Trickster Tongue

Natively known as: fwír̥tá /ˈfʍɪr̥tɑ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
kru krìu zwyg ryh̨ì nift dhi kru ìl nift aktu ode au gwínt
Pronunciation: /krʏ krɨu̯ zʋyg ryˈɦɨ nift ði krʏ ɨl nift akˈtʏ ˈoːdə au̯ gʍɪntɬʼ/
Word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Fwirta, roughly translating to "Trickster Tongue", is the language of the Fae, and one of the two official languages of the Kingdom of Kynevyn, alongside Common. It is a language with many layers of complexity, often resulting in cryptic sentences that may carry multiple meanings to the untrained ear. While some believe the name of "Trickster Tongue" to be a reference to the untrustworthiness of the Fae, the origin of the term actually lies in the difficulty many non-native speakers experience in trying to learn this language.

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n n̥ p r r̥ s t v w x z ð ŋ ɣ ɦ ɬ ʃ ʋ ʍ θ χ

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w ʍ

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ aɨ̯ aː ei̯ eɨ̯ eː i iː n̩ oː u uː y øː œy̯ ɑ ɑu̯ ɔ ɔi̯ ɔɨ̯ ə əu̯ ɛ ɛi̯ ɛu̯ ɨ ɨu̯ ɨː ɪ ɪu̯ ʊ ʊɨ̯ ʏ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ aɨ̯ ei̯ eɨ̯ œy̯ ɑu̯ ɔi̯ ɔɨ̯ əu̯ ɛi̯ ɛu̯ ɨu̯ ɪu̯ ʊɨ̯ ?

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʊiɬ	yl
eː	e
oː	o
ɛː	e
ɛ	e
ɑ	á
ə	e
ɔ	aw
øː	o
ø	o
ʊ	ú
ɪ	í
ɨ	ì
y	y
tɬʼ	t
ʏ	u
θ	th
ð	dh
j	y
ʃ	sh
ŋ	ng
ɦ	h̨
ɬiː	lli
ɬ	ll
ʋ	w
ʍ	w
x	kh
ɣ	gh
χ	k̨h
Vː	VV
̯

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Pronouns

Nominative

	Singular	Plural
1st person	aì /aɨ̯/ I	eip /ei̯p/ we
2nd person	fet /fɛt/ you	y /y/ you all
3rd person	krìu /krɨu̯/ he, she, it	aa /aː/ they

Accusative

	Singular	Plural
1st person	stn̩ /stn̩/ me	sheid /ʃɛi̯d/ us
2nd person	fet /fɛt/ you	íub /ɪu̯b/ you all
3rd person	gwaa /gwaː/ his, her, it	eu /ɛu̯/ them

Genitive

	Singular	Plural
1st person	ghreuf /ɣrəu̯f/ mine	raa /raː/ ours
2nd person	vu /vu/ yours	kaans /kaːns/ yours (pl)
3rd person	sbawirth /sbɔi̯rθ/ his, hers, its	bawi /bɔi̯/ theirs

Possessive determiners

Singular

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Possessive	mi /mi/ my	eikht /ei̯xt/ your	nift /nift/ his, her, its

Plural

	1st person	2nd person	3rd person
Possessive	a /a/ our	graivr /grai̯vr/ your (pl)	wa /wa/ their

Numbers

Fwirta has a base-10 number system:
1 - kraans
2 - trírk̨h
3 - ei
4 - tu
5 - plai
6 - vluu
7 - aìkht
8 - e
9 - ì
10 - befkhíu
100 - váu
1000 - aitheig

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -g
Else: Suffix -ʊg
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n̥t
Else: Suffix -aːn̥t
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -χ
Else: Suffix -ɑχ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -an
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -ɛs
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋka
Else: Suffix -iːŋka
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -øː
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rktɛ
Else: Suffix -arktɛ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɨl
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -au̯d
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -as
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ta
Else: Suffix -eːta
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -kta
Else: Suffix -iːkta
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rχ
Else: Suffix -eːrχ
Color of = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sɛ-

Dictionary

3894 Words.