Fri/Human

a language spoken by most humans.

Natively known as: fri /fʲɾʲɪ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
brair teo sea ban seacht anguamh brair sea far cha ba mál fua
Pronunciation: /bʲɾʲəu̯ɾˠ t̪ˠoː ʃa bʲanʲ ʃaxt̪ˠ ˈaŋuə̯vˠ bʲɾʲəu̯ɾˠ ʃa fʲaɾˠ xa bʲəi̯ mʲɑːɫ fˠuə̯/
Fri word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: bʲ bˠ c dʲ d̪ˠ fʲ fˠ g h k lʲ mʲ mˠ nʲ n̪ˠ pʲ pˠ sˠ tʲ t̪ˠ vʲ vˠ x ç ŋ ɟ ɫ ɲ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʃ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	mˠ mʲ		n̪ˠ	nʲ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pˠ pʲ bˠ bʲ		t̪ˠ d̪ˠ	tʲ dʲ		c ɟ	k g
Fricative		fˠ fʲ vʲ vˠ		sˠ	ʃ	ç	x	h
Tap				ɾˠ ɾʲ
Lateral approximant				lʲ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Velarized alveolar
Lateral approximant	ɫ

Vowel inventory: a eː ia̯ iə̯ iː oː uə̯ uː ɑː ɔ əi̯ əu̯ ɛ ɪ ʊ
Diphthongs: ia̯ iə̯ uə̯ əi̯ əu̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	eː	oː
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a	ɑː

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ca	cea
coː	ceo
cu	ciu
kɪ	coi | cai | cui
k	c
h	th
x	ch
ç	ch
ɲ	nn
#n̪ˠ	n
nʲ	n
n̪ˠ	nn
ŋg	ng
ŋ	ng
mʲ	m
mˠ	m
pʲ	p
pˠ	p
bʲ	b
bˠ	b
lʲ	l
ɫ	l
ʃa	sea
sˠɪ	sai
sˠi	suí
sˠeː	sao
ʃɔ	seo | sio
ʃo	seo
ʃu	siu
ʃ	s
sˠ	s
tʲu	tiu
tʲ	te / _{a,ɑː}
tʲ	t
t̪ˠoː	teo
t̪ˠɛ	te
t̪ˠ	t
fˠi	faoi
fˠɪ	fui
fˠuː	fiú
fˠ	f
fʲ	f
ɟ	g
ɪ	i
ɑː	á
eːɾˠ	éar
ɾˠ	r
ɾʲ	r
vˠ	bh | mh
vʲ	bh
d̪ˠ	d
dʲ	d
əi	a
eː	é
ɛ	ei
ɔ	o
oː	ó
iː	í
uː	ú
iə	ia
əu	ai
uə	ua
ʊ	u
̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object (Prepositional phrase) Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door with a key opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have seven cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nouns have both a plural affix and dual affix for precisely two things.

Ergative	Prefix ʃɪ- sisuíːng /ˈʃɪsˠiːŋg/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix suíːng /sˠiːŋg/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)
Genitive	Prefix oː- ósuíːng /ˈoːsˠiːŋg/ dogʼs
Dative	Prefix ɪ- isuíːng /ˈɪsˠiːŋg/ to dog
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix dʲɾʲ- Else: Prefix dʲɾʲəi̯- drasuíːng /ˈdʲɾʲəi̯sˠiːŋg/ near/at/by dog
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix gɫ- Else: Prefix gɫuː- glúsuíːng /ˈgɫuːsˠiːŋg/ from dog
Instrumental	Prefix fˠuː- fiúsuíːng /ˈfˠuːsˠiːŋg/ with/using dog

Singular	No affix suíːng /sˠiːŋg/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix kɾˠ- Else: Prefix kɾˠa- crasuíːng /ˈkɾˠasˠiːŋg/ dogs
Dual	Prefix bˠɾˠoː- brósuíːng /ˈbˠɾˠoːsˠiːŋg/ two dogs

