Mpokeyian/deep jungle

a language spoken by the creatures that dwell within the southern jungles.

Natively known as: mpokey /mpɔˈkɛj/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
mber lwack tha bheff a unte mber nxi a ewung byephawn xint nyock
Pronunciation: /mbɛr lwɒǀk tʰɒ b̤ɛff ɒ unˈtɛ mbɛr nǂi ɒ ɛˈwung bjɛˈpʰɒwn ǂint ɲɔǀk/
Mpokeyian word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b b̤ d f g h j k kʰ l m n p pʰ r s t tʰ v w z ŋ ǀ ǀʰ ǂ ǂʰ ǃ ǃʰ ɦ ɬ ɮ ɲ ʃ ʤ ʦʼ ʧʼ ᵑǀ ᵑǀ̤ ᵑǂ̤ ᵑǃ ᵑǃ̤ ᶢǀ̤ ᶢǃ̤

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pʰ p b b̤			tʰ t d			k kʰ g
Affricate				ʦʼ	ʧʼ ʤ
Fricative		f v		s z	ʃ			h ɦ
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ ɮ
Lateral approximant				l
Click			ǀ ᵑǀ ǀʰ ᶢǀ̤ ᵑǀ̤	ǃʰ ǃ ᵑǃ̤ ᵑǃ ᶢǃ̤		ǂ ǂʰ ᵑǂ̤

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: i u ɒ ɔ ɛ

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
bʱ	bh
ᵑǀʱ	ngc
ᵑǃʱ	ngq
ᵑǂʱ	ngx
ɲʧʼ	ntsh
ʧʼ	tsh
ᶢǃʱ	gq
ᶢǂʱ	gx
ᶢǀʱ	gc
ᵑǂ	nx
ǂʰ	xh
ᵑǃ	nq
kʰ	kh
ǃʰ	qh
ǃ	q
ǂ	x
ŋk	nk
ᵑǀ	nc
ǀʰ	ch
ǀ	c
ɮ	dl
j	y
ɲʤ	nj
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny
ɦ	hh
ɬ	hl
pʰ	ph
ʃ	sh
tʰ	th
ʦʼ	ts
ɒ	a
ɛ	e
ɔ	o

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Singular	No affix xhess /ǂʰɛss/ dog
Plural	Reduplicate whole word xhessxhess /ǂʰɛssˈǂʰɛss/ dogs

Articles

Definite	nguff /nguff/ the
Indefinite	wa /wɒ/ a, some

Pronouns

1st singular	so /sɔ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	mpuf /mpuf/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	lwack /lwɒǀk/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	ncwa /ᵑǀwɒ/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	wun /wun/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	su /su/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	oss /ɔss/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	mdlant /mɮɒnt/ my
2nd singular	po /pɔ/ your
3rd singular masc	a /ɒ/ his
3rd singular fem	ga /gɒ/ her
1st plural	mo /mɔ/ our
2nd plural	jest /ʤɛst/ your (pl)
3rd plural	mdlung /mɮung/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix tunga /tunˈgɒ/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ss Else: Suffix -iss tungass /tunˈgɒss/ learned
Future	Suffix -i tungai /tungɒˈi/ 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).
Mpokeyian uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Suffix -ɔt tungaot /tungɒˈɔt/ 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.
Mpokeyian uses the word for ‘finish’ qul for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Mpokeyian has a base-20 number system:
1 - nil
2 - xhol
3 - yang
4 - hoc
5 - nxul
6 - ba
7 - bya
8 - e
9 - lill
10 - qhwumec
11 - fa
12 - pha
13 - wanungquc
14 - nkihheff
15 - mzay
16 - msiff
17 - nga
18 - sha
19 - yo
20 - msekhwe
400 - kilwimke
8000 - obhi

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt
Else: Suffix -int
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mǀɒ
Else: Suffix -ɒmǀɒ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mpɒ
Else: Suffix -impɒ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -u
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lɛ
Else: Suffix -ulɛ
Noun to verb = Suffix -uf
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ɒ
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p
Else: Suffix -ɔp
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -st
Else: Suffix -ɛst
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɔ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -unt
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɔt
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wn
Else: Suffix -uwn
Augmentative = Suffix -ɛgh

Dictionary

3062 Words.

Spoken by

• junglefolk