Otorpese (a.tor.ˈpe.se)

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b		t d			k g
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Trill			r
Tap			ɾ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant					j	w
Lateral Approximant			l		ʎ

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

Diphthongs

aj

ej

oj

aw

ow

Phonotactics

Syllable Structure

The maximal syllable structure is CCVC. The coda is restricted to stridents (s, z, ʃ, ʒ, nasals (m, n), r, and l. In multisyllabic words, _VCCCV_ constructions aren't permitted.

Stress

Stress falls on the penultimate syllable. Single syllable words are always unstressed. In compound words, secondary stress falls on the penultimate syllable of the first word with primary stress on the pensultimate syllable of the second word. In causes where the root of the first word in the compound is monosyllabic, there isn't secondary stress. Word stress isn't typically marked in written texts.

Tenzùrho-cálne [tin.ˌzur.ho.ˈkal.ne]

Goya-pelísa [ga.ja.pi.ˈli.sa]

Vowel Reduction

In the Polta dialect, mid vowels reduce when unstressed and in a non-final syllable. /o/ --> /a/ and /e/ --> /i/. Most dialects have vowel reduction with High Speech being the notable exception.

Consonant Sandhi

Across syllable and morpheme boundaries, three consonants can't be clustered together.

Morphology

Articles

Otorpese has two genders, masculine (mayaltivo) and feminine (ferativa).

	Singular	Plural
Masc. Indefinite	Eto	Enos
Masc. Definite	O	Os
Fem. Indefinite	Ana	Anas
Fem. Definite	A	As

Demonstratives include this/these and that/those. There are masculine and feminine forms, and Otorpese distinguishes based on the proximity to the speaker and listener. Demonstrative adjectives here and there also follow the same proximity distinctions.

Nouns

Nouns are either masculine or feminine and inflect for number. They are preceded by an article. Country names are almost always feminine.

Pronouns

Pronouns inflect for gender, person, and number. They also change for case and in the rare case of negative imperatives, mood. There is also a T-V distinction. The five main categories for pronouns are subject, object, possessive, reflexive, and negative imperative.

	Singular	Plural
1st	Io	Noís
2nd	Teo, Tea	Teís
3rd	Elo, Ela Valo, Vala	Elos, Elas, Valos, Valas

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun and must agree with gender and number. Loan words and proper nouns typically use the masculine inflection for both genders. Adjectives preceding the noun may be used in poetry, and Southern Speech permits adjectives preceding nouns as a way of showing emphasis.

Masc. sing.	Fem. sing.	Masc. pl.	Fem. pl.	Meaning
bale	bala	balem	balam	steady
nassoto	nassotia	nassoto	nassotiam	busy
viside	visida	visidem	visidam	colorful
ver	veri	verem	veram	expensive
darsinoi	darsinoi	darsoin	darsoin	obedient
odamo	odamia	odamom	odamiam	visible
salo	sala	salom	salam	ugly

Adverbs

Adverbs function similarly to adjectives.

Prepositions

Prepositions come at the beginning of the prepositional phrase. They are either simple which consist of one word or complex which consist of multiple words.

Verbs

Infinitive Forms

Infinitive verbs end in -ar, -er, or -ir, but except in High Speech and Colonial Speech, -er and -ir verbs have merged in how they're conjugated.

nagar [na.gar]

lider [li.der]

viscutir [vis.ku.tir]

Tenses and Mood

Otorpese has indicative, conditional, and imperative moods. Historically, it also had a subjunctive mood, but that has since merged with the conditional mood. Both indicative and conditional moods have past, present, future tenses. The past tense is divided into preterite, perfect, and imperfect. There is also active and passive voice.

