Iakali

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ERELIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 2.7M / #19
SPOKEN IN: Arlos - 2.5M / Del - 200K
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: ge ni vulé cő jémöo vuölcsz ge cő nöntő öe vuurmá kie cszü
Pronunciation: gɛ ni vuˈleː ʦøː jeːˈmøo vuˈølʧ gɛ ʦøː nønˈtøː øˈe vuˈurmaː kiˈe ʧy

Iakali word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p r t v z ɟ ɲ ʃ ʦ ʧ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d		ɟ	k g
Affricate			ʦ	ʧ
Fricative		f v	z	ʃ			h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Vowel inventory: /aː eː i iː o oː u uː y yː ø øː ɒ ɛ/

	Front	Back
High	i iː y yː	u uː
High-mid	eː ø øː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ
Low	aː	ɒ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, f, fr, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, pr, r, t, v, z, ɟ, ɲ, ʃ, ʦ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bb, bl, br, d, dv, f, g, gf, gh, gl, h, j, jt, k, kk, kʃ, l, ld, lg, lh, lj, lk, ll, lm, ln, lr, lt, ltʃ, lv, lʃ, m, mb, mʃ, n, nd, ndt, ng, ngz, nk, nl, nn, nt, nʃ, p, pv, pʃ, r, rd, rf, rg, rj, rk, rl, rm, rn, rr, rt, rtʃ, rv, rʃ, t, tk, tl, tm, tʃ, v, z, zd, zk, zl, zn, zt, zz, ɟ, ɟʃ, ɲ, ʃ, ʃk, ʃl, ʃt, ʃʃ, ʦ, ʧ
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• h → ∅ / V_
• t → ʧ / _[+front]
• l → ɫ / V_V

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɒ	a
aː	á
ʦ	c
ʧ	cs
ɛ	e
eː	é
ɟ	gy
iː	í
ɲ	ny
oː	ó
øː	ő
ø	ö
s	sz
ʒ	zs
ʃ	s
uː	ú
yː	ű
y	ü

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 before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Nouns have four 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.

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: fɛ - fe dötoo /fɛ døˈtoo/ dogs

	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	No affix prúo /pruːˈo/	No affix nüoe /ɲoˈe/
Accusative	Suffix -ɒ prúoa /pruːˈoɒ/	Suffix -o nüoeo /ɲoˈeo/
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -yːd prúod /pruːˈod/	Suffix -or nüoeor /ɲoˈeor/
Dative	Suffix -uː prúoú /pruːˈouː/	Suffix -ujt nüoeujt /ɲoˈeujt/

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	zéns /zeːnʃ/ the	ti /ti/ a
Plural	ke /kɛ/ the	nüa /ɲɒ/ some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	but /but/ I	i /i/ me	prú /pruː/ mine	í /iː/ to me
2nd singular	prí /priː/ you (masc)	á /aː/ you	ti /ti/ yours	nüérd /ɲeːrd/ to you
3rd singular masc	ni /ni/ he, it	e /ɛ/ him, it	prűll /pryːll/ his, its	nó /noː/ to him, at it
3rd singular fem	mall /mɒll/ she, it	anc /ɒnʦ/ her, it	güe /ɟɛ/ hers, its	lá /laː/ to her, at it
1st plural	ge /gɛ/ we	o /o/ us	höjt /højt/ ours	cszó /ʧoː/ to us
2nd plural	tölgü /tølɟ/ you all	zá /zaː/ you all	ars /ɒrʃ/ yours (pl)	já /jaː/ to you all
3rd plural masc	hul /hul/ they (masc)	léng /leːng/ them (masc)	ujt /ujt/ theirs (masc)	pe /pɛ/ to them (masc)
3rd plural fem	ó /oː/ they (fem)	műll /myːll/ them (fem)	zi /zi/ theirs (fem)	ka /kɒ/ to them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ralt /rɒlt/ my
2nd singular	pűll /pyːll/ your
3rd singular masc	cő /ʦøː/ his
3rd singular fem	di /di/ her
1st plural	lé /leː/ our
2nd plural	lélgü /leːlɟ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	pűrd /pyːrd/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ci /ʦi/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix vuustal /vuˈuʃtɒl/ learn
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tt Else: Suffix -ytt vuustalütt /vuˈuʃtɒˌlytt/ learned
Remote past	Suffix -uːrt vuustalúrt /vuˈuʃtɒˌluːrt/ learned (long ago)
Future	Suffix -oːɲ vuustalónü /vuˈuʃtɒˌloːɲ/ 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).
Iakali uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: oː - ó vuustal /oː vuˈuʃtɒl/ 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.
Iakali uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -rʦ Else: Suffix -orʦ vuustalorc /vuˈuʃtɒˌlorʦ/ have learned

Numbers

Iakali has a base-20 number system:
1 - prúld
2 - zél
3 - ó
4 - cszüng
5 - ka
6 - a
7 - höbb
8 - ökkö
9 - o
10 - ga
11 - sált
12 - fürt
13 - nüoz
14 - manto
15 - dölcsz
16 - pűgfűzdo
17 - prűnlé
18 - hökó
19 - fers
20 - lézza
21 - lézzaprúld “twenty-one”
400 - prúld séb “one fourhundred”
401 - prúld séb ge prúld “one fourhundred and one”
800 - zél séb “two fourhundred”
8000 - prúld sot “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -poi
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -tyo
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix drub-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ba
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɒ
Noun to verb = Suffix -
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -jt Else: Suffix -ɛjt
Tending to = Suffix -ɒzt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -o
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nʦ Else: Suffix -ɛnʦ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -kyoi
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -sta
Diminutive = Suffix -a
Augmentative = Suffix -pa

Dictionary

4446 Words.