Fadda - North Human Dialect

Natively known as: fadda /ˈfɑddɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... tan yed te weza lep tagra tan te thuukra aka suuga sa sap Pronunciation: /tɑn jɛd tɛ ˈwɛzɑ lɛp ˈtɑgɹɑ tɑn tɛ ˈθuːkɹɑ ˈɑkɑ ˈsuːgɑ sɑ sɑp/ Faddan word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /iː uː ɑ ɛ/

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Low-mid	ɛ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V(C) Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable Word initial consonants: d, f, j, l, m, p, s, t, v, w, ɹ, ʃ, ʤ, ʧ, θ Mid-word consonants: b, bd, bl, bn, bs, bt, bɹ, bʃ, d, dd, dg, dm, dn, dw, dɹ, dʤ, f, ff, fl, fp, ft, fʃ, g, gg, gh, gj, gk, gl, gs, gt, gɹ, gʃ, gʤ, gʧ, h, hv, j, jb, jf, jk, jl, js, jt, jv, jz, jʃ, jʒ, k, kb, kh, kj, kl, kt, kɹ, l, lf, lg, lk, ll, lm, ln, lp, lt, lv, lw, lz, lɹ, lʃ, lʒ, lθ, m, mg, mk, mn, mp, mt, mz, n, nb, nd, ng, nh, nk, nl, nn, np, nw, nð, nɹ, nʃ, nʒ, nʧ, p, pj, pk, pl, pm, pp, ps, pt, pv, pw, pz, s, sb, sf, sh, sj, sk, sl, sn, st, sw, sɹ, sʧ, sθ, t, tb, td, tf, tg, tm, tn, ts, tt, tv, tw, tz, tɹ, tʧ, v, vb, vd, vj, vl, vm, vð, vɹ, w, wb, wg, wm, wt, wv, ww, wð, z, zd, zk, zl, zm, zn, zt, zw, zz, ð, ŋ, ŋd, ŋh, ŋj, ŋm, ŋn, ŋs, ŋz, ɹ, ɹd, ɹv, ɹð, ɹʃ, ɹθ, ʃ, ʃb, ʃh, ʃk, ʃp, ʃs, ʃt, ʃʧ, ʒ, ʒd, ʒj, ʒl, ʤ, ʤm, ʧ, ʧf, ʧg, ʧl, ʧm, θ, θd, θf, θh, θj, θl, θw Word final consonants: b, d, f, l, m, n, p, w, z, ð, ŋ, ɹ, ʃ, ʤ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• l → ɾ / b_
• s → h / V_V
• w → ∅ / #_
• w → b / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɑ	a
ɛ	e
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
θ	th
ð	dh
V₁ː	V₁V₁

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɑ- mayaf /ˈmɑjɑf/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix yaf /jɑf/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something)

Singular	No affix yaf /jɑf/ dog
Plural	Prefix fɑ- fayaf /ˈfɑjɑf/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	sa /sɑ/ I	tez /tɛz/ me, I
2nd singular	dii /diː/ you	a /ɑ/ you
3rd singular	yed /jɛd/ he, she, it	pii /piː/ him, her, it, he, she
1st plural inclusive	thuun /θuːn/ we (including you)	ya /jɑ/ us, we (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ven /vɛn/ we (excluding you)	thuu /θuː/ us, we (excluding you)
2nd plural	yedh /jɛð/ you all	juu /ʤuː/ you all
3rd plural	jii /ʤiː/ they	mep /mɛp/ them, they

Possessive determiners

1st singular	le /lɛ/ my
2nd singular	ye /jɛ/ your
3rd singular	te /tɛ/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	aj /ɑʤ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	yep /jɛp/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	chap /ʧɑp/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ta /tɑ/ their

Verbs

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɑ- sayeshse /sɑˈjɛʃsɛ/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix piː- piiyeshse /piːˈjɛʃsɛ/ (you/you all) learn	Prefix uː- uuyeshse /uːˈjɛʃsɛ/ (he/she/it/they) learn
Past	Prefix iː- iiyeshse /iːˈjɛʃsɛ/ (I/we) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jɛ- yeyeshse /jɛˈjɛʃsɛ/ (you/you all) learned	Prefix tɑ- tayeshse /tɑˈjɛʃsɛ/ (he/she/it/they) learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wiː- wiiyeshse /wiːˈjɛʃsɛ/ (I/we) learned (long ago)	Prefix fɑ- fayeshse /fɑˈjɛʃsɛ/ (you/you all) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix θ- Else: Prefix θuː- thuuyeshse /θuːˈjɛʃsɛ/ (he/she/it/they) learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wɛ- weyeshse /wɛˈjɛʃsɛ/ (I/we) will learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix diː- diiyeshse /diːˈjɛʃsɛ/ (you/you all) will learn	Prefix lɛ- leyeshse /lɛˈjɛʃsɛ/ (he/she/it/they) will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Faddan uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ʧɑ - cha yeshse /ʧɑ ˈjɛʃsɛ/ 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).
Faddan uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: ɹuː - ruu yeshse /ɹuː ˈjɛʃsɛ/ learns

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.
Faddan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix uː- uuyeshse /uːˈjɛʃsɛ/ have learned

Numbers

Faddan has a base-20 number system:
1 - maf 2 - shiid 3 - dii 4 - shiiw 5 - leb 6 - yeste 7 - jiip 8 - le 9 - maghe 10 - ap 11 - thuutnuubiir 12 - meftii 13 - chanbe 14 - chanrap 15 - wiimpii 16 - shestii 17 - famnii 18 - lengsab 19 - puuzta 20 - tethiiw 21 - maf tan tethiiw “one and twenty” 400 - wuuw “fourhundred” 401 - wuuw maf “fourhundred one” 800 - shiid wuuw “two fourhundred” 8000 - ram “eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix diː- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix f- Else: Prefix fɑ- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tɛ- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ʧɑ- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ɹuː- Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɹ- Else: Prefix ɹuː- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix sɑ- Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɛ- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɑ- Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix mɑ- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix wiː- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ʧuː- Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧɑ- Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wiː-

Geographical Distribution

North Human Regions

Dictionary

4537 Words.

Spoken by

• Diid Ver (North Human)