Gwlasian (Old Dwarven)

Natively known as: Gwlas /gwlas/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
bly gwnoc pef hedarth myll gwlan bly pef pars rhyrllo ar myn the
Pronunciation: /blɨ gwnɔk pɛv hɛˈdarθ məɬ gwlan blɨ pɛv pars r̥ɨːrˈɬɔ ar mɨn θɛ/
Gwlasian word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d g h j k l m n n̥ p r r̥ s t v w ð ŋ ɬ ʃ θ χ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n n̥			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Fricative		v	θ ð	s	ʃ			χ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r̥ r
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labio-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a ai au aɨ aː ei eɨ eː i iː oː u uː ɔ ɔi ɔɨ ə əu ɛ ɛu ɨ ɨu ɨː ɪ ɪu ʊ ʊɨ/
Diphthongs: ai, au, aɨ, ei, eɨ, ɔi, ɔɨ, əu, ɛu, ɨu, ɪu, ʊɨ

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː i	ɨ ɨː	u uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	eː		oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, d, dr, dw, g, gw, gwl, gwn, gwr, h, j, k, kl, l, m, n, nt, n̥, p, pl, pr, r, rn, r̥, s, sd, sn, t, tr, v, w, ð, ɬ, ʃ, θ, θj, χ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, dl, dr, g, gl, gw, h, l, m, ml, mr, ms, n, nr̥, nt, nw, r, rb, rd, rv, rw, rɬ, sg, tbl, v, vj, vl, vn, ð, ðj, ŋ, ɬ, θ, χ, χr
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• P → p / s_
• s → h / V_V
• v → Ø / {t,d}_
• g → h / _h

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
aː	a
eɨ	ey
eː	e
f	ph
iː	i
j	i
k	c
n̥	n
oː	o
r̥	rh
uː	w
v	f
ð	dd
ŋ	ng
ɔ	o
ɔi	oi
ə	y
əu	yw
ɛ	e
ɛu	ew
ɨ	y
ɨu	uw
ɨː	y
ɪ	i
ɪu	iw
ɬ	ll
ʃ	si
ʊɨ	wy
θ	th
χ	ch

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Object-Oblique-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:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nominative	No affix hera /hɛˈra/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix rei- reihera /reihɛˈra/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɛu- sewhera /sɛuhɛˈra/ dogʼs
Dative	Prefix r̥iː- rhihera /r̥iːhɛˈra/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	Prefix a- ahera /ahɛˈra/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix eːg- Else: Prefix eːgai- egaihera /eːˌgaihɛˈra/ from (the/a) dog
Instrumental	Prefix r̥ɨː- rhyhera /r̥ɨːhɛˈra/ with/using (the/a) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix efn /eːvn/ man	No affix praut /praut/ woman
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nəu- nefn /neːvn/ men	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mə- mypraut /məˈpraut/ women

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	ha /ha/ the	nti /ntiː/ a
Plural	en /eːn/ the	blydd /blɨð/ some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative	Instrumental
1st singular	rei /rei/ I	iei /jei/ me	snew /snɛu/ mine	bly /blə/ to me	iay /jaɨ/ at me	gwywll /gwəuɬ/ from me	gwnent /gwnɛnt/ with/using me
2nd singular	ha /ha/ you	gwneb /gwnɛb/ you	snw /snuː/ yours	rnei /rnei/ to you	gaur /gaur/ at you	chew /χɛu/ from you	gwno /gwnɔ/ with/using you
3rd singular masc	gwnoc /gwnɔk/ he	my /mə/ him	pef /pɛv/ his	mo /mɔ/ to him	rhym /r̥ɨːm/ at him	dyr /dɨːr/ from him	ʊc /ʊk/ with/using him
3rd singular fem	treyll /treɨɬ/ she	nti /ntɪ/ her	bi /biː/ hers	nte /nteː/ to her	wi /wɪ/ at her	nw /nuː/ from her	len /lɛn/ with/using her
1st plural	giw /gɪu/ we	lefn /lɛvn/ us	rʊb /rʊb/ ours	seyn /seɨn/ to us	lefr /lɛvr/ at us	gwoifr /gwɔivr/ from us	gwla /gwla/ with/using us
2nd plural	tryg /trɨg/ you (all)	cay /kaɨ/ you (all)	i /iː/ yours	peg /pɛg/ to you (all)	playrs /plaɨrs/ at you (all)	priw /prɪu/ from you (all)	noi /nɔi/ with/using you (all)
3rd plural masc	rhyng /r̥ɨːŋ/ they	north /n̥oːrθ/ them	sdym /sdɨm/ theirs	fw /vuː/ to them	sdeyfn /sdeɨvn/ at them	ray /raɨ/ from them	nti /ntiː/ with/using them
3rd plural fem	gaun /gaun/ they	lla /ɬa/ them	o /ɔ/ theirs	drol /droːl/ to them	syn /sɨn/ at them	afn /avn/ from them	mych /mɨːχ/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	snew /snɛu/ my
2nd singular	snw /snuː/ your
3rd singular masc	pef /pɛv/ his
3rd singular fem	bi /biː/ her
1st plural	rʊb /rʊb/ our
2nd plural	snw /snuː/ your
3rd plural masc	sdym /sdɨm/ their
3rd plural fem	sdym /sdɨm/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix newb /nɛub/ study
Past	Prefix a- anewb /aˈnɛub/ studied
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix an- Else: Prefix aniː- aninewb /aniːˈnɛub/ studied (long ago)

Gwlasian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

ciw /kɪu/ will

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying and habitual actions, such as I study (every night).
Gwlasian uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix a- anewb /aˈnɛub/ is studying

Numbers

Gwlasian has a base-10 number system:

• 1 - gwry
• 2 - snwy
• 3 - ha
• 4 - seyn
• 5 - clyth
• 6 - corth
• 7 - sifnywfa
• 8 - deddia
• 9 - dan
• 10 - snwrs
• 11 - snwrsgwry “ten-one”
• 100 - iay “hundred”
• 101 - iay gwry “hundred one”
• 200 - snwy iay
• 1000 - sdu “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix iːr-
Else: Prefix iːraɨ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix gwa-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛuml-
Else: Prefix ɛumlau-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix dr-
Else: Prefix droː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix a-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix dr-
Else: Prefix drɪ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix iː-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix ə-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix un-
Else: Prefix unɪ-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix a-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix nɔi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ai-
Diminutive = Prefix ɛ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lɔ-

Dictionary

4364 Words.

Successor Languages

• Modern Dwarven