Cris' Language • The Language of Powko̊lmish

Natively known as: powko̊lm /ˈpowkɒlm/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
waw yet lâl yad shi bukfok waw mol shi rå pirs dâ yusg
Pronunciation: /wɔ jet ləl jad ʃi ˈbukfok wɔ mol ʃi rɜː pirs də jusg/
Powko̊lmish word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n p r s t w ʃ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d			k g
Fricative		f	s	ʃ
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i iː o u ɒ ɔ ə ɛ ɜː ɪ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː		u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ɔ
Low	a		ɒ

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɔ	aw
ɒ	o̊
ɛ	e̊
ɜː	å
ə	â
ɪ	i̊
j	y
ʃ	sh
Vː	VV

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Singular	No affix biilwåyt /ˈbiːlwɜːjt/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki- kibiilwåyt /kiˈbiːlwɜːjt/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular	si /si/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	se̊ /sɛ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	yet /jet/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	re /re/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	mi /mi/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	ti /ti/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	lo̊ /lɒ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	gât /gət/ my
2nd singular	sap /sap/ your
3rd singular masc	shi /ʃi/ his
3rd singular fem	re /re/ her
1st plural	få /fɜː/ our
2nd plural	wam /wam/ your (pl)
3rd plural	wo̊lf /wɒlf/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix mâd /məd/ learn
Past	Prefix a- amâd /ˈaməd/ learned

Powko̊lmish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: sest - sest mâd /sest məd/ will learn

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.
Powko̊lmish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix ə- âmâd /ˈəməd/ have learned

Numbers

Powko̊lmish has a base-10 number system:
1 - pe̊
2 - e
3 - ra
4 - maw
5 - so̊
6 - mi
7 - feld
8 - pawr
9 - mu
10 - si̊
Hundred - kawgso̊
Thousand - lå

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pə-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɛ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ə-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ɛ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix i-
Noun to verb = Prefix je-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mɛ-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix po-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ɛ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix ta-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix əl-
Else: Prefix əlɒ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɛ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix se-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
Else: Prefix wɪ-

Honorifics

Gâl /gəl/: Great Warrior. Extended to those who do great or terrible things on the battlefield. Ârl /ərl/: Sage. For those who are calm and magical and can be reached for in time of need. Basically 'Druid', in this way.

Dictionary

4306 Words.