Camri, the Language of the Alyri

Camri is spoken by most Alyri. It is more commonly spoken amongst themselves than with outsiders. The language developed long ago in the mountain ranges of Talus before the Alyri became seafaring people. The people of Talus still speak Camri to this day, that being one of the only things that they have in common with their cousins, the Alyri. 

Natively known as: chyamri /ˈcamri/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ve va vin qe va ûnthi ve qeuns va dad trethû geth ukh
Pronunciation: /ve va vin qe va ˈynthi ve ˈqeuns va dad ˈtrethy geth ux/
Camri word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p q r s t v w x z

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	c	k g	q
Fricative		f v	s z		x		h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

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

Pronunciation	Spelling
y	û
c	chy
j	y
x	kh

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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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

Singular	Prefix i- ichyorn /ˈicorn/ dog
Plural	No affix chyorn /corn/ dogs

Articles

Definite	gu /gu/ the
Indefinite	a /a/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

Pronouns

1st singular	o /o/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ûrn /yrn/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	va /va/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	u /u/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	ol /ol/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	bra /bra/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	zeph /zeph/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ir /ir/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	o /o/ my
2nd singular	ûrn /yrn/ your
3rd singular masc	va /va/ his
3rd singular fem	u /u/ her
1st plural inclusive	ol /ol/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	bra /bra/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	zeph /zeph/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ir /ir/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix ker /ker/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix de- deker /ˈdeker/ learned
Remote past	If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix go- goker /ˈgoker/ learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix ar- Else: Prefix ari- ariker /aˈriker/ will learn

Progressive aspect

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

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ved - ved ker /ved ker/ 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).
Camri uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Prefix a- aker /ˈaker/ 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.
Camri uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix a- aker /ˈaker/ have learned

Numbers

Camri has a base-10 number system:
1 - ath
2 - dûs
3 - re
4 - feri
5 - is
6 - tha
7 - tri
8 - ne
9 - sa
10 - vid
Hundred - trûrn
Thousand - chyan

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix x-
Else: Prefix xy-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix r-
Else: Prefix ra-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix ju-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix vu-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix su-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix e-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix ar-
Else: Prefix ari-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix da-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix lu-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix enn-
Else: Prefix enna-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ny-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
Else: Prefix hu-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix onn-
Else: Prefix onne-

Dictionary

3034 Words.