Dwarvish
Natively known as: dwarvish /ˈdwarvish/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...o' ki bnag stimrimnim ki hiyfi o' re ki hun tzohe sho lefa
Pronunciation: /oʔ ki bnag stimˈʁimnim ki ˈhijfi oʔ ʁe ki hun ˈʦohe ʃo ˈlefa/
Dwarvish word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v x z ʁ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʦ χ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | |||||||
Stop | p b | t d | k g | ʔ | |||||
Affricate | ʦ | ||||||||
Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ | x | χ ʁ | ʕ | h | ||
Approximant | j | ||||||||
Lateral approximant | l |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | u |
High-mid | e | o |
Low | a |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
j | y |
χ | kh |
ʦ | tz |
ʁ | r |
ʃ | sh |
ʔ | ' |
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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?
Nouns
Masculine | Feminine | |
---|---|---|
Singular | No affix tos /tos/ boy | No affix lu /lu/ girl |
Plural | If starts with vowel: Prefix ik- Else: Prefix iki- ikitos /iˈkitos/ boys | If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix to- tolu /ˈtolu/ girls |
Articles
Dwarvish has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.Pronouns
Nominative | Accusative | |
---|---|---|
1st singular | ik /ik/ I | u /u/ me |
2nd singular | lu /lu/ you | kve /kve/ you |
3rd singular masc | ki /ki/ he, it (masc) | bu /bu/ his, it (masc) |
3rd singular fem | li /li/ she, it (fem) | stun /stun/ her, it (fem) |
1st plural | sti /sti/ we | ye /je/ us |
2nd plural | kva /kva/ you all | ya /ja/ you all |
3rd plural masc | a /a/ they (masc) | im /im/ them (masc) |
3rd plural fem | kmi /kmi/ they (fem) | tur /tuʁ/ them (fem) |
Possessive determiners
Possessive | |
---|---|
1st singular | ik /ik/ my |
2nd singular | lu /lu/ your |
3rd singular masc | ki /ki/ his |
3rd singular fem | li /li/ her |
1st plural | sti /sti/ our |
2nd plural | kva /kva/ your (pl) |
3rd plural masc | a /a/ their (masc) |
3rd plural fem | kmi /kmi/ their (fem) |
Verbs
Present | Past | Remote past | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix je- yestom /ˈjestom/ (I/we) learn | If starts with vowel: Prefix eχt- Else: Prefix eχtu- ekhtustom /eχˈtustom/ (I/we) learned | If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix me- mestom /ˈmestom/ (I/we) learned (long ago) |
2nd person | Prefix ʔe- 'estom /ˈʔestom/ (you/you all) learn | Prefix u- ustom /ˈustom/ (you/you all) learned | Prefix o- ostom /ˈostom/ (you/you all) learned (long ago) |
3rd person | If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ke- kestom /ˈkestom/ (he/she/it/they) learn(s) | Prefix a- astom /ˈastom/ (he/she/it/they) learned | Prefix bi- bistom /ˈbistom/ (he/she/it/they) learned (long ago) |
Future | Particle before the verb: luʃ - lush stom /luʃ stom/ will learn |
Numbers
Dwarvish has a base-10 number system: 1 - kmu2 - mak
3 - mi
4 - ke
5 - en
6 - u
7 - 'om
8 - e
9 - po
10 - gashba
100 - tman
1000 - kukhtish
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ijf-Else: Prefix ijfe-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix e-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʦ
Else: Suffix -aʦ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -um
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ut
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ge
Else: Suffix -ige
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -a
Tending to = Prefix to-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix u-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -oj
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -um
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -eʁ
Diminutive = Suffix -a
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -χ
Else: Suffix -oχ