Namban

Natively known as: namban /naˈᵐban/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
mi yi ntah zi keh vilan mi yimba keh en bimu ba baba
Pronunciation: /mi ji ⁿtah zi keh viˈlan mi jiˈᵐba keh en biˈmu ba baˈba/
Namban word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d f h j k l m n p r s t v w x z ŋ ᵐb ᵐp ᵑk ᶬf ᶬv ⁿd ⁿs ⁿt ⁿz

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	b ᵐp ᵐb p		t ⁿt ⁿd d	c	k ᵑk
Fricative		v ᶬf f ᶬv	z s ⁿs ⁿz		x	h
Approximant				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: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ŋ	ng
ᵐp	mp
ⁿt	nt
ᵑk	nk
ᵐb	mb
ⁿd	nd
ᶬf	mf
ⁿs	ns
ᶬv	mv
ⁿz	nz
j	y

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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

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	Prefix a- amituki /aˌmituˈki/ boy	Prefix ᵐba- mbanikapan /ᵐbaˌnikaˈpan/ girl
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix un- Else: Prefix une- unemituki /uneˌmituˈki/ boys	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ju- yunikapan /juˌnikaˈpan/ girls

Articles

Definite	la /la/ the
Indefinite	zo /zo/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• 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

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	kwuh /kwuh/ I	yan /jan/ me
2nd singular	ki /ki/ you	nson /ⁿson/ you
3rd singular masc	yi /ji/ he, it (masc)	yu /ju/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	pa /pa/ she, it (fem)	yo /jo/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	va /va/ we	vin /vin/ us
2nd plural	a /a/ you all	mpoh /ᵐpoh/ you all
3rd plural masc	mpah /ᵐpah/ they (masc)	meh /meh/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	vi /vi/ they (fem)	za /za/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	man /man/ my
2nd singular	i /i/ your
3rd singular masc	keh /keh/ his
3rd singular fem	ke /ke/ her
1st plural	yoh /joh/ our
2nd plural	ma /ma/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	koh /koh/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	an /an/ their (fem)

Verbs

Future

Prefix u- umola /umoˈla/ will learn

Namban uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ŋa - nga mola /ŋa moˈla/ learned

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Namban uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix ja- yamola /jamoˈla/ 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.
Namban uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ja- yamola /jamoˈla/ have learned

Numbers

Namban has a base-12 number system:
1 - ya
2 - nah
3 - nte
4 - bah
5 - ndi
6 - mbabuh
7 - pen
8 - nto
9 - kun
10 - me
11 - nkipa
12 - mpo
144 - yota
1728 - soh

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ᵐpa-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix se-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix u-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ⁿda-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix a-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix aⁿd-
Else: Prefix aⁿdu-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ka-
Tending to = Prefix ki-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix oⁿd-
Else: Prefix oⁿda-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix me-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ku-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z-
Else: Prefix za-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix le-
Augmentative = Prefix mi-

Dictionary

3114 Words.