Xianmao

Natively known as: ʒiɑnmao /ˌʒiɑnˈmaʊ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ā zhē ceīng moù zhē gǎ ā wôn zhē jā mě chaǐr ang
Pronunciation: /ɛ˥ ʈʂə˥ ʦʰei̯˥ŋ mou̯˨˩˦ ʈʂə˥ ka˧˥ ɛ˥ wo˥˩n ʈʂə˥ ʨa˥ mə˧˥ ʈʂʰai̯˧˥ʐ ɛ˧ŋ/
Xianmao word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: f j k kʰ l m n p pʰ s t tʰ w x ŋ ɥ ʂ ʂʰ ʈ ʐ ʦ ʦʰ ʨ ʨʰ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ		t tʰ	ʈ			k kʰ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ		ʨ ʨʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʂ ʂʰ ʐ			x
Approximant						j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ ei̯ i o ou̯ u y ə ɛ ɤ ʊ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ ei̯ ou̯ ?
Tones: ˧ ˥ ˧˥ ˨˩˦ ˥˩

	Front	Central	Back
High	i y		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid			ɤ o
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
w	u / C_
p	b / !_ʰ
k	g / !_ʰ
t	d / !_ʰ
ʨʰ	q
ʦʰ	c
ʈʂʰ	ch
ʈʂ	zh
ʦ	z
ʐ	r
ʰ
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
x	h
ʂ	sh
ɤ	e
ə	e
ʊ	o
y	ü / C_
y	yu
j	y
ʨ	j
ɛ	a
˥˩	̂
˧˥	̌
˨˩˦	̀
˥	̄
˧
̯

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix zàn /ʦa˨˩˦n/ boy	No affix kèr /kʰə˨˩˦ʐ/ girl
Plural	Suffix -ə˧˥ŋ zàněng /ˈʦa˨˩˦nə˧˥ŋ/ boys	Suffix -ɛ˨˩˦ʐ kèràr /ˈkʰə˨˩˦ʐɛ˨˩˦ʐ/ girls

Articles

Definite	zhē /ʈʂə˥/ the
Indefinite	yē /jə˥/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	kà /kʰa˨˩˦/ I	gô /ko˥˩/ me
2nd singular	zhuâ /ʈʂwa˥˩/ you	shǎ /ʂa˧˥/ you
3rd singular masc	zhē /ʈʂə˥/ he, it (masc)	qaǔ /ʨʰau̯˧˥/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	geì /kei̯˨˩˦/ she, it (fem)	ker /kʰə˧ʐ/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	jā /ʨa˥/ we	zhān /ʈʂa˥n/ us
2nd plural	chuè /ʈʂʰwə˨˩˦/ you all	chuēr /ʈʂʰwɤ˥ʐ/ you all
3rd plural masc	zhǒ /ʈʂo˧˥/ they (masc)	chaû /ʈʂʰau̯˥˩/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	ang /a˧ŋ/ they (fem)	chô /ʈʂʰʊ˥˩/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	kà /kʰa˨˩˦/ my
2nd singular	zhuâ /ʈʂwa˥˩/ your
3rd singular masc	zhē /ʈʂə˥/ his
3rd singular fem	geì /kei̯˨˩˦/ her
1st plural	jā /ʨa˥/ our
2nd plural	chuè /ʈʂʰwə˨˩˦/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	zhǒ /ʈʂo˧˥/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ang /a˧ŋ/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix měn /mɤ˧˥n/ learn
Past	Suffix -ə˨˩˦ŋ měnèng /ˈmɤ˧˥nə˨˩˦ŋ/ learned
Future	Suffix -u˥˩ŋ měnûng /ˈmɤ˧˥nu˥˩ŋ/ will learn

Numbers

Xianmao has a base-20 number system:
1 - maīr
2 - kō
3 - weî
4 - pü̂
5 - eǐ
6 - hir
7 - sheǐn
8 - shi
9 - nī
10 - aū
11 - ɥù
12 - mǎ
13 - lān
14 - ēng
15 - yùr
16 - ceǐ
17 - be
18 - eìshǒr
19 - ker
20 - rang
400 - yo
8000 - bo

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -au̯˧
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɛ˥ŋ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -au̯˥˩
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ou̯˥ʐ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -u˥ŋ
Noun to verb = Suffix -ei̯˧˥n
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -i˥˩
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʐ
Else: Suffix -u˥˩ʐ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -a˧ʐ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -i˥
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -ou̯˧˥n
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ei̯˥
Diminutive = Suffix -u˥ŋ
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ
Else: Suffix -au̯˨˩˦ŋ

International Phonetic Alphabet Reader

Dictionary

3060 Words.

Spoken by

• Xianmao