Sylvan Language

Natively known as: sælfey /ˈsælfɛɪ̯/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
wæ sæksæf yspek gaih thau wæ pys seyb̬ dær thau waissaindis woh
Pronunciation: /wæ ˈsæksæf ˈyspɛk gɑɪ̯h θɑʊ̯ wæ pys sɛɪ̯β dæɾ θɑʊ̯ wɑɪ̯sˈsɑɪ̯ndis woh/
Sylvan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: d f g h k n p s t w ð ɾ ʃ β θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal				n
Stop	p			d t		g k
Fricative	β	f	ð θ	s	ʃ		h
Tap				ɾ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: i o y æ ɑɪ̯ ɑʊ̯ ɔ ɛ ɛɪ̯
Diphthongs: ɑɪ̯ ɑʊ̯ ɛɪ̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	i y
High-mid		o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Near-low	æ

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɑʊ̯	au
ɑɪ̯	ai
ɛɪ̯	ey
ɔ	a
ɛ	e
β	b̬
ð	d̪
θ	th
ʃ	sh
ɾ	r

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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: postpositions ?

Numbers

Sylvan has a base-20 number system:
1 - d̪eyd
2 - paud
3 - tæb̬
4 - dyk
5 - five:num
6 - aiwwi
7 - seven:num
8 - eyre
9 - wai
10 - ten:num
11 - taud
12 - ik
13 - tai
14 - b̬a
15 - peh
16 - syf
17 - pire
18 - ygai
19 - æ
20 - d̪æn
400 - waseys
8000 - thousand:num

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɔð
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -æ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -ɔd
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -æ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -ɑʊ̯d
Noun to verb = Suffix -oθ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -i
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ɑʊ̯k
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -o
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾ
Else: Suffix -ɑʊ̯ɾ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -yk
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ðɛ
Else: Suffix -oðɛ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -ɛɪ̯d
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -ɛs

Dictionary

3524 Words.

Successor Languages

• Ancient Elvish Language