The Language of Vyiyuian

Natively known as: vyiyu /ˈvjiju/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
b’u ko mlalz whiyt jâ zîmipmu b’u âs zle mlalz whid hyîtizt je
Pronunciation: /ɓu ko mlalz whijt ʄə zɨˈmipmu ɓu əs zle mlalz whid ˈhjɨtizt ʄe/
Vyiyuian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f h j k l m p s t v w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ɣ ʄ ʔ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m				ŋ
Stop	p b		t d		k	ʔ
Implosive	ɓ		ɗ	ʄ
Fricative		f v	s z		ɣ	h
Approximant				j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ə ɨ

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ə	â
ɨ	î
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ɣ	g
ʄ	j

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have six cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

Nouns have both a plural affix and dual affix for precisely two things.

Nominative	No affix vij /viʄ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix bj- Else: Prefix bja- byavij /ˈbjaviʄ/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Prefix e- evij /ˈeviʄ/ dogʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki- kivij /ˈkiviʄ/ to dog
Locative	Prefix zlo- zlovij /ˈzloviʄ/ near/at/by dog
Ablative	Prefix i- ivij /ˈiviʄ/ from dog

Singular	No affix vij /viʄ/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɨs- Else: Prefix ɨsu- îsuvij /ɨˈsuviʄ/ dogs
Dual	If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɨ- lîvij /ˈlɨviʄ/ two dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	mlols /mlols/ the	hyî /hjɨ/ a
Plural	d’u /ɗu/ the	zbâ /zbə/ 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’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	sti /sti/ I	jo /ʄo/ me	vâ /və/ mine	heyf /hejf/ to me	e /e/ to me	lâ /lə/ from me
2nd singular	fu /fu/ you	peld /peld/ you	flî /flɨ/ yours	yo /jo/ to you	sa /sa/ to you	dweyf /dwejf/ from you
3rd singular	ko /ko/ he, she, it	mlelv /mlelv/ his, her, it	byi /bji/ his, hers, its	do /do/ to his, to her, to it	vwe /vwe/ to his, to her, to it	zli /zli/ from his, from her, from it
1st plural inclusive	vâm /vəm/ we (including you)	kay /kaj/ us (including you)	steng /steŋ/ ours (including you)	kyaf /kjaf/ to us (including you)	i /i/ to us (including you)	spu /spu/ from us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	îb’ /ɨɓ/ we (excluding you)	pîd’ /pɨɗ/ us (excluding you)	he /he/ ours (excluding you)	flig /fliɣ/ to us (excluding you)	uls /uls/ to us (excluding you)	stâng /stəŋ/ from us (excluding you)
2nd plural	fti /fti/ you all	yaft /jaft/ you all	yâ /jə/ yours (pl)	zbu /zbu/ to you all	fî /fɨ/ to you all	mdo /mdo/ from you all
3rd plural	fle /fle/ they	d’e /ɗe/ them	dwo /dwo/ theirs	bîyl /bɨjl/ to them	yef /jef/ to them	zbuzt /zbuzt/ from them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	vâ /və/ my
2nd singular	budî /ˈbudɨ/ your
3rd singular	mlalz /mlalz/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	steng /steŋ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	he /he/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	yâ /jə/ your (pl)
3rd plural	dwo /dwo/ their

Verbs

Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɓ- Else: Prefix ɓə- b’îpmî /ˈɓɨpmɨ/ learn
Past	No affix îpmî /ˈɨpmɨ/ learned
Future	Prefix whɨ- whîîpmî /whɨˈɨpmɨ/ 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.
Vyiyuian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate last part of last syllable îpmîî /ɨpˈmɨɨ/ have learned

Numbers

Vyiyuian has a base-10 number system:
1 - ku
2 - zîlv
3 - gîng
4 - îng
5 - o
6 - a
7 - kyekwep
8 - bo
9 - d’i
10 - fto
100 - fwi
1000 - hu

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix ə-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix i-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix zji-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ə-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix a-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix de-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix zbe-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix md-
Else: Prefix mda-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix i-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix e-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix mle-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ml-
Else: Prefix mli-
Diminutive = Prefix zdo-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix əʔm-
Else: Prefix əʔmu-

