Sinumese

Natively known as: morja /ˈmoɾʤɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
a ta ta byman zoha anun a anjy san ta ryhjo anen menaku
Pronunciation: /ɑ tɑ tɑ ˈbɪmɑn ˈzohɑ ˈɑnʌn ɑ ˈɑnʤɪ sɑn tɑ ˈɾɪʤo ˈɑnɛn ˈmɛnɑkʌ/
Moryan word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g h j k m n p s t w z ŋ ɾ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Stop	p b	t d		k g
Fricative		s z			h
Approximant			j
Tap		ɾ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aa̯ e ee̯ i ii̯ o u
Diphthongs: aa̯ ee̯ ii̯ ?

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

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

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

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ŋ	ng
ɾ	r
̯
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
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 (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
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.

Nominative	No affix aru /ˈɑɾʌ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix os- Else: Prefix osu- osaru /ˈosɑɾʌ/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	No affix aru /ˈɑɾʌ/ dog
Plural	Prefix u- uaru /ˈʌɑɾʌ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	ky /kɪ/ the
Indefinite	gyn /gɪn/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

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

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	gu /gʌ/ I	ren /ɾɛn/ me
2nd singular	pyn /pɪn/ you	o /o/ you
3rd singular masc	ta /tɑ/ he, it	pu /pʌ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	so /so/ she, it	ka /kɑ/ her, it
1st plural	nun /nʌn/ we	pun /pʌn/ us
2nd plural	ko /ko/ you all	en /ɛn/ you all
3rd plural	ty /tɪ/ they	gon /gon/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	gu /gʌ/ my
2nd singular	pin /pɪn/ your
3rd singular masc	ta /tɑ/ his
3rd singular fem	so /so/ her
1st plural	nun /nʌn/ our
2nd plural	ko /ko/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ti /tɪ/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pi- pysukju /ˈpɪsʌkʤʌ/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix ag- Else: Prefix agi- agysukju /ˈɑgɪˌsʌkʤʌ/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- kasukju /ˈkɑsʌkʤʌ/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mo- mosukju /ˈmosʌkʤʌ/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix os- Else: Prefix osu- osusukju /ˈosʌˌsʌkʤʌ/ (he/she/it/they) learn	Prefix ku- kusukju /ˈkʌsʌkʤʌ/ (he/she/it/they) learned

Moryan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: man - man sukju /mɑn ˈsʌkʤʌ/ will learn

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.
Moryan uses the word for ‘already’ tu for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Moryan has a base-10 number system:
1 - su
2 - my
3 - yn
4 - ma
5 - go
6 - he
7 - ry
8 - o
9 - gakjon
10 - bura
100 - medu
1000 - ran

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pu-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix di-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix tu-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix o-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix hi-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix du-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix umb-
Else: Prefix umba-
Tending to = Prefix a-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix se-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ibj-
Else: Prefix ibjo-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix u-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix o-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix umj-
Else: Prefix umja-
Augmentative = Prefix ja-

Dictionary

3112 Words.