Wortuian

"I don't get it. I just don't get it. Where in all dimensions did this come from?"

~Tripok, linguistic researcher (9748)

Not only a dead language, Wortuian has only been discovered in a single book - which is oddly enough a book about the language itself. While the language can be understood (thanks to pictures) and a rather wide understanding of the language has been learnt from this one book, no one can figure out where the book came from or even what species initially might have spoken it.

Writing System

There are 108 letters in Wortuian, which have been determined each to be a different combination of one to two phonemes. Because of this, and further study of the book in question, researchers have determined Wortuian to be a language which was pronounced precisely as it was written.

Morphology

Derivational

• Adjective → adverb = Prefix t- or ti-
• Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix be-
• Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- or jo-
• Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix p- or po-
• Noun → adjective relating to noun = Prefix u-
• Noun to verb = Prefix c͡çe-
• Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix h- or hi-
• Tending to = Prefix ge-
• Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix k- or ko-
• Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix p-or pa-
• One who [verb]s = Prefix g- or gi-
• Place of = Prefix i-
• Diminutive = Prefix o-
• Augmentative = Prefix b- or be-

Syntax

Wortuian has the definite article "yoj" and the indefinite "cho". The definite article is always used for languages and place names, anything that is individual. The indefinite article is not used for a non-specific noun, only for specifics.

Vocabulary

Pronouns

	1st Singular	2nd Singular	3rd (1st)	3rd (2nd)	1st Plural	2nd Plural	3rd Plural
Nominative	pit	yu	jo	kip	puk	khid	su
Accusative	wi	e	hus	tig	pem	eph	o
Genitive	kpar	ho	chad	du	ya	beb	begb
Dative	gon	ti	bo	ju	kho	kum	om
Locative	di	wuph	chuh	mu	gbuz	pi	so
Ablative	ki	gup	da	yis	kha	je	pikp
Instrumental	ye	yik	sob	yi	gib	peph	we
Possessives	kpar	ho	chad	du	ya	beb	begb

When it comes to Wortuian third person pronouns, there are no genders. The two separate types are to differentiate between two people in a sentence. It is unknown how they differed further when there were more than two people to speak of individually in one sentence.

Phonetics

Manner/Place	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p pʰ b	t tʰ d		k kʰ g
Affricate			c͡ç ɟ͡ʝ
Fricative		s z			h
Approximant			j
Tap		ɾ

Co-articulated phonemes

Manner/Place	Labial-velar
Stop	k͡p g͡b
Approximant	w

The stress in each word is always on the second to last syllable.

Tenses

Present	Past	Future
No affix	Prefix of j- (or je- if verb does not start with a vowel)	cham "verb"

Ongoing actions (imperfective) have a prefix of gb- or gba-.

Sentence Structure

Sentence word order: Subject Object (Preposition) Verb.

Adjective Order

Adjectives are put before a noun.

Structural Markers

Wortuian nouns are made plural with the prefix of k- or ki-. They also have seven cases.

• Nominative. No affix.
• Accusative. Prefix i-.
• Genitive. Prefix ru-.
• Dative. Prefix o-.
• Locative. Prefix s- or se-.
• Ablative. Prefix ch- or chu-.
• Instrumental. Prefix a-.

Dictionary

231 Words.