Vdram Dictionary

The language from ARRIVAL and Contact This single gendered quiet race doesn't speak its mind much. They rely heavily on telepathy. Anything private is hinted at via a 1-1 mind link. Whole room links are always available to join when one wishes or for work purposes. At 4K words, I chose NOT to show the vocab list. This dictionary bogs down my poor little laptop. Feel free to use the search bar.

Natively known as: Vdram /vdram/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
tvu pom ba svih on pribu tvu ach on svigdan bebe tros ach>
Pronunciation: /tvu pʲom ba svix on ˈpribʲu tvu aʨ on ˈsvigdanʲ ˈbʲebʲe trʲosʲ aʨ/
Vdramish word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Pronunciations can be pasted into IPA Reader with the Jan (Polish) setting for best sound.

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʲ d dʲ f g gʲ j k kʲ l lʲ m mʲ n nʲ p pʲ r rʲ s sʲ t tʲ v vʲ x z zʲ ɕ ʂ ʐ ʦ ʨ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m mʲ		nʲ n
Stop	p pʲ b bʲ		t tʲ d dʲ				k kʲ g gʲ
Affricate			ʦ		ʨ
Fricative		f v vʲ	sʲ s zʲ z	ʂ ʐ	ɕ		x
Approximant						j
Trill			r rʲ
Lateral approximant			lʲ l

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: advanced
Word initial consonants: b, bʲ, d, dlʲ, dr, dv, dvʲ, dʲ, fsʲ, ft, g, gdʲ, gl, j, k, knʲ, kt, lʲ, m, mn, mʲ, n, nʲ, p, plʲ, pr, prʲ, pʲ, r, rʲ, s, sk, sl, sm, sn, spr, sr, st, str, sv, svʲ, sʲ, t, trʲ, tv, tʲ, v, vdr, vmʲ, vrʲ, vzʲ, vʲ, x, z, zn, zʲ, zʲdʲ, ɕ, ʂt, ʐ, ʐd, ʨ
Mid-word consonants[pg]: b, bʲ, d, dn, dʲ, dʲnʲ, fsʲ, g, gd, j, jn, jtʲ, k, kn, kt, kʲ, l, lg, ln, lʐn, lʲ, lʲk, lʲzʲ, lʲʂ, m, mlʲ, mn, mnʲ, mʲ, n, nʲ, nʲgʲ, nʲɕ, pr, pɕ, pʲ, r, rn, rv, rʲ, s, sk, skv, skʲ, sm, st, str, sʲ, sʲtʲ, t, tr, trʲ, tvʲ, tʲ, v, vd, vn, vʲ, x, z, zn, zvʲ, ʂ, ʂl, ʂt, ʐ, ʐd, ʐn, ʦ, ʨ, ʨtʲ
Word final consonants: j, k, l, lʲ, m, n, nʲ, p, r, rʲ, s, sʲ, sʲtʲ, t, tʲ, x, zʲnʲ, ʂ, ʦ, ʨ Phonological changes (in order of application):

b → Ø / _#
e → i / #_
l → ɾ / V_V
u → wə / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
dʐ	dz>
j	y>
tʂ	ts>
x	h>
ɕ	sh>
ʂ	ṣ>
ʐ	ẓ>
ʦ	ts>
ʨ	ch>
ʲ	>

Grammar

The verbs come first in a sentence, since they believe one's actions define oneself.

Main word order: Verb-Subject-Object-Oblique. "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

Noun

Nouns have six cases:
Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence
Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog
Locative is the location of something: man walks to town
Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town

Singular

	Masculine
Ergative	Suffix -erʲ svipaer> /ˈsvipʲaerʲ/
Absolutive	No affix svipa> /ˈsvipʲa/
Genitive	Suffix -aʂ svipaaṣ> /ˈsvipʲaaʂ/
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʲ Else: Suffix -anʲ svipan> /ˈsvipʲanʲ/
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -lʲ Else: Suffix -ilʲ svipal> /ˈsvipʲalʲ/
Ablative	Suffix -a svipaa> /ˈsvipʲaa/

Plural

	Masculine
Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -lʲ Else: Suffix -elʲ svipal> /ˈsvipʲalʲ/
Absolutive	Suffix -es svipaes> /ˈsvipʲaes/
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kti Else: Suffix -akti svipakti> /ˈsvipʲakti/
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -uk svipak> /ˈsvipʲak/
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -de Else: Suffix -ade svipade> /ˈsvipʲade/
Ablative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -lgu Else: Suffix -ilgu svipalgu> /ˈsvipʲalgu/

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	dlok> /dlʲok/ the	pro> /prʲo/ a
Plural	dva> /dva/ the	roṣ> /roʂ/ some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	ple> /plʲe/ I	tul> /tʲulʲ/ me	fte> /fte/ my, mine	shi> /ɕi/ to me	sla> /sla/	dva> /dvʲa/
2nd singular	dru> /dru/ you	ṣtu> /ʂtu/ you	a> /a/ your, yours	is> /is/ to you	ba> /bʲa/	sna> /sna/
3rd singular masc	ba> /ba/ he, it	e> /e/ him, it	on> /on/ his, its	ots> /oʦ/ to him	u> /u/	glo> /glo/
3rd singular fem	mnats> /mnaʦ/ she, it	ne> /ne/ her, it	pe> /pe/ her, hers, its	ep> /ep/ to her	bep> /bʲep/	bazn> /bazʲnʲ/
1st plural	ze> /ze/ we	pli> /plʲi/ us	ste> /ste/ our, ours	steh> /stex/ to us	ro> /ro/	sut> /sut/
2nd plural	svik> /svik/ you (all)	dli> /dlʲi/ you (all)	zin> /zʲin/ your, yours (all)	o> /o/ to you (all)	vza> /vzʲa/	rots> /roʦ/
3rd plural	ul> /ulʲ/ they	dim> /dim/ them	tom> /tom/ their, theirs	zich> /zʲiʨ/ to them	fti> /fti/	al> /al/

Verbs

Past tense may be indicated with the word:

Past particle	oy> /oj/ past tense particle

Future	Suffix -ax or -av znilah> /ˈznilʲax/

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying,
and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).

It is indicated with the affix:

Imperfect	Suffix -ot znilot> /ˈznilʲot/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -eʨ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -a
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -e
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -se
Else: Suffix -ase
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lʲ
Else: Suffix -elʲ
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mni
Else: Suffix -imni
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -onʲ
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -oʨ
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -al
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -ij
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lʲka
Else: Suffix -olʲka
Augmentative = Suffix -a

Dictionary

4283 Words.