Dwarven
Natively known as: dírd /d̪ˠiːɾˠd̪ˠ/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...ár dru scria pisté sréch án ár scria caluabh dod deimh tí mu
Pronunciation: /ɑːɾʲ dʲɾʲʊ ʃcɾʲia̯ ˈpˠɪsˠt̪ˠeː sˠɾˠeːx ɑːnʲ ɑːɾʲ ʃcɾʲia̯ ˈkalʲuə̯vʲ dʲɔdʲ dʲɛvˠ tʲiː mˠʊ/
Dírdian word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: bʲ bˠ c dʲ d̪ˠ fʲ fˠ g h k lʲ mʲ mˠ nʲ n̪ˠ pʲ pˠ sˠ tʲ t̪ˠ vʲ vˠ x ç ŋ ɟ ɫ ɲ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʃ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | mʲ mˠ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Stop | pʲ pˠ bʲ bˠ | t̪ˠ d̪ˠ | tʲ dʲ | c ɟ | k g | |||
Fricative | fʲ fˠ vʲ vˠ | sˠ | ʃ | ç | x | h | ||
Tap | ɾʲ ɾˠ | |||||||
Lateral approximant | lʲ |
↓Manner/Place→ | Velarized alveolar |
---|---|
Lateral approximant | ɫ |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | iː | uː |
Near-high | ɪ | ʊ |
High-mid | eː | oː |
Low-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
Low | a | ɑː |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
ca | cea |
coː | ceo |
cu | ciu |
kɪ | coi | cai | cui |
k | c |
h | th |
x | ch |
ç | ch |
ɲ | nn |
#n̪ˠ | n |
nʲ | n |
n̪ˠ | nn |
ŋg | ng |
ŋ | ng |
mʲ | m |
mˠ | m |
pʲ | p |
pˠ | p |
bʲ | b |
bˠ | b |
lʲ | l |
ɫ | l |
ʃa | sea |
sˠɪ | sai |
sˠi | suí |
sˠeː | sao |
ʃɔ | seo | sio |
ʃo | seo |
ʃu | siu |
ʃ | s |
sˠ | s |
tʲu | tiu |
tʲ | te / _{a,ɑː} |
tʲ | t |
t̪ˠoː | teo |
t̪ˠɛ | te |
t̪ˠ | t |
fˠi | faoi |
fˠɪ | fui |
fˠuː | fiú |
fˠ | f |
fʲ | f |
ɟ | g |
ɪ | i |
ɑː | á |
eːɾˠ | éar |
ɾˠ | r |
ɾʲ | r |
vˠ | bh | mh |
vʲ | bh |
d̪ˠ | d |
dʲ | d |
əi | a |
eː | é |
ɛ | ei |
ɔ | o |
oː | ó |
iː | í |
uː | ú |
iə | ia |
əu | ai |
uə | ua |
ʊ | u |
̯ |
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 five 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 goes to town.
