Chuvchahan*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SAU-SERIB
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:
DESCENDANT LANGUAGES:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: bep tuu aeɦ macham ewan̪ eɦ bep bas phɛɛm aeɦ phɛɛphom tuung banyo
Pronunciation: bɪp tuː ae̯ɦ ˈməɕəm ˈɪwən̪ ɪɦ bɪp bəs pʰɛːm ae̯ɦ ˈpʰɛːpʰʊm tuːŋ ˈbəɲʊ
Chuvchahan word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c cʰ f g h j k kʰ l l̥ m n n̪ p pʰ r s sʰ t tʰ tː t̪ t͡s t͡sʰ w x ŋ ɕ ɕʰ ɟ ɥ ɦ ɭ ɲ ɳ ɹ ɹ̥ ɻ ɾ ʂ ʂʰ ʃ ʈ ʈʰ ʋ ʎ ʔ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n̪	n		ɳ		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pʰ p b		t̪	t tʰ tː		ʈʰ ʈ		cʰ c ɟ	k kʰ g	ʔ
Fricative		f		s sʰ	ʃ	ʂʰ ʂ	ɕʰ ɕ		x	h ɦ
Approximant		ʋ		ɹ̥ ɹ		ɻ		j
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l l̥		ɭ		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: /ae̯ aː eː iː oː ua̯ ue̯ uː ɔː ə ɛː ɪ ʊ/
Diphthongs: ae̯, ua̯, ue̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
High-mid	eː		oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛː		ɔː
Low	aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, h, j, k, kʰ, l, m, n, pʰ, s, t, tʰ, t͡s, t͡sʰ, x, ŋ, ɾ, ʃ, ʔ
Mid-word consonants: c, cʰ, g, h, j, k, kʰ, l, l̥, m, n, p, pʰ, s, t, ts, tsʰ, tɕ, tɕʰ, tʰ, w, ɕ, ɟ, ɥ, ɲ, ɹ, ɹ̥, ʂ, ʈ, ʈʂ, ʈʂʰ, ʈʰ, ʎ, ʔ Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• iː → ∅ / {k,s}_#

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
̯
ə	a
ɪ	e
ʊ	o
pʰ	ph
tʰ	th
ɾ	d
ʃ	sh
j	y
ŋ	ng
x	kh
ɲ	ny
ɟ	j
c	chy
ɕ	ch
ʈ	ṭ
ʂ	ṣ
ɳ	ṇ
ʋ	v
ɭ	ḷ
ɹ	r̀
ɻ	ŕ
ʎ	ỳ
kʰ	k̀
V₁ː	V₁V₁

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:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is 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.

Nominative	No affix ther /tʰɪr/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -ɪn̪ theren̪ /ˈtʰɪrɪn̪/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -uːn̪ theruun̪ /ˈtʰɪruːn̪/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -ue̯ therue /ˈtʰɪrue̯/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -əm theram /ˈtʰɪrəm/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	Suffix -ɪtːr theretːr /ˈtʰɪrɪtːr/ from (the/a) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix theṇ /tʰɪɳ/ man	No affix phɛɛga /ˈpʰɛːgə/ woman
Plural	Suffix -ə theṇa /ˈtʰɪɳə/ men	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ʊf phɛɛgaf /ˈpʰɛːgəf/ women

