Aquan

Natively known as: Tūli /ˈtuːli/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ya a şim ʻīyya shaţ wīdhˤa ya şim ma’a rin lūdha hu ārḑ
Pronunciation: /ʤa a sˤim ˈʕiːjja ʃatˤ ˈwiːðˤa ʤa sˤim ˈmaʔa rin ˈluːða hu aːrdˤ/
Tūli word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d dˤ f h j k l m n q r s sˤ t tˤ w x z ð ðˤ ħ ɣ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	b			t tˤ d dˤ			k	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʤ
Fricative		f	θ ð ðˤ	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aː i iː u uː/

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, dˤ, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, sˤ, t, tˤ, w, x, z, ð, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʤ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, bb, d, dd, dˤ, f, h, j, jj, k, kr, l, ll, lʔ, m, mm, n, nd, nt, ntˤ, nð, q, qq, r, rb, rr, s, sˤ, t, tl, tʤ, tˤ, tˤtˤ, w, ww, x, ð, ðˤ, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʕl, ʕt, ʕtˤ, ʤ, θ
Word final consonants: b, d, f, fl, h, jj, k, l, ll, m, n, q, r, rdˤ, s, sm, t, tˤ, w, zʔ, ħ, ʔ, ʕ

Phonological changes (in order of application):

• h → q / _E

How to read phonological rules
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
aː	ā
dˤ	ḑ
iː	ī
j	y
sˤ	ş
tˤ	ţ
uː	ū
x	kh
ð	dh
ħ	ḩ
ɣ	gh
ʃ	sh
ʔ	’
ʕ	ʻ
ʤ	j
θ	th

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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 three 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.

Ergative	Suffix -u ziru /ˈziru/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb to somethinɡ)
Absolutive	No affix zir /zir/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb, but not to somethinɡ)
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ub zirub /ˈzirub/ doɡʼs

Singular	No affix zir /zir/ doɡ
Plural	Suffix -a zira /ˈzira/ doɡs

Articles

Definite	zā /zaː/ the
Indefinite	wī /wiː/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive
1st singular	fā /faː/ I	ghī /ɣiː/ me, I	ma /ma/ mine
2nd singular	ḩi /ħi/ you	mā /maː/ you	da /da/ yours
3rd singular masc	a /a/ he, it	ḩāl /ħaːl/ him, it	şim /sˤim/ his, its
3rd singular fem	tī /tiː/ she, it	şuʻ /sˤuʕ/ her, it	’u /ʔu/ hers, its
1st plural	ţīḩ /tˤiːħ/ we	’īf /ʔiːf/ us, we	tū /tuː/ ours
2nd plural	rāz’ /raːzʔ/ you all	dā /daː/ you all	kha /xa/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	dhi /ði/ they	āf /aːf/ them, they	zāf /zaːf/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ma /ma/ my
2nd singular	da /da/ your
3rd singular masc	şim /sˤim/ his
3rd singular fem	’u /ʔu/ her
1st plural	tū /tuː/ our
2nd plural	kha /xa/ your (pl)
3rd plural	zāf /zaːf/ their

Verbs

Present	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʕ Else: Suffix -aːʕ baflāʻ /ˈbaflaːʕ/ learn
Past	No affix bafl /bafl/ learned

Tūli uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʃam - sham bafl /ʃam bafl/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speking, such as I am learning.
Tūli uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive

Suffix -iː baflī /ˈbafliː/ is learninɡ

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).
Tūli uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: a - a bafl /a bafl/ learns

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.
Tūli uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ħ Else: Suffix -aħ baflaḩ /ˈbaflaħ/ have learned

Numbers

Tūli has a base-10 number system:
1 - a
2 - ḑūk
3 - kha
4 - ḑūţ
5 - fāf
6 - ma
7 - fasm
8 - fāb
9 - ḑū
10 - wīʻ
11 - wīʻa “ten-one”
100 - a wīb “one hundred”
101 - a wīb a “one hundred one”
200 - ḑūk wīb
1000 - a shafl “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -uːh
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -uf
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ajj
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -q
Else: Suffix -aq
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ll
Else: Suffix -ull
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -il
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -un
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -iːs
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rdˤ
Else: Suffix -irdˤ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -id
Diminutive = Suffix -aː
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -iːf

Dictionary

4384 Words.

Root Languages

• Primordial

Common Female Names

• Ţīrrī /ˈtˤiːrriː/ 
• Hughi’ /ˈhuɣiʔ/ 
• Wī’ā /ˈwiːʔaː/ 
• ʻU’ī /ˈʕuʔiː/
• Lūnţūmād /ˈluːntˤuːmaːd/ 
• Kakril /ˈkakril/ 
• Qīʻī /ˈqiːʕiː/ 
• Ţīyya /ˈtˤiːjja/ 
• Ākhusm /ˈaːxusm/ 
• Kaghasm /ˈkaɣasm/

Common Male Names

• Zāhu’ /ˈzaːhuʔ/ 
• Yūndūthasm /ˈʤuːnduːθasm/ 
• Ka’ūla /ˈkaʔuːla/ 
• Ḩārbūli /ˈħaːrbuːli/ 
• Shamu /ˈʃamu/ 
• Zābiţ /ˈzaːbitˤ/ 
• Şid /sˤid/ 
• Āşi /ˈaːsˤi/ 
• Būşu /ˈbuːsˤu/ 
• Ḑīb /dˤiːb/

Common Unisex Names

• Tūrā /ˈtuːraː/ 
• Āyul /ˈaːjul/ 
• Qūdhˤa /ˈquːðˤa/ 
• Wīkhūfū /ˈwiːxuːfuː/ 
• ʻiyāk /ˈʕiʤaːk/ 
• Ḩārrī /ˈħaːrriː/ 
• Māḩī’ /ˈmaːħiːʔ/ 
• Yūḩīd /ˈʤuːħiːd/ 
• Wīyin /ˈwiːʤin/ 
• Qūnţu /ˈquːntˤu/