Tahi

Natively known as: tahi /ˈtɑhiː/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
u ku tihte fi kahda fkehaka u fi fkakbe fuk ftafda ftikde a
Pronunciation: /uː kuː ˈtiːhtɛ fiː ˈkɑhdɑ fkɛˈhɑkɑ uː fiː ˈfkɑkbɛ fuːk ˈftɑfdɑ ˈftiːkdɛ ɑ/
Tahi word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f h k t

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Stop	b		t d	k
Fricative		f			h

Vowel inventory: iː uː ɑ ɛ

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Low-mid	ɛ
Low		ɑ

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
iː	i
uː	u
ɛ	e
ɑ	a
Vː	V̄

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
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.

Nominative	No affix ikud /ˈiːkuːd/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -iːb ikudib /iːˈkuːdiːb/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -iːb ikudib /iːˈkuːdiːb/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -uːd ikudud /iːˈkuːduːd/ to dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kkɑ Else: Suffix -ɑkkɑ ikudakka /ˌiːkuːˈdɑkkɑ/ near/at/by dog
Ablative	Suffix -uːk ikuduk /iːˈkuːduːk/ from dog

Singular	No affix ikud /ˈiːkuːd/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -iːt ikudit /iːˈkuːdiːt/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	ka /kɑ/ I	e /ɛ/ me	ted /tɛd/ mine	fab /fɑb/ to me	tat /tɑt/ to me	fe /fɛ/ from me
2nd singular	ftet /ftɛt/ you	he /hɛ/ you	ti /tiː/ yours	hut /huːt/ to you	ke /kɛ/ to you	fkuk /fkuːk/ from you
3rd singular masc	ku /kuː/ he, it (masc)	fi /fiː/ his, it (masc)	hib /hiːb/ his, its (masc)	het /hɛt/ to his, to it (masc)	ftib /ftiːb/ to his, to it (masc)	hi /hiː/ from his, from it (masc)
3rd singular fem	tak /tɑk/ she, it (fem)	ftab /ftɑb/ her, it (fem)	kif /kiːf/ hers, its (fem)	tet /tɛt/ to her, to it (fem)	fke /fkɛ/ to her, to it (fem)	ftaf /ftɑf/ from her, from it (fem)
1st plural	fed /fɛd/ we	tab /tɑb/ us	fet /fɛt/ ours	fkaf /fkɑf/ to us	kut /kuːt/ to us	ta /tɑ/ from us
2nd plural	fkud /fkuːd/ you all	ki /kiː/ you all	ha /hɑ/ yours (pl)	fka /fkɑ/ to you all	i /iː/ to you all	fa /fɑ/ from you all
3rd plural	fku /fkuː/ they	te /tɛ/ them	fted /ftɛd/ theirs	hu /huː/ to them	tub /tuːb/ to them	tib /tiːb/ from them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ted /tɛd/ my
2nd singular	ti /tiː/ your
3rd singular masc	fi /fiː/ his
3rd singular fem	kif /kiːf/ her
1st plural	fet /fɛt/ our
2nd plural	ha /hɑ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	fted /ftɛd/ their

Verbs

Present	Suffix -ɛt tekfaet /tɛkˈfɑɛt/ learn
Past	No affix tekfa /ˈtɛkfɑ/ learned

Tahi uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ɑk - ak tekfa /ɑk ˈtɛkfɑ/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Tahi uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: fkɑ - fka tekfa /fkɑ ˈtɛkfɑ/ learns/is learning

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.
Tahi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -uː tekfau /tɛkˈfɑuː/ have learned

Numbers

Tahi has a base-10 number system:
1 - he
2 - kut
3 - fek
4 - ka
5 - hat
6 - fi
7 - kuad
8 - kak
9 - fakde
10 - tuhdad
100 - tat
1000 - huf

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɛ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɑk
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -uːf
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fɑ
Else: Suffix -ɑfɑ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -uːb
Noun to verb = Suffix -iː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -hdɛ
Else: Suffix -ɑhdɛ
Tending to = Suffix -ɑb
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -uːb
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɛf
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kɑ
Else: Suffix -ɛkɑ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ɑk
Diminutive = Suffix -iː
Augmentative = Suffix -ɑd

Dictionary

3075 Words.

Spoken by

• Diid Ver (North Human)