Jobay

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ALABAG
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 600K / #40
SPOKEN IN: Jobaykal - 600K
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: prȕ gù̋d pa̋ pót mgȉ síl prȕ pȉd mgȉ ȁd pìˈga̋ng lű tíˈla̋
Pronunciation: /prȕ gy̋d pa̋ pót mgȉ síl prȕ pȉd mgȉ ȁd pìˈga̋ng lű tíˈla̋

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d g h k l m n p r s t w/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n
Stop	p b	t d	k g
Fricative		s		h
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u y/
Tones: ̋ ̏ ̀ ́ ̄

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

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, g, k, l, m, mg, n, ng, p, pr, s, t, w
Mid-word consonants: b, d, g, gb, gg, gk, gp, h, k, kn, l, m, n, ng, ngk, nl, nr, ns, nt, p, r, s, t, w
Word final consonants: b, d, k, l, n, ng, p, s, t
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• n → ŋ / _#
• t → ʧ / _#
• b → v / V_
• d → ∅ / _r
• a → i / _Ci

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
y	ù

Grammar

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

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.

Singular

	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	No affix ȁng /ȁng/ man (when doing the verb)	No affix nȁb /nȁb/ woman (when doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix gỳ- gù̀ˈȁng /gỳˈȁng/ (verb done to) man	Prefix pȳ- pù̄ˈnȁb /pȳˈnȁb/ (verb done to) woman
Genitive	Prefix sí- síˈȁng /síˈȁng/ manʼs	Prefix ű- űˈnȁb /űˈnȁb/ womanʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix ná- nȁng /nȁng/ to (the/a) man	Prefix sȁ- sȁˈnȁb /sȁˈnȁb/ to (the/a) woman
Locative	Prefix lȕ- lȕˈȁng /lȕˈȁng/ near/at/by (the/a) man	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sà- sàˈnȁb /sàˈnȁb/ near/at/by (the/a) woman
Ablative	Prefix sa̋- sa̋ˈȁng /sa̋ˈȁng/ from (the/a) man	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pa̋- pa̋ˈnȁb /pa̋ˈnȁb/ from (the/a) woman

Plural

	Masculine	Feminine
Nominative	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sȁ- sȁng /sȁng/ men (when doing the verb)	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tý- tù́ˈnȁb /týˈnȁb/ women (when doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kè- kȁng /kȁng/ (verb done to) men	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kű- kűˈnȁb /kűˈnȁb/ (verb done to) women
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix mg- Else: Prefix mgý- mgȁng /mgȁng/ menʼs	Prefix e̋- e̋ˈnȁb /e̋ˈnȁb/ womenʼs
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pā- pȁng /pȁng/ to (the/some) men	If starts with vowel: Prefix mg- Else: Prefix mgỳ- mgù̀ˈnȁb /mgỳˈnȁb/ to (the/some) women
Locative	Prefix ȁ- ȁˈȁng /ȁˈȁng/ near/at/by (the/some) men	Prefix ngì- ngìˈnȁb /ngìˈnȁb/ near/at/by (the/some) women
Ablative	If starts with vowel: Prefix mg- Else: Prefix mgí- mgȁng /mgȁng/ from (the/some) men	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pű- pűˈnȁb /pűˈnȁb/ from (the/some) women

Articles

Definite	lú /lú/ the
Indefinite	àb /àb/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative	Locative	Ablative
1st singular	à /à/ I	mi̋ng /mi̋ng/ me	pe̋d /pe̋d/ mine	mgù̄p /mgȳp/ to me	bá /bá/ at me	kù /kù/ from me
2nd singular	pàng /pàng/ you (masc)	ti̋ /ti̋/ you	ngù̋b /ngy̋b/ yours	ngù̋n /ngy̋n/ to you	lős /lős/ at you	mgù́k /mgýk/ from you
3rd singular masc	pa̋ /pa̋/ he, it	mgi̋ /mgi̋/ him, it	a̋ /a̋/ his, its	ȉ /ȉ/ to him, at it	sà /sà/ at him, at it	mín /mín/ from him, from it
3rd singular fem	pi̋ /pi̋/ she, it	ba̋ /ba̋/ her, it	bȁ /bȁ/ hers, its	prű /prű/ to her, at it	ngōng /ngōng/ at her, at it	ngéng /ngéng/ from her, from it
1st plural	dòng /dòng/ we	mgù̄ /mgȳ/ us	án /án/ ours	nge̋ng /nge̋ng/ to us	pó /pó/ at us	sȉ /sȉ/ from us
2nd plural	ngū /ngū/ you all	pù̄ /pȳ/ you all	ngű /ngű/ yours (pl)	we̋n /we̋n/ to you all	kù̄ng /kȳng/ at you all	nāng /nāng/ from you all
3rd plural masc	kű /kű/ they (masc)	ù̋ng /y̋ng/ them (masc)	sȁ /sȁ/ theirs (masc)	pȁl /pȁl/ to them (masc)	ngù̄t /ngȳt/ at them (masc)	i̋ /i̋/ from them (masc)
3rd plural fem	mȉng /mȉng/ they (fem)	pù /pù/ them (fem)	ngù́ /ngý/ theirs (fem)	lù /lù/ to them (fem)	na̋ /na̋/ at them (fem)	mgù̀s /mgỳs/ from them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ma̋ /ma̋/ my
2nd singular	pù̋ /py̋/ your
3rd singular masc	mgȉ /mgȉ/ his
3rd singular fem	lù /lù/ her
1st plural	péng /péng/ our
2nd plural	ngū /ngū/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	sȁ /sȁ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ngȉd /ngȉd/ their (fem)

Verbs

Future

If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mȁ- mȁnˈge̋t /mȁnˈge̋t/ will learn

Jobay uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: sa̋ - sa̋ nge̋t /sa̋ nge̋t/ learned

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).
Jobay uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix í- ínˈge̋t /ínˈge̋t/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Jobay has a base-10 number system:
1 - sàb
2 - ā
3 - tí
4 - lù̀
5 - pűt
6 - sa̋
7 - ngù̋n
8 - nā
9 - mgù̏n
10 - pìk
11 - pìksàb “ten-one”
100 - pi̋ “hundred”
101 - pi̋ sàb “hundred one”
200 - ā pi̋
1000 - pi̋n “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix e̋-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kű-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lỳ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ng- Else: Prefix ngȍ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mȁ-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix bȁ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ȁ-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix má-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix si̋-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix mgy̋-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ȁ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix pỳ-
Diminutive = Prefix e̋-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix pr- Else: Prefix prű-

Dictionary

4459 Words.