Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions
The Language of Navȯmar
Natively known as: Nāvȯmɑr /næˈvomɑɹ/
…and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind… 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
Natively known as: Nāvȯmɑr /næˈvomɑɹ/
Pronunciation:
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
| 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 |
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions
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 |
| Accusative | If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix o- |
| Definite | If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix id- |
| Indefinite | No affix |
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 |
Suffix -a |
Suffix -u |
| Plural | Suffix -se |
Suffix -sa |
Suffix -su |
Pronouns
| Nominative | Accusative | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ||
| 2nd singular | ||
| 3rd singular | ||
| 1st plural | ||
| 2nd plural | ||
| 3rd plural |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | |
| 2nd singular | |
| 3rd singular | |
| 1st plural | |
| 2nd plural | |
| 3rd plural |
Verbs
| Present | No affix |
| Past | If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nu- |
| Future | If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix ha- |
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- |
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-