Usan Common (usan)

The language most spoken by the humans of Usoram, and the Common dialect of the realm.

Natively known as: usan /ˈusan/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ka o kizetz mutz zi zukh ka eh zi gitz klay berbu shim
Pronunciation: /ka o ˈkizeʦ muʦ zi zuχ ka eh zi giʦ klaj ˈbeʁbu ʃim/
Usan word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v x z ʁ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʦ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d			k g			ʔ
Affricate			ʦ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ		x	χ ʁ	ʕ	h
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: a e i o u

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
χ	kh
ʦ	tz
ʁ	r
ʃ	sh
ʔ	'

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Definite

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix kur /kuʁ/ the man	If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix ze- zekur /ˈzekuʁ/ the men
Feminine	No affix ku /ku/ the woman	Prefix ʃa- shaku /ˈʃaku/ the women
Neuter	No affix dvel /dvel/ the dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix km- Else: Prefix kmu- kmudvel /ˈkmudvel/ the dogs

Indefinite

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix azd- Else: Prefix azdu- azdukur /azˈdukuʁ/ a man	Prefix e- ekur /ˈekuʁ/ some men
Feminine	Prefix li- liku /ˈliku/ a woman	If starts with vowel: Prefix oχ- Else: Prefix oχi- okhiku /oˈχiku/ some women
Neuter	Prefix pe- pedvel /ˈpedvel/ a dog	Prefix po- podvel /ˈpodvel/ some dogs

Articles

Usan encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	u /u/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	shit /ʃit/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	o /o/ he, him, his
3rd singular fem	sha /ʃa/ she, her, hers
3rd singular neuter	zma /zma/ it, its
1st plural inclusive	kam /kam/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	kmet /kmet/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	gi /gi/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	uk /uk/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	ukh /uχ/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
3rd plural neuter	tzu /ʦu/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ma /ma/ my
2nd singular	shi /ʃi/ your
3rd singular masc	zi /zi/ his
3rd singular fem	bam /bam/ her
3rd singular neuter	nar /naʁ/ its
1st plural inclusive	kur /kuʁ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ikh /iχ/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	bnim /bnim/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	yi /ji/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	bi /bi/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	ak /ak/ their (neut)

Verbs

	Future
Masculine	Prefix do- dobut /ˈdobut/
Feminine	Prefix o- obut /ˈobut/
Neuter	Prefix dvu- dvubut /ˈdvubut/

Usan uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: ʔeʁ - 'er but /ʔeʁ but/ learned

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Usan uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: ʦa - tza but /ʦa but/ learns/is learning

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.
Usan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate last part of last syllable butut /ˈbutut/ have learned

Numbers

Usan has a base-10 number system:
1 - sil
2 - dva
3 - yir
4 - gi
5 - izoh
6 - memnaguf
7 - mam
8 - ig
9 - mes
10 - zmav
Hundred - tmah
Thousand - mi

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix e-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix χ-
Else: Prefix χi-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix iʃ-
Else: Prefix iʃi-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix li-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix i-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ul-
Else: Prefix ule-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ki-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix km-
Else: Prefix kmu-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix hi-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix bo-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m-
Else: Prefix mo-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lo-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix ku-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix aʕ-
Else: Prefix aʕo-

Dictionary

3042 Words.

Root Languages

• Common

Spoken by

• Sikan