Thjodanalfen Elvish

Natively known as: thjodaanalfim /ˈθjodɑːˌnɑlfim/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
hyc d̬i̋g sam pib d̬i̋g thi̋p hyc rit d̬i̋g cate sir ci̋t miag haɪ̯k ðɪg sɑm pib ðɪg θɪp haɪ̯k ɾit ðɪg kɑtɛ siɾ kɪt miɑg
Pronunciation: /haɪ̯k ðɪg sɑm pib ðɪg θɪp haɪ̯k ɾit ðɪg ˈkɑtɛ siɾ kɪt ˈmiɑg/
Thjodanælfen Elvish word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g k l m n p s t ð ɾ ʃ ʒ θ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m			n
Stop	p b			d t		k g
Fricative		f	ð θ	s	ʃ ʒ		χ
Tap				ɾ
Lateral approximant				l

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ i o u æ ɑ ɑː ɛ ɪ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid		o
Low-mid	ɛ
Near-low	æ
Low		ɑ ɑː

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Sound changes (in order of application):

• æ → ɑ
• χ → h
• s → ʃ / _#

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɑː	aa
ɑ	a
eɪ̯	ey
aɪ̯	y
ɪ	i̋
aʊ̯	ou
θ	th
ɾ	r
ð	d̬
ʃ	š
k	c
χ	x
ʒ	zh

---

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 ?

Noun affixes

Singular	No affix hinna hinnɑ /ˈhinnɑ/ dog
Plural	Suffix -ɛn hinnaen hinnɑɛn /ˈhinnɑɛn/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	bey beɪ̯ /beɪ̯/ the	mu mu /mu/ a
Plural	ti ti /ti/ the	so so /so/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’
• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st person	du du /du/ I, me, mine, we, us, ours
2nd person	mey meɪ̯ /meɪ̯/ you, you all, yours, yours (pl)
3rd person	d̬i̋g ðɪg /ðɪg/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	du du /du/ my
2nd singular	mey meɪ̯ /meɪ̯/ your
3rd singular masc	d̬i̋g ðɪg /ðɪg/ his
3rd singular fem	d̬i̋g ðɪg /ðɪg/ hers
1st plural inclusive	ourš (including you) ourʃ (including you) /ˈourʃ ˈincluding ˈyou)/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ourš (excluding you) ourʃ (excluding you) /ˈourʃ ˈexcluding ˈyou)/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	mey meɪ̯ /meɪ̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural	d̬i̋g ðɪg /ðɪg/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix thud̬ θuð /θuð/ learn
Past	Prefix maɪ̯- mythud̬ maɪ̯θuð /ˈmaɪ̯θuð/ learned
Future	Prefix ʃi- šithud̬ ʃiθuð /ˈʃiθuð/ will learn

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.
Thjodanælfen Elvish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix kɑ- cathud̬ kɑθuð /ˈkɑθuð/ have learned

Numbers

Thjodanælfen Elvish has a base-10 number system:
1 - ruh ɾuh
2 - houb haʊ̯b
3 - puš puʃ
4 - gum gum
5 - ca kɑ
6 - d̬a ðɑ
7 - caftap kɑftɑp
8 - cyp kaɪ̯p
9 - tyc taɪ̯k
10 - nam nɑm
100 - thug θug
1000 - cemod kɛmod

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -di
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ðɪ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -fi
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -neɪ̯
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -mi
Noun to verb = Prefix tæ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -mo
Tending to = Prefix go-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -bu
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix kɪ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix mu-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -di
Diminutive = Suffix -tɪ
Augmentative = Suffix -ɾi
Language of = Suffix -im

Dictionary

3076 Words.

Root Languages

• Ancient Elvish Language

Spoken by

• Ithygši̋c
• Nat Poen