Liddan Language (ˈlɪðaː)

The main language in this world, spoken by the main characters.

Natively known as: lidda /ˈlɪðaː/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
the sy hy hwy dai pro the ie dai le llu mewd rey
Pronunciation: /θeː sɨ hə hʊɨ̯ dai̯ proː θeː jɛ dai̯ lɛ ɬu mɛu̯d reɨ̯/
Liddan word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g h j k l m n n̥ p r r̥ s t v w ð ŋ ɬ ʃ θ χ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n n̥			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Fricative		v	θ ð	s	ʃ			χ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r r̥
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ aɨ̯ aː ei̯ eɨ̯ eː i iː oː u uː ɔ ɔi̯ ɔɨ̯ ə əu̯ ɛ ɛu̯ ɨ ɨu̯ ɨː ɪ ɪu̯ ʊ ʊɨ̯
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ aɨ̯ ei̯ eɨ̯ ɔi̯ ɔɨ̯ əu̯ ɛu̯ ɨu̯ ɪu̯ ʊɨ̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː	ɨ ɨː	u uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	eː		oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	a aː

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
f	ph
v	f
k	c
ŋ	ng
χ	ch
θ	th
r̥	rh
ɬ	ll
ð	dd
ɪu	iw
ɨu	uw
ʊɨ	wy
ɛu	ew
ɔi	oi
əu	yw
eɨ	ey
aː	a
ɔ	o
oː	o
iː	i
ɪ	i
eː	e
ɛ	e
uː	w
ʊ	w
j	i
ɨː	y
ɨ	y
ə	y
ʃ	si
n̥	n
̯

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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

Singular	No affix wib /wɪb/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix sd- Else: Prefix sdu- sduwib /ˈsduwɪb/ dogs

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular	siy /ʃɨ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	cei /kei̯/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	sy /sɨ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	cewf /kɛu̯v/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	woi /wɔi̯/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	clyd /kləd/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	au /au̯/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	chwy /χʊɨ̯/ my
2nd singular	y /ɨ/ your
3rd singular masc	dai /dai̯/ his
3rd singular fem	wiw /wɪu̯/ her
1st plural	ia /ja/ our
2nd plural	bli /bli/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nis /niːs/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix dei /dei̯/ learn
Past	Prefix ɛ- edei /ˈɛdei̯/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix ð- Else: Prefix ðɔ- ddodei /ˈðɔdei̯/ learned (long ago)

Liddan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: r̥iː - rhi dei /r̥iː dei̯/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Liddan uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix da- dadei /ˈdadei̯/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Liddan has a base-10 number system:
1 - cirs
2 - thyrde
3 - ge
4 - do
5 - so
6 - sny
7 - thii
8 - hai
9 - thii
10 - ntill
11 - ntillcirs “ten-one”
100 - an “hundred”
101 - an cirs “hundred one”
200 - thyrde an
1000 - clabynd “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɬ-
Else: Prefix ɬɔi̯-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix eɨ̯-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɛ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
Else: Prefix wɛ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix boː-
Noun to verb = Prefix ta-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix boː-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix v-
Else: Prefix va-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix tuː-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix gi-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix əu̯-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix θj-
Else: Prefix θjaː-
Augmentative = Prefix gwnɪ-

Dictionary

4427 Words.