Finnu

LANGUAGE FAMILY: COLMERIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 54K / #71
SPOKEN IN: Fierthain - 50K / Chillwind - 4K
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: cūp n̪ˠiīs nfˠǟäǟ xaā gȫrdö npʲī cūp xaā gīö aī̯p nūp hēö sˠeū̯
Pronunciation: cūp n̪ˠiː̄s ˈŋfˠǣæː̄ xɑː̄ gø̄rˈdö ŋpʲī cūp xɑː̄ gīˈö ɑī̯p ŋūp ˈhēö sˠeū̯

Narrow pronunciation: [cūp n̪ˠiː̄s ˈŋfˠǣæː̄ xɑː̄ gø̄rˈdö ŋpʲī cūp xɑː̄ gīˈö ɑī̯p ŋūp aēˈö sˠeū̯]
Finnu word order: and he stood hat his holding and his face wet turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʲ bˠ c d dʲ d̪ˠ f fʲ fː fˠ g h j k kː l lʲ lː m mʲ mː mˠ n nː n̪ˠ p pʲ pː pˠ r rː s sː sˠ t tʲ tː t̪ˠ vʲ w x ç ŋ ɟ ɫ ɾʲ ɾˠ ʃ ʋ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	mʲ mˠ m mː		n̪ˠ	n nː			ŋ
Stop	pʲ pˠ p pː bʲ bˠ b		t̪ˠ d̪ˠ	tʲ t tː dʲ d		c ɟ	k kː g
Fricative		fʲ fˠ f fː vʲ		sˠ s sː	ʃ	ç	x	h
Approximant		ʋ				j
Tap				ɾˠ ɾʲ
Trill				r rː
Lateral approximant				lʲ l lː

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar	Velarized alveolar
Approximant	w
Lateral approximant		ɫ

Vowel inventory: /e ei̯ eu̯ eː i ie̯ iː o oi̯ ou̯ oː u ui̯ uo̯ uː y yi̯ yø̯ yː æ æi̯ æy̯ æː ø øi̯ øy̯ ɑ ɑi̯ ɑu̯ ɑː/
Diphthongs: ei̯, eu̯, ie̯, oi̯, ou̯, ui̯, uo̯, yi̯, yø̯, æi̯, æy̯, øi̯, øy̯, ɑi̯, ɑu̯
Tones: ̄

	Front	Back
High	i iː y yː	u uː
High-mid	e eː ø	o oː
Near-low	æ æː
Low		ɑ ɑː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: bʲ, bʲɾʲ, bˠ, bˠɾˠ, c, cɾʲ, dʲ, dʲɾʲ, d̪ˠ, fʲ, fʲɾʲ, fˠ, g, gɫ, gɾˠ, h, k, kɫ, kɾˠ, lʲ, mʲ, mˠ, n̪ˠ, pʲ, pˠ, sˠ, sˠk, sˠt̪ˠ, sˠɾˠ, tʲ, tʲɾʲ, t̪ˠ, t̪ˠɾˠ, vʲ, x, xɫ, ç, ɟ, ɫ, ɾˠ, ʃ, ʃc, ʃcɾʲ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, f, fː, h, hd, hj, hk, hm, ht, hʋ, j, k, ks, kː, l, lh, lj, lk, ll, lm, lp, lpː, lt, ltː, lʋ, lː, m, mp, mpː, mː, n, nh, np, nr, ns, nsː, nt, ntː, nː, p, ps, pt, pː, r, rh, rj, rk, rkː, rm, rp, rst, rt, rʋ, rː, s, sk, st, sː, t, tk, tn, ts, tː, ŋk, ŋkː, ʋ
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• h → a / _e
• w → v / _a
• {l,t} → s
• i → ii / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʋ	v
tː	tt
lː	ll
sː	ss
kː	kk
fː	ff
ŋ	n
æː	ää
æ	ä
yː	yy
ɑː	aa
ɑ	a
ø	ö
oː	oo
uː	uu
iː	ii
eː	ee

Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

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

Nominative	No affix ɟeu̯ä /ˈɟeu̯ä/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -æī̯ Else: Suffix -uō̯ ɟeu̯äuō̯ /ɟeu̯ˈäuō̯/ (verb done to) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix tʲȫsö /tʲø̄ˈsö/ man	No affix huo̯rvēsä /huo̯rʋēˈsä/ woman
Plural	If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -æȳ̯ Else: Suffix -uī̯ tʲȫsöuī̯ /tʲø̄söˈuī̯/ men	If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -ȳks Else: Suffix -uː̄n huo̯rvēsäuūn /ˌhuo̯rʋēˈsäuː̄n/ women

Articles

Definite	xuū /xuː̄/ the
Indefinite	oī̯ /oī̯/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	vʲyȫ̯ /vʲyø̯̄/ I	ū /ū/ me
2nd singular	ō /ō/ you (masc)	öī̯tsc /øī̯tsc/ [øī̯ssc] you
3rd singular masc	n̪ˠiīs /n̪ˠiː̄s/ he, it	ɾˠē /ɾˠē/ him, it
3rd singular fem	bʲū /bʲū/ she, it	iī /iː̄/ her, it
1st plural	sˠɾˠeēp /sˠɾˠeː̄p/ we	fʲɾʲēlp /fʲɾʲēlp/ [fʲɾʲēsp] us
2nd plural	kɾˠǟtsc /kɾˠǣtsc/ [kɾˠǣssc] you all	koō /koː̄/ you all
3rd plural masc	bˠäǟ /bˠæː̄/ they (masc)	ʃiē̯ /ʃiē̯/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	sˠɾˠȫ /sˠɾˠø̄/ they (fem)	lʲuū /lʲuː̄/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ɾˠiī /ɾˠiː̄/ my
2nd singular	fʲɾʲöī̯ /fʲɾʲøī̯/ your
3rd singular masc	xaā /xɑː̄/ his
3rd singular fem	oī̯ /oī̯/ her
1st plural	vʲäī̯p /vʲæī̯p/ our
2nd plural	vʲyȫ̯ /vʲyø̯̄/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	äī̯ls /æī̯ls/ [æī̯ss] their (masc)
3rd plural fem	kuō̯rs /kuō̯rs/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix nbˠäī̯ /ŋbˠæī̯/ learn
Past	If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -ø̄ Else: Suffix -ɑ̄ nbˠäī̯ȫ /ŋbˠæi̯ˈø̄/ learned
Remote past	If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -ī Else: Suffix -iː̄ nbˠäī̯ī /ŋbˠæi̯ˈī/ learned (long ago)

Finnu uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: sˠɾˠæȳ̯wg - sˠɾˠäȳ̯wg nbˠäī̯ /sˠɾˠæȳ̯wg ŋbˠæī̯/ 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).
Finnu uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: xē - xē nbˠäī̯ /xē ŋbˠæī̯/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Finnu has a base-10 number system:
1 - yī̯
2 - kɾˠī
3 - bʲaū̯
4 - gī
5 - kīrs
6 - ou̯hkī
7 - cɾʲȳ
8 - kuō̯s
9 - äī̯
10 - yȳ
11 - yȳ cūp yī̯ “ten and one”
100 - cou̯neu̯luō̯ “hundred”
101 - cou̯neu̯luō̯ yī̯ “hundred one”
200 - kɾˠī cou̯neu̯luō̯
1000 - hī “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -iit
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -la
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -raal
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -øȳ̯wg Else: Suffix -eū̯sc
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -eː̄ Else: Suffix -uō̯
Noun to verb = Prefix vo-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -ǣ Else: Suffix -ū
Tending to = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -iē̯rt Else: Suffix -ɑ̄rd
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -ē Else: Suffix -ī
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -ī Else: Suffix -ō
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix vu-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If contains {eː,æ,y,ø,æː,yː,ie̯,æi̯,æy̯,yø̯,yi̯,øi̯,øy̯}: Suffix -iē̯sc Else: Suffix -ɑū̯s
Diminutive = Suffix -aa
Augmentative = Suffix -as

Dictionary

4428 Words.