Imperium Royal
Natively known as: ítmam /ˈɪtmam/
Phonology
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
kshush nyo tũn tot sosh kha kshush tũn kship thaw myaw ngkã i
Pronunciation: /kʃuʃ njo tũn tot soʃ kha kʃuʃ tũn kʃip thɔ mjɔ ŋkã i/
Ítmamish word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned
Vowel inventory: a ã e i ĩ o u ũ ɔ ɛ ɪ ɪ̃ ʊ ʊ̃
Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: h hj j kh km ks kʃ l lj m mj nj nl nt pl s sm t th ts ŋ ŋk ʃ
Mid-word consonants: h hk hl ht j jl js jt jʃ jʔ k kj kk km l ln lp lt m mh ml mm mn mp mt mʔ n nh nk nl nm ns nʃ p pj pk pn pp ps pt s sh sl sn sp st sʔ t th tl tm tn tp ts tt tʔ ŋ ŋh ŋm ŋn ŋs ʃ ʃl ʃm ʃn ʃp ʃt ʔ ʔm
Word final consonants: l m n p s t ŋ ʃ
Spelling rules:
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions
Nouns Nouns have two cases:
Ítmamish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:
kshush nyo tũn tot sosh kha kshush tũn kship thaw myaw ngkã i
Pronunciation: /kʃuʃ njo tũn tot soʃ kha kʃuʃ tũn kʃip thɔ mjɔ ŋkã i/
Ítmamish word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: h j k l m n p s t ŋ ʃ ʔ| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||
| Stop | p | t | k | ʔ | ||
| Fricative | s | ʃ | h | |||
| Approximant | j | |||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i ĩ | u ũ |
| Near-high | ɪ ɪ̃ | ʊ ʊ̃ |
| High-mid | e | o |
| Low-mid | ɛ | ɔ |
| Low | ã a |
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| ʔ | ʻ |
| ɔ | aw |
| ɛ | é |
| ɪ | í |
| ʊ | ú |
| j | y |
| ŋ | ng |
| ʃ | sh |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject Object (Prepositional phrase) Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door with a key opened.Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions
Nouns Nouns have two cases:
- Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
- Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
| Nominative | No affix nyũt /njũt/ dog (doing the verb) |
| Accusative | Prefix i- inyũt /ˈinjũt/ (verb done to) dog |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Definite | No affix nyũt /njũt/ the dog | Prefix ʊ̃- ú̃nyũt /ˈʊ̃njũt/ the dogs |
| Indefinite | If starts with vowel: Prefix ŋk- Else: Prefix ŋkɪ- ngkínyũt /ˈŋkɪnjũt/ a dog | If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sɔ- sawnyũt /ˈsɔnjũt/ some dogs |
Articles
Ítmamish encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.Pronouns
| Nominative | Accusative | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ngké /ŋkɛ/ I | yé /jɛ/ me |
| 2nd singular | mosh /moʃ/ you | ãs /ãs/ you |
| 3rd singular masc | nyo /njo/ he, it | nga /ŋa/ him, it |
| 3rd singular fem | shí /ʃɪ/ she, it | ngo /ŋo/ her, it |
| 1st plural | a /a/ we | se /se/ us |
| 2nd plural | us /us/ you all | myú /mjʊ/ you all |
| 3rd plural | ngú̃s /ŋʊ̃s/ they | tse /tse/ them |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | sho /ʃo/ my |
| 2nd singular | mya /mja/ your |
| 3rd singular masc | tũn /tũn/ his |
| 3rd singular fem | é /ɛ/ her |
| 1st plural | shãl /ʃãl/ our |
| 2nd plural | smún /smʊn/ your (pl) |
| 3rd plural | maw /mɔ/ their |
Verbs
| Present | No affix ngki /ŋki/ learn |
| Past | If starts with vowel: Prefix sm- Else: Prefix smã- smãngki /ˈsmãŋki/ learned |
| Remote past | If starts with vowel: Prefix mj- Else: Prefix mju- myungki /ˈmjuŋki/ learned (long ago) |
| Future | Particle before the verb: ʃɔ - shaw ngki /ʃɔ ŋki/ will learn |
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). Ítmamish uses an affix for imperfective:| Imperfective | If starts with vowel: Prefix ŋk- Else: Prefix ŋkĩ- ngkĩngki /ˈŋkĩŋki/ learns/is learning |
Morphology
- Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- (Else: Prefix ʃɔ-)
- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix lj- (Else: Prefix ljʊ-)
- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ks- (Else: Prefix ksʊ̃-)
- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix hj- (Else: Prefix hjã-)
- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix km- (Else: Prefix kmo-)
- Noun to verb = Prefix kso-
- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- (Else: Prefix me-)
- Tending to = Prefix lʊ-
- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix nt- (Else: Prefix ntã-)
- Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix o-
- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ- (Else: Prefix ʃɪ-)
- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ŋk- (Else: Prefix ŋkʊ̃-)
- Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix pl- (Else: Prefix plʊ̃-)
- Augmentative = Prefix a-
Dictionary
Numbers
Ítmamish has a base-10 number system:- 1 - kson
- 2 - khí̃
- 3 - om
- 4 - yis
- 5 - kmĩ
- 6 - ngko
- 7 - sã
- 8 - myú̃
- 9 - u
- 10 - thawm
- 11 - thawm kshush kson “ten and one”
- 100 - kson tet “one hundred”
- 101 - kson tet kshush kson “one hundred and one”
- 200 - khí̃ tet
- 1000 - kson kmé “one thousand”
Successor Languages
Comments