Lizarfolk (Szerval)

Natively known as: Sveral

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
chal vuv shaa lishaahsslom ehr ahveh chal zl tah shaa lahshauzu ehti zl...

Pronunciation: /chal vuv ʃæ ˈlɪʃɑsslom ɛɹ ˈɑvɛ chal zl tɑ ʃæ ˈlɑʃuzu ˈɛtɪ zl/
Vulahssmel word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /c h k l m n r s t v z ɹ ʃ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop				t		c	k
Fricative		v	θ	s z	ʃ			h
Approximant				ɹ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u æ ɑ ɛ ɪ/

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid	e	o
Low-mid	ɛ
Near-low	æ
Low	a	ɑ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: advanced
Phonological rules (in order of application):

• s→h / V_V
• s→z / V_V
• s→h / #_
• h→q / _#

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
æ	a
ɑ	ah
ɛ	eh
ɪ	i
ɹ	r
ʃ	sha
θ	th
χ	x

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

Nouns have two 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

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɛn nehsslokin /ˈnɛsslokɪn/
Absolutive	No affix nehssloki /ˈnɛsslokɪ/

Articles

Definite	u /u/ the
Indefinite	eh /ɛ/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	it /ɪt/ I	ehth /ɛθ/ me
2nd singular	i /ɪ/ you	eh /ɛ/ you
3rd singular masc	vuv /vuv/ he, it	ehsha /ɛʃ/ him, it
3rd singular fem	uv /uv/ she, it	ah /ɑ/ her, it
1st plural inclusive	a /æ/ we (including you)	av /æv/ us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	lah /lɑ/ we (excluding you)	nuv /nuv/ us (excluding you)
2nd plural	ta /tæ/ you (all)	riv /ɹɪv/ you (all)
3rd plural	ahl /ɑl/ they	la /læ/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	av /æv/ my
2nd singular	ehv /ɛv/ your
3rd singular masc	shaa /ʃæ/ his, its
3rd singular fem	shaisha /ʃɪʃ/ her, its
1st plural inclusive	ehn /ɛn/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	lu /lu/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	ehr /ɛɹ/ your
3rd plural	vu /vu/ their

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

vah /vɑ/ future tense particle

	Present	Past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -v Else: Suffix -iv tzatuv /ˈtzatuv/	Suffix -aɹ tzatuar /ˈtzatuaɹ/
2nd singular	Suffix -i tzatui /ˈtzatui/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nlɑ Else: Suffix -ænlɑ tzatunlah /ˈtzatunlɑ/
3rd singular masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃɪ Else: Suffix -iʃɪ tzatushai /ˈtzatuʃɪ/	Suffix -oc tzatuoc /ˈtzatuoc/
3rd singular fem	Suffix -ɪ tzatui /ˈtzatuɪ/	Suffix -ɪm tzatuim /ˈtzatuɪm/
1st plural inclusive	Suffix -aʃ tzatuasha /ˈtzatuaʃ/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -lu Else: Suffix -ɑlu tzatulu /ˈtzatulu/
1st plural exclusive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -va Else: Suffix -ava tzatuva /ˈtzatuva/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rn Else: Suffix -irn tzaturn /ˈtzaturn/
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹz Else: Suffix -aɹz tzaturz /ˈtzatuɹz/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kn Else: Suffix -ekn tzatukn /ˈtzatukn/
3rd plural	Suffix -orn tzatuorn /ˈtzatuorn/	Suffix -ɑlk tzatuahlk /ˈtzatuɑlk/

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 word:

Imperfect particle

chalza /ˈchalzæ/ imperfect particle

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -æs
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rko
Else: Suffix -ɛrko
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹsæ
Else: Suffix -aɹsæ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -e
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ks
Else: Suffix -oks
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -st
Else: Suffix -æst
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tsu
Else: Suffix -itsu
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -o
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɑ
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -i
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -st
Else: Suffix -ɑst
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -θo
Else: Suffix -ɛθo
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -it

Dictionary

4324 Words.