Beddiyian

Natively known as: beddiy /ˈbeddij/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
na na yo ukaa cafta men na maneh haa yo nel del ya
Pronunciation: /nʌ nʌ jo ˈukaː ˈħʌftʌ men nʌ ˈmʌneh haː jo nel del jʌ/
Beddiyian 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 l m n p r s t w ħ ɖ ʕ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	b p		t d	ɖ		k g
Fricative		f	s				ʕ ħ	h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ʌ

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid		ʌ
Low	aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʌ	a
aː	aa
eː	ee
iː	ii
oː	oo
uː	uu
ħ	c
ɖ	x
ʕ	q
j	y

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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 four 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.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -ih qomah /ˈʕomʌh/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	Suffix -eːnt qomaeent /ˈʕomʌeːnt/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)
Genitive	Suffix -ʌt qomaat /ˈʕomʌʌt/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -em qomam /ˈʕomʌm/ to dog

Singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -eh qomah /ˈʕomʌh/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -or qomar /ˈʕomʌr/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	xa /ɖʌ/ the	lum /lum/ a
Plural	yar /jʌr/ the	tih /tih/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	mi /mi/ I	ban /bʌn/ me	ya /jʌ/ mine	ma /mʌ/ to me
2nd singular	wa /wʌ/ you	ka /kʌ/ you	ca /ħʌ/ yours	ken /ken/ to you
3rd singular masc	na /nʌ/ he, it (masc)	haam /haːm/ his, it (masc)	was /wʌs/ his, its (masc)	seh /seh/ to his, to it (masc)
3rd singular fem	yel /jel/ she, it (fem)	taq /tʌʕ/ her, it (fem)	dah /dʌh/ hers, its (fem)	ta /tʌ/ to her, to it (fem)
1st plural	ce /ħe/ we	get /get/ us	ti /ti/ ours	ge /ge/ to us
2nd plural	bu /bu/ you all	wul /wul/ you all	gah /gʌh/ yours (pl)	yik /jik/ to you all
3rd plural	kam /kʌm/ they	ga /gʌ/ them	fu /fu/ theirs	fa /fʌ/ to them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	tun /tun/ my
2nd singular	mik /mik/ your
3rd singular masc	yo /jo/ his
3rd singular fem	qu /ʕu/ her
1st plural	re /re/ our
2nd plural	cat /ħʌt/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ma /mʌ/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	Suffix -eʕ toyyooeq /ˈtojjoːeʕ/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ej toyyooy /ˈtojjoːj/ (I) learned
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -us toyyoos /ˈtojjoːs/ (you) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -jjo Else: Suffix -ojjo toyyooyyo /ˈtojjoːjjo/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Suffix -i toyyooi /ˈtojjoːi/ (he/she/it) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mu Else: Suffix -ʌmu toyyoomu /ˈtojjoːmu/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -ʌh toyyooh /ˈtojjoːh/ (we) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ʌj toyyooy /ˈtojjoːj/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -uk toyyook /ˈtojjoːk/ (you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ʌm toyyoom /ˈtojjoːm/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	Suffix -ʌh toyyooah /ˈtojjoːʌh/ (they) learn	Suffix -it toyyooit /ˈtojjoːit/ (they) learned

Beddiyian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: oːɖ - oox toyyoo /oːɖ ˈtojjoː/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Beddiyian uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ʌk toyyook /ˈtojjoːk/ be 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).
Beddiyian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Suffix -aː toyyooaa /ˈtojjoːaː/ learn (often, habitually)

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.
Beddiyian uses the word for ‘already’ timaye for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Beddiyian has a base-12 number system:
1 - qaa
2 - te
3 - ma
4 - mih
5 - tam
6 - ha
7 - yi
8 - fu
9 - lah
10 - waxoxam
11 - gakanqa
12 - to
144 - nee
1728 - yak

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ʌj
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -ʌm
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ʌl
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɖi
Else: Suffix -ʌɖi
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -aːt
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -aːh
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -eh
Tending to = Suffix -ʌt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ʌ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -im
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -uh
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -ih
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -ʌh

Dictionary

3121 Words.