Olean (Oh-leen)

Natively known as: scor˦ /skɔː˦/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ta˦ throi˦led ere˦dged bere˦ ni˦m whur˦ ta˦ bere˦ stai˦ vor˦ fli˦ dree˦rm splai˦
Pronunciation: /tæ˦ θɹɔɪ̯˦lt ɛə̯˦ʤd bɛə̯˦ nɪ˦m ʍɜː˦ tæ˦ bɛə̯˦ staɪ̯˦ vɔː˦ flɪ˦ dɹiː˦ɹm splaɪ̯˦/
Olean 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 r s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ɾ ʃ ʍ ʤ ʧ θ

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	ʍ w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɑː ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɛə̯ ɜː ɪ ɪə̯ ʊ ʊə̯ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛə̯ ɪə̯ ʊə̯
Tones: ˦

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

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	qu
kt	cked / _#
k	c / !_{ɪ,i,ɛ,e,s}
oʊC₁	oC₁e
uːC₁	uC₁e / _#
eɪC₁	aC₁e / _#
ð	th
θ	th
ʍ	wh
ŋg	ng
ŋk	nk
ŋ	ng
ʧ	ch
ʃ	sh
ɹ	r
z	s / _#
ju	u / C_
cc	ck
c	k / _#
{t,d}	ed / C_#
aʊ	ow / _#
aʊ	ou
ɔɪ	oi
ɪə	ear
ɪ	y / _#
ɪ	i
ji	yi
j	y
iː	y / _#
yy	yi / _#
y	i / #_#
ʌ	u
iː	ee
oʊ	o
ʊ	oo
ɛ	e
ɑ(ː)	a
t	tt / æ_#
l	ll / æ_#
s	ss / æ_#
z	zz / æ_#
æ	a
ʤ	j / #_
ʤ	ge / _#
ʤ	dg
ɜː	ur
ɔː	or
uː	u
quur	quir
eə	ere
̯

---

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:

• 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.
• Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.

Nominative	No affix me˦ned /mɛ˦nd/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix sk- Else: Prefix skuː˦- scu˦me˦ned /ˈskuː˦mɛ˦nd/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Prefix æ˦- a˦me˦ned /ˈæ˦mɛ˦nd/ dogʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jeɪ̯˦- yei˦me˦ned /ˈjeɪ̯˦mɛ˦nd/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pɔː˦- por˦me˦ned /ˈpɔː˦mɛ˦nd/ near/at/by (the/a) dog

Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix θɹ- Else: Prefix θɹɪ˦- thri˦me˦ned /ˈθɹɪ˦mɛ˦nd/ dog
Plural	No affix me˦ned /mɛ˦nd/ dogs

