Rongian

Natively known as: rōngǎ /ˈʐo˥ŋɛ˧˥/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
tan you wōn o wōn zhongyì tan zhuû wōn zī nǒ zhuaî loû
Pronunciation: /tʰa˧n jou̯˧ wʊ˥n o˧ wʊ˥n ˈʈʂo˧ŋji˨˩˦ tʰa˧n ʈʂwu˥˩ wʊ˥n ʦi˥ no˧˥ ʈʂwai̯˥˩ lou̯˥˩/
Rōngian word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f j k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ w x ŋ ɥ ʂ ʂʰ ʈ ʐ ʦ ʦʰ ʨ ʨʰ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ		t tʰ	ʈ			k kʰ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ		ʨ ʨʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʂ ʂʰ ʐ			x
Approximant						j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ ei̯ i o ou̯ u y ə ɛ ɤ ʊ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ei̯ ou̯ ?
Tones: ˧ ˥ ˧˥ ˨˩˦ ˥˩

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid			ɤ o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	u / C_
p	b / !_ʰ
k	g / !_ʰ
t	d / !_ʰ
ʨʰ	q
ʦʰ	c
ʈʂʰ	ch
ʈʂ	zh
ʦ	z
ʐ	r
ʰ
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
x	h
ʂ	sh
ɤ	e
ə	e
ʊ	o
y	ü / C_
y	yu
j	y
ʨ	j
ɛ	a
˥˩	̂
˧˥	̌
˨˩˦	̀
˥	̄
˧
̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Verb Subject Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Opened Mary the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

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.

Nominative	No affix kîng /kʰi˥˩ŋ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix u˧- ukîng /ˈu˧kʰi˥˩ŋ/ (verb done to) dog

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix kîng /kʰi˥˩ŋ/ the dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix u˧˥nt- Else: Prefix u˧˥ntu˧˥- ǔndǔkîng /u˧˥nˈtu˧˥kʰi˥˩ŋ/ the dogs
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix x- Else: Prefix xi˨˩˦- hìkîng /ˈxi˨˩˦kʰi˥˩ŋ/ a dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix tʰ- Else: Prefix tʰa˥- tākîng /ˈtʰa˥kʰi˥˩ŋ/ some dogs

Articles

Rōngian encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ā /ɛ˥/ I	zhǜ /ʈʂy˨˩˦/ me
2nd singular	wir /wi˧ʐ/ you	chuyǔng /ʈʂʰwy˧˥ŋ/ you
3rd singular masc	wōn /wʊ˥n/ he, it	ju /ʨu˧/ him, it
3rd singular fem	dà /ta˨˩˦/ she, it	àr /a˨˩˦ʐ/ her, it
1st plural	ûr /u˥˩ʐ/ we	zheî /ʈʂei̯˥˩/ us
2nd plural	ì /i˨˩˦/ you all	zher /ʈʂə˧ʐ/ you all
3rd plural	zhǐn /ʈʂi˧˥n/ they	zhě /ʈʂɤ˧˥/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ā /ɛ˥/ my
2nd singular	wir /wi˧ʐ/ your
3rd singular masc	wōn /wʊ˥n/ his
3rd singular fem	dà /ta˨˩˦/ her
1st plural	ûr /u˥˩ʐ/ our
2nd plural	ì /i˨˩˦/ your (pl)
3rd plural	zhǐn /ʈʂi˧˥n/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix ai̯˨˩˦m- Else: Prefix ai̯˨˩˦ma˨˩˦- aìmàta /ai̯˨˩˦ˈma˨˩˦tʰa˧/ (I) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix x- Else: Prefix xɤ˧- heta /ˈxɤ˧tʰa˧/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Prefix ɥu˥- ɥūta /ˈɥu˥tʰa˧/ (you) learn	Prefix pʰɛ˧˥- pǎta /ˈpʰɛ˧˥tʰa˧/ (you) learned
3rd singular	Prefix o˥- ōta /ˈo˥tʰa˧/ (he/she/it) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʈʂ- Else: Prefix ʈʂau̯˥˩- zhaûta /ˈʈʂau̯˥˩tʰa˧/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	Prefix ɛ˧- ata /ˈɛ˧tʰa˧/ (we) learn	Prefix ki˨˩˦- gìta /ˈki˨˩˦tʰa˧/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʊ˥ʂ- Else: Prefix ʊ˥ʂi˨˩˦- ōshìta /ʊ˥ˈʂi˨˩˦tʰa˧/ (you all) learn	Prefix ei̯˧˥- eǐta /ˈei̯˧˥tʰa˧/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	Prefix u˥˩- ûta /ˈu˥˩tʰa˧/ (they) learn	Prefix ʈʂwo˧˥- zhuǒta /ˈʈʂwo˧˥tʰa˧/ (they) learned

Rōngian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: wa˧˥ - wǎ ta /wa˧˥ tʰa˧/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

If starts with vowel: Prefix x- Else: Prefix xi˧- hita /ˈxi˧tʰa˧/ 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).
Rōngian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: ʦa˥˩ŋ - zâng ta /ʦa˥˩ŋ tʰa˧/ learns

Numbers

Rōngian has a base-10 number system:
1 - hôn
2 - fong
3 - oū
4 - sing
5 - mī
6 - qěr
7 - qǎn
8 - mer
9 - ō
10 - ê
Hundred - faîn
Thousand - gaū

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -o˧˥ʐ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -ə˥˩ŋ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -y˧ŋ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ai̯˧n
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lei̯˧-
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -ɛ˥˩ŋ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -i˨˩˦
Tending to = Suffix -au̯˥˩
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ʊ˥n
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pai̯˥-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ɤ˧˥n
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʈʂ-
Else: Prefix ʈʂa˧-
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -i˥ŋ
Augmentative = Suffix -au̯˧ŋ

Dictionary

3036 Words.