Notes

stâ /stə/ n. parent mda /mda/ prep. of mlikim /ˈmlikim/ n. sewer One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix mle-kying /kjiŋ/ v. sleep, nap ek /ek/ n. child (young human being), child (son or daughter of any age)



Plural If starts with vowel: Prefix ɨs- Else: Prefix ɨsu- îsuvij /ɨˈsuviʄ/ dogs
ˈmlikjek

mlikyek /ˈmlikjek/ n. homeless child (children who sleep in sewers)

Names
Zlihyi /ˈzlihji/
Hyom /hjom/
Kîztu /ˈkɨztu/
Kyîls /kjɨls/
Kyedfâm /ˈkjedfəm/
Whîtya /ˈwhɨtja/
Îtte /ˈɨtte/
Bîws /bɨws/
Zdoslî /ˈzdoslɨ/
Flâmse /ˈfləmse/
Didmuyʻ /ˈdidmujʔ/
Angfîp /ˈaŋfɨp/
B’ingiplâlz /ɓiˈŋipləlz/
Flîmibsâk /flɨˈmibsək/
Zlilho /ˈzlilho/
Vâtod’ /ˈvətoɗ/
Bîv /bɨv/
Yiyki /ˈjijki/
Vîmdâ /ˈvɨmdə/
Dollîpay /doˈllɨpaj/
Kyâ /kjə/
Ob’ipyem /oˈɓipjem/
Îkdi /ˈɨkdi/
Selomz /ˈselomz/
dîst /dɨst/
b’ivmî /ˈɓivmɨ/
vi /vi/
a /a/
tyelku /ˈtjelku/
vwoz /vwoz/
zle /zle/
ab /ab/
e /e/
fkîpmi /ˈfkɨpmi/
zbe /zbe/
zye /zje/
zyîlv /zjɨlv/
stiyt /stijt/
bi /bi/
mdoekîp /mdoˈekɨp/
iy /ij/
vem /vem/
zdil /zdil/
tyiplib /ˈtjiplib/
pwig /pwiɣ/
oy /oj/
eʻ /eʔ/
ip /ip/
hyed’ /hjeɗ/
mog /moɣ/
ome /ˈome/
dalv /dalv/
lî /lɨ/
u /u/
spito /ˈspito/
slo /slo/
vî /vɨ/
î /ɨ/
b’a /ɓa/
flil /flil/
sli /sli/
vi /vi/
lilv /lilv/
hi /hi/
su /su/
mlelp /mlelp/
zle /zle/
fav /fav/
el /el/
fle /fle/
pivi /ˈpivi/
bim /bim/
yîavuz /jɨˈavuz/
ye /je/
e /e/
a /a/
jâzulp /ˈʄəzulp/
vetsu /ˈvetsu/
ku /ku/
fteld /fteld/
ak /ak/
lom /lom/
zlog /zloɣ/
kây /kəj/
mda /mda/
ut /ut/
keyt /kejt/
mîj /mɨʄ/
d’e /ɗe/
dâpta /ˈdəpta/
dils /dils/
geb’eb’ /ˈɣeɓeɓ/
zok /zok/
pwîp /pwɨp/
fkag /fkaɣ/
pâg /pəɣ/
yotla /ˈjotla/
fte /fte/
lye /lje/
pây /pəj/
sle /sle/
hazdi /ˈhazdi/
vwe /vwe/
spipfîʻ /ˈspipfɨʔ/
lews /lews/
mlozt /mlozt/
vwalel /ˈvwalel/
Mlâyt /mləjt/
Pâong /ˈpəoŋ/
Ekti /ˈekti/
Iktâm /ˈiktəm/
Hîpu /ˈhɨpu/
Mipyi /ˈmipji/
Izdamsi /izˈdamsi/
Âyt /əjt/
Gîbmu /ˈɣɨbmu/
Zdîtyo /ˈzdɨtjo/
Dwasi /ˈdwasi/
Îlkey /ˈɨlkej/
Zâhag /ˈzəhaɣ/
Âdi /ˈədi/
Ângkîzkîyl /əŋˈkɨzkɨjl/
Kyâ /kjə/

Dictionary

4307 Words.

Spoken by

• Shümke