Articles

Olean has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	mei˦ /meɪ̯˦/ I	shru˦ /ʃɹʌ˦/ me	thoo˦ns /θʊ˦nz/ mine	ei˦ /eɪ̯˦/ to me	troo˦ /tɹʊ˦/ at me
2nd singular	foo˦ /fʊ˦/ you	tooə˦rcked /tʊə̯˦ɹkt/ you	spu˦ /spuː˦/ yours	rooə˦ /ɹʊə̯˦/ to you	poo˦ /pʊ˦/ at you
3rd singular	throi˦led /θɹɔɪ̯˦lt/ he, she, it	ploo˦t /plʊ˦t/ him, her, it	bere˦ /bɛə̯˦/ his, hers, its	ploo˦ /plʊ˦/ to him, her, it	ki˦ /kɪ˦/ at him, her, it
1st plural inclusive	ra˦ /ɹæ˦/ we (including you)	moi˦lm /mɔɪ̯˦lm/ us (including you)	a˦n /ɑ˦n/ ours (including you)	sna˦ /snɑ˦/ to us (including you)	pra˦ /pɹæ˦/ at us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	pla˦ /plæ˦/ we (excluding you)	dee˦mp /diː˦mp/ us (excluding you)	tai˦ /taɪ̯˦/ ours (excluding you)	thee˦ /θiː˦/ to us (excluding you)	te˦ /tɛ˦/ at us (excluding you)
2nd plural	snoi˦ned /snɔɪ̯˦nd/ you all	cur˦ /kɜː˦/ you all	strur˦ /stɹɜː˦/ yours (pl)	gu˦red /gʌ˦ɹd/ to you all	cle˦ /klɛ˦/ at you all
3rd plural	trur˦ /tɹɜː˦/ they	ra˦ /ɹɑː˦/ them	sto˦ /stoʊ̯˦/ theirs	ear˦ /ɪə̯˦/ to them	two˦rth /twoʊ̯˦ɹθ/ at them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	thoo˦ns /θʊ˦nz/ my
2nd singular	spu˦ /spuː˦/ your
3rd singular	bere˦ /bɛə̯˦/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	a˦n /ɑ˦n/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	tai˦ /taɪ̯˦/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	strur˦ /stɹɜː˦/ your (pl)
3rd plural	sto˦ /stoʊ̯˦/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix stɹ- Else: Prefix stɹaʊ̯˦- strou˦quei˦ /ˈstɹaʊ̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (I) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tɪ˦- ti˦quei˦ /ˈtɪ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (I) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix w- Else: Prefix wʊ˦- woo˦quei˦ /ˈwʊ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (I) learned (long ago)
2nd singular	Prefix skɹɪ˦- scri˦quei˦ /ˈskɹɪ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (you) learn	Prefix klɪ˦- cli˦quei˦ /ˈklɪ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (you) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pɪ˦- pi˦quei˦ /ˈpɪ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (you) learned (long ago)
3rd singular	Prefix aɪ̯˦- ai˦quei˦ /ˈaɪ̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (he/she/it) learns	If starts with vowel: Prefix sw- Else: Prefix swaɪ̯˦- swai˦quei˦ /ˈswaɪ̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (he/she/it) learned	Prefix ɔː˦- or˦quei˦ /ˈɔː˦kweɪ̯˦/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)
1st plural inclusive	Prefix ɔɪ̯˦- oi˦quei˦ /ˈɔɪ̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (we) learn (including you)	Prefix ɛə̯˦- ere˦quei˦ /ˈɛə̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (we) learned (including you)	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tɛə̯˦- tere˦quei˦ /ˈtɛə̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (we) learned (including you) (long ago)
1st plural exclusive	If starts with vowel: Prefix spl- Else: Prefix splʊ˦- sploo˦quei˦ /ˈsplʊ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (we) learn (excluding you)	If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix hʊə̯˦- hooə˦quei˦ /ˈhʊə̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (we) learned (excluding you)	If starts with vowel: Prefix stɹ- Else: Prefix stɹaɪ̯˦- strai˦quei˦ /ˈstɹaɪ̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (we) learned (excluding you) (long ago)
2nd plural	Prefix plæ˦- pla˦quei˦ /ˈplæ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix fl- Else: Prefix flɔː˦- flor˦quei˦ /ˈflɔː˦kweɪ̯˦/ (you all) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nɪ˦- ni˦quei˦ /ˈnɪ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (you all) learned (long ago)
3rd plural	Prefix tɹɪ˦- tri˦quei˦ /ˈtɹɪ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix kw- Else: Prefix kwaʊ̯˦- quou˦quei˦ /ˈkwaʊ̯˦kweɪ̯˦/ (they) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix gl- Else: Prefix glʊ˦- gloo˦quei˦ /ˈglʊ˦kweɪ̯˦/ (they) learned (long ago)

Olean uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kɛə̯˦pt - kere˦ped quei˦ /kɛə̯˦pt kweɪ̯˦/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: smʊə̯˦ - smooə˦ quei˦ /smʊə̯˦ kweɪ̯˦/ 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).
Olean uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If starts with vowel: Prefix spl- Else: Prefix spliː˦- splee˦quei˦ /ˈspliː˦kweɪ̯˦/ learns

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.
Olean uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix ɑ˦- a˦quei˦ /ˈɑ˦kweɪ̯˦/ have learned

Numbers

Olean has a base-10 number system:
1 - ni˦fed
2 - cor˦
3 - noo˦
4 - de˦
5 - sti˦
6 - cu˦
7 - gooə˦
8 - ba˦lved
9 - tu˦
10 - spee˦
11 - spee˦ni˦fed “ten-one”
100 - swee˦ch “hundred”
101 - swee˦ch ta˦ ni˦fed “hundred and one”
200 - cor˦ swee˦ch
1000 - fru˦ “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -iː˦ŋkt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -iː˦
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix swaɪ̯˦-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɑ˦
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -iː˦
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix kw-
Else: Prefix kwoʊ̯˦-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix wɪ˦-
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ls
Else: Suffix -ɛ˦ls
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix kɜː˦-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -æ˦ld
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɹ
Else: Suffix -eɪ̯˦ɹ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɑ˦
Diminutive = Prefix ɜː˦-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -lm
Else: Suffix -ʌ˦lm

Geographical Distribution

Olean is spoken throughout Regartfael, Epaphas and Alboin, and is the de facto language of trade and business across Oleanus.

Spoken by

• Alboini
• Epaphi
• Regartfaelian