påtʻumish

Natively known as: påtʻum /ˈpətʔum/

Påtʻum is a language spoken in the northwestern part of the Kowashian Desert by the Terma people. These tribal people have settled down over the last few centuries, and have a few big cities along the rivers and oases.

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f j k m p s t v w x z ç ɣ ʃ ʒ ʔ ʝ ʤ ʧ ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m
Stop	p ᵐb		t ⁿd			k ᵑg	ʔ
Affricate				ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ	ç ʝ	x ɣ
Approximant					j

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i u ɔ ə ɛ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
High-mid	e
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ⁿd	nd
ᵑg	ng
ᵐb	mb
ʔ	ʻ
ɔ	o
ɛ	e̊
ə	å
j	y
x	kh
ʃ	sh
ɣ	g
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
ʝ	ÿ
ç	sḧ

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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

Nouns

Singular	No affix khya /xja/ dog
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ⁿd Else: Suffix -iⁿd khyand /xjaⁿd/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	zhiz /ʒiz/ the	ndung /ⁿduᵑg/ a
Plural	pfiw /pfiw/ the	yåkh /jəx/ 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	ÿish /ʝiʃ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	pfås /pfəs/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	fyok /fjɔk/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	wa /wa/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	ngåt /ᵑgət/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	mi /mi/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	wazh /waʒ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	shush /ʃuʃ/ my
2nd singular	kye̊ /kjɛ/ your
3rd singular masc	i /i/ his
3rd singular fem	wu /wu/ her
1st plural	shåzh /ʃəʒ/ our
2nd plural	ksḧog /kçɔɣ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	tyå /tjə/ their

Verbs

Påtʻumish uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: iᵐb - imb ÿim /iᵐb ʝim/ learned

Påtʻumish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: piⁿd - pind ÿim /piⁿd ʝim/ 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).
Påtʻumish uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: e - e ÿim /e ʝim/ 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.
Påtʻumish uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ç Else: Suffix -ɛç ÿime̊sḧ /ˈʝimɛç/ have learned

Numbers

Påtʻumish has a base-10 number system:
1 - vyaf
2 - yåk
3 - pyos
4 - khwe
5 - fukyizh
6 - pye
7 - zwåz
8 - mwam
9 - kåsh
10 - vwåk
Hundred - fo
Thousand - sak

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ɛk
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
Else: Suffix -ɔʒ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑg
Else: Suffix -ɔᵑg
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ
Else: Suffix -eʃ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -i
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -am
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ç
Else: Suffix -ɛç
Tending to = Suffix -əʒ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤ
Else: Suffix -əʤ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʝ
Else: Suffix -aʝ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ək
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ
Else: Suffix -iʃ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤ
Else: Suffix -iʤ
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ
Else: Suffix -ɔʃ

Dictionary

3013 Words.