Sálti

Sálti^listen is the primary language spoken in the Koganusân Kingdom and is the official language of the kingdom's government. It is a dwarven language and is characterized as a tonal language, possessing five official tones.

Natively known as: Sált /sa˦lt/^listen

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
tástïb ôrdêt kéngûreth moztir ned nosh tástïb moztir onenz sekatìt shêdâwån tultêgnòb sikelb^listen
Pronunciation: /ta˦stɪ˩b o˧˥˦rdɛ˧˥˦t kɛ˦ŋɯ˧˥˦rɛ˧ð mo˧ztɪ˧r nɛ˧d no˧ʃ ta˦stɪ˩b mo˧ztɪ˧r o˧nɛ˧nz sɛ˧ka˧tɪ˨t ʃɛ˧˥˦da˧˥˦wɑ˧n tɯ˧ltɛ˧˥˦gno˨b sɪ˧kɛ˧lb/
Sálti word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g k l m n r s t v z ð ŋ ʃ ʒ ʤ/

↓Manner/ Place→	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar
Nasal	m			n		ŋ
Stop	b			t d		k g
Affricate					ʤ
Fricative		f v	ð	s z	ʃ ʒ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel inventory: /a o ɑ ɛ ɪ ɯ/

	Front	Back
High		ɯ
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid		o
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a	ɑ

Tones: ˧ ˧˥˦ ˩ ˦

Tone Letter	Represents	Diactric	Description
˧	Middle (neutral)		A "toneless" vowel or one without strong inflection.
˦	High	◌́	A vowel with a high pitch, almost as if sung.
˨	Low	◌̀	A vowel with a low pitch, spoken as if bored.
˧˥˦	Cresting	◌̂	The vowel is slightly extended, rising until midway through, then falling back to the original level.
˩	Rumbling	◌̈	A very low vowel, pronounced almost as if growling.

Syllable structure: (C)VC
Stress pattern: No stress
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• C → Ø / {s,k}_#
• b → w / V_V
• r → s / _k
• N → h / _S

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ð	th
ŋ	ng
ɑ	å
ɛ	e
ɪ	i
ɯ	u
ʃ	sh
ʒ	z
ʤ	g

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
  

Ergative	Suffix -ɛ˧rt mewenert /mɛ˧wɛ˧nɛ˧rt/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix mewen /mɛ˧wɛ˧n/ dog (doing the verb not to something)

Singular	No affix mewen /mɛ˧wɛ˧n/ dog
Plural	Prefix lɛ˧- lemewen /lɛ˧mɛ˧wɛ˧n/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	thòs /ðo˨s/ I	nokùhd /no˧kɯ˨hd/ me, I
2nd singular	kuríllêng /kɯ˧rɪ˦llɛ˧˥˦ŋ/ you	nathäm /na˧ða˩m/ you
3rd singular masc	ôrdêt /o˧˥˦rdɛ˧˥˦t/ he	rùrm /rɯ˨rm/ him, he
3rd singular fem	vitad /vɪ˧ta˧d/ she	rarngésh /ra˧rŋɛ˦ʃ/ her, she
1st plural	kastiht /ka˧stɪ˧ht/ we	tíkeshak /tɪ˦kɛ˧ʃa˧k/ us, we
2nd plural	odohged /o˧do˧hgɛ˧d/ you (all)	raròl /ra˧ro˨l/ you (all)
3rd plural	mèkëlg /mɛ˨kɛ˩lg/ they	short /ʃo˧rt/ them, they

Possessive determiners

1st singular	thokkôk /ðo˧kko˧˥˦k/ my
2nd singular	batrâth /ba˧tra˧˥˦ð/ your
3rd singular masc	moztir /mo˧ztɪ˧r/ his
3rd singular fem	ten /tɛ˧n/ her
1st plural	lígshèrtar /lɪ˦gʃɛ˨rta˧r/ our
2nd plural	rôlt /ro˧˥˦lt/ your
3rd plural	uk /ɯ˧k/ their

Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Present	Suffix -o˧m ufúthom /ɯ˧fɯ˦ðo˧m/ (I/you/he/she) studies	Prefix rɯ˧- ruufúth /rɯ˧ɯ˧fɯ˦ð/ (we/they) study
Past	Suffix -ɪ˧ð ufúthith /ɯ˧fɯ˦ðɪ˧ð/ (I/you/he/she) studied	Prefix za˨- zàufúth /za˨ɯ˧fɯ˦ð/ (we/they) studied
Remote past	Prefix ra˨- ràufúth /ra˨ɯ˧fɯ˦ð/ (I/you/he/she) studied (long ago)	Suffix -ɪ˩t ufúthït /ɯ˧fɯ˦ðɪ˩t/ (we/they) studied (long ago)
Future	Suffix -ɯ˧n ufúthun /ɯ˧fɯ˦ðɯ˧n/ (I/you/he/she) will study	Prefix tɛ˧- teufúth /tɛ˧ɯ˧fɯ˦ð/ (we/they) will study

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.
Sálti uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -ɛ˧v ufúthev /ɯ˧fɯ˦ðɛ˧v/

Numbers

Sálti has a base-10 number system:
1 - tot
2 - rínassit
3 - zulok
4 - rokikolg
5 - vulon
6 - ngônårng
7 - fus
8 - kêdêd
9 - lók
10 - setetis
11 - setetis tástïb tot “ten and one”
100 - tot såkub “one hundred”
101 - tot såkub tástïb tot “one hundred and one”
200 - rínassit såkub
1000 - tot kakum “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ma˧-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix fɪ˧-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɑ˧s
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɛ˧n
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix za˧-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Prefix kɛ˧-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -o˧rd
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -ɪ˩k
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix lɪ˦-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -ɛ˧m
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -a˩rd
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɪ˧ð
Diminutive = Prefix rɛ˧-
Augmentative = Prefix ðɪ˦-

Dictionary

4304 Words.