Diman

Natively known as: diman /diˈman/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nakh di bad nzam khukh miny nakh àĝ khukh àm ngubur wawf gawy
Pronunciation: /nax di bad ᶮdʒam xux miɲ nax əgː xux aːm ᵑguˈbuɾ wɔf gɔj/
Diman word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b bː d dː f fː g gː j k kː l lː m n nː p pː q s t tː w x ɲ ɾ ʃ ʃː ʒ ʒː ᵐb ᵑg ᶮd ⁿd

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n nː		ɲ
Stop	b p ᵐb bː pː		d t ᶮd ⁿd dː tː			g k ᵑg gː kː	q
Fricative		f fː	s	ʃ ʒ ʒː ʃː		x
Approximant					j
Tap			ɾ
Lateral approximant			l lː

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ɔ ɔː ə ɛ ɛː

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u uː
High-mid	e eː		oː o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː		ɔ ɔː
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɛː	ê
ɛ	è
ə	à
ɔː	oo
oː	ou
ɔ	aw
ɾ	r
ᶮdʒ	nz
ʒː	zz
ʒ	z
j	y
ʃː	sh
ʃ	sh
ⁿd	nd
ᵑg	ng
ᵐb	mb
ɲ	ny
x	kh
gː	ĝ
aː	à
kː	c
zː	zz
iː	í
uː	ù
eː	é
fː	ff
dː	dd
nː	nn
pː	pp
bː	bb
tː	tt
lː	ll

---

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
Definite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɛk dzèmarèk /dʒɛmaˈɾɛk/ the dog	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɲaː Else: Suffix -eɲaː dzèmarenyà /dʒɛˌmaɾeˈɲaː/ the dogs
Indefinite	Suffix -aː dzèmarà /dʒɛmaˈɾaː/ a dog	Suffix -ut dzèmarut /dʒɛmaˈɾut/ some dogs

Articles

Diman encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	da /da/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	gèr /gɛɾ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	di /di/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	i /i/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural inclusive	lur /luɾ/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	bà /baː/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	du /du/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	naw /nɔ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	wawn /wɔn/ my
2nd singular	nènn /nɛnː/ your
3rd singular masc	khukh /xux/ his
3rd singular fem	pu /pu/ her
1st plural inclusive	dint /dint/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	di /di/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	fêr /fɛːɾ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ku /ku/ their

Verbs

Present	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɔn màsawn /maːˈsɔn/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -x Else: Suffix -aːx màsàkh /maːˈsaːx/ learned

Diman uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ga - ga màs /ga maːs/ 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.
Diman uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ɛːj màsêy /maːˈsɛːj/ have learned

Numbers

Diman has a base-12 number system:
1 - dal
2 - ga
3 - dè
4 - nawc
5 - lir
6 - du
7 - mawnk
8 - nu
9 - khaà
10 - nyaw
11 - nèkh
12 - i
144 - dzun
1728 - tèl

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -at
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -ɔf
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kː
Else: Suffix -ukː
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -i
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -dʒː
Else: Suffix -idʒː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -i
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -if
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -gː
Else: Suffix -agː
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾu
Else: Suffix -uɾu
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -an
Diminutive = Suffix -u
Augmentative = Suffix -i

Dictionary

3102 Words.