Ipabi (ˈipabi)
Natively known as: ipabi /ˈipabi/
...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...mi ipi imo ke satu xu mi siri ke saru ifu mako li
Pronunciation: /mi ˈipi ˈimo ke ˈsatu xu mi ˈsiri ke ˈsaru ˈifu ˈmako li /
Ipabi word order: and stood holding his hat he and turned his wet face the wind to
Spelling & Phonology
Consonant inventory: b d f g j k l m n p r s t v x z↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | |||
Stop | p b | t d | k g | ||
Fricative | f v | s z | x | ||
Approximant | j | ||||
Trill | r | ||||
Lateral approximant | l |
Front | Back | |
---|---|---|
High | i | u |
High-mid | e | o |
Low | a |
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable ? Spelling rules:
Pronunciation | Spelling |
---|---|
ʋ | w |
ʔ | ʻ |
aː | ā |
eː | ē |
iː | ī |
oː | ō |
uː | ū |
̯ |
Grammar
Main word order: Verb Object (Prepositional phrase) Subject. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Opened the door with a key mary.Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?
Nouns
Nouns have three cases:- Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
- Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
- Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
Plural | Particle before the noun: su - su lope /su ˈlope/ dogs |
Nominative | No affix lope /ˈlope/ dog (doing the verb) |
Accusative | Prefix lu- lulope /ˈlulope/ (verb done to) dog |
Genitive | Prefix ze- zelope /ˈzelope/ dogʼs |
Definite | No affix lope /ˈlope/ the dog |
Indefinite | Prefix si- silope /ˈsilope/ a/some dog |
Articles
Ipabi encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.Pronouns
Nominative | Accusative | Genitive | |
---|---|---|---|
1st singular | pi /pi/ I | li /li/ me | o /o/ mine |
2nd singular | ni /ni/ you | vu /vu/ you | lo /lo/ yours |
3rd singular masc | xu /xu/ he, it (masc) | ku /ku/ his, it (masc) | ke /ke/ his, its (masc) |
3rd singular fem | no /no/ she, it (fem) | lu /lu/ her, it (fem) | i /i/ hers, its (fem) |
1st plural | mo /mo/ we | du /du/ us | su /su/ ours |
2nd plural | le /le/ you all | va /va/ you all | me /me/ yours (pl) |
3rd plural | di /di/ they | pe /pe/ them | pu /pu/ theirs |
Possessive determiners
Possessive | |
---|---|
1st singular | mi /mi/ my |
2nd singular | vu /vu/ your |
3rd singular masc | ke /ke/ his |
3rd singular fem | ni /ni/ her |
1st plural | za /za/ our |
2nd plural | a /a/ your (pl) |
3rd plural | po /po/ their |
Verbs
Present | No affix uzo /ˈuzo/ learn |
Past | Prefix so- souzo /ˈsouzo/ learned |
Future | Prefix vu- vuuzo /ˈvuuzo/ will learn |
Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.Ipabi uses an affix for progressive:
Progressive | Prefix ki- kiuzo /ˈkiuzo/ is learning |
Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).Ipabi uses a standalone particle word for habitual:
Habitual | Particle before the verb: se - se uzo /se ˈuzo/ learns |
Numbers
Ipabi has a base-10 number system: 1 - ve2 - le
3 - pu
4 - su
5 - di
6 - kiba
7 - lo
8 - se
9 - diju
10 - va
100 - pifi
1000 - kuxi
Derivational morphology
Adjective → adverb = Prefix ki-Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix la-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ze-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix su-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix po-
Noun to verb = Prefix mi-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix mu-
Tending to = Prefix de-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix mo-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix pa-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix le-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix mu-
Diminutive = Prefix va-
Augmentative = Prefix pe-
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