The Language of Navȯmar
ɑ pɑy bah hȯy ābah vae ɑ oyɑ ābah neiyȱl shēl ɑy nguuh
Pronunciation: /ɑ pɑˈy bah hoˈy æˈbah vɛˈɨ ɑ ɔˈɪɑ æˈbah neˈɪyˌɔːl ʃiːl ɑˈy ŋʊˈʌ/
Navȯmar word order: and stood he holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: /b d f h k l m n p v w z ŋ ɹ ʃ ʤ ʧ θ/
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Stop | p b | d | k | ||||
| Affricate | ʧ ʤ | ||||||
| Fricative | f v | θ | z | ʃ | h | ||
| Approximant | ɹ | ||||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
Co-articulated phonemes
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-velar |
|---|---|
| Approximant | w |
Vowel inventory: /e iː o æ ɑ ɔ ɔː ɛ ɨ ɪ ʊ ʌ/
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iː | ɨ | |
| Near-high | ɪ | ʊ | |
| High-mid | e | o | |
| Low-mid | ɛ | ʌ ɔ ɔː | |
| Near-low | æ | ||
| Low | ɑ |
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| ŋ | ng |
| d | dt |
| ʧ | ch |
| ʃ | sh |
| z | sz |
| ʤ | g |
| θ | th |
| ɹ | r |
| æɛ | ah |
| ɛæ | ay |
| ayy | ay |
| ɔː | ō |
| o | ȯ |
| ōȯ | ōh |
| ȯō | ȯa |
| ɨiː | ēh |
| iːɨ | ēa |
| æ | ā |
| ɔɪ | oy |
| ɛ | a |
| iː | ē |
| ɪ | i |
| ɨ | e |
| ʊ | u |
| ʌ | uh |
Grammar
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before 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 taȯ /taˈo/ human (doinɡ the verb) |
| Accusative | If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix o- ȯtaȯ /oˈtao/ (verb done to) human |
| Definite | If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix id- idttaȯ /idˈtao/ the human |
| Indefinite | No affix taȯ /taˈo/ a human |
Nouns have three genders:
- Animate is anything that is alive and has consciousness.
- Inanimate Causative is anything that (a) is alive but does not have consciousness or (b) is categorized as a spiritual entity, physical (often cataclysmic) natural event, some body part, or an emotion.
- Inanimate Applicative is everything else.
| Animate | Inanimate-causative | Inanimate-applicative | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | No affix taȯ /taˈo/ human |
Suffix -a eānga /ɨˈæŋa/ doɡ |
Suffix -u kuhoyu /kʌˈɔɪˌu/ paper |
| Plural | Suffix -se taȯse /taˈose/ humans |
Suffix -sa eāngsa /ɨˈæŋsa/ doɡs |
Suffix -su kuhoysu /kʌˈɔɪˌsu/ papers |
Pronouns
| Nominative | Accusative | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | kha /kha/ I |
gȯ /go/ me |
| 2nd singular | khu /khu/ you |
ghu /ghu/ you |
| 3rd singular | bah /bah/ he, she, it |
gah /gah/ him, her, it |
| 1st plural | lszȯ /lzo/ we |
jsa /jsa/ us |
| 2nd plural | lszu /lzu/ you all |
jsu /jsu/ you all |
| 3rd plural | lah /lah/ they |
jah /jah/ them |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | ākha /ækˈha/ my |
| 2nd singular | ākhu /ækˈhu/ your |
| 3rd singular | ābah /æˈbah/ his, her, its |
| 1st plural | ālszȯ /ælˈzo/ our |
| 2nd plural | ālszu /ælˈzu/ your (pl) |
| 3rd plural | ālah /æˈlah/ their |
Verbs
| Present | No affix fuhoy /fʌˈɔɪ/ eat |
| Past | If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nu- nufuhoy /nuˈfʌɔˌɪ/ ate |
| Future | If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix ha- hafuhoy /haˈfʌɔˌɪ/ will eat |
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.
Navȯmar uses an affix for the perfect aspect:
| Perfect | If starts with vowel: Prefix r- Else: Prefix ri- rifuhoy /riˈfʌɔˌɪ/ have eaten |
Articles
Navȯmar encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.
Numbers
Navȯmar has a base-10 number system:
1 – ȱy
2 – ɑyuh
3 – ēn
4 – ēl
5 – fȯ
6 – thuh
7 – uhȱ
8 – szā
9 – ngeiā
10 – ēm
11 – ȱy ɑ ēm “one and ten”
100 – aɑm “hundred”
101 – aɑm ɑ ȱy “hundred and one”
200 – ɑyuh aɑm
1000 – eiyȯ “thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pæ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix eɪ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix θaɪ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix næ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix næ-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nɔː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nɑ-
Tending to = Prefix ʌ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ɨ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɹo-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɹ-
Else: Prefix ɹɔɪ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix fɨ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix θ-
Else: Prefix θeɪ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix hʌ-