Regular Conjugation

-AR Conjugation

Indicative

		Present	Preterite	Perfect	Imperfect	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Conditional

		Present	Preterite	Perfect	Imperfect	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Imperative

		Present	Past	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

-ER Conjugation

Indicative

		Present	Preterite	Perfect	Imperfect	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Conditional

		Present	Preterite	Perfect	Imperfect	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Imperative

		Present	Past	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

-IR Conjugation

Indicative

		Present	Preterite	Perfect	Imperfect	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Conditional

		Present	Preterite	Perfect	Imperfect	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Imperative

		Present	Past	Future
	1st
Singular	2nd
	3rd
	1st
Plural	2nd
	3rd

Irregular Verbs

Some verbs in Otorpese are irregular. Most irregular verbs are -er or -ir verbs. Irregularity varies with some verbs only being irregular in the present, preterite, or perfect tense, or only in indicative or subjunctive moods. Some verbs only have a few irregularities.

Syntax

Word Order

Otorpese uses SVO word order. Due to verbs inflecting for person, it's common to omit the subject in cases where the subject can be clearly identified. Like adverbs, prepositional phrases directly follow the verb or noun with the highest priority prepositional phrase being the closest to the verb or noun. Yes/no questions are phrased the same as declarative statements with rising intonation at the end. Old poems show yes/no questions as beginning with the verb followed by the subject, but it's unclear if this is just a quirk of poetry. Wh-questions are formed with the wh-word in situ and rising intonation. Rarely, the wh-word is moved to the front of the question and speakers generally accept that construction for emphasis.

Dialects

High Speech

Northern Speech

Eastern Speech

Southern Speech

Colonial Speech

Phrasebook

Greetings

English	Otorpese	Pronunciation	Literal Translation
Hello!			Fate weaves us together.
Hi!			Health!
Goodbye!			Take many breaths!
Bye!			Breathe well!
Good morning!			Good morning!
Good day!			Good day!
Good afternoon!			Good afternoon!
Good evening!			Good evening!
Good night!			Ril walks with you!
My name is...			I call myself ... / My name is ...
Excuse me!			Pardon me!
It's been awhile!			Time walked without you.

Basic Questions

English	Otorpese	Pronunciation	Literal Translation
How are you?			How you have?
What's up?			Have it? / Breathing?
What happened?			What happened?
Where are you going?			You are going where?
Where are you from?			You are from where? / You are from where?
What's your name?			You called what? / Your name is what?
Where do you live?			You live where?
Where is the train station?			The train station is where?
Where is the bathroom?			The bathroom is where?
What time is the party?			The party is at when time?
How much does it cost?			It costs what much?
Who is that?			Who is the person?
What is this?			What is this?
When is your birthday?			You breathed when?
How old are you?			How many breaths do you have?
Do you speak Otorpese?			You speak Otorpese?
What does ... mean in Otorpese?			... means what in Otorpese?
Can you please repeat that?			You repeat that please?

Basic Phrases

English	Otorpese	Pronunciation	Literal Translation
Yes			Yes
No			No
Maybe			By Fate
I don't know.			I know not.
I'm good.			I have it goodly.
I'm bad.			I have it poorly.
I'm okay.			I am breathing.
I am from...			I live at ... / I am in ...
I live in...			I live in ...
I speak a little Otorpese.			I speak a little Otorpese.
I am a student.			I am a student.
I am in the library.			I am at the library.
I work at the library.			I am in the library.
I am working on a house.			I work at a house.
Sorry!			Cedun bless!
I am going to the store.			I go/walk/ride to the store.
This costs five silver coins.			This costs five silver coins.
This is a cat.			This is a cat.
The library opens at midday.			The library starts at midday.
I am ... years old.			I breathed for ... years.

Lexicon

A-M

N-Z

Speakers
Native: 35 million
L2: 14 million

Language Family
Rilic

• Evirtic
• Central Evirtic
• Late Kostic
• Southern Kostic

Early Forms

• Rilic
• Intawen
• Old Otorpese

Official Language in

Otorveia

Common Masculine Names

Common Feminine Names

Common Surnames