Teɓɓuian

Natively known as: teɓɓu /ˈteɓɓu/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ect no hac um em ool ect dom em howi hii king waːr
Pronunciation: /et͡ʃt no hat͡ʃ um em oːl et͡ʃt dom em ˈhowi hiː kiᵑg waːr/
Teɓɓuian word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d d͡ʒ f fⁿ g h j jˤ jᵑ k l lⁿ m n nⁿ p r s t t͡ʃ v w x ŋ ɓ ɗ ᵐb ᵑg ᶮd͡ʒ ⁿd

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n nⁿ			ŋ
Stop	b p ᵐb		t ⁿd d			k g ᵑg
Implosive	ɓ		ɗ
Affricate				d͡ʒ t͡ʃ ᶮd͡ʒ
Fricative		f v fⁿ	s			x	h
Approximant					j jˤ jᵑ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l lⁿ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

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

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
aa	aː
ᵐb	mb
jˤ	ƴ
j	y
t͡ʃ	c
ᶮd͡ʒ	nj
d͡ʒ	j
ⁿd	nd
eː	ee
ᵑɡ	ng
iː	ii
oː	oo
uː	uu

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix moː- moohay /ˈmoːhaj/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ke- kehay /ˈkehaj/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	soong /soːᵑg/ the	mboom /ᵐboːm/ a
Plural	taːm /taːm/ the	tam /tam/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• 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 mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st singular	moo /moː/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	tipt /tipt/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	no /no/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	vin /vin/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural inclusive	to /to/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	o /o/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	mol /mol/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	gool /goːl/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ɗon /ɗon/ my
2nd singular	ɗal /ɗal/ your
3rd singular masc	em /em/ his
3rd singular fem	fi /fi/ her
1st plural inclusive	am /am/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ka /ka/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	e /e/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nga /ᵑga/ their

Verbs

Singular	Prefix da- daɗel /ˈdaɗel/ (I/you/he/she/it) learn
Plural	Prefix wi- wiɗel /ˈwiɗel/ (we/you all/they) learn

Teɓɓuian uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: t͡ʃlaⁿd - cland ɗel /t͡ʃlaⁿd ɗel/ learned

Teɓɓuian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: foːn - foon ɗel /foːn ɗel/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix no- noɗel /ˈnoɗel/ 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).
Teɓɓuian uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ta- taɗel /ˈtaɗel/ 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.
Teɓɓuian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix mo- moɗel /ˈmoɗel/ have learned

Numbers

Teɓɓuian has a base-12 number system:
1 - wel
2 - fi
3 - ɗo
4 - jint
5 - i
6 - mbi
7 - il
8 - tel
9 - sa
10 - ti
11 - o
12 - gi
144 - tin
1728 - mom

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -a
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix e-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ff
Else: Suffix -eff
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix oɗ-
Else: Prefix oɗe-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -it͡ʃ
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix ta-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -um
Tending to = Suffix -iphj
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -om
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -i
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -we
Else: Suffix -ewe
Diminutive = Suffix -om
Augmentative = Prefix we-

Dictionary

3092 Words.