Maulin Language

Natively known as: Maulin /ˈMaulin/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
fuq kēng taw ĝaro gōw nóg fuq buko kʼuĝ taw tikʼ lof qʼówēb
Pronunciation: /fuq keːŋ tɑw ˈɢɑrɔ goːw nəg fuq ˈbukɔ kʼuɢ tɑw tikʼ lɔf ˈqʼəweːɓ/
Maulin word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g j k kʼ l m n q qʼ r s t tʼ w ŋ ɓ ɗ ɢ ʃ ʄ ʎ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labio-velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Stop	b		t d			k g		q ɢ
Implosive	ɓ		ɗ		ʄ
Ejective stop			tʼ			kʼ		qʼ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ
Approximant					j		w
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l		ʎ

Vowel inventory: /eː i oː u ɑ ɔ ə ɛ ɪ ʊ/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	eː		oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low			ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, f, g, j, k, kʼ, l, m, n, q, qʼ, r, s, t, tʼ, w, ŋ, ɓ, ɗ, ɢ, ʃ, ʄ, ʎ
Mid-word consonants: b, bd, bl, bt, d, f, fl, g, gm, j, jk, k, ks, kt, kw, kʼ, l, lk, m, mb, n, nd, ng, nl, q, qʼ, r, rw, s, st, t, tg, tk, tʼ, w, ŋ, ɓ, ɗ, ɢ, ʃ, ʃt, ʄ, ʎ
Word final consonants: b, f, g, k, kʼ, l, m, n, q, qʼ, r, tʼ, w, ŋ, ɓ, ɗ, ɢ, ʃ, ʄ, ʎ

Phonological rules (in order of application):

• r→j / _#
• j→ɣ / _E
• t→s / _V
• j→d / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɑ	a
ɓ	b
ɔ	o
ɗ	d̂
ə	ó
ɛ	e
ɢ	ĝ
ɪ	í
ʃ	sh
ʊ	ú
ʎ	ŷ
ː	macron over vowel

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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

Noun

Singular	No affix nókwotʼ /ˈnəkwɔtʼ/
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛtk- Else: Prefix ɛtkeː- etkēnókwotʼ /ˈɛtkeːˌnəkwɔtʼ/

Nouns have seven cases:
Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence
Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog
Locative is the location of something: man walks to town
Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town
Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen

Ergative	Prefix nɔ- nonókwotʼ /ˈnɔnəkwɔtʼ/
Absolutive	No affix nókwotʼ /ˈnəkwɔtʼ/
Genitive	Prefix ɛ- enókwotʼ /ˈɛnəkwɔtʼ/
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʊtʼ- Else: Prefix ʊtʼoː- útʼōnókwotʼ /ˈʊtʼoːˌnəkwɔtʼ/
Locative	Prefix ʃɛ- shenókwotʼ /ˈʃɛnəkwɔtʼ/
Ablative	Prefix mi- minókwotʼ /ˈminəkwɔtʼ/
Instrumental	Prefix qʼə- qʼónókwotʼ /ˈqʼənəkwɔtʼ/

Articles

Maulin has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular masc	3rd singular fem	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Ergative	fik /fik/ I	kʼu /kʼu/ you	kēng /keːŋ/ he, it	mub /mub/ she, it	beĝ /bɛɢ/ we	ti /ti/ you (all)	sí /sɪ/ they
Absolutive	sín /sɪn/ me	meng /mɛŋ/ you	bēʄ /ɓeːʄ/ him, it	d̂úm /ɗʊm/ her, it	kí /kɪ/ us	kʼin /kʼin/ you (all)	butʼ /butʼ/ them
Genitive	wug /wug/ my, mine	mi /mi/ your, yours	taw /tɑw/ his, its	ngúqʼ /ŋʊqʼ/ her, hers, its	ĝak /ɢɑk/ our, ours	róf /rəf/ your, yours (all)	lo /lɔ/ their, theirs
Dative	sēw /seːw/ to me	sho /ʃɔ/ to you	tam /tɑm/ to him	ĝú /ɢʊ/ to her	ʄēĝ /ʄeːɢ/ to us	tʼe /tʼɛ/ to you (all)	fu /fu/ to them
Locative	nō /noː/	ʄí /ʄɪ/	tang /tɑŋ/	mesh /mɛʃ/	róm /rəm/	qam /qɑm/	yi /ji/
Ablative	qʼō /qʼoː/	no /nɔ/	tan /tɑn/	gō /goː/	wiĝ /wiɢ/	sēʄ /seːʄ/	d̂ú /ɗʊ/
Instrumental	itʼ /itʼ/	kón /kən/	sheʄ /ʃɛʄ/	daĝ /dɑɢ/	mel /mɛl/	she /ʃɛ/	ko /kɔ/

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

d̂ú /ɗʊ/ future tense particle

	Present	Past
Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix imb- Else: Prefix imbə- imbófustí /ˈimbəˌfustɪ/	Prefix di- difustí /ˈdifustɪ/
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix dɑ- dafustí /ˈdɑfustɪ/	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɪkt- Else: Prefix ɪktɔ- íktofustí /ˈɪktɔˌfustɪ/

Perfect aspect

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.

In Maulin, the perfect is constructed with an affix

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix tʼ- Else: Prefix tʼɛ- tʼefustí /ˈtʼɛfustɪ/

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix koː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ʊ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix eː-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛɢ-
Else: Prefix ɛɢi-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix oː-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɓ-
Else: Prefix ɓoː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix bu-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix rə-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛng-
Else: Prefix ɛngɛ-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix i-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix gə-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lɛ-
Diminutive = Prefix i-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ənd-
Else: Prefix əndi-

Dictionary

4338 Words.