Demeng (Dwarvish)
Natively known as: demeng /ˈdemɛŋ/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...me nuilf zvo bak ang ij me zvo sted brocht eeng sprak slie
Pronunciation: /mə nœy̯lf zvoː bɑk ɑŋ ɛi̯ mə zvoː stɛt brɔxt eːŋ spraːk sli /
Dwarvish word order: and stood his hat holding he and his wet face turned to the wind
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d f j k l m n p r s t v x z ŋ ɣ ɦ ʋ ʤ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
Stop | b p | d t | k | ||||
Affricate | ʤ | ||||||
Fricative | v f | z s | ɣ x | ɦ | |||
Approximant | ʋ | j | |||||
Trill | r | ||||||
Lateral approximant | l |
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
High | i y | u | |
Near-high | ɪ ʏ | ||
High-mid | eː øː | oː | |
Mid | ə | ||
Low-mid | ɛ | ɔ | |
Low | aː | ɑ |
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? Sound changes (in order of application):
- ʋ → v
- ɦ → h
- øː → ʊː
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
sx | sch |
x | g / _# |
x | ch |
ʋ | w |
p | b / _# |
t | d / _# |
d | t / C_# |
ɣ | g |
ɦ | h |
ŋk | ng |
ŋ | ng |
yu | uw |
u | oe / !_w |
ɑoe̯ | ou |
eː | ee |
aː | a |
ɑ | a |
oː | o |
ɛi̯ | ij / _# |
ɛi̯ | ei |
ɛ | e |
ɔ | o |
i | ie / C_# |
œy̯ | ui |
ɪ | i |
ʏ | u |
y | u |
øː | eu |
ə | e |
̯ | |
ʊ | u |
ʤ | dz |
Grammar
Main word order: Object Verb (Prepositional phrase) Subject. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into The door opened with a key mary.Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?
Nouns
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Definite | No affix spruːn /sprʊːn/ the dog | If starts with vowel: Prefix əʋ- Else: Prefix əʋɛ- evespruːn /əˈvɛsprʊːn/ the dogs |
Indefinite | If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tə- tespruːn /ˈtəsprʊːn/ a dog | Prefix ɛ- espruːn /ˈɛsprʊːn/ some dogs |
Articles
Dwarvish encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.Pronouns
1st singular | eift /ɛi̯ft/ I, me, mine |
2nd singular | zui /zœy̯/ you, yours |
3rd singular masc | ij /ɛi̯/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc) |
3rd singular fem | scheecht /sxeːxt/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem) |
1st plural | kve /kvɛ/ we, us, ours |
2nd plural | lan /laːn/ you all, yours (pl) |
3rd plural | volf /vɔlf/ they, them, theirs |
Possessive determiners
Possessive | |
---|---|
1st singular | vokt /vɔkt/ my |
2nd singular | uircht /œy̯rxt/ your |
3rd singular masc | zvo /zvoː/ his |
3rd singular fem | dreecht /dreːxt/ her |
1st plural | bud /byt/ our |
2nd plural | tvint /tvɪnt/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | roe /ru/ their |
Verbs
Present | No affix vroed /vrut/ learn |
Past | If starts with vowel: Prefix ɦ- Else: Prefix ɦʏ- huvroed /ˈhʏvrut/ learned |
Future | If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix vɔ- vovroed /ˈvɔvrut/ will learn |
Numbers
Dwarvish has a base-10 number system: 1 - u2 - pu
3 - tong
4 - tart
5 - meek
6 - vlist
7 - renden
8 - gad
9 - kvans
10 - schrus
100 - poer
1000 - pant
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix st-Else: Prefix stʏ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ufx-
Else: Prefix ufxɑ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix mɪ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pœy̯-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix plaː-
Noun to verb = Prefix jɛ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kʋ-
Else: Prefix kʋeː-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pɔ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bɔ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix pri-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ə-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix z-
Else: Prefix zə-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix bl-
Else: Prefix bleː-
Augmentative = Prefix ɪ-
Language of = Suffix -ɛŋ
Realm belonging to rank = Suffix -ʤæŋ
Verb to noun = If starts with vowel: Prefix øːrbr-
Else: Prefix øːrbraː-
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