Nova's Language • The Language of Chyǎmapian

Natively known as: chyåmap /ˈcəmap/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ep le̊w wåʊ̯õ chuh uf se̊sye ep tisso uf chel put o hawm
Pronunciation: /ep lɛw wəʊ̯θ ʧuh uf ˈsɛsje ep ˈtisso uf ʧel put o hɔm/
Chyǎmapian word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: c f h j k l m n p s t v w z ɦ ʄ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p		t		c	k
Implosive					ʄ
Affricate				ʧ
Fricative		f v	s z				h ɦ
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ɔ ɔɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯ ə əʊ̯θ ɛ
Diphthongs: ɔɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯ əʊ̯θ ?

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
High-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɔ	aw
ɛ	e̊
ə	å
c	chy
ʧ	ch
j	y
ɦ	gh
ʄ	j
θ	õ

---

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 after 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 asfaw /ˈasfɔ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -ip asfawip /ˈasfɔip/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	No affix asfaw /ˈasfɔ/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɛf asfawf /ˈasfɔf/ dogs

Articles

Definite	mi /mi/ the
Indefinite	kwnvtjzin /kwnvtʄzin/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	chyawɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯ /cɔɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯/ I	awgh /ɔɦ/ me
2nd singular	lu /lu/ you	mo /mo/ you
3rd singular masc	wåʊ̯õ /wəʊ̯θ/ he, it	chu /ʧu/ him, it
3rd singular fem	u /u/ she, it	e /e/ her, it
1st plural	a /a/ we	ghu /ɦu/ us
2nd plural	tam /tam/ you all	påw /pəw/ you all
3rd plural	fåʊ̯õ /fəʊ̯θ/ they	låʊ̯õ /ləʊ̯θ/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	wa /wa/ my
2nd singular	chya /ca/ your
3rd singular masc	uf /uf/ his
3rd singular fem	låʊ̯õ /ləʊ̯θ/ her
1st plural	fawɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯ /fɔɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯/ our
2nd plural	chyu /cu/ your (pl)
3rd plural	e̊ /ɛ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix muchåmu /ˈmuʧəmu/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɦ Else: Suffix -aɦ muchåmugh /ˈmuʧəmuɦ/ learned
Remote past	Suffix -ɛ muchåmue̊ /ˈmuʧəˌmuɛ/ learned (long ago)
Future	Suffix -i muchåmui /ˈmuʧəˌmui/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Chyǎmapian uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -af muchåmuf /ˈmuʧəmuf/ is learning

Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Chyǎmapian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: le - le muchåmu /le ˈmuʧəmu/ learns

Numbers

Chyǎmapian has a base-10 number system:
1 - he̊n
2 - tat
3 - lawmum
4 - mulka
5 - pen
6 - aww
7 - fe
8 - wi
9 - le
10 - chyåʊ̯õ
100 - im
1000 - mutsawwe̊

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ
Else: Suffix -ɔʧ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -eh
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -aʧ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɦ
Else: Suffix -aɦ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -se
Else: Suffix -ese
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pju
Else: Suffix -upju
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -el
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ
Else: Suffix -ɔɪ̯e̯ɪ̯a̯u̯i̯ʧ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -u
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -et
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -əʊ̯θ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ət
Diminutive = Suffix -ew
Augmentative = Suffix -ap

Dictionary

6575 Words.

Common Phrases

luchkal fif popcha

the small death, an endearment used on Michye