Fayian (Fey-eon)

Natively known as: thwidlú /ˈtʰwɪdlʌ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...

i thehti ṣwod or ṣwod kúzno i grat ṣwod giwthup yel ad’ kila[alt]

Pronunciation: /ɪ ˈtʰɛhtɪ ʂwɔd ɔr ʂwɔd ˈkʌznɔ ɪ ɣrat ʂwɔd ˈɣɪwtʰup jɛl aɗ ˈkɪla/

Thwidlúian word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind[/alt]

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d h j k kʰ l m n p pʰ r s t tʰ w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ɣ ʂ ʄ ʐ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Stop	p pʰ b	t tʰ d			k kʰ
Implosive	ɓ	ɗ		ʄ
Fricative		s z	ʂ ʐ		ɣ	h
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a u ɔ ɛ ɪ ɪe̯ ʌ
Diphthongs: ɪe̯

	Front	Back
High		u
Near-high	ɪ
Low-mid	ɛ	ʌ ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C) Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: bl dw dz h j k kh kl kʰ l lw m md mp mw n nd nr ntʰ p ps pʰ r rj rw s sl sm sn sr sw tj ts tʰ tʰw w z zn ŋk ŋw ɓ ɗ ɣ ɣr ʂ ʂw ʄ ʐ
Mid-word consonants: b bl bn br bs bt bz d db dj dl dr dt dw h hd hk hm hr ht j jk jl jm jr jt k kh kr kt kʰ kʰj kʰtʰ l lb ld lj lk ll lm lt lz m mb md mh mkʰ mm mn mp mw mz n nd nj nw p pj pm pn pp pr pw pʰ pʰj r rb rh rj rn rr rs rtʰ rw rz rʐ s sb sh sk sr st t td th tk tl tp tr ts tt tw tz tʰ tʰr tʰw w wb wd wm ws wtʰ z zb zh zj zn zt zw zz ŋ ŋd ŋk ŋm ŋn ŋp ŋpʰ ŋr ŋtʰ ŋw ɓ ɗ ɣ ɣn ɣr ʂ ʂk ʂl ʂn ʂt ʄ ʐ ʐn
Word final consonants: b d h k l m p pʰ r s t tʰ w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ʂ ʄ ʐ
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɔ	o
ɛ	e
ɪ	i
ʌ	ú
j	y
kʰ	kh
pʰ	ph
tʰ	th
ŋ	ng
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ɣ	g
ʂ	ṣ
ʄ	j
ʐ	ẓ
◌̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Verb Subject Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Opened Mary the door with a key.
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	No affix ja /ʄa/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix sm- Else: Prefix smu- smuja /ˈsmuʄa/ (verb done to) dog

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix ndur /ndur/ man	Prefix ɪe̯- iendur /ˈɪe̯ndur/ men
Feminine	No affix d’ú /ɗʌ/ woman	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jʌ- yúd’ú /ˈjʌɗʌ/ women
Neuter	No affix ja /ʄa/ dog	Prefix ɪ- ija /ˈɪʄa/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	mie /mɪe̯/ I	mdu /mdu/ me
2nd singular	ni /nɪ/ you	pi /pɪ/ you
3rd singular masc	ṣwod /ʂwɔd/ he	ntha /ntʰa/ him
3rd singular fem	ngku /ŋku/ she	ngwim /ŋwɪm/ her
3rd singular neut	lu /lu/ it	tsek /tsɛk/ it
1st plural	khiem /khɪe̯m/ we	ngkang /ŋkaŋ/ us
2nd plural	mdek /mdɛk/ you all	the /tʰɛ/ you all
3rd plural masc	ngka /ŋka/ they (masc)	ngkil /ŋkɪl/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	thúj /tʰʌʄ/ they (fem)	núh /nʌh/ them (fem)
3rd plural neut	ú /ʌ/ they (neut)	ngwa /ŋwa/ them (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	mie /mɪe̯/ my
2nd singular	ni /nɪ/ your
3rd singular masc	ṣwod /ʂwɔd/ his
3rd singular fem	ngku /ŋku/ her
3rd singular neut	lu /lu/ its
1st plural	khiem /khɪe̯m/ our
2nd plural	mdek /mdɛk/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ngka /ŋka/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	thúj /tʰʌʄ/ their (fem)
3rd plural neut	ú /ʌ/ their (neut)

Verbs

Thwidlúian uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ɔŋ - ong ṣath /ɔŋ ʂatʰ/ learned

Thwidlúian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kʰɪe̯ɓ - khieb’ ṣath /kʰɪe̯ɓ ʂatʰ/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Prefix tja- tyaṣath /ˈtjaʂatʰ/ is 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).
Thwidlúian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: hɪ - hi ṣath /hɪ ʂatʰ/ learns

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.
Thwidlúian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix ʄ- Else: Prefix ʄa- jaṣath /ˈʄaʂatʰ/ have learned

Numbers

Thwidlúian has a base-20 number system:

1 - b’ad’
2 - d’ieth
3 - mwuṣle
4 - sinam
5 - po
6 - o
7 - ṣi
8 - dwuj
9 - no
10 - ma
11 - gus
12 - zeb
13 - nabna
14 - rek
15 - rútaw
16 - zes
17 - khong
18 - lwur
19 - hus
20 - thwuem
21 - thwuem i b’ad’ “twenty and one”
400 - par “fourhundred”
401 - par b’ad’ “fourhundred one”
800 - d’ieth par “two fourhundred”
8000 - mwo “eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix r-
Else: Prefix rʌ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix jɛ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix nr-
Else: Prefix nrɪe̯-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ɪ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix nr-
Else: Prefix nrɛ-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix mp-
Else: Prefix mpɛ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɔ-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɣ-
Else: Prefix ɣɛ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɣ-
Else: Prefix ɣɛ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɪe̯-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z-
Else: Prefix zɔ-
Diminutive = Prefix ka-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʂ-
Else: Prefix ʂʌ-

Dictionary

332 Words.