Chucian

Natively known as: chuc /t͡ʃuc/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ke ka sas zvus pa zvonu ke nzir pa kari data pas ur
Pronunciation: /ke ka sas z̤vus pa ˈz̤vonu ke nz̤ir pa ˈkari ˈɗata pas ur/
Chucian word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: c d d͡ʒ̤ f g̤ j k l m n n̤ p r s t t͡ʃ v w z̤ ɓ ɗ ɦ ʃ ʋ ʋ̤

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n n̤
Stop	p		t d		c	k g̤
Implosive	ɓ		ɗ
Affricate				t͡ʃ d͡ʒ̤
Fricative		v f	z̤ s	ʃ			ɦ
Approximant		ʋ ʋ̤			j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɓ	b
t͡ʃ	ch
ɗ	d
ɡ̤	g
n̤	nh
ʃ	sh
v̤	vh
ɦ	h
j	y
d͡ʒ̤	j
ʋ	v
z̤	z

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix z̤v- Else: Prefix z̤va- zvia /ˈz̤via/ boy	If starts with vowel: Prefix z̤ʋ- Else: Prefix z̤ʋa- zvia /ˈz̤ʋia/ boys
Feminine	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- katsa /ˈkatsa/ girl	If starts with vowel: Prefix z̤- Else: Prefix z̤u- zutsa /ˈz̤utsa/ girls
Neuter	Prefix z̤ʋu- zvuzvoh /ˈz̤ʋuz̤voɦ/ dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix ak- Else: Prefix ako- akozvoh /aˈkoz̤voɦ/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	zves /z̤ves/ the	ma /ma/ a
Plural	tsums /tsums/ the	dza /ɗz̤a/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

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

1st singular	munkly /munklj/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	bi /ɓi/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ka /ka/ he, him, his,
3rd singular fem	kwa /kwa/ she, her, hers,
3rd singular neuter	kac /kac/ it (neut), its (neut)
1st plural	ndi /nɗi/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	ndot /nɗot/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	ku /ku/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	ke /ke/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
3rd plural neuter	zvankly /z̤ʋanklj/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	hums /ɦums/ my
2nd singular	nga /ng̤a/ your
3rd singular masc	pa /pa/ his
3rd singular fem	cha /t͡ʃa/ her
3rd singular neuter	a /a/ his, her, its (neut)
1st plural	inkly /inklj/ our
2nd plural	ra /ra/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ka /ka/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	mi /mi/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	hat /ɦat/ their (neut)

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix nɗ- Else: Prefix nɗo- ndoguri /nɗoˈg̤uri/ (I (masc)/we (masc)/you (masc)/you all (masc)/he/they (masc)) learn(s)	Prefix e- eguri /eˈg̤uri/ (I (masc)/we (masc)/you (masc)/you all (masc)/he/they (masc)) learned	Prefix i- iguri /iˈg̤uri/ (I (masc)/we (masc)/you (masc)/you all (masc)/he/they (masc)) will learn
Feminine	Prefix ri- riguri /riˈg̤uri/ (I (fem)/we (fem)/you (fem)/you all (fem)/she/they (fem)) learn(s)	If starts with vowel: Prefix ung̤- Else: Prefix ung̤e- ungeguri /ˌung̤eˈg̤uri/ (I (fem)/we (fem)/you (fem)/you all (fem)/she/they (fem)) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɦ- Else: Prefix ɦo- hoguri /ɦoˈg̤uri/ (I (fem)/we (fem)/you (fem)/you all (fem)/she/they (fem)) will learn
Neuter	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma- maguri /maˈg̤uri/ (I (neut)/we (neut)/you (neut)/you all (neut)/it (neut)/they (neut)) learn(s)	Prefix a- aguri /aˈg̤uri/ (I (neut)/we (neut)/you (neut)/you all (neut)/it (neut)/they (neut)) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix t͡ʃ- Else: Prefix t͡ʃi- chiguri /t͡ʃiˈg̤uri/ (I (neut)/we (neut)/you (neut)/you all (neut)/it (neut)/they (neut)) will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix uv- Else: Prefix uva- uvaguri /ˌuvaˈg̤uri/ 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).
Chucian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: t͡ʃa - cha guri /t͡ʃa ˈg̤uri/ learn (often, habitually)

Numbers

Chucian has a base-12 number system:
1 - na
2 - me
3 - zvar
4 - pe
5 - yu
6 - ment
7 - kanho
8 - pu
9 - mat
10 - kwake
11 - pah
12 - ndi
144 - ribe
1728 - atoms

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix kwe-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pa-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix e-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix in-
Else: Prefix ino-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ki-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix i-
Tending to = Prefix a-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ak-
Else: Prefix aku-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix z̤ʋo-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix a-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix nɗo-
Diminutive = Prefix pe-
Augmentative = Prefix jo-

Dictionary

3114 Words.