Primordial

Natively known as: Fāyam /ˈfaːʤam/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nā ghū şis fās qū ’īz’ nā ’iw qū kasī ghīd āni i
Pronunciation: /naː ɣuː sˤis faːs quː ʔiːzʔ naː ʔiw quː ˈkasiː ɣiːd aːˈni i/
Fāyamish word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

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: No fixed stress
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: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → h / _#
• h → ʔ / _#
• j → ð / V_V
• w → j / _i
• u → a / _k
• b → u / _C
• ʤ → Ø / i_i
• d → r / V_V
• t → j / #_i
• t → ʧ / _{i,ı̃}
• ʤ → ð / i_

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

---

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 after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: ʤa - ya kāf /ʤa kaːf/ doɡs

Definite	Suffix -ujj kāfuyy /kaːˈfujj/ the doɡ
Indefinite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -sm Else: Suffix -usm kāfusm /kaːˈfusm/ a doɡ

Articles

Fāyamish encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	’īyy /ʔiːjj/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	’u /ʔu/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ghū /ɣuː/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	la /la/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	thu /θu/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	ʻu /ʕu/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	tī /tiː/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ka /ka/ my
2nd singular	kā /kaː/ your
3rd singular masc	qū /quː/ his
3rd singular fem	ḩi /ħi/ her
1st plural	thu /θu/ our
2nd plural	mā /maː/ your (pl)
3rd plural	khas /xas/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix siţ /sitˤ/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -at siţat /ˈsitˤat/ learned
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -fl Else: Suffix -aːfl siţāfl /ˈsitˤaːfl/ learned (lonɡ aɡo)
Future	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rdˤ Else: Suffix -irdˤ siţirḑ /siˈtˤirdˤ/ will learn

Numbers

Fāyamish has a base-10 number system:
1 - baḩ
2 - zi
3 - tūl
4 - ḩi
5 - a
6 - wī
7 - khalu
8 - ā
9 - sārbūqiḩ
10 - fā
11 - fābaḩ “ten-one”
100 - baḩ şi’ “one hundred”
101 - baḩ şi’ nā baḩ “one hundred and one”
200 - zi şi’
1000 - baḩ tūs “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -iw
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -fl
Else: Suffix -aːfl
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -aːh
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix
-ħ
Else: Suffix -iːħ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -iː
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
Else: Suffix -iːf
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -uː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -q
Else: Suffix -aq
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -i
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -im
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -it
Diminutive = Suffix -u
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -ad

Dictionary

4409 Words.

Successor Languages

• Terran
• Aquan
• Auran
• Ignan
• Fulgai
• Verdan

Common Female Names

• Hummī /ˈhummiː/
• Zādī /ˈzaːdiː/
• Zāthīfl /ˈzaːθiːfl/
• Yūmāf /ˈʤuːmaːf/
• Ḑūwwu /dˤuːˈwwu/
• Na’ī /ˈnaʔiː/
• Ţī’ī /ˈtˤiːʔiː/
• Qīḩūlu /qiːˈħuːlu/
• Ḑūtlūtlu /dˤuːˈtluːtlu/
• Sāʻlīr /saːˈʕliːr/

Common Male Names

• Khaşa /xaˈsˤa/
• Ādī /aːˈdiː/
• Zādhī’i /zaːˈðiːʔi/
• Qūţţuʻ /quːtˤˈtˤuʕ/
• Qūşu /ˈquːsˤu/
• Ţīlūbbiţ /tˤiːˈluːbbitˤ/
• Alā /ˈalaː/
• Khantu /xanˈtu/
• Lūla /ˈluːla/
• Wīna /wiːˈna/

Common Unisex Names

• Wīʻtāq /ˈwiːʕtaːq/
• Ţītā /tˤiːˈtaː/
• Atla /ˈatla/
• Wīnīfu /wiːˈniːfu/
• Yūfā /ˈʤuːfaː/
• Mani /ˈmani/
• Āyub /ˈaːʤub/
• Māʻţūndū /maːʕˈtˤuːnduː/
• Lūḩit /luːˈħit/
• Shaşūţi /ʃaˈsˤuːtˤi/