Paleli*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SAU-SERIB
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:
DESCENDANT LANGUAGES:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: bu ba ŋ̟aṇ utsh bunama ṇutsh bu utsh ush dunya ḷamu l̪aphaf ḍa
Pronunciation: bu ba ŋ̟aɳ utʃ buˈnama ɳutʃ bu utʃ uʃ ˈduɲa ˈɭamu ˈl̪apʰaf ɖa
Paleli word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʼ c cʰ d dʼ d̪ f g gʼ g̟ g̠ h j k kʰ l l̥ l̪ m n n̪ p pʰ q r s sʰ t tʰ w x z ŋ̟ ŋ̠ ɕ ɕʰ ɖ ɖʼ ɟ ɣ ɥ ɭ ɲ ɳ ɹ ɹ̥ ɻ ɽ ɽʼ ʂ