Orc Tongue

Natively known as: Hlonka /ˈɬɔŋkɒ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
vi mnya bye ntop uck phing vi gcwonjwosho mkha bye mlap wal siwn
Pronunciation: /vi mɲɒ bjɛ ntɔp uǀk pʰing vi ᶢǀʱwɔɲˈʤwɔʃɔ mkʰɒ bjɛ mlɒp wɒl siwn/
Hlonkan word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʱ 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 ᵑǀʱ ᵑǂʱ ᵑǃ ᵑǃʱ ᶢǀʱ ᶢǃʱ/

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labio-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: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, bj, bʱ, d, f, g, h, j, k, kw, kʰ, kʰw, l, lw, m, mb, mf, mkʰ, ml, mn, mp, ms, mz, mɬ, mɮ, mɲ, n, nd, ng, nt, nz, nǂ, nɬ, nɮ, p, pl, pʰ, s, t, tʰ, v, w, z, zw, ŋk, ǀ, ǀʰ, ǂ, ǂʰ, ǃ, ǃʰ, ǃʰw, ɦ, ɬ, ɲ, ɲʤ, ʃ, ʤ, ʦʼ, ʧʼ, ᵑǀ, ᵑǀw, ᵑǃʱ, ᶢǀʱw
Mid-word consonants: b, bʱ, d, dw, f, g, h, hw, j, k, ks, kw, kʰ, kʰw, l, lw, m, mb, mbʱ, mf, mg, mgw, mh, mk, mkʰ, ml, mn, mnd, mng, mntw, mp, mpʰ, ms, mtʰ, mv, mz, mǀ, mǃ, mɬ, mɮ, mɲ, mʃ, n, nd, ndz, ng, ngw, ns, nstr, nt, ntf, ntw, nw, nz, nǂ, nɬ, nɮ, nʦʼ, p, pl, pʰ, r, s, sw, t, tf, tʰ, tʰr, tʰw, v, w, z, zw, ŋk, ŋkw, ǀ, ǀtr, ǀʰ, ǀʰw, ǂ, ǃ, ǃʰ, ǃʰw, ɦ, ɬ, ɬw, ɮ, ɲ, ɲʤ, ɲʤw, ɲʧʼ, ʃ, ʤ, ʦʼ, ʧʼ, ᵑǀ, ᵑǀw, ᵑǀʱ, ᵑǂʱ, ᵑǃ, ᵑǃʱ, ᶢǀʱ, ᶢǀʱw, ᶢǃʱ
Word final consonants: f, ff, gh, j, l, ll, n, ng, nt, p, r, ss, st, t, wn, ǀ, ǀk
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• h → Ø / _#
• h → Ø / V_
• k → g / n_

Spelling rules:

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

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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 four 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.

Nominative	No affix nzay /nzɒj/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -ɒp nzayap /ˈnzɒjɒp/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -ut nzayut /ˈnzɒjut/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑǀwɔ Else: Suffix -uᵑǀwɔ nzayuncwo /ˈnzɒjuᵑǀwɔ/ to (the/a) dog

Singular	No affix nzay /nzɒj/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -ɒnt nzayant /nzɒˈjɒnt/ dogs

Articles

Definite	ti /ti/ the
Indefinite	mnya /mɲɒ/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	ti /ti/ I	nge /ngɛ/ me	xet /ǂɛt/ mine	na /nɒ/ to me
2nd singular	cir /ǀir/ you	bu /bu/ you	nxa /nǂɒ/ yours	bugh /bugh/ to you
3rd singular masc	mnya /mɲɒ/ he	mbe /mbɛ/ him	bye /bjɛ/ his	a /ɒ/ to him
3rd singular fem	gac /gɒǀ/ she	ya /jɒ/ her	si /si/ hers	pliff /pliff/ to her
1st plural	bup /bup/ we	phef /pʰɛf/ us	vi /vi/ ours	bul /bul/ to us
2nd plural	hlol /ɬɔl/ you (all)	byunt /bjunt/ you (all)	nhli /nɬi/ yours	nan /nɒn/ to you (all)
3rd plural	i /i/ they	la /lɒ/ them	nyec /ɲɛǀ/ theirs	puf /puf/ to them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	xet /ǂɛt/ my
2nd singular	nxa /nǂɒ/ your
3rd singular masc	bye /bjɛ/ his
3rd singular fem	si /si/ her
1st plural	vi /vi/ our
2nd plural	nxa /nǂɒ/ your
3rd plural	nyec /ɲɛǀ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix mdla /mɮɒ/ study
Past	Suffix -ɒ mdlaa /mɮɒˈɒ/ studied
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mhɒ Else: Suffix -ɒmhɒ mdlamha /ˈmɮɒmhɒ/ studied (long ago)
Future	Suffix -ɛ mdlae /mɮɒˈɛ/ will study

Numbers

Hlonkan has a base-10 number system:

• 1 - hhul
• 2 - cil
• 3 - ti
• 4 - xhe
• 5 - eli
• 6 - tha
• 7 - a
• 8 - laf
• 9 - mhla
• 10 - mfo
• 11 - mfo vi hhul “ten and one”
• 100 - hhul bhip “one hundred”
• 101 - hhul bhip vi hhul “one hundred and one”
• 200 - cil bhip
• 1000 - hhul mlale “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɔ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ǀʰu
Else: Suffix -ɒǀʰu
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑǃi
Else: Suffix -ɒᵑǃi
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pu
Else: Suffix -ɛpu
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɒ
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -bʱɒ
Else: Suffix -ɒbʱɒ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kɒ
Else: Suffix -ikɒ
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -ɒ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɒn
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -if
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mpɛ
Else: Suffix -ɒmpɛ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɒ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wn
Else: Suffix -ɛwn
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᶢǀʱwɒ
Else: Suffix -iᶢǀʱwɒ

Dictionary

4353 Words.

Common Female Names

• Mlakhwi /mlɒˈkʰwi/
• Eqigh /ˈɛǃigh/
• Imbu /ˈimbu/
• Mhloqugh /mɬɔˈǃugh/
• Xemlu /ˈǂɛmlu/
• Namfongqi /ˈnɒmfɔᵑǃʱi/
• Gamgu /ˈgɒmgu/
• Upha /ˈupʰɒ/
• Buhhac /ˈbuɦɒǀ/
• Zuy /zuj/

Common Male Names

• Mpumsi /ˈmpumsi/
• Wora /ˈwɔrɒ/
• Buweff /buˈwɛff/
• Phezel /pʰɛˈzɛl/
• Fungxe /ˈfuᵑǂʱɛ/
• Ndibhumagh /ˈndibʱumɒgh/
• Nzactrolo /nzɒǀˈtrɔlɔ/
• Nzactrolo /nzɒǀˈtrɔlɔ/
• Sizin /ˈsizin/
• Elomntwa /ɛˈlɔmntwɒ/

Common Unisex Names

• Khwukwola /kʰwuˈkwɔlɒ/
• Plihwa /ˈplihwɒ/
• Bhimvell /bʱimˈvɛll/
• Nzachwochol /ˈnzɒǀʰwɔǀʰɔl/
• Phepegh /ˈpʰɛpɛgh/
• Hembe /hɛmˈbɛ/
• Hehlwunt /ˈhɛɬwunt/
• Vip /vip/
• Gcwonhloqhwap /ˈᶢǀʱwɔnɬɔǃʰwɒp/
• Xehlwuff /ˈǂɛɬwuff/