Yǎknǔian - Common Dwarven

Natively known as: Yǎknǔ /ˈjɑknʌ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ǎ wǐ bǎ grǎngǎ shurpa dendu ǎ bǎ fungodǎ pǎnle yǎvwu hǎ vie>
Pronunciation: /ɑ wɪ bɑ ˈgɹɑŋɑ ˈshuɹpæ ˈdɛndu ɑ bɑ fuˈŋʊdɑ ˈpɑnlɛ ˈjɑvwu hɑ ˈviɛ/
Yǎknǔian 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 ŋ ɹ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	p b		t d		k g
Fricative		f v	s z				h
Approximant			ɹ	j		w
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: /i u æ ɑ ɛ ɪ ʊ ʌ/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ʌ
Near-low	æ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, bɹ, d, f, fl, g, gl, gɹ, h, j, k, kl, l, m, n, p, s, sb, sf, sh, sp, sŋ, t, tɹ, v, w, z, ŋ, ŋw, ɹ
Mid-word consonants[pg]: b, bt, d, f, fɹ, g, gl, h, j, k, kn, kt, l, m, n, nd, nh, nl, ns, nt, nz, p, pl, pt, pw, s, sp, st, t, tg, tk, ts, v, vw, w, z, ŋ, ŋg, ɹ, ɹd, ɹp, ɹs, ɹv
Word final consonants: N/A

Show frequency stats

Word initial: b*24 d*18 f*15 g*14 h*13 j*12 k*11 l*11 m*10 n*10 ŋ*9 p*9 ɹ*9 s*9 t*8 v*8 w*8 z*8 gɹ*24 sf*18 sp*15 sh*13 bl*11 tɹ*11 kl*10 gl*9 fl*9 bɹ*8 sŋ*8 sb*7 ŋw*7
Mid-word: ɹ*24 v*18 z*15 f*14 d*13 ŋ*12 g*11 h*11 l*10 b*10 t*9 s*9 n*9 w*9 p*8 j*8 k*8 m*8 nh*24 nt*18 nd*15 ŋg*12 vw*11 ns*11 pt*10 kn*9 pl*9 ts*9 ɹd*8 tk*8 ɹs*7 st*7 bt*7 kt*7 tg*7 ɹv*7 ɹp*6 sp*6 fɹ*6 gl*6 pw*6 nz*6 nl*6
Word final:

Phonological changes (in order of application):

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y>
æ	a>
ŋ	ng>
ɑ	ǎ>
ɛ	e>
ɪ	ǐ>
ɹ	r>
ʊ	o>
ʌ	ǔ>

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Object-Oblique-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

Noun

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix munhǎ> /ˈmunhɑ/	Suffix -nhi munhǎnhi> /munˈhɑnhi/
Feminine	No affix munhǎ> /ˈmunhɑ/	Suffix -mæ munhǎma> /munˈhɑmæ/
Neuter	No affix munhǎ> /ˈmunhɑ/	Suffix -sɪ munhǎsǐ> /munˈhɑsɪ/

Nouns have four cases:
Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence
Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog

Ergative	Suffix -vwɑ munhǎvwǎ> /munˈhɑvwɑ/
Absolutive	No affix munhǎ> /ˈmunhɑ/
Genitive	Suffix -ɹæ munhǎra> /munˈhɑɹæ/
Dative	Suffix -btɑ munhǎbtǎ> /munˈhɑbtɑ/

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	yǎ> /jɑ/ I	brǐ> /bɹɪ/ me	ya> /jæ/ my, mine	se> /sɛ/ to me
2nd singular	gle> /glɛ/ you	fli> /fli/ you	mǐ> /mɪ/ your, yours	spǐ> /spɪ/ to you
3rd singular masc	wǐ> /wɪ/ he, it	klǎ> /klɑ/ him, it	bǎ> /bɑ/ his, its	blǔ> /blʌ/ to him
3rd singular fem	sngu> /sŋu/ she, it	ngo> /ŋʊ/ her, it	kla> /klæ/ her, hers, its	sbǔ> /sbʌ/ to her
1st plural	de> /dɛ/ we	grǎ> /gɹɑ/ us	fu> /fu/ our, ours	hǎ> /hɑ/ to us
2nd plural	go> /gʊ/ you (all)	sfe> /sfɛ/ you (all)	li> /li/ your, yours (all)	vǐ> /vɪ/ to you (all)
3rd plural masc	ǎ> /ɑ/ they (masculine)	vi> /vi/ them (masculine)	shǔ> /shʌ/ their, theirs (masculine)	spi> /spi/ to them (masculine)
3rd plural fem	trǎ> /tɹɑ/ they (feminine)	gǔ> /gʌ/ them (feminine)	lǐ> /lɪ/ their, theirs (feminine)	ngwo> /ŋwʊ/ to them (feminine)

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

bǎ> /bɑ/ future tense particle

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st person	Suffix -pwʌ blobǐpwǔ> /blʊˈbɪpwʌ/	Suffix -ɹæ blobǐra> /blʊˈbɪɹæ/	Suffix -nhɛ blobǐnhe> /blʊˈbɪnhɛ/
2nd person	Suffix -nhɪ blobǐnhǐ> /blʊˈbɪnhɪ/	Suffix -gæ blobǐga> /blʊˈbɪgæ/	Suffix -spɪ blobǐspǐ> /blʊˈbɪspɪ/
3rd person	Suffix -tkʊ blobǐtko> /blʊˈbɪtkʊ/	Suffix -ɹvɛ blobǐrve> /blʊˈbɪɹvɛ/	Suffix -stɑ blobǐstǎ> /blʊˈbɪstɑ/

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying,
and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).

It is indicated with the word:

Imperfect particle

wu> /wu/ imperfect particle

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ŋgɑ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɹæ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ndʊ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɹsɑ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ŋgɑ
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -ntu
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -dʊ
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -gɑ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ŋgɑ
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -bi
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -nlʊ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -fɪ
Diminutive = Suffix -tɪ
Augmentative = Suffix -lɛ

Geographical Distribution

Universal among all Dwarves, Yǎknǔian is the root language for all Dwarven dialects

Dictionary

4502 Words.

Spoken by

• Dwarve of Valikar