UIW Standard

Natively known as: nyonyĩd’ /ˈɲoɲĩɗ/

Phonology

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
bob’ mon lĩny b’om tho tip bob’ shũny tho thẽr me̊gbiihde̊f d’e wũfo
Pronunciation: /boɓ mon lĩɲ ɓom θo tip boɓ ʃũɲ θo θẽɾ ˈmɛgbiːhdɛf ɗe ˈwũfo/
Nyonyĩd’ian word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind[/alt]

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t w ɓ ɗ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʄ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Implosive	ɓ			ɗ		ʄ
Fricative		f	θ	s	ʃ			h
Approximant						j
Tap				ɾ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a aː ã e eː ẽ i iː ĩ o u uː ũ ɛ

	Front	Back
High	i iː ĩ	u uː ũ
High-mid	e ẽ eː	o
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a aː ã

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b d g h l m n s t w ɓ ɗ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʄ θ
Mid-word consonants: b bb bj bl bt d db dd dl ds dt dw f fd fg fh fn ft fw g gb gg gk gm gw gɾ gʃ h hd hj hk hl hɾ j jd jg jk jl jʃ k kd kf kk ks kɲ kʃ l lb lf lg lk ll lm ln lp ls lt lw m mb md mg mh mn mɾ mθ n nb nd nf ng nh nk nm nt nw nɲ nɾ p pf pk pn pw pʃ s sg sk sn sp ss sɲ sɾ t tb tg th tj tm ts w wb wd wg wk wl wp wt ww wʃ ɓ ɗ ɲ ɲj ɲl ɲɲ ɾ ɾf ɾk ɾl ɾn ɾp ɾs ɾt ɾw ɾʃ ʃ ʃh ʃj ʃk ʃm ʃn ʃp ʃs ʄ θ θd θf θh θj θw
Word final consonants: b f g k l m n p s t w ɓ ɗ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʄ θ
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɛ	e̊
j	y
ɓ	b’
ɗ	d’
ɲ	ny
ɾ	r
ʃ	sh
ʄ	j
θ	th
Vː	VV

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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: prepositions

Nouns

Singular	Prefix gu- gub’es /ˈguɓes/ dog
Plural	No affix b’es /ɓes/ dogs

Articles

Definite	je̊r /ʄɛɾ/ the
Indefinite	nyub’ /ɲuɓ/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• 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 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 singular	to /to/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	e̊ /ɛ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	mon /mon/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	nẽ /nẽ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	mas /mas/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	wu /wu/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	hit /hit/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	e̊ /ɛ/ my
2nd singular	thũ /θũ/ your
3rd singular masc	tho /θo/ his
3rd singular fem	o /o/ her
1st plural	se̊ /sɛ/ our
2nd plural	ti /ti/ your (pl)
3rd plural	rĩ /ɾĩ/ their

Verbs

Future

If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix ma- mashẽm /ˈmaʃẽm/ will learn

Nyonyĩd’ian uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: wuːt - wuut shẽm /wuːt ʃẽm/ learned

Morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix ta-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix ho-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɲ-
Else: Prefix ɲã-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix tuː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ĩ-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix so-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix i-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɛ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix o-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix si-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix gã-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix θ-
Else: Prefix θi-
Diminutive = Prefix hu-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾ-
Else: Prefix ɾe-

Dictionary

339 Words.

Numbers

Nyonyĩd’ian has a base-20 number system:

• 1 - gu
• 2 - haa
• 3 - miib’
• 4 - u
• 5 - suu
• 6 - thi
• 7 - b’ii
• 8 - mẽ
• 9 - ĩshkĩ
• 10 - se̊
• 11 - mon
• 12 - opii
• 13 - notye
• 14 - thij
• 15 - uuyo
• 16 - ef
• 17 - re̊th
• 18 - tĩwte̊m
• 19 - ĩf
• 20 - d’ãlban
• 21 - gu bob’ d’ãlban “one and twenty”
• 400 - shii “fourhundred”
• 401 - shii bob’ gu “fourhundred and one”
• 800 - haa shii “two fourhundred”
• 8000 - mum “eightthousand”

Successor Languages

• Lowers Patois