Ceiti (KAYT-ee)

Natively known as: ceit /kei̯t/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nu gloe criu qua ta ste nu qua sul dut sei glu stui
Pronunciation: /nu gloe̯ kriu̯ kʷa taː steː nu kʷa suːl duːt sei̯ glu stui̯/
Ceiti word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Phonology

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h k kʷ l m n p r s t w

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	k kʷ g
Fricative		f	s		h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ae̯ au̯ aː e ei̯ eu̯ eː i io̯ iu̯ iː o oe̯ oː u ui̯ uː
Diphthongs: ae̯ au̯ ei̯ eu̯ io̯ iu̯ oe̯ ui̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː
̯

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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 three 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.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- cacragit /kaˈkragit/ dog (doing the verb)	No affix cragit /ˈkragit/ dogs (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix poe̯- poecragit /poe̯ˈkragit/ (verb done to) the/a dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix geː- gecragit /geːˈkragit/ (verb done to) dogs
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix io̯rr- Else: Prefix io̯rri- iorricragit /ˌio̯rriˈkragit/ dogʼs	Prefix flo- flocragit /floˈkragit/ dogsʼ

Articles

Definite	su /su/ the
Indefinite	trol /trol/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• 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

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	va /waː/ I	e /e/ me	stio /stio̯/ mine
2nd singular	lir /lir/ you	bri /bri/ you	pu /pu/ yours
3rd singular masc	gloe /gloe̯/ he, it (masc)	ho /hoː/ his, it (masc)	eirs /ei̯rs/ his, its (masc)
3rd singular fem	car /kaːr/ she, it (fem)	flol /floːl/ her, it (fem)	ga /ga/ hers, its (fem)
1st plural	te /teː/ we	bre /breː/ us	lo /lo/ ours
2nd plural	pae /pae̯/ you all	spu /spuː/ you all	plau /plau̯/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	praum /prau̯m/ they	us /uːs/ them	u /uː/ theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	set /set/ my
2nd singular	gli /gliː/ your
3rd singular masc	qua /kʷa/ his
3rd singular fem	funt /funt/ her
1st plural	grui /grui̯/ our
2nd plural	cem /kem/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ce /ke/ their

Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Present	No affix clac /klak/ (I/you/he/she/it) learn(s)	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ti- ticlac /ˈtiklak/ (we/you all/they) learn
Past	Prefix oː- oclac /ˈoːklak/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned	Prefix aː- aclac /ˈaːklak/ (we/you all/they) learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix goe̯- goeclac /ˈgoe̯klak/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix pr- Else: Prefix preu̯- preuclac /ˈpreu̯klak/ (we/you all/they) learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix et- Else: Prefix etaː- etaclac /eˈtaːklak/ (I/you/he/she/it) will learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix oːb- Else: Prefix oːbi- obiclac /oːˈbiklak/ (we/you all/they) 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).
Ceiti uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix ge- geclac /ˈgeklak/ 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.
Ceiti uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate last part of last syllable clacac /ˈklakak/ have learned

Numbers

Ceiti has a base-10 number system:
1 - truc
2 - fro
3 - de
4 - sciu
5 - a
6 - rui
7 - uae
8 - uruins
9 - om
10 - cau
100 - poe
1000 - roe

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix se-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix po-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fl-
Else: Prefix flio̯-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix fau̯-
Noun to verb = Prefix kae̯-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix gruː-
Tending to = Prefix doe̯-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix buː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix kʷuː-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix oː-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix f-
Else: Prefix fuː-
Diminutive = Prefix au̯-
Augmentative = Prefix ge-

Dictionary

1849 Words.

Spoken by

• Akinuidian