The Language of Giants
Natively known as: Ginga /ˈgiːŋa/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
brå spryf rö dreck gind ota brå skront gind prusöndro alp li skront
Pronunciation: /broː spryːf røː dreːkk giːnd ˈɔtɑː broː skrʊnt giːnd prʉːˈsœndruː alp lɪ skrʊnt/
Gingan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n nː p pː r s t v ŋ ɕ ɖ ɧ ʂ/
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo-palatal | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n nː | ŋ | |||||
| Stop | p pː b | t d | ɖ | k g | ||||
| Fricative | f v | s | ʂ | ɕ | h | |||
| Approximant | j | |||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
Vowel inventory: /a eː iː oː uː yː øː œ ɑː ɔ ɛ ɛː ɪ ɵ ʉː ʊ ʏ/
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | iː yː | ʉː | uː |
| Near-high | ɪ ʏ | ʊ | |
| High-mid | eː øː | ɵ | oː |
| Low-mid | ɛ ɛː œ | ɔ | |
| Low | a | ɑː |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bj, bl, br, d, dr, f, fj, fl, fr, g, gl, gr, h, j, k, kl, kr, kv, l, m, n, p, pl, pr, r, s, sk, skr, sl, sm, sn, sp, spr, st, sv, t, tr, tv, v, ɕ, ɧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, br, d, dd, dj, f, ff, ft, g, gg, gr, h, j, jk, k, kd, kh, kk, kkt, kt, l, lb, ldr, lj, ll, llj, lm, ln, lpː, lsk, lt, lts, lv, m, mb, mf, mh, mm, mt, n, nd, ndr, nf, nj, nl, nm, nn, nns, nnt, ns, nsk, nsl, nt, ntl, ntr, nɧ, p, pp, pr, ps, pt, r, rd, rdn, rf, rg, rj, rk, rl, rn, rr, rrj, rrkn, rs, rsd, rɧ, s, sd, sk, skl, skv, ss, sst, sstr, st, sv, t, tb, tt, ttn, ttr, tv, tɧ, v, ŋ, ŋg, ŋk, ŋkt, ŋl, ŋn, ɖ, ɧ, ʂ, ʂt
Word final consonants: b, d, f, ft, g, gs, j, jf, k, kk, ks, kt, l, ld, ll, lm, lp, ls, lt, lv, m, mn, mt, n, nd, ns, nt, nːsk, p, pp, pt, r, rd, rj, rk, rl, rmt, rn, rr, rs, rt, s, sst, st, t, tt, v, ŋ, ŋkt, ŋn, ŋs, ŋt
Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| eː | e |
| iː | i |
| kk | ck |
| oː | å |
| uː | o |
| yː | y |
| øː | ö |
| ŋ | ng |
| ŋn | gn |
| œ | ö |
| ɑː | a |
| ɔ | o |
| ɕ | k |
| ɛ | ä |
| ɛː | ä |
| ɧ | sj |
| ɪ | i |
| ɵ | u |
| ʉː | u |
| ʊ | o |
| ʏ | y |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. "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
Noun
| Singular | No affix
glapt /glapt/ |
| Plural | Suffix -a
glapta /ˈglapta/ |
Articles
| Definite | Indefinite | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | bläs /blɛːs/
the |
su /sɵ/
a |
| Plural | a /ɑː/
the |
jö /jœ/
some |
Pronouns
| 1st singular | jö /jøː/
I, me |
| 2nd singular | nö /nœ/
you |
| 3rd singular masc | spryf /spryːf/
he, him, it |
| 3rd singular fem | snyl /snyːl/
she, her, it |
| 1st plural inclusive | snögn /snœŋn/
we, us (including you) |
| 1st plural exclusive | sva /svɑː/
we, us (excluding you) |
| 2nd plural | ska /ska/
you (all) |
| 3rd plural | fja /fja/
they, them |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | ka /ka/
my |
| 2nd singular | grå /groː/
your |
| 3rd singular masc | gind /giːnd/
his, its |
| 3rd singular fem | fja /fja/
her, its |
| 1st plural inclusive | sonsk /sʊnːsk/
our (including you) |
| 1st plural exclusive | ska /ska/
our (excluding you) |
| 2nd plural | gla /gla/
your |
| 3rd plural | e /eː/
their |
Verbs
| Present | No affix
sult /sɵlt/ |
| Past | If ends with vowel: Suffix -njœ
Else: Suffix -iːnjœ sultinjö /sɵlˈtiːnjœ/ |
| Remote past | If ends with vowel: Suffix -mɑː
Else: Suffix -uːmɑː sultoma /sɵlˈtuːmɑː/ |
| Future | If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɛːt sultät /ˈsɵltɛːt/ |
Imperfective aspect
The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying, and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).
It is indicated with the affix:
| Imperfect | If ends with vowel: Suffix -sstɵ
Else: Suffix -ɪsstɵ sultisstu /sɵlˈtɪsstɵ/ |
Numbers
Gingan has a base-10 number system:
1 - armt
2 - fi
3 - drotbäld
4 - svi
5 - kläbrä
6 - blo
7 - kagn
8 - pång
9 - va
10 - eng
11 - eng brå armt “ten and one”
100 - armt onnångs “one hundred”
101 - armt onnångs armt “one hundred one”
200 - fi onnångs
1000 - armt jurdna “one thousand”
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -boː
Else: Suffix -eːboː
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rlɔ
Else: Suffix -ʏrlɔ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɛ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɛ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -uːn
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -eːm
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rj
Else: Suffix -eːrj
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -ɔmt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɵ
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -ɵk
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r
Else: Suffix -ɛr
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -a
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nsla
Else: Suffix -ansla
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -ʊf
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