Decourean (Duh-core-an)

Natively known as: úceich /ˈuːcɛx/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ó bo ciúl lú a pó ó dur a clo cíg drís líg
Pronunciation: /oː bˠɔ cuːɫ ɫuː əi̯ pʲoː oː d̪ˠʊɾʲ əi̯ kɫɔ ciːɟ dʲɾʲiːʃ ɫiːɟ/
Decourean word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: bʲ bˠ c dʲ d̪ˠ fʲ fˠ g h k lʲ mʲ mˠ nʲ n̪ˠ pʲ pˠ sˠ tʲ t̪ˠ vʲ vˠ x ç ŋ ɟ ɫ ɲ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʃ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	mʲ mˠ		n̪ˠ	nʲ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pʲ pˠ bʲ bˠ		t̪ˠ d̪ˠ	tʲ dʲ		c ɟ	k g
Fricative		fʲ fˠ vʲ vˠ		sˠ	ʃ	ç	x	h
Tap				ɾʲ ɾˠ
Lateral approximant				lʲ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Velarized alveolar
Lateral approximant	ɫ

Vowel inventory: a eː ia̯ iə̯ iː oː uə̯ uː ɑː ɔ əi̯ əu̯ ɛ ɪ ʊ
Diphthongs: ia̯ iə̯ uə̯ əi̯ əu̯

	Front	Back
High	iː	uː
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	eː	oː
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a	ɑː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
ca	cea
coː	ceo
cu	ciu
kɪ	coi | cai | cui
k	c
h	th
x	ch
ç	ch
ɲ	nn
#n̪ˠ	n
nʲ	n
n̪ˠ	nn
ŋg	ng
ŋ	ng
mʲ	m
mˠ	m
pʲ	p
pˠ	p
bʲ	b
bˠ	b
lʲ	l
ɫ	l
ʃa	sea
sˠɪ	sai
sˠi	suí
sˠeː	sao
ʃɔ	seo | sio
ʃo	seo
ʃu	siu
ʃ	s
sˠ	s
tʲ	te / _{a,ɑː}
tʲ	t
tʲu	tiu
t̪ˠoː	teo
t̪ˠɛ	te
t̪ˠ	t
fˠi	faoi
fˠɪ	fui
fˠuː	fiú
fˠ	f
fʲ	f
ɟ	g
ɪ	i
ɑː	á
eːɾˠ	éar
ɾˠ	r
ɾʲ	r
vˠ	bh | mh
vʲ	bh
d̪ˠ	d
dʲ	d
əi	a
eː	é
ɛ	ei
ɔ	o
oː	ó
iː	í
uː	ú
iə	ia
əu	ai
uə	ua
ʊ	u
̯

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Grammar

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

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.

Nominative	No affix nég /n̪ˠeːg/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix tʲ- Else: Prefix tʲɛ- teinnég /ˈtʲɛn̪ˠeːg/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix sˠt̪ˠ- Else: Prefix sˠt̪ˠa- stannég /ˈsˠt̪ˠan̪ˠeːg/ dogʼs

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix c- Else: Prefix ca- ceabhést /ˈcavʲeːsˠt̪ˠ/ man	No affix bhést /vʲeːsˠt̪ˠ/ men
Feminine	Prefix huə̯- thuaeica /huə̯ˈɛka/ woman	No affix eica /ˈɛka/ women
Neuter	Prefix lʲəu̯- lainnég /ˈlʲəu̯n̪ˠeːg/ dog	Prefix ɟɪ- ginnég /ˈɟɪn̪ˠeːg/ dogs

Articles

Definite	lí /lʲiː/ the
Indefinite	la /ɫa/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	duann /d̪ˠuə̯n̪ˠ/ I	fuinn /fˠɪɲ/ me	ar /aɾʲ/ mine
2nd singular	dís /d̪ˠiːʃ/ you	scú /sˠkuː/ you	birt /bˠɪɾˠt̪ˠ/ yours
3rd singular masc	ciúl /cuːɫ/ he	ia /ia̯/ him	dar /d̪ˠaɾˠ/ his
3rd singular fem	ní /n̪ˠiː/ she	chlú /xɫuː/ her	sio /ʃɔ/ hers
3rd singular neuter	óbh /oːvʲ/ it	mí /mˠiː/ it	rá /ɾˠɑː/ its
1st plural	dó /d̪ˠoː/ we	bruc /bʲɾʲʊk/ us	sea /ʃa/ ours
2nd plural	é /eː/ you all	bhót /vʲoːtʲ/ you all	li /ɫɪ/ yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	famh /fʲavˠ/ they (masc)	thial /hia̯ɫ/ them (masc)	í /iː/ theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	bréar /bˠɾˠeːɾˠ/ they (fem)	bos /bˠɔʃ/ them (fem)	bé /bʲeː/ theirs (fem)
3rd plural neuter	i /ɪ/ they (neut)	clant /kɫanʲtʲ/ them (neut)	gég /ɟeːɟ/ theirs (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	fa /fʲa/ my
2nd singular	clia /kɫiə̯/ your
3rd singular masc	a /əi̯/ his
3rd singular fem	íg /iːɟ/ her
3rd singular neuter	po /pʲɔ/ its
1st plural	beid /bˠɛdʲ/ our
2nd plural	scrá /ʃcɾʲɑː/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	pua /pˠuə̯/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	í /iː/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	crél /kɾˠeːlʲ/ their (neut)

Verbs

Present	No affix dod /dʲɔdʲ/ learn
Past	Prefix a- adod /ˈadʲɔdʲ/ learned
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix bʲ- Else: Prefix bʲuə̯- buadod /ˈbʲuə̯dʲɔdʲ/ will learn

Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Decourean uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: n̪ˠiːmˠ - ním dod /n̪ˠiːmˠ dʲɔdʲ/ 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).
Decourean uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix d̪ˠ- Else: Prefix d̪ˠiː- dídod /ˈd̪ˠiːdʲɔdʲ/ learns

Numbers

Decourean has a base-10 number system:
1 - i
2 - chlú
3 - í
4 - einnu
5 - diast
6 - cló
7 - trírd
8 - fuimh
9 - fra
10 - fiú
11 - fiú ó i “ten and one”
100 - pir “hundred”
101 - pir i “hundred one”
200 - chlú pir
1000 - seal “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɾˠ-
Else: Prefix ɾˠɑː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fˠ-
Else: Prefix fˠɑː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n̪ˠ-
Else: Prefix n̪ˠəi̯-
Noun to verb = Prefix cɾʲuə̯-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix a-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix vʲ-
Else: Prefix vʲa-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃuː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃɪ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n̪ˠ-
Else: Prefix n̪ˠiə̯-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ɪ-
Diminutive = Prefix ɔ-
Augmentative = Prefix tʲiː-

Spoken by

• Decourean