Gnomish
Natively known as: gnomeuche /ˈɲomøʃ/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...cue garle platre garle el droui cue garle ifu flo muo pli quin
Pronunciation: /kɥe gaʁl platʁ gaʁl ɛl dʁwi kɥe gaʁl ˈify flo mwo pli kɛ̃/
Gnomish word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n p s t v w z ɥ ɲ ʁ ʃ ʒ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ||||
Stop | p b | t d | k g | ||||
Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | ʁ | |||
Approximant | j | ||||||
Lateral approximant | l |
↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-palatal | Labial-velar |
---|---|---|
Approximant | ɥ | w |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i y | u |
High-mid | e ø | o |
Low-mid | ɛ ɛ̃ œ | ɔ ɔ̃ |
Low | a | ɑ̃ |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
e | e*4 | er / _# |
ksj | cti |
ks | xe / _# |
ks | x |
k | que / _# |
kt | ct |
sk | squ |
k | c / !_{i,e,ɛ} |
k | qu |
d | de / _# |
t# | te |
wi | oui |
wɛ̃ | oin |
jɛ̃ | ien |
ɛ̃ | e |
wɑ{a,ɑ} | oi |
ʒ | g / _{i,e,ɛ} |
ʒm | gem |
ɥ | u |
y | ē |
j | i |
ʒ | ge / _# |
ʒ | j |
ʃ | che / _# |
ɲ | gn |
∅ | e / CC_# |
v | ve / _# |
ʃ | ch |
ʁ | r | rd | rt / _# |
ʁ | r |
ɔ̃ | on | om / _# |
ɔ̃ | on |
ɔ | o |
ɑ̃ | ö |
ɛ | e |
ø | eu |
œ | eu |
w | u |
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 two cases:- Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
- Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
Plural | Particle before the noun: me -
me pre /me pʁe/ dogs |
Nominative | No affix
pre /pʁe/ dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative | If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁv
Else: Suffix -ɔ̃ʁv prerve /pʁeʁv/ (verb done to) dog |
Articles
Definite | Indefinite | |
---|---|---|
Singular | liencte /ljɛ̃kt/ the | piöble /pjɑ̃bl/ a |
Plural | druacle /dʁwakl/ the | po /po/ some |
- 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’
- Used for languages: ‘The English’
- Used with place names: ‘The London’
- 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
Nominative | Accusative | |
---|---|---|
1st singular | fom /fɔ̃/ I | cleu /klœ/ me |
2nd singular | lö /lö/ you | gruge /gʁuʒ/ you |
3rd singular masc | garle /gaʁl/ he, it | ii /ij/ him, it |
3rd singular fem | suave /swav/ she, it | greg /gʁɛg/ her, it |
1st plural inclusive | o /ɔ/ we (including you) | vie /vjɛ/ us (including you) |
1st plural exclusive | orque /oʁk/ we (excluding you) | jo /ʒɔ/ us (excluding you) |
2nd plural | cli /kli/ you all | vrardre /vʁaʁdʁ/ you all |
3rd plural | reutme /ʁœtm/ they | dērque /dyʁk/ them |
Possessive determiners
1st singular | fom /fɔ̃/ my |
2nd singular | lö /lö/ your |
3rd singular masc | garle /gaʁl/ his |
3rd singular fem | suave /swav/ her |
1st plural inclusive | o /ɔ/ our (including you) |
1st plural exclusive | orque /oʁk/ our (excluding you) |
2nd plural | cli /kli/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | reutme /ʁœtm/ their |
Verbs
Present | No affix
suan /swɑ̃/ learn |
Past | If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
Else: Suffix -œʒ suöge /swɑ̃ʒ/ learned |
Remote past | If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁs
Else: Suffix -œʁs suörse /swɑ̃ʁs/ learned (long ago) |
Future | Particle before the verb: fœd -
feude suan /fœd swɑ̃/ will learn |
Numbers
Gnomish has a base-10 number system: 1 - vieucle2 - puque
3 - zo
4 - olque
5 - ardu
6 - globle
7 - igne
8 - tin
9 - de
10 - choza
11 - vieucle cue choza “one and ten”
100 - guge “hundred”
101 - guge vieucle “hundred one”
200 - puque guge
1000 - eucte “thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lmElse: Suffix -ɛlm
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -v
Else: Suffix -ɛv
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁm
Else: Suffix -ɔʁm
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pʁ
Else: Suffix -apʁ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁdʁ
Else: Suffix -oʁdʁ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ik
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁm
Else: Suffix -œʁm
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -al
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pʁ
Else: Suffix -epʁ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɛ̃ʁm
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɔʒ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɛ̃
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁ
Else: Suffix -ɛʁ
Augmentative = Suffix -a