Mbahoian

Natively known as: mbaho /ˈᵐbaho/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
as pa do fy nakeso mat as myna fy kat nanos tos denno
Pronunciation: /as pa do fy naˈkeso mat as ˈmyna fy kat ˈnanos tos ˈdenno /
Mbahoian word order: and stood holding hat his he and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h k l m n p r s t v x z ʈʳ ʔ ᵐb ᵐp ᵑg ᵑk ᶯɖʳ ⁿd ⁿt

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	b ᵐb p ᵐp		t d ⁿt ⁿd	ʈʳ ᶯɖʳ	k g ᵑg ᵑk	ʔ
Fricative		f v	s z		x	h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

	Front	Back
High	y 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
ʔ	-
ᵐb	mb
ⁿts	nts
ⁿdz	nj
dz	j
ᶯɖʳ	ndr
ʈʳ	tr
ⁿt	nt
ᵑɡ	ng
ᵐp	mp
ᵑk	nk

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

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

Nominative	Prefix ro- roha-ma /roˈhaʔma/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix to- toha-ma /toˈhaʔma/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	Prefix i- iha-ma /iˈhaʔma/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix za- zaha-ma /zaˈhaʔma/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	nis /nis/ I	mi /mi/ me
2nd singular	max /max/ you	hex /hex/ you
3rd singular masc	mat /mat/ he, it (masc)	ih /ih/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	tset /tset/ she, it (fem)	fa /fa/ her, it (fem)
1st plural inclusive	ni /ni/ we (including you)	ba /ba/ us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ha /ha/ we (excluding you)	tsyt /tsyt/ us (excluding you)
2nd plural	neh /neh/ you all	i /i/ you all
3rd plural	ah /ah/ they	he /he/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	nyh /nyh/ my
2nd singular	yh /yh/ your
3rd singular masc	fy /fy/ his
3rd singular fem	fot /fot/ her
1st plural inclusive	ro /ro/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	hy /hy/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	it /it/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nas /nas/ their

Verbs

Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix ak- Else: Prefix aka- akanot /aˈkanot/ learn
Past	Prefix a- anot /ˈanot/ learned

Mbahoian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: y - y not /y not/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Mbahoian uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: tsa - tsa not /tsa not/ 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).
Mbahoian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix ha- hanot /ˈhanot/ learn (often, habitually)

Numbers

Mbahoian has a base-12 number system:
1 - me
2 - hy
3 - tsys
4 - to
5 - la
6 - bahanes
7 - mbo
8 - vax
9 - ta
10 - navat
11 - sazos
12 - mo
144 - fyri
1728 - kah

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix ta-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix no-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix gi-
Noun to verb = Prefix e-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ba-
Tending to = Prefix a-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix a-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix a-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix ta-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix fa-
Augmentative = Prefix ti-

Dictionary

3112 Words.