Yebaya (jɛˈbɑjɑ)

Natively known as: yebaya /jɛˈbɑjɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
i pi nayi figa pi fehane i gafu pi fifufa guye fe hefe
Pronunciation: /i pi ˈnɑji ˈfigɑ pi fɛˈhɑnɛ i ˈgɑfuː pi fiˈfuːfɑ ˈguːjɛ fɛ ˈhɛfɛ/
Yebayan 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 n p

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal			n
Stop	p b		d		g
Fricative		f				h
Approximant				j

Vowel inventory: i uː ɑ ɛ

	Front	Back
High	i	uː
Low-mid	ɛ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
uː	u
ɛ	e
ɑ	a
j	y
Vː	V̄

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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

Singular	No affix huni /ˈhuːni/ dog
Plural	Prefix nɑ- nahuni /nɑˈhuːni/ dogs

Articles

Definite	u /uː/ the
Indefinite	pu /puː/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st singular	pu /puː/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ha /hɑ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	pi /pi/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	yu /juː/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	pa /pɑ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	i /i/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	na /nɑ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	pu /puː/ my
2nd singular	ha /hɑ/ your
3rd singular masc	pi /pi/ his
3rd singular fem	yu /juː/ her
1st plural	pa /pɑ/ our
2nd plural	i /i/ your (pl)
3rd plural	na /nɑ/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	Prefix hɛ- hepegi /hɛˈpɛgi/ (I) learn	Prefix jɑ- yapegi /jɑˈpɛgi/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Prefix huː- hupegi /huːˈpɛgi/ (you) learn	Prefix nɛ- nepegi /nɛˈpɛgi/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Prefix pɛ- pepegi /pɛˈpɛgi/ (he/she/it) learns	Prefix fɛ- fepegi /fɛˈpɛgi/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	Prefix pi- pipegi /piˈpɛgi/ (we) learn	Prefix hi- hipegi /hiˈpɛgi/ (we) learned
2nd plural	Prefix fi- fipegi /fiˈpɛgi/ (you all) learn	Prefix pɑ- papegi /pɑˈpɛgi/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	Prefix gɑ- gapegi /gɑˈpɛgi/ (they) learn	Prefix hɑ- hapegi /hɑˈpɛgi/ (they) learned

Yebayan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: gɑ - ga pegi /gɑ ˈpɛgi/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Yebayan uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

Prefix jɑ- yapegi /jɑˈpɛgi/ 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).
Yebayan uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix fi- fipegi /fiˈpɛgi/ learns

Numbers

Yebayan has a base-10 number system:
1 - fi
2 - pi
3 - gi
4 - na
5 - ye
6 - neyu
7 - nude
8 - geye
9 - edi
10 - nepu
100 - eige
1000 - gepaha

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix hi-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix nɑ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix guː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix hi-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ni-
Noun to verb = Prefix fɑ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix huː-
Tending to = Prefix nɛ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix hɑ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix nɑ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix hɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix huː-
Diminutive = Prefix fuː-
Augmentative = Prefix juː-

Dictionary

6078 Words.

Successor Languages

• Adbehi - Old Elvish

Spoken by

• Elves