Ailkai/Dragonborn
a language spoken by most dragonborn and tortles.
pleng e e gahka e lord pleng maih pai e mataill eba plak
Pronunciation: /pleŋ e e ˈgahka e lord pleŋ mai̯h pai̯ e ˈmatai̯ll ˈeba plak/
Ailkai word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
Co-articulated phonemes
Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ e i o u
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ?
Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? Spelling rules:
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?
Uses of definite article that differ from English:
Ailkai uses a standalone particle word for progressive:
Ailkai uses a standalone particle word for habitual:
2 - get
3 - baum
4 - ba
5 - pli
6 - kaus
7 - pa
8 - ste
9 - graisa
10 - fre
100 - ang
1000 - ircu
Else: Suffix -uh
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -o
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -is
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -stau̯
Else: Suffix -au̯stau̯
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ai̯n
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -oŋ
Tending to = Suffix -e
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pke
Else: Suffix -ipke
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -in
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -a
Diminutive = Suffix -ard
Augmentative = Suffix -a
Natively known as: ailkai /ˈai̯lkai̯/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...pleng e e gahka e lord pleng maih pai e mataill eba plak
Pronunciation: /pleŋ e e ˈgahka e lord pleŋ mai̯h pai̯ e ˈmatai̯ll ˈeba plak/
Ailkai word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p r s t w ŋ ɲ ʤ ʧ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | |||
Stop | p b | t d | k g | ||||
Affricate | ʧ ʤ | ||||||
Fricative | f | s | h | ||||
Approximant | j | ||||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Lateral approximant | l |
↓Manner/Place→ | Labial-velar |
---|---|
Approximant | w |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | u |
High-mid | e | o |
Low | a |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
ʧ | c |
ŋ | ng |
j | y |
ʤ | j |
ɲ | ny |
̯ |
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.
Nominative | No affix irtai /ˈirtai̯/ dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative | If ends with vowel: Suffix -hkai̯ Else: Suffix -ahkai̯ irtaihkai /irˈtai̯hkai̯/ (verb done to) dog |
Singular | No affix irtai /ˈirtai̯/ dog |
Plural | Reduplicate whole word irtaiirtai /ˌirtai̯ˈirtai̯/ dogs |
Articles
Definite | i /i/ the |
Indefinite | hau /hau̯/ a, some |
- Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
- Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
- Used with place names: ‘The London’
- 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 | troll /troll/ I | plau /plau̯/ me |
2nd singular | jol /ʤol/ you | gu /gu/ you |
3rd singular masc | e /e/ he, it (masc) | mais /mai̯s/ his, it (masc) |
3rd singular fem | ra /ra/ she, it (fem) | kaik /kai̯k/ her, it (fem) |
1st plural inclusive | graus /grau̯s/ we (including you) | mi /mi/ us (including you) |
1st plural exclusive | shai /shai̯/ we (excluding you) | wep /wep/ us (excluding you) |
2nd plural | ru /ru/ you all | ja /ʤa/ you all |
3rd plural | hi /hi/ they | tau /tau̯/ them |
Possessive determiners
Possessive | |
---|---|
1st singular | troll /troll/ my |
2nd singular | jol /ʤol/ your |
3rd singular masc | e /e/ his |
3rd singular fem | ra /ra/ her |
1st plural inclusive | graus /grau̯s/ our (including you) |
1st plural exclusive | shai /shai̯/ our (excluding you) |
2nd plural | ru /ru/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | hi /hi/ their |
Verbs
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Present | Suffix -o greno /ˈgreno/ (I/you/he/she/it) learn(s) | If ends with vowel: Suffix -ll Else: Suffix -all grenall /ˈgrenall/ (we/you all/they) learn |
Past | Suffix -u grenu /ˈgrenu/ (I/you/he/she/it) learned | No affix gren /gren/ (we/you all/they) learned |
Future | Suffix -uh grenuh /ˈgrenuh/ (I/you/he/she/it) will learn | If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -or grenor /ˈgrenor/ (we/you all/they) will learn |
Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.Ailkai uses a standalone particle word for progressive:
Progressive | Particle before the verb: frai̯ - frai gren /frai̯ gren/ is learning |
Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).Ailkai uses a standalone particle word for habitual:
Habitual | Particle before the verb: su - su gren /su gren/ learns |
Numbers
Ailkai has a base-10 number system: 1 - taw2 - get
3 - baum
4 - ba
5 - pli
6 - kaus
7 - pa
8 - ste
9 - graisa
10 - fre
100 - ang
1000 - ircu
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -hElse: Suffix -uh
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -o
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -is
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -stau̯
Else: Suffix -au̯stau̯
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ai̯n
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -oŋ
Tending to = Suffix -e
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pke
Else: Suffix -ipke
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -in
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -a
Diminutive = Suffix -ard
Augmentative = Suffix -a
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