The Deadtongue

Natively known as: Mstika /ˈmstika/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
we ka mbwal ju shelfosa gul we ju rall geh nguh mchufli tir
Pronunciation: /wɛ ka mbwal ʄu ˈʃɛlfɔsa ɠul wɛ ʄu rall ɠɛh ŋguh ˈmʧufli tir/
Mstikan word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x z ð ŋ ɓ ɗ ɠ ɣ ɲ ʃ ʄ ʤ ʧ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g	q
Implosive	ɓ			ɗ		ʄ	ɠ
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ		x ɣ		h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labio-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a i u ɔ ɛ/

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: f, h, j, k, kr, kw, l, m, mb, mbw, mf, mk, ml, mp, mpj, mr, ms, mst, mt, mv, mw, mz, mɠ, mɲ, mʃ, mʄ, mʧ, n, nd, nn, nz, nʤ, nʧ, p, pr, pw, q, r, s, sw, t, tr, v, vj, w, z, ð, ŋg, ɓ, ɓl, ɓw, ɗ, ɠ, ɣ, ɲ, ɲw, ʃ, ʄ, ʧ, θ
Mid-word consonants: f, ff, fl, fs, h, j, k, ks, kt, kw, l, lf, lm, m, mb, mj, mk, ml, mp, mr, mt, mv, mw, mz, mʧ, n, nd, nk, ns, nz, nʤ, nʧ, p, r, rn, rð, s, sk, sl, st, t, tw, v, vj, w, z, zw, ð, ŋg, ŋgw, ɓ, ɓl, ɓw, ɓɗ, ɗ, ɠ, ɣ, ɲ, ɲw, ʃ, ʄ, ʧ, ʧw, θ
Word final consonants: h, l, ll, m, n, nt, p, r, rʧ, sj, ss, t, ttj, w, x, ɣ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• a → i / i_
• t → ʃ / _E

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
nʤ	nj
x	kh
ð	dh
ŋ	ng'
ŋg	ng
ɓ	b
ɔ	o
ɗ	d
ɛ	e
ɠ	g
ɣ	gh
ɲ	ny
ʃ	sh
ʄ	j
ʧ	ch
θ	th

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Object-Verb-Oblique. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have five cases:

• Ergative 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.

	Singular	Plural
Ergative	Suffix -ɛ miksue /ˈmiksuɛ/ dog (doing the verb to something)	Suffix -al miksual /ˈmiksual/ dogs (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔmk- Else: Prefix ɔmki- omkimiksu /ɔmˈkimikˌsu/ dog (doing the verb not to something)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rʧ Else: Suffix -irʧ miksurch /ˈmiksurʧ/ dogs (doing the verb not to something)
Genitive	Prefix mu- mumiksu /muˈmiksu/ dogʼs	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -int miksunt /mikˈsunt/ dogsʼ
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ir miksur /mikˈsur/ to (the/a) dog	Suffix -it miksuit /ˈmiksuit/ to (the/some) dogs
Locative	Suffix -iw miksuiw /ˈmiksuiw/ near/at/by (the/a) dog	Prefix ɔ- omiksu /ˈɔmiksu/ near/at/by (the/some) dogs

Articles

Mstikan has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	ha /ha/ I	jet /ʄɛt/ me, I	she /ʃɛ/ mine	tigh /tiɣ/ to me	nzop /nzɔp/ at me
2nd singular	a /a/ you	thaw /θaw/ you	wo /wɔ/ yours	kat /kat/ to you	ra /ra/ at you
3rd singular masc	ka /ka/ he	pwop /pwɔp/ him, he	ju /ʄu/ his	mull /mull/ to him	nya /ɲa/ at him
3rd singular fem	lar /lar/ she	nikh /nix/ her, she	pwol /pwɔl/ hers	nchu /nʧu/ to her	ant /ant/ at her
1st plural	zi /zi/ we	mirch /mirʧ/ us, we	pwa /pwa/ ours	da /ɗa/ to us	va /va/ at us
2nd plural	mzu /mzu/ you (all)	mnyi /mɲi/ you (all)	nir /nir/ yours	mwo /mwɔ/ to you (all)	asy /asj/ at you (all)
3rd plural	nzo /nzɔ/ they	la /la/ them, they	mve /mvɛ/ theirs	wetty /wɛttj/ to them	mgi /mɠi/ at them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	iss /iss/ my
2nd singular	ar /ar/ your
3rd singular masc	ju /ʄu/ his
3rd singular fem	ka /ka/ her
1st plural	she /ʃɛ/ our
2nd plural	ip /ip/ your
3rd plural	ba /ɓa/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	No affix woll /wɔll/ (I) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an wollan /ˈwɔllan/ (I) studied
2nd singular	No affix woll /wɔll/ (you) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -ɔl wollol /ˈwɔllɔl/ (you) studied
3rd singular masc	No affix woll /wɔll/ (he) studies	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mki Else: Suffix -amki wollamki /wɔˈllamki/ (he) studied
3rd singular fem	No affix woll /wɔll/ (she) studies	Suffix -aw wollaw /wɔˈllaw/ (she) studied
1st plural	No affix woll /wɔll/ (we) study	If ends with vowel: Suffix -x Else: Suffix -ɛx wollekh /ˈwɔllɛx/ (we) studied
2nd plural	No affix woll /wɔll/ (you all) study	Suffix -ill wollill /ˈwɔllill/ (you all) studied
3rd plural	No affix woll /wɔll/ (they) study	Suffix -i wolli /wɔˈlli/ (they) studied

Mstikan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

ka /ka/ will

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.
Mstikan uses the word for ‘already’ bwol for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Mstikan has a base-10 number system:

• 1 - ya
• 2 - mfa
• 3 - ngu
• 4 - swer
• 5 - na
• 6 - mlurch
• 7 - ti
• 8 - gep
• 9 - gha
• 10 - mchi
• 11 - mchiya “ten-one”
• 100 - ya mchumya “one hundred”
• 101 - ya mchumya we ya “one hundred and one”
• 200 - mfa mchumya
• 1000 - ya dhah “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛz-
Else: Prefix ɛza-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ka-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix inz-
Else: Prefix inzɛ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix iɲ-
Else: Prefix iɲu-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɠ-
Else: Prefix ɠɛ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mʄ-
Else: Prefix mʄɛ-
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 mf-
Else: Prefix mfa-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mw-
Else: Prefix mwɔ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ-
Else: Prefix ʧu-
Augmentative = Prefix pɛ-

Geographical Distribution

The Deadtongue is spoken mostly in the Shadowlands.

Dictionary

4343 Words.

Common Unisex Names

• Lar /lar/
• Mchumzenda /mʧumˈzɛnda/
• Msoki /msɔˈki/
• Thangwakh /ˈθaŋgwax/
• Sematty /ˈsɛmattj/
• Kale /ˈkalɛ/
• Mstitha /ˈmstiθa/
• Mchua /mʧuˈa/
• Semta /ˈsɛmta/
• Ivell /ˈivɛll/
• Adil /ˈaɗil/