Mesgarish, Language of the Donain (ˈmɛsgar)

Natively known as: mesgar /ˈmɛsgar/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ca hays hany tyl hays hyc ca nyne hays camyn nin ci demon
Pronunciation: /ka haɨ̯s ˈhanɨ tɨl haɨ̯s hək ka ˈnɨnɛ haɨ̯s ˈkamɨn niːn kɪ ˈdɛmɔn/
Mesgarish 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				r̥ r
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ai̯ au̯ aɨ̯ aɪ̯ aʊ̯ aː ei̯ eɨ̯ eɪ̯ eː i iː oʊ̯ oː u uː æ ɑ ɔ ɔi̯ ɔɨ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ə əu̯ ɛ ɛu̯ ɜ ɨ ɨu̯ ɨː ɪ ɪu̯ ʊ ʊɨ̯ ʌ
Diphthongs: ai̯ au̯ aɨ̯ aɪ̯ aʊ̯ ei̯ eɨ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔi̯ ɔɨ̯ ɔɪ̯ əu̯ ɛu̯ ɨu̯ ɪu̯ ʊɨ̯ ?

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Antepenult — stress is on the third last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
f	ph
v	f
k	c
ŋ	ng
χ	ch
θ	th
r̥	rh
ɬ	ll
ð	dd
ɪu̯	iw
ɨu̯	uw
ʊɨ̯	wy
ɛu̯	ew
ɔi̯	oi
əu̯	yw
eɨ̯	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

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: dab - dab ny /dab nɨ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	hen /hɛn/ the
Indefinite	ha /ha/ a, some

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

1st singular	aw /aʊ̯/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	do /dɔ/ you, yours
3rd singular	hays /haɨ̯s/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	ywr /əu̯r/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	cod /kɔd/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	be /bɛ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	aw /aʊ̯/ my
2nd singular	do /dɔ/ your
3rd singular	hays /haɨ̯s/ his, her, its
1st plural	ywr /əu̯r/ our
2nd plural	cod /kɔd/ your (pl)
3rd plural	be /bɛ/ their

Verbs

Mesgarish uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: θɨ - thy diw /θɨ dɪu̯/ learned

Mesgarish uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: hɔn - hon diw /hɔn dɪu̯/ 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).
Mesgarish uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix dɜ- dɜdiw /ˈdɜdɪu̯/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Mesgarish has a base-20 number system:
1 - pe
2 - yd
3 - dy
4 - eyn
5 - cay
6 - de
7 - nai
8 - sia
9 - ce
10 - syron
11 - cy
12 - pon
13 - dytha
14 - cyfn
15 - can
16 - nan
17 - ga
18 - ho
19 - pyfa
20 - ta
400 - nera
8000 - han

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix g-
Else: Prefix ga-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix niː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix an-
Else: Prefix anɨ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ai̯g-
Else: Prefix ai̯ga-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix b-
Else: Prefix ba-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ga-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix asg-
Else: Prefix asgʊ-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔb-
Else: Prefix ɔbə-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɔ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix dei̯-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix nai̯-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix kɔ-
Augmentative = Prefix r̥ai̯-

Dictionary

3026 Words.