Nominative | No affix
seos /ʃɔʃ/ dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative | Prefix lʲa-
lasios /ˈlʲaʃɔʃ/ (verb done to) dog |
Genitive | If starts with vowel: Prefix tʲɾʲ-
Else: Prefix tʲɾʲiə̯- triaseos /ˈtʲɾʲiə̯ʃɔʃ/ dogʼs |
Dative | Prefix eː-
ésios /ˈeːʃɔʃ/ to (the/a) dog |
Locative | If starts with vowel: Prefix d̪ˠ-
Else: Prefix d̪ˠa- dasios /ˈd̪ˠaʃɔʃ/ near/at/by (the/a) dog |
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Definite | No affix
sios /ʃɔʃ/ the dog |
If starts with vowel: Prefix kɫ-
Else: Prefix kɫoː- clósios /ˈkɫoːʃɔʃ/ the dogs |
Indefinite | If starts with vowel: Prefix gɾˠ-
Else: Prefix gɾˠuː- grúseos /ˈgɾˠuːʃɔʃ/ a dog |
Prefix ɑː-
ásios /ˈɑːʃɔʃ/ some dogs |
Articles
Dírdian encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.Pronouns
Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | Dative | Locative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st singular | beinn /bʲɛn̪ˠ/ I | giart /giə̯ɾˠt̪ˠ/ me | ci /cɪ/ mine | lé /ɫeː/ to me | eis /ɛsˠ/ at me |
2nd singular | gli /gɫɪ/ you | bí /bˠiː/ you | tha /həi̯/ yours | gol /gɔlʲ/ to you | bé /bˠeː/ at you |
3rd singular masc | dru /dʲɾʲʊ/ he, it | ód /oːd̪ˠ/ him, it | scria /ʃcɾʲia̯/ his, its | sea /ʃa/ to him, at it | sí /ʃiː/ at him, at it |
3rd singular fem | ceith /cɛh/ she, it | chli /xɫɪ/ her, it | srabh /sˠɾˠavˠ/ hers, its | sil /ʃɪlʲ/ to her, at it | gú /ɟuː/ at her, at it |
1st plural inclusive | sio /ʃɔ/ we (including you) | bach /bˠax/ us (including you) | tónn /tʲoːn̪ˠ/ ours (including you) | á /ɑː/ to us (including you) | bú /bʲuː/ at us (including you) |
1st plural exclusive | í /iː/ we (excluding you) | ca /ka/ us (excluding you) | ont /ɔnʲtʲ/ ours (excluding you) | crá /cɾʲɑː/ to us (excluding you) | círt /kiːɾʲtʲ/ at us (excluding you) |
2nd plural | bei /bʲɛ/ you all | bis /bˠɪʃ/ you all | brad /bʲɾʲad̪ˠ/ yours (pl) | crei /kɾˠɛ/ to you all | cí /ciː/ at you all |
3rd plural | a /a/ they | a /əi̯/ them | tria /tʲɾʲia̯/ theirs | teo /t̪ˠoː/ to them | sracht /sˠɾˠaxt̪ˠ/ at them |
Possessive determiners
1st singular | ci /cɪ/ my |
2nd singular | tha /həi̯/ your |
3rd singular masc | scria /ʃcɾʲia̯/ his |
3rd singular fem | sramh /sˠɾˠavˠ/ her |
1st plural inclusive | tónn /tʲoːn̪ˠ/ our (including you) |
1st plural exclusive | ont /ɔnʲtʲ/ our (excluding you) |
2nd plural | brad /bʲɾʲad̪ˠ/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | tria /tʲɾʲia̯/ their |
Verbs
Present | Prefix eː-
ébia /ˈeːbʲiə̯/ learn |
Past | No affix
bia /bʲiə̯/ learned |
Future | Prefix bʲɪ-
bibia /ˈbʲɪbʲiə̯/ 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).Dírdian uses an affix for imperfective:
Imperfective | Prefix ʃɔ-
siobia /ˈʃɔbʲiə̯/ 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.Dírdian uses the word for ‘finish’ uannar for the perfect aspect.
Numbers
Dírdian has a base-10 number system: 1 - ant2 - lérócht
3 - mú
4 - sai
5 - ul
6 - drangó
7 - ur
8 - chí
9 - i
10 - pu
Hundred - crág
Thousand - pil
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix bˠ-Else: Prefix bˠɛ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾˠtʲ
Else: Suffix -ɔɾˠtʲ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix bʲɾʲəu̯-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃtʲeː
Else: Suffix -ia̯ʃtʲeː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix c-
Else: Prefix cɪ-
Noun to verb = Prefix gɾˠa-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ɑːɾˠ
Tending to = Suffix -ɛd̪ˠ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ia̯h
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t̪ˠɾˠ-
Else: Prefix t̪ˠɾˠia̯-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t̪ˠɾˠ-
Else: Prefix t̪ˠɾˠɪ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɑːmʲ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾʲeː
Else: Suffix -aɾʲeː
Augmentative = Suffix -eː