Madingihi/Southern

a language spoken by most minotaurs, loxodons, and giffs.

Natively known as: madingih /maˈɗiŋgih/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
sa it nga nywiw mpar mnyal sa kal la nga nyerch ghill qinu
Pronunciation: /sa it ŋga ɲwiw mpar mɲal sa kal la ŋga ɲɛrʧ ɣill ˈqinu/
Madingihi 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 q r s t v w x z ð ŋ ɓ ɗ ɠ ɣ ɲ ʃ ʄ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g	q
Implosive	ɓ			ɗ		ʄ	ɠ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ		x ɣ		h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a i u ɔ ɛ

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɛ	e
ɔ	o
ɲ	ny
ɓ	b
j	y
ʄ	j
ɗ	d
ð	dh
θ	th
ŋg	ng
ŋ	ng'
ɠ	g
ʃ	sh
ɣ	gh
x	kh
ʧ	ch
nʤ	nj

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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 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.

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wu- wumgugh /ˈwumɠuɣ/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix mgugh /mɠuɣ/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʄ- Else: Prefix ʄa- jamgugh /ˈʄamɠuɣ/ dogʼs
Dative	Prefix u- umgugh /ˈumɠuɣ/ to dog
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix mv- Else: Prefix mvi- mvimgugh /ˈmvimɠuɣ/ near/at/by dog
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɲ- Else: Prefix ɲu- nyumgugh /ˈɲumɠuɣ/ from dog
Instrumental	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛk- Else: Prefix ɛka- ekamgugh /ɛˈkamɠuɣ/ with/using dog

Singular	No affix mgugh /mɠuɣ/ dog
Plural	Prefix kɔ- komgugh /ˈkɔmɠuɣ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	mlu /mlu/ the
Indefinite	mgel /mɠɛl/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• 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’
• 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

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative	Instrumental
1st singular	o /ɔ/ I	shu /ʃu/ me	kun /kun/ mine	ta /ta/ to me	mop /mɔp/ to me	zip /zip/ from me	mbwom /mbwɔm/ with/using me
2nd singular	sho /ʃɔ/ you	em /ɛm/ you	kakh /kax/ yours	mli /mli/ to you	vyul /vjul/ to you	kwu /kwu/ from you	nno /nnɔ/ with/using you
3rd singular masc	it /it/ he, it (masc)	nga /ŋga/ his, it (masc)	mtu /mtu/ his, its (masc)	mkull /mkull/ to his, to it (masc)	kra /kra/ to his, to it (masc)	mpya /mpja/ from his, from it (masc)	nnet /nnɛt/ with/using his, with/using it (masc)
3rd singular fem	fi /fi/ she, it (fem)	mrant /mrant/ her, it (fem)	mrirch /mrirʧ/ hers, its (fem)	u /u/ to her, to it (fem)	e /ɛ/ to her, to it (fem)	a /a/ from her, from it (fem)	nekh /nɛx/ with/using her, with/using it (fem)
1st plural inclusive	kwusy /kwusj/ we (including you)	njah /nʤah/ us (including you)	mtun /mtun/ ours (including you)	fo /fɔ/ to us (including you)	mju /mʄu/ to us (including you)	ndar /ndar/ from us (including you)	mka /mka/ with/using us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	mvut /mvut/ we (excluding you)	un /un/ us (excluding you)	kwo /kwɔ/ ours (excluding you)	mfo /mfɔ/ to us (excluding you)	qo /qɔ/ to us (excluding you)	ghugh /ɣuɣ/ from us (excluding you)	ho /hɔ/ with/using us (excluding you)
2nd plural	i /i/ you all	ghup /ɣup/ you all	zi /zi/ yours (pl)	chu /ʧu/ to you all	fa /fa/ to you all	mwir /mwir/ from you all	msha /mʃa/ with/using you all
3rd plural	vyaw /vjaw/ they	mto /mtɔ/ them	dhu /ðu/ theirs	yal /jal/ to them	pur /pur/ to them	ne /nɛ/ from them	up /up/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	kun /kun/ my
2nd singular	kakh /kax/ your
3rd singular masc	nga /ŋga/ his
3rd singular fem	mrirch /mrirʧ/ her
1st plural inclusive	mtun /mtun/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	kwo /kwɔ/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	zi /zi/ your (pl)
3rd plural	dhu /ðu/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛks- Else: Prefix ɛksu- eksumka /ɛkˈsumka/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix itw- Else: Prefix itwɛ- itwemka /iˈtwɛmka/ (I/we) learned	Prefix mʧa- mchamka /ˈmʧamka/ (I/we) learn (long ago)
2nd person	Prefix a- amka /ˈamka/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix mpj- Else: Prefix mpji- mpyimka /ˈmpjimka/ (you/you all) learned	Prefix fu- fumka /ˈfumka/ (you/you all) learn (long ago)
3rd person	Prefix u- umka /ˈumka/ (he/she/it/they) learn(s)	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix ti- timka /ˈtimka/ (he/she/it/they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mɛ- memka /ˈmɛmka/ (he/she/it/they) learn (long ago)

Madingihi uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: nna - nna mka /nna mka/ 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).
Madingihi uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix a- amka /ˈamka/ 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.
Madingihi uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable mkamka /ˈmkamka/ have learned

Numbers

Madingihi has a base-20 number system:
1 - we
2 - eh
3 - pess
4 - ant
5 - msall
6 - hi
7 - mpe
8 - uw
9 - uss
10 - ol
11 - qa
12 - hat
13 - akukh
14 - mja
15 - triksint
16 - mbam
17 - mji
18 - nu
19 - pro
20 - shon
400 - ki
8000 - nin

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -a
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mf-
Else: Prefix mfɔ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɛ
Noun to verb = Prefix mfɔ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix v-
Else: Prefix vɔ-
Tending to = Prefix i-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mbi
Else: Suffix -umbi
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -al
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mbu
Else: Suffix -ɛmbu
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -arʧ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w
Else: Suffix -ɔw
Augmentative = Suffix -ir

Dictionary

3070 Words.

Spoken by

• Southern