Nav̈li

Natively known as: nav̈li /ˈnaβlɪ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ri zla kof vyatʻùrf dro rulm ri nen phongs kof fevd mam tyùzma
Pronunciation: /rɪ zla kɔf ˈvjatʔʊrf drɔ rulm rɪ nɛn ɸɔŋs kɔf fɛvd mam ˈtjʊzma/
Nav̈li word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f h j k l m n p r s t v w z ŋ ɓ ɗ ɣ ɸ ʄ ʔ β

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Stop	p b		t d		k	ʔ
Implosive	ɓ		ɗ	ʄ
Fricative	ɸ β	f v	s z		ɣ	h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a u ɔ ɛ ɪ ʊ

	Front	Back
High		u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ɔ	o
ɛ	e
ɪ	i
ʊ	ù
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ɣ	g
ɸ	ph
ʄ	j
β	v̈

---

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.

Nouns have both a plural affix and ‘paucal’ affix for referring to a few of something.

Nominative	No affix rùg /rʊɣ/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -ar rùgar /ˈrʊɣar/ (verb done to) dog

Singular	No affix rùg /rʊɣ/ dog
Plural	Suffix -ɪ rùgi /ˈrʊɣɪ/ dogs
Paucal	If ends with vowel: Suffix -β Else: Suffix -ʊβ rùgùv̈ /ˈrʊɣʊβ/ few dogs

Articles

Definite	dro /drɔ/ the
Indefinite	ne /nɛ/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

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	snù /snʊ/ I	dyengz /djɛŋz/ me
2nd singular	klu /klu/ you	tall /tall/ you
3rd singular masc	zla /zla/ he, it (masc)	snamp /snamp/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	ndùv̈ /ndʊβ/ she, it (fem)	la /la/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	ndi /ndɪ/ we	ko /kɔ/ us
2nd plural	ndungʻ /nduŋʔ/ you all	whiyy /whɪjj/ you all
3rd plural	v̈ilm /βɪlm/ they	tru /tru/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	khe /khɛ/ my
2nd singular	byayd /bjajd/ your
3rd singular masc	kof /kɔf/ his
3rd singular fem	mez /mɛz/ her
1st plural	ye /jɛ/ our
2nd plural	tye /tjɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	vyi /vjɪ/ their

Verbs

Future

If ends with vowel: Suffix -pu Else: Suffix -upu wholkupu /whɔlˈkupu/ will learn

Nav̈li uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: klɪ - kli wholk /klɪ whɔlk/ learned

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).
Nav̈li uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: sru - sru wholk /sru whɔlk/ 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.
Nav̈li uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable whowholk /ˈwhɔwhɔlk/ have learned

Numbers

Nav̈li has a base-10 number system:
1 - dzu
2 - mi
3 - kiyy
4 - wu
5 - yu
6 - be
7 - phamp
8 - vyù
9 - yùpwe
10 - tya
100 - dni
1000 - brev̈

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rt
Else: Suffix -urt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -uʄ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ʊ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɛɣ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -β
Else: Suffix -ɔβ
Noun to verb = Suffix -uʔ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wβu
Else: Suffix -awβu
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rt
Else: Suffix -art
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tfu
Else: Suffix -atfu
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ft
Else: Suffix -aft
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʊ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɣ
Else: Suffix -aɣ
Diminutive = Suffix -uɣ
Augmentative = Suffix -u

Dictionary

3014 Words.