Si̊pyo, the Language of the Soan (sɨpjo)

This is the language of the Soan. It is called Sipyo, in their tongue. Soan seems to be the agreed upon pronunciation for everyone else.

Natively known as: si̊pyo /ˈsɨpjo/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
la hich luhi di̊ch la puk la kogaÿ la ÿoko eng uki̊s yekh
Pronunciation: /la hiʧ ˈluhi dɨʧ la puk la ˈkoɣaʎ la ˈʎoko eŋ ˈukɨs jex/
Si̊pyoian word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d h j k l m p s t x z ŋ ɣ ɦ ʃ ʎ ʒ ʔ ʤ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m				ŋ
Stop	p b	t d			k	ʔ
Affricate			ʧ ʤ
Fricative		s z	ʃ ʒ		x ɣ	h ɦ
Approximant				j
Lateral approximant		l		ʎ

Vowel inventory: a e i o u ɨ

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
High-mid	e		o
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ɨ	i̊
j	y
x	kh
ŋ	ng
ɣ	g
ɦ	gh
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
ʎ	ÿ

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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: postpositions

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	No affix di̊s /dɨs/ man	Suffix -ɨɦ di̊si̊gh /ˈdɨsɨɦ/ men
Feminine	No affix ÿeb /ʎeb/ woman	Suffix -uʒ ÿebuzh /ˈʎebuʒ/ women
Neuter	No affix ÿoke /ˈʎoke/ dog	Suffix -ɨ ÿokei̊ /ʎoˈkeɨ/ dogs

Articles

Definite	pu /pu/ the
Indefinite	chi̊d /ʧɨd/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

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

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	zhung /ʒuŋ/ I	zhe /ʒe/ me
2nd singular	luj /luʤ/ you	kim /kim/ you
3rd singular masc	hich /hiʧ/ he	ghu /ɦu/ him
3rd singular fem	hech /heʧ/ she	pi /pi/ her
3rd singular neuter	ÿu /ʎu/ it	de /de/ it
1st plural	le /le/ we	ti /ti/ us
2nd plural	i̊ /ɨ/ you all	ta /ta/ you all
3rd plural masc	choj /ʧoʤ/ they (masc)	logh /loɦ/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	kuch /kuʧ/ they (fem)	lokh /lox/ them (fem)
3rd plural neuter	hizh /hiʒ/ they (neut)	shid /ʃid/ them (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	zhoÿ /ʒoʎ/ my
2nd singular	ghang /ɦaŋ/ your
3rd singular masc	la /la/ his
3rd singular fem	dek /dek/ her
3rd singular neuter	de /de/ its
1st plural	da /da/ our
2nd plural	daÿ /daʎ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	sha /ʃa/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	li̊ /lɨ/ their (fem)
3rd plural neuter	im /im/ their (neut)

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -ɨs ongi̊s /ˈoŋɨs/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ɨp ongi̊p /ˈoŋɨp/ (I) learned
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋxɨ Else: Suffix -oŋxɨ ongongkhi̊ /oˈŋoŋxɨ/ (you) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -se Else: Suffix -ise ongise /oˈŋise/ (you) learned
3rd singular masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ Else: Suffix -iʒ ongizh /ˈoŋiʒ/ (he) learns	Suffix -eʧ ongech /ˈoŋeʧ/ (he) learned
3rd singular fem	Suffix -uŋ ongung /ˈoŋuŋ/ (she) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -bmi Else: Suffix -abmi ongabmi /oˈŋabmi/ (she) learned
3rd singular neuter	Suffix -eʤ ongej /ˈoŋeʤ/ (it) learns	Suffix -ok ongok /ˈoŋok/ (it) learned
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -im ongim /ˈoŋim/ (we) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -ɨʧ ongi̊ch /ˈoŋɨʧ/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kʧɨ Else: Suffix -ɨkʧɨ ongi̊kchi̊ /oˈŋɨkʧɨ/ (you all) learn	Suffix -ɨ ongi̊ /ˈoŋɨ/ (you all) learned
3rd plural masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ Else: Suffix -eʃ ongesh /ˈoŋeʃ/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -as ongas /ˈoŋas/ (they) learned
3rd plural fem	Suffix -o ongo /ˈoŋo/ (they) learn	Suffix -u ongu /ˈoŋu/ (they) learned
3rd plural neuter	Suffix -e onge /ˈoŋe/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɣ Else: Suffix -uɣ ongug /ˈoŋuɣ/ (they) learned

Si̊pyoian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: hɨ - hi̊ ong /hɨ oŋ/ will learn

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.
Si̊pyoian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable oong /ˈooŋ/ have learned

Numbers

Si̊pyoian has a base-10 number system:
1 - seg
2 - chu
3 - hi̊m
4 - li
5 - digh
6 - ghe
7 - suyli̊j
8 - ÿu
9 - egh
10 - che
Hundred - saj
Thousand - ash

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ek
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b
Else: Suffix -ob
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -o
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɦa
Else: Suffix -aɦa
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -aʧ
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -em
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɦ
Else: Suffix -oɦ
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -za
Else: Suffix -oza
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɨ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -o
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mhɨ
Else: Suffix -emhɨ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -oŋ
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ
Else: Suffix -oʧ
Augmentative = Suffix -ed

Dictionary

3018 Words.