Colmhædru (Old Colmerhæd)*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: COLMERIC
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

---

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
Translation: dɛm nə bɛb r̥ɛ ba kʊd dɛm kɪˈund blɨ nə heːl hiːˈrɔs sdɨɬ
Pronunciation: dɛm nə bɛb r̥ɛ ba kʊd dɛm kɪˈund blɨ nə heːl hiːˈrɔs sdɨɬ
Old Colmerhaed word order: and his hat holding he stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w x z ʁ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʦ χ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d			k g			ʔ
Affricate			ʦ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ		x	χ ʁ	ʕ	h
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u/

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bn, d, dv, g, h, j, k, kl, km, kv, l, m, n, p, s, st, t, tm, wh, z, zm, ʁ, ʃ, ʔ, ʦ, χ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, f, fʃ, g, gm, h, j, jf, jl, k, kn, kʁ, l, lm, m, mh, mk, mn, mʁ, mʔ, mʦ, n, nχʁ, p, s, sχ, t, ts, tʁ, v, vχ, x, z, zd, ʁ, ʁb, ʃ, ʃb, ʃl, ʃm, ʃp, ʃt, ʔ, ʕ, ʦ, χ, χn, χt
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• ə → a / _#
• t → ʦ / _i
• j → g / _#
• i → ɐ / _m
• k → g / n_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
χ	kh
ʦ	tz
ʁ	r
ʃ	sh
ʔ	'

Grammar

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

Nouns

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	kɛur /kɛur/ the	dɨ /dɨ/ a
Plural	nɔ /nɔ/ the	rnau /rnau/ some

Pronouns

1st singular	na /na/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	kɛ /kɛ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	ba /ba/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	nɛ /nɛ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	darθ /darθ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	nɔ /nɔ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	diːɬ /diːɬ/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	kɨː /kɨː/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	hɨː /hɨː/ my
2nd singular	bɛl /bɛl/ your
3rd singular masc	nə /nə/ his
3rd singular fem	nɛ /nɛ/ her
1st plural	dun /dun/ our
2nd plural	dit /dit/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	rɔ /rɔ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ma /ma/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an bɛˈran /bɛˈran/ (I) learn	Suffix -iː bɛˈriː /bɛˈriː/ (I) learned
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɔn bɛˈrɔn /bɛˈrɔn/ (you) learn	Suffix -eɨg bɛˈreɨg /bɛˈreɨg/ (you) learned
3rd singular masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɛn bɛˈrɛn /bɛˈrɛn/ (he) learns	Suffix -ɪ bɛˈrɪ /bɛˈrɪ/ (he) learned
3rd singular fem	Suffix -ɔr bɛˈrɔr /bɛˈrɔr/ (she) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɬ Else: Suffix -aɬ bɛˈraɬ /bɛˈraɬ/ (she) learned
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -eɨs bɛˈreɨs /bɛˈreɨs/ (we) learn	Suffix -ɪn bɛˈrɪn /bɛˈrɪn/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -aɨs bɛˈraɨs /bɛˈraɨs/ (you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -v Else: Suffix -eɨv bɛˈreɨv /bɛˈreɨv/ (you all) learned
3rd plural masc	Suffix -a bɛˈra /bɛˈra/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ɔb bɛˈrɔb /bɛˈrɔb/ (they) learned
3rd plural fem	If ends with vowel: Suffix -θ Else: Suffix -aθ bɛˈraθ /bɛˈraθ/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -ɨs bɛˈrɨs /bɛˈrɨs/ (they) learned

Old Colmerhaed uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: kei - kei bɛr /kei bɛr/ 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).
Old Colmerhaed uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -vn Else: Suffix -ʊɨvn bɛˈrʊɨvn /bɛˈrʊɨvn/ learns/is learning

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.
Old Colmerhaed uses the word for ‘finish’ kəg for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Old Colmerhaed has a base-20 number system:
1 - rɔ
2 - doː
3 - na
4 - ɬəd
5 - dʊˈɨga
6 - hoː
7 - ntʊn
8 - dɔ
9 - ɬə
10 - gwoː
11 - rɛˈrɔn
12 - khiːˈŋɛ
13 - siːˈga
14 - hɨːl
15 - gəˈɬə
16 - muːˈŋɛ
17 - kɪˈnwɨk
18 - diːˈməd
19 - pavr
20 - dərs
21 - rɔ dɛm dərs “one and twenty”
400 - dɨːn “fourhundred”
401 - dɨːn rɔ “fourhundred one”
800 - doː dɨːn “two fourhundred”
8000 - kɛn “eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -an
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -ɛl
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -al
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɛv
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɔ
Noun to verb = Suffix -a
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -al
Tending to = Suffix -a
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ə
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɔr
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɨs
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -vn Else: Suffix -ivs
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ɛn

Dictionary

4427 Words.