Halfling

Natively known as: Nayf /naɨv/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... ho dall be rhallom dadʊma in ho sdurab ping be naddad me go Pronunciation: /hɔ daɬ bɛ ˈr̥aɬɔm daˈdʊma iːn hɔ ˈsdurab piŋ bɛ ˈnaðad meː ɡɔ/ Nayfian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d h j k l m n n̥ p r r̥ s t v w ð ŋ ɡ 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 ɡ
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 ai au aɨ aː ei eɨ eː i iː oː u uː ɔ ɔi ɔɨ ə əu ɛ ɛu ɨ ɨu ɨː ɪ ɪu ʊ ʊɨ/
Diphthongs: ai, au, aɨ, ei, eɨ, ɔi, ɔɨ, əu, ɛu, ɨu, ɪu, ʊɨ

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː i	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 Word initial consonants: b, bl, d, dr, dw, h, j, k, kl, l, m, n, nt, n̥, p, pl, pr, r, rn, r̥, s, sd, sn, t, tr, v, w, ð, ɡ, ɡw, ɡwl, ɡwn, ɡwr, ɬ, ʃ, θ, θj, χ Mid-word consonants: b, d, dl, dr, h, l, m, ml, mr, ms, n, nr̥, nt, nw, r, rb, rd, rv, rw, rɬ, sɡ, tbl, v, vj, vl, vn, ð, ðj, ŋ, ɡ, ɡl, ɡw, ɬ, θ, χ, χr Word final consonants: b, d, k, l, ld, m, n, nd, nt, r, rs, rθ, s, sɡ, t, v, vn, vr, ð, ŋ, ɡ, ɬ, θ, χ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• d → Ø / V_V

How to read phonological rules
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɡ	g
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
j	i
ɨː	y
ɨ	y
ə	y
ʃ	si
n̥	n

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject (Prepositional phrase) Object Verb. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary with a key the door opened. Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have six cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
• Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog.
• Locative is the location of something: man goes to town.
• Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.

Ergative	Prefix ɛ- edang /ˈɛdaŋ/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb to somethinɡ)
Absolutive	No affix dang /daŋ/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb, but not to somethinɡ)
Genitive	Prefix meː- medang /ˈmeːdaŋ/ doɡʼs
Dative	Prefix kɔ- codang /ˈkɔdaŋ/ to (the/a) doɡ
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɡ- Else: Prefix ɡɛ- gedang /ˈɡɛdaŋ/ near/at/by (the/a) doɡ
Ablative	Prefix ɨ- ydang /ˈɨdaŋ/ from (the/a) doɡ

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix thyfy /ˈθɨvɨ/ man	No affix ol /ɔl/ woman
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix da- dathyfy /daˈθɨvɨ/ men	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix ba- bol /bɔl/ women

Articles

Definite	da /da/ the
Indefinite	cig /kiːɡ/ a, some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	go /ɡɔ/ I	cai /kai/ me, I	gwil /ɡwiːl/ mine	gy /ɡə/ to me	hai /hai/ at me	mil /mɪl/ from me
2nd singular	a /a/ you	ba /ba/ you	pei /pei/ yours	e /ɛ/ to you	gwing /ɡwiːŋ/ at you	dʊ /dʊ/ from you
3rd singular masc	dall /daɬ/ he, it	dy /də/ him, it	be /bɛ/ his, its	cain /kain/ to him, at it	de /dɛ/ at him, at it	dyd /dɨd/ from him, from it
3rd singular fem	te /tɛ/ she, it	yl /əl/ her, it	nei /nei/ hers, its	dwe /dweː/ to her, at it	do /dɔ/ at her, at it	sy /sɨː/ from her, from it
1st plural	re /rɛ/ we	ydd /əð/ us, we	fy /və/ ours	ma /ma/ to us	co /kɔ/ at us	yng /ɨŋ/ from us
2nd plural	da /da/ you all	ca /ka/ you all	o /ɔ/ yours (pl)	an /an/ to you all	thioil /θjɔil/ at you all	chefr /χeːvr/ from you all
3rd plural masc	y /ɨː/ they (masc)	ma /maː/ them (masc), they (masc)	snewr /snɛur/ theirs (masc)	in /ɪn/ to them (masc)	chidd /χɪð/ at them (masc)	syg /səɡ/ from them (masc)
3rd plural fem	ded /dɛd/ they (fem)	ce /kɛ/ them (fem), they (fem)	cen /kɛn/ theirs (fem)	pywf /pəuv/ to them (fem)	poil /pɔil/ at them (fem)	cydd /kəð/ from them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	gwil /ɡwiːl/ my
2nd singular	pei /pei/ your
3rd singular masc	be /bɛ/ his
3rd singular fem	nei /nei/ her
1st plural	fy /və/ our
2nd plural	o /ɔ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	snewr /snɛur/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	cen /kɛn/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past
Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kiː- cihait /ˈkiːhait/ (I/you/he/she) learns	No affix hait /hait/ (I/you/he/she) learned
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix da- dahait /ˈdahait/ (we/they) learn	No affix hait /hait/ (we/they) learned

Nayfian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kɨvn - cyfn hait /kɨvn hait/ will learn

Numbers

Nayfian has a base-20 number system:
1 - nan 2 - gwʊ 3 - puwng 4 - pung 5 - refa 6 - cla 7 - poynend 8 - a 9 - dy 10 - gos 11 - idi 12 - idra 13 - pungar 14 - lyrʊ 15 - ydeihe 16 - cegwayraing 17 - namle 18 - rhadadd 19 - nuddal 20 - prifa 21 - nan ho prifa “one and twenty” 400 - barad “fourhundred” 401 - barad ho nan “fourhundred and one” 800 - gwʊ barad “two fourhundred” 8000 - ii “eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix a- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɔ- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɡwraɨ- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɬ- Else: Prefix ɬə- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix mu- Noun to verb = Prefix aː- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix aː- Tending to = Prefix a- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix ɔ- Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ka- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix a- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix ba- Diminutive = Prefix ɡɛ- Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix ð- Else: Prefix ða-

Dictionary

4439 Words.

Spoken by

• Regian