Articles

Definite	naan̪ /naːn̪/ the
Indefinite	kuap /kua̯p/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	tɔɔy /tɔːj/ I	ngaang /ŋaːŋ/ me	no /nʊ/ mine	uam /ua̯m/ to me	yo /jʊ/ at me	t͡sʰɔɔt̪ /t͡sʰɔːt̪/ from me
2nd singular	tap /təp/ you (masc)	mep /mɪp/ you	dan̪ /ɾən̪/ yours	hɛɛn̪ /hɛːn̪/ to you	o /ʊ/ at you	mo /mʊ/ from you
3rd singular masc	tuu /tuː/ he, it	bue /bue̯/ him, it	ʻuu /ʔuː/ his, its	t͡suu /t͡suː/ to him, at it	buan̪ /bua̯n̪/ at him, at it	le /lɪ/ from him, from it
3rd singular fem	bam /bəm/ she, it	maaŕ /maːɻ/ her, it	kua /kua̯/ hers, its	ii /iː/ to her, at it	saan̪ /saːn̪/ at her, at it	bo /bʊ/ from her, from it
1st plural	mii /miː/ we	pheṭ /pʰɪʈ/ us	tham /tʰəm/ ours	sho /ʃʊ/ to us	saany /saːɲ/ at us	pha /pʰə/ from us
2nd plural	ma /mə/ you all	shet̪ /ʃɪt̪/ you all	ngii /ŋiː/ yours (pl)	phep /pʰɪp/ to you all	khuu /xuː/ at you all	saaṭ /saːʈ/ from you all
3rd plural masc	e /ɪ/ they (masc)	mue /mue̯/ them (masc)	buar /bua̯r/ theirs (masc)	the /tʰɪ/ to them (masc)	yaap /jaːp/ at them (masc)	kii /kiː/ from them (masc)
3rd plural fem	a /ə/ they (fem)	k̀aem /kʰae̯m/ them (fem)	toop /toːp/ theirs (fem)	phan /pʰən/ to them (fem)	phuu /pʰuː/ at them (fem)	me /mɪ/ from them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	phen̪ /pʰɪn̪/ my
2nd singular	meṇ /mɪɳ/ your
3rd singular masc	aeɦ /ae̯ɦ/ his
3rd singular fem	nua /nua̯/ her
1st plural	phe /pʰɪ/ our
2nd plural	maṇ /məɳ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	so /sʊ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	taeṭ /tae̯ʈ/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past	Future
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -aːk boyaak /ˈbʊjaːk/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -oːn boyoon /ˈbʊjoːn/ (I) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ʊk boyok /ˈbʊjʊk/ (I) will learn
2nd singular	Suffix -aː boyaa /ˈbʊjaː/ (you) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾ Else: Suffix -ɪɾ boyed /ˈbʊjɪɾ/ (you) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɲ Else: Suffix -iːɲ boyiiny /ˈbʊjiːɲ/ (you) will learn
3rd singular masc	Suffix -ʊ boyo /ˈbʊjʊ/ (he) learns	Suffix -ɪ boye /ˈbʊjɪ/ (he) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t̪ Else: Suffix -iːt̪ boyiit̪ /ˈbʊjiːt̪/ (he) will learn
3rd singular fem	Suffix -aːɭ boyaaḷ /ˈbʊjaːɭ/ (she) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -əp boyap /ˈbʊjəp/ (she) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t̪ Else: Suffix -aːt̪ boyaat̪ /ˈbʊjaːt̪/ (she) will learn
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ən boyan /ˈbʊjən/ (we) learn	Suffix -ət̪ boyat̪ /ˈbʊjət̪/ (we) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ae̯m boyaem /ˈbʊjae̯m/ (we) will learn
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -əm boyam /ˈbʊjəm/ (you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɳ Else: Suffix -ɪɳ boyeṇ /ˈbʊjɪɳ/ (you all) learned	Suffix -əm boyam /ˈbʊjəm/ (you all) will learn
3rd plural masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɛːn boyɛɛn /ˈbʊjɛːn/ (they) learn	Suffix -ɪn̪ boyen̪ /ˈbʊjɪn̪/ (they) learned	Suffix -ɪɾ boyed /ˈbʊjɪɾ/ (they) will learn
3rd plural fem	Suffix -ə boya /ˈbʊjə/ (they) learn	Suffix -ʊn̪ boyon̪ /ˈbʊjʊn̪/ (they) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n̪ Else: Suffix -ae̯n̪ boyaen̪ /ˈbʊjae̯n̪/ (they) 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).
Chuvchahan uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -n̪ Else: Suffix -aːn̪ boyaan̪ /ˈbʊjaːn̪/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Chuvchahan has a base-20 number system:
1 - kii
2 - saaṣ
3 - etːr
4 - ngaa
5 - ov
6 - tɔɔmae
7 - baṇ
8 - t͡sʰoo
9 - a
10 - maa
11 - daṭṣo
12 - tɛɛmav
13 - muaṭ
14 - t͡sʰɛɛn̪
15 - k̀aema
16 - tɔɔnyae
17 - naaga
18 - mapaṇ
19 - baaṣ
20 - enyii
21 - kii bep enyii “one and twenty”
400 - kii moŕ “one fourhundred”
401 - kii moŕ bep kii “one fourhundred and one”
800 - saaṣ moŕ “two fourhundred”
8000 - kii kiiṭ “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix a-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ash
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -qu
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ən
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -po
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ae̯n
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -cla
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʈ Else: Suffix -əʈ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ə
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɪ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -vai
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -thuim
Diminutive = Suffix -ɪŋ
Augmentative = Suffix -ən̪

Dictionary

4455 Words.