Undercommon

Undercommon, or Daurauf, is the language most commonly spoken by Drow and other sentient beings from the Underdark.

Natively known as: daurauf /daˈuraˌuf/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
lai˩˥ a˧n o˧y nou˩˥y thá˩˥ng dá˦ lai˩˥ nou˩˥y wei˦y gei˦ rai˦th de˧y za˦
Pronunciation: /laɪ̯˩˥ ʌ˧n ɔː˧ʒ noʊ̯˩˥ʐ ðɑ˩˥ŋ dɑ˦ laɪ̯˩˥ noʊ̯˩˥ʐ weɪ̯˦j geɪ̯˦ ɹaɪ̯˦ð diː˧ʐ zæ˦/
Undercommon word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʀ ʃ ʐ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n				ŋ
Stop	p b			t d				k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ʐ				h
Approximant				ɹ			j
Trill									ʀ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ?
Tones: ˧ ˦ ˩˥ ˥˩

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: advanced ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
æ	a
ʃ	sh
ʒ	j
ʧ	ch
ʤ	j
θ	th
aʊ̯	au
eɪ̯	ei
oʊ̯	ou
ɔɪ̯	oi
ð	th
ʀ	r
ʐ	j
ɜː	e
iː	e
aɪ̯	ai
ɪ	i
ɔː	o
uː	u
ʊ	u
ʌ	a
ɛ	e
ɑ	á
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɹ	r
Vː	VV
̯

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have five cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man is in town.

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -v Else: Suffix -ʌ˧v ya˥˩v /ʒæ˥˩v/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix ya˥˩ /ʒæ˥˩/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)
Genitive	Suffix -aʊ̯˥˩t ya˥˩au˥˩t /ʒæ˥˩ˈaʊ̯˥˩t/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -eɪ̯˥˩n ya˥˩ei˥˩n /ʒæ˥˩ˈeɪ̯˥˩n/ to dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʤ Else: Suffix -ɑ˦ʤ ya˥˩y /ʒæ˥˩ʤ/ near/at/by dog

	Singular	Plural
Definite	No affix ya˥˩ /ʒæ˥˩/ the dog	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -ɑ˩˥s ya˥˩s /ʒæ˥˩s/ the dogs
Indefinite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -iː˧k ya˥˩k /ʒæ˥˩k/ a dog	Suffix -aʊ̯˥˩ ya˥˩au˥˩ /ʒæ˥˩ˈaʊ̯˥˩/ some dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	na˧ /næ˧/ I	loi˧ /lɔɪ̯˧/ me	tai˧l /taɪ̯˧l/ mine	a˩˥ /ʌ˩˥/ to me	yu˦ /ʤʊ˦/ to me
2nd singular	zu˦ /zʊ˦/ you	zu˦ /zuː˦/ you	yi˧ /jɪ˧/ yours	ei˧ /eɪ̯˧/ to you	chei˦ch /ʧeɪ̯˦ʧ/ to you
3rd singular masc	a˧n /ʌ˧n/ he, it (masc)	e˦th /iː˦ð/ his, it (masc)	pi˦th /pɪ˦ð/ his, its (masc)	lu˩˥ /luː˩˥/ to his, to it (masc)	the˦ /θɛ˦/ to his, to it (masc)
3rd singular fem	ha˦ /hʌ˦/ she, it (fem)	li˦ /lɪ˦/ her, it (fem)	á˥˩ /ɑ˥˩/ hers, its (fem)	hu˦y /hʊ˦j/ to her, to it (fem)	va˦v /væ˦v/ to her, to it (fem)
1st plural	du˧g /duː˧g/ we	we˥˩y /wiː˥˩ʒ/ us	pe˩˥ /pɜː˩˥/ ours	lai˦p /laɪ̯˦p/ to us	ra˦ /ɹæ˦/ to us
2nd plural	i˩˥k /ɪ˩˥k/ you all	i˦y /ɪ˦j/ you all	fai˧v /faɪ̯˧v/ yours (pl)	fá˥˩ /fɑ˥˩/ to you all	ai˦ /aɪ̯˦/ to you all
3rd plural	á˦n /ɑ˦n/ they	de˧ /diː˧/ them	mo˧th /mɔː˧ð/ theirs	the˧ /ðiː˧/ to them	tha˥˩l /θæ˥˩l/ to them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ho˧ /hɔː˧/ my
2nd singular	na˦y /næ˦j/ your
3rd singular masc	nou˩˥y /noʊ̯˩˥ʐ/ his
3rd singular fem	rou˩˥ /ʀoʊ̯˩˥/ her
1st plural	u˦ /ʊ˦/ our
2nd plural	dá˧ /dɑ˧/ your (pl)
3rd plural	shu˧ /ʃuː˧/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix fa˩˥ /fæ˩˥/ learn
Past	Suffix -ɪ˦ fa˩˥i˦ /fæ˩˥ˈɪ˦/ learned

Undercommon uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: jiː˦v - ye˦v fa˩˥ /jiː˦v fæ˩˥/ will learn

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.
Undercommon uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -æ˧ŋ fa˩˥a˧ng /fæ˩˥ˈæ˧ŋ/ have learned

Numbers

Undercommon has a base-10 number system:
1 - á˥˩
2 - fá˥˩
3 - hau˦
4 - ai˩˥
5 - wa˧
6 - du˧g
7 - zoi˩˥
8 - ru˥˩y
9 - ze˦s
10 - yei˥˩
100 - fo˦v
1000 - nau˧

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɪ˧m
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -uː˧j
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʀ
Else: Suffix -ɔɪ̯˧ʀ
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -zkiː˩˥
Else: Suffix -aʊ̯˧zkiː˩˥
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ʌ˥˩ð
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃhʊ˧
Else: Suffix -iː˩˥ʃhʊ˧
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -g
Else: Suffix -ɜː˧g
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
Else: Suffix -aɪ̯˩˥ʒ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -iː˩˥
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ð
Else: Suffix -iː˩˥ð
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʌ˩˥l
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʀoʊ̯˥˩
Else: Suffix -ɪ˩˥ʀoʊ̯˥˩
Diminutive = Suffix -ɔɪ̯˦l
Augmentative = Suffix -æ˦

Dictionary

3063 Words.

Spoken by

• Drow