Articles

Definite	ót /oːtʲ/ the
Indefinite	ei /ɛ/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular masc	3rd singular fem	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Ergative	chuamh /xuə̯vˠ/ I	glé /gɫeː/ you	teo /t̪ˠoː/ he, it (masc)	dí /d̪ˠiː/ she, it (fem)	ú /uː/ we	cla /kɫa/ you all	i /ɪ/ they
Absolutive	clim /kɫɪmˠ/ me	chlai /xɫəu̯/ you	sea /ʃa/ his, it (masc)	din /dʲɪnʲ/ her, it (fem)	treirt /tʲɾʲɛɾˠt̪ˠ/ us	éd /eːd̪ˠ/ you all	ég /eːɟ/ them
Genitive	fó /fʲoː/ mine	fi /fʲɪ/ yours	gré /gɾˠeː/ his, its (masc)	rá /ɾˠɑː/ hers, its (fem)	bair /bˠəu̯ɾˠ/ ours	chia /çiə̯/ yours (pl)	góng /goːŋg/ theirs
Dative	cé /keː/ to me	baith /bˠəu̯h/ to you	ei /ɛ/ to his, to it (masc)	a /a/ to her, to it (fem)	sais /sˠɪʃ/ to us	cóst /koːʃtʲ/ to you all	fro /fʲɾʲɔ/ to them
Locative	nia /n̪ˠia̯/ to me	dia /dʲiə̯/ to you	o /ɔ/ to his, to it (masc)	cant /kanʲtʲ/ to her, to it (fem)	ein /ɛnʲ/ to us	siua /ʃuə̯/ to you all	dirt /d̪ˠɪɾˠt̪ˠ/ to them
Ablative	cru /kɾˠʊ/ from me	crua /kɾˠuə̯/ from you	lo /lʲɔ/ from his, from it (masc)	frú /fʲɾʲuː/ from her, from it (fem)	ód /oːdʲ/ from us	faoia /fˠiə̯/ from you all	seo /ʃɔ/ from them
Instrumental	di /d̪ˠɪ/ with/using me	chlú /xɫuː/ with/using you	trei /t̪ˠɾˠɛ/ with/using his, with/using it (masc)	múst /mˠuːsˠt̪ˠ/ with/using her, with/using it (fem)	pei /pˠɛ/ with/using us	lá /lʲɑː/ with/using you all	mú /mʲuː/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	fó /fʲoː/ my
2nd singular	fi /fʲɪ/ your
3rd singular masc	sea /ʃa/ his
3rd singular fem	rá /ɾˠɑː/ her
1st plural	bair /bˠəu̯ɾˠ/ our
2nd plural	chia /çiə̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural	góng /goːŋg/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix no /n̪ˠɔ/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix kɫ- Else: Prefix kɫoː- clónno /ˈkɫoːn̪ˠɔ/ learned
Future	Prefix ɪ- inno /ˈɪn̪ˠɔ/ will learn

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).
Fri uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If starts with vowel: Prefix cɾʲ- Else: Prefix cɾʲa- cranno /ˈcɾʲan̪ˠɔ/ 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.
Fri uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix lʲʊ- lunno /ˈlʲʊn̪ˠɔ/ have learned

Numbers

Fri has a base-10 number system:
1 - col
2 - chla
3 - ó
4 - cein
5 - ír
6 - a
7 - ia
8 - mabard
9 - la
10 - bú
100 - impúro
1000 - fuibh

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -sˠ
Else: Suffix -ɪsˠ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃiə̯-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix bʲɾʲɪ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h
Else: Suffix -ɔh
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʲ
Else: Suffix -əi̯nʲ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -vʲ
Else: Suffix -ɪvʲ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix t̪ˠoː-
Tending to = Prefix lʲəu̯-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix xa-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɔ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɑː-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾʲ
Else: Suffix -ɪɾʲ
Diminutive = Prefix ɑː-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix bʲɾʲ-
Else: Prefix bʲɾʲəi̯-

Dictionary

3063 Words.

Spoken by

• Islefolk