Ouram

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ERELIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 3.75M / #13
SPOKEN IN: Galori – 2.5M / Draksineon - 1M / Mersi - 250K
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: mas breu feu cauu se padutu mas sou se upisa do lal vurutu
Pronunciation: mɐʃ bɾew ˈfeu ˈkɐwu sɨ ˈpadutu mɐʃ ˈsɔu sɨ ˈupisa dɔ lɐl ˈvuɾutu

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d f j k l m n p s t v w z ɡ ɲ ɾ ʁ ʃ ʎ ʒ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d			k ɡ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ			ʁ
Approximant					j
Tap			ɾ
Lateral approximant			l		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e ẽ i ĩ o õ u ũ ɐ ɐ̃ ɐ̃w̃ ɔ ɛ ɨ/
Diphthongs: ɐ̃w̃

	Front	Central	Back
High	i ĩ	ɨ	u ũ
High-mid	e ẽ		o õ
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Near-low		ɐ ɐ̃
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bɾ, d, dw, f, fl, fɾ, k, kl, kw, kɾ, l, m, n, p, pl, pɾ, s, t, tɾ, v, vj, ɡ, ɡɾ, ʁ, ʁj, ʃ, ʎ, ʒ
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, bɾ, d, dj, dʒj, f, j, jd, jt, jv, jz, jɲ, jɾ, jʃ, jʒ, k, kt, kɾ, l, ld, lm, lp, lt, lv, lɡ, m, n, nj, p, pl, pɾ, s, sj, sk, sp, st, stʃ, sw, t, tɾ, tʃ, v, vɾ, wk, wp, ws, wt, wtɾ, wv, wz, wɾ, z, ɡ, ɡw, ɡɾ, ɲ, ɲt, ɾ, ɾd, ɾj, ɾk, ɾm, ɾn, ɾp, ɾs, ɾt, ɾv, ɾɡ, ɾʒ, ʁ, ʁm, ʁs, ʃ, ʃk, ʃkɾ, ʃp, ʃs, ʃt, ʃtɾ, ʎ, ʒ, ʒm
Word final consonants: j, js, jʃ, l, s, w, wʃ, ɲ, ɲs, ɲʃ, ɾ, ʁ, ʃ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• v → ∅ / {t,d}_
• n → ŋ / _#
• s → h / V_V
• z → d / V_
• s → t / _#
• m → w / _B
• v → ft / _s
• ʎ → ʒ / _{a,u}
• N → ŋ / _#
• k → c / _#
• ɛ → ɛa / _l{C,

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	qu
k	qu / _{i,e,ɛ}
k	c
ɡ	g
ʎ	lh
j	i
ʒ	j
ɾ	r
ʁ	r
ʃ	s / _#
ʃ	s / _C
ʃ	ch
ɲ	nh
ɐ̃w̃	ão
w	u
ɨ	e
ɛ	e
ɔ	o
ĩ	im / _#
ĩ	im / _{p,b}
ĩ	in
ũ	um / _#
ũ	um / _{p,b}
ũ	un
ẽ	em / _#
ẽ	em / _{p,b}
ẽ	en
ɐ̃	am / _#
ɐ̃	am / _{p,b}
ɐ̃	an
ɐ	a
õ	om / _#
õ	im / _{p,b}
õ	on

Grammar

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

Nouns

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix siltu /ˈsiltu/ man	No affix gatenquilsa /ˈɡatẽˌkilsa/ woman
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pi- pisiltu /ˈpisiltu/ men	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sa- sagatenquilsa /ˈsaɡaˌtẽkilsa/ women

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	pi /pi/ the	fe /fɨ/ a
Plural	ga /ɡa/ the	fa /fa/ some

Pronouns

1st singular	quens /kẽʃ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	vi /vi/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	breu /bɾew/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	dãou /dɐ̃w̃w/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	pa /pɐ/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	par /pɐɾ/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	pi /pi/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	fros /fɾɔs/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	na /nɐ/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	pir /piʁ/ my
2nd singular	da /da/ your
3rd singular masc	se /sɨ/ his
3rd singular fem	viu /viw/ her
1st plural inclusive	mar /mɐɾ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	seis /sɨjʃ/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	cul /kul/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	sois /sɔjʃ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ma /mɐ/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present

	Masculine	Feminine
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix f- Else: Prefix fɨ- feviu /ˈfɨviu/	Prefix nɐ- naviu /ˈnɐviu/
2nd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix nɐ- naviu /ˈnɐviu/	Prefix õ- onviu /ˈõviu/
3rd person	Prefix ɐ- aviu /ˈɐviu/	Prefix dɨ- deviu /ˈdɨviu/

Past

	Masculine	Feminine
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki- quiviu /ˈkiviu/	Prefix u- uviu /ˈuviu/
2nd person	Prefix kɐ- caviu /ˈkɐviu/	If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɐ- laviu /ˈlɐviu/
3rd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʁ- Else: Prefix ʁi- riviu /ˈʁiviu/	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix de- deviu /ˈdeviu/

Remote past

	Masculine	Feminine
1st person	Prefix i- iviu /ˈiviu/	Prefix su- suviu /ˈsuviu/
2nd person	Prefix pɐ- paviu /ˈpɐviu/	If starts with vowel: Prefix t- Else: Prefix tɛ- teviu /ˈtɛviu/
3rd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix vu- vuviu /ˈvuviu/	Prefix ʃa- chaviu /ˈʃaviu/

Ouram uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: flɐ̃ - flam viu /flɐ̃ ˈviu/ will learn

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.
Ouram uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix vi- viviu /ˈviviu/ have learned

Numbers

Ouram has a base-20 number system:
1 - vi
2 - rie
3 - ul
4 - bu
5 - fopi
6 - sucal
7 - la
8 - ses
9 - feus
10 - su
11 - cusal
12 - sus
13 - pruti
14 - utes
15 - dinider
16 - feu
17 - uis
18 - fanh
19 - amer
20 - brenhs
21 - brenhs mas vi “twenty and one”
400 - tanus “fourhundred”
401 - tanus vi “fourhundred one”
800 - rie tanus “two fourhundred”
8000 - setar “eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix pɾu-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɐ-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix va-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix v- Else: Prefix vi-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l- Else: Prefix lɐ-
Noun to verb = Prefix fe-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɛ-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix bɾ- Else: Prefix bɾe-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix dẽ-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix ɐ̃w̃-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɐ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix kw- Else: Prefix kwɨ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix tɾ- Else: Prefix tɾɨ-
Augmentative = Prefix se-

Dictionary

4435 Words.