læd/ you	qi /ʁɪ/ him, her, it	zho /ʐɑ/ us	mil /mɪl/ you all	ngu /ŋu/ them
Genitive	mu /mu/ mine	da /dæ/ yours	qu /ʁu/ his, hers, its	di /dɪ/ ours	ngaq /ŋæʁ/ yours (pl)	bo /bɑ/ theirs
Dative	ru /ɽu/ to me	ra /ɽæ/ to you	qim /ʁɪm/ to him, her, it	dol /dɑl/ to us	nu /ɳu/ to you all	bod /bɑd/ to them
Locative	bu /bu/ at me	lo /lɑ/ at you	zhu /ʐu/ at him, her, it	bizh /bɪʐ/ at us	mang /mæŋ/ at you all	lu /lu/ at them
Ablative	do /dɑ/ from me	li /lɪ/ from you	nong /ɳɑŋ/ from him, her, it	miq /mɪʁ/ from us	zhung /ʐuŋ/ from you all	bon /bɑɳ/ from them

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	Prefix du- duqingo /ˈduʁɪŋɑ/ (I) learn	Suffix -bu qingobu /ˈʁɪŋɑbu/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Prefix lu- luqingo /ˈluʁɪŋɑ/ (you) learn	Suffix -ʁæ qingoqa /ˈʁɪŋɑʁæ/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Suffix -ɽɪ qingori /ˈʁɪŋɑɽɪ/ (he/she/it) learns	Prefix bɑ- boqingo /ˈbɑʁɪŋɑ/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	Suffix -gæ qingoga /ˈʁɪŋɑgæ/ (we) learn	Prefix ʐæ- zhaqingo /ˈʐæʁɪŋɑ/ (we) learned
2nd plural	Suffix -lɪ qingoli /ˈʁɪŋɑlɪ/ (you all) learn	Prefix ɽɑ- roqingo /ˈɽɑʁɪŋɑ/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	Prefix mɑ- moqingo /ˈmɑʁɪŋɑ/ (they) learn	Suffix -mɪ qingomi /ˈʁɪŋɑmɪ/ (they) learned

Future Tense

Maldigal uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future	Particle before the verb: mulɪl - mulil qingo /ˈmulɪl ˈʁɪŋɑ/ will learn

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.
Maldigal uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect	Prefix ɽu- ruqingo /ˈɽuʁɪŋɑ/ have learned

Numbers

Maldigal has a base-10 number system:
1 - gan
2 - dal
3 - qa
4 - zhazh
5 - qum
6 - bang
7 - din
8 - bo
9 - gi
10 - bong
100 - rur
1000 - nam

Derivational Morphology

POS Change	English Example	Marker	Word Change
adj > adv	-ly	ADVERB	-li /lɪ/
adj > n	-ity, -ness	QUALITY.OF.BEING	-or /ɑɽ/
adj > v	-fy	TO.MAKE	go- /gɑ/
n > adj	-ous	HAVING.QUALITY.OF	ro- /ɽɑ/
n > adj	-ic, -al	RELATING.TO	ru- /ɽu/
n > adj	-able	CAPABLE.OF	ri- /ɽɪ/
n > v	-fy	NOUN.TO.VERB	go- /gɑ/
v > adj		RESULT.OF.DOING	ra- /ɽæ/
v > adj	-ive	TENDING.TO	ro- /ɽɑ/
v > n	-ment	ACT.OF	-oq /ɑʁ/
v > n	-ance	PRODUCT.OF	-ong /ɑŋ/
v > v	re-	AGAIN	didi- /dɪdɪ/
v > n	-er	DOER	-ozh /ɑʐ/
adj > adj	non-, im-	NOT	nono- /ɳɑɳɑ/

Script

Maldigal is a CV(C) language which uses a semi-syllabic script. Each syllable will always have a CV component, and sometimes a separate symbol for a coda. All glyphs are shown below.

	-A	-O	-I	-U	(coda)
B	Ba	Bo	Bi	Bu	B
D	Da	Do	Di	Du	D
Q	Qa	Qo	Qi	Qu	Q
G	GA	Go	Gi	Gu	G
M	Ma	Mo	Mi	Mu	M
N	Na	No	Ni	Nu	N
NG	Nga	Ngo	Ngi	Ngu	Ng
ZH	Zha	Zho	Zhi	Zhu	Zh
R	Ra	Ro	Ri	Ru	R
L	La	Lo	Li	Lu	L