Masajol

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SINNUTIAN
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 1.85M / #23
SPOKEN IN: Jolim - 1.7M / Mersi - 150K
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: dɾe ci pu milˈdionu nec te dɾe ˈmiohun pas pu teps mem ˈmipi
Pronunciation: dɾe ki pu milˈdionu nek te dɾe ˈmiohuːn pas pu teps mem ˈmipi

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w x z ç ŋ ɾ ʁ ʃ ʎ ʔ ʦ ʧ χ/

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

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a ae au aː e ei eu eː i io iu iː o oe oː u ui uː/
Diphthongs: ae, au, ei, eu, io, iu, oe, ui

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, bɾ, d, dɾ, f, fl, fɾ, g, gɾ, k, kl, kw, kɾ, l, m, n, p, pl, pɾ, r, s, sɾ, t, tɾ, x, ʎ, ʧ
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, bʁ, d, f, fg, fh, fn, fp, ft, ftʁ, fʁ, g, gn, h, j, k, kl, ks, kt, kv, kz, kʦ, l, lb, ld, lf, lft, lg, lk, lt, ltz, lz, lç, lʃ, m, mb, mbʁ, ml, mn, mp, mpf, mpj, n, nbl, nd, nf, ng, ngl, ngʁ, nh, nl, nm, nst, nt, ntk, ntl, ntv, ntʔ, nv, nz, nçm, nʁ, nʃ, nʦ, nʧ, p, pf, pl, pv, pz, s, sf, sh, sl, st, stk, sv, sz, sç, sʔ, t, tbʁ, tk, tn, tv, tz, tç, tʔ, v, x, xd, xt, xʁ, z, ç, çk, çl, çst, çt, çtl, ŋ, ŋk, ŋkʦj, ŋn, ŋz, ʁ, ʁb, ʁd, ʁdn, ʁf, ʁg, ʁh, ʁk, ʁkl, ʁl, ʁm, ʁn, ʁnz, ʁp, ʁt, ʁtl, ʁv, ʁz, ʁç, ʁçtb, ʁʃl, ʃ, ʃp, ʃpʁ, ʃt, ʃv, ʔ, ʦ, ʦd, ʦj, χ
Word final consonants: b, d, k, ks, l, m, n, nk, ns, nt, ps, r, rs, s, st, t
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → h / V_V
• k → j / _s#
• [+nasal] → n / _#
• iː → ∅ / {k,s}_#
• k → ∅ / V_V
• d → g / _n
• r → s / _k
• p → f / #_
• p → f / {V,_
• h → ʔ / V_V
• h → j / _[+front]

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː

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 seven 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.
• Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.

Nominative	No affix naˈcaemui /naːˈkaemui/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -as ˌnacaeˈmuias /ˌnaːkaeˈmuias/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	Suffix -i ˌnacaeˈmuii /ˌnaːkaeˈmuii/ dogʼs
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak naˈcaemuic /naːˈkaemuik/ to (the/a) dog
Locative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -uːn naˈcaemuin /naːˈkaemuin/ near/at/by (the/a) dog
Ablative	Suffix -is ˌnacaeˈmuiis /ˌnaːkaeˈmuiis/ from (the/a) dog
Instrumental	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -iːm naˈcaemuim /naːˈkaemuim/ with/using (the/a) dog

	Animate	Inanimate
Singular	Suffix -as ˈibas /ˈibas/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ut ˈpɾirut /ˈpɾiːrut/
Plural	Suffix -uk ˈibuc /ˈibuk/	Suffix -un ˈpɾirun /ˈpɾiːrun/

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	ʧac /ʧak/ the	mu /mu/ a
Plural	ud /ud/ the	euc /euk/ some

Pronouns

	1st singular	2nd singular	3rd singular masc	3rd singular fem	1st plural	2nd plural	3rd plural
Nominative	be /be/ I	a /a/ you (masc)	ci /ki/ he, it	cim /kiːm/ she, it	au /au/ we	cau /kau/ you all	ʎoc /ʎok/ they
Accusative	xul /xul/ me	u /u/ you	ta /ta/ him, it	mo /moː/ her, it	sil /sil/ us	ars /ars/ you all	ce /ke/ them
Genitive	gi /gi/ mine	mi /mi/ yours	pu /pu/ his, its	ma /maː/ hers, its	nan /naːn/ ours	dɾe /dɾe/ yours (pl)	mic /mik/ theirs
Dative	li /li/ to me	o /o/ to you	im /iːm/ to him, at it	sa /sa/ to her, at it	to /to/ to us	iust /iust/ to you all	com /kom/ to them
Locative	can /kan/ at me	pi /pi/ at you	ble /bleː/ at him, at it	ix /iːks/ at her, at it	cam /kam/ at us	pan /pan/ at you all	sam /sam/ at them
Ablative	tot /tot/ from me	me /me/ from you	poc /pok/ from him, from it	ma /ma/ from her, from it	mam /mam/ from us	mis /mis/ from you all	mib /mib/ from them
Instrumental	ni /ni/ with/using me	min /miːn/ with/using you	i /i/ with/using him/it	oes /oes/ with/using her/it	cuic /kuik/ with/using us	si /si/ with/using you all	ce /keː/ with/using them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	gi /gi/ my
2nd singular	mi /mi/ your
3rd singular masc	pu /pu/ his
3rd singular fem	ma /maː/ her
1st plural	nan /naːn/ our
2nd plural	dɾe /dɾe/ your (pl)
3rd plural	mic /mik/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -im com /koːm/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -iul col /koːl/ (I) learned
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ar cor /koːr/ (you) learn	Suffix -an ˈcoan /ˈkoːan/ (you) learned
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ek coc /koːk/ (he/she/it) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -aːb cob /koːb/ (he/she/it) learned
1st plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -am com /koːm/ (we) learn	Suffix -um ˈcoum /ˈkoːum/ (we) learned
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -on con /koːn/ (you all) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -at cot /koːt/ (you all) learned
3rd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -id cod /koːd/ (they) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -unt cont /koːnt/ (they) learned

Masajol uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: keir - ceir co /keir koː/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Masajol uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: fɾuim - fɾuim co /fɾuim koː/ is learning

Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Masajol uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -eb cob /koːb/ learns

Numbers

Masajol has a base-10 number system:
1 - sɾium
2 - fac
3 - i
4 - mu
5 - lint
6 - mib
7 - gis
8 - us
9 - oc
10 - pɾes
11 - pɾes dɾe sɾium “ten and one”
100 - sɾium gɾa “one hundred”
101 - sɾium gɾa sɾium “one hundred one”
200 - fac gɾa
1000 - sɾium nim “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -un
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -iːn
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -or
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -um
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ik
Noun to verb = Suffix -at
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an
Tending to = Suffix -uːm
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -a
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -em
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ik
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -aː
Diminutive = Suffix -e
Augmentative = Suffix -i

Dictionary

4454 Words.