Heliar

Natively known as: nzahn /nzɑhn/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ctykf hik mhzormz of hik bwothgru ctykf skma hik pwhngu plu fsshen phqak
Pronunciation: /ktikf hɪk mzoɹmz of hɪk ˈbwotgɹʌ ktikf skmɑ hɪk pwŋʌ plʌ fsɛn pkɑk/
Nzahn word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x z

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	c	k g	q
Fricative		f v	s z		x		h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Sound changes (in order of application):

• a → ɑ
• b → b
• ch → ʧ
• c → k
• d → d
• e → ɛ
• f → f
• g → g
• h → ∅ / C_
• h → h
• i → ɪ
• j → ʤ
• kk → k
• k → k
• ll → l
• l → l
• m → m
• ng → ŋ
• nn → n
• n → n
• o → o
• ph → f
• p → p
• q → k
• r → ɹ
• sh → ʃ
• ss → s
• s → s
• th → θ
• t → t
• u → ʌ
• v → v
• w → w
• x → ks
• y → j / #_
• y → i
• zh → ʒ
• zz → z
• z → z

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɑ	a
b	b
ʧ	ch
d	d
ɛ	e
f	f
g	g
h	h
i	y
ɪ	i
ʤ	j
k	k
l	l
m	m
ŋ	ng
n	n
o	o
p	p
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
s	s
θ	th
t	t
ʌ	u
v	v
w	w
x	ks
z	z

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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	Suffix -e ree /ˈɹɛɛ/ dog
Plural	No affix re /ɹɛ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	qwuc /kwʌk/ the
Indefinite	krzy /kɹzi/ 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’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• 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 countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

1st singular	mhzy /mzi/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	muf /mʌf/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	hykh /hɪk/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	plurmz /plʌɹmz/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	gu /gʌ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	plo /plo/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	u /ʌ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	mzi /mzɪ/ my
2nd singular	muf /mʌf/ your
3rd singular masc	hik /hɪk/ his
3rd singular fem	plurmz /plʌɹmz/ her
1st plural	gu /gʌ/ our
2nd plural	plo /plo/ your (pl)
3rd plural	u /ʌ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix am /ɑm/ learn
Past	Suffix -e ame /ˈɑmɛ/ learned
Remote past	Suffix -yrq amyrq /ˈɑmiɹk/ learned (long ago)

Nzahn uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: skmi - skmy am /skmɪ ɑm/ 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).
Nzahn uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: po - po am /po ɑm/ 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.
Nzahn uses the word for ‘already’ vylodyks for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Nzahn has a base-20 number system:
1 - ve
2 - aq
3 - a
4 - qvsa
5 - mrrol
6 - na
7 - wgeg
8 - hygkse
9 - fvly
10 - myn
11 - shynygo
12 - kugghy
13 - mhu
14 - koksu
15 - fhne
16 - keweza
17 - sshke
18 - fsshu
19 - ny
20 - bwrkso
400 - leh
8000 - tyry

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -ys
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -o
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -athk
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -u
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -urr
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ss
Else: Suffix -ass
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -awn
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lth
Else: Suffix -alth
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -zz
Else: Suffix -uzz
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sh
Else: Suffix -ash
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lllll
Else: Suffix -illlll
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ox
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ch
Else: Suffix -ech
Augmentative = Suffix -a

Dictionary

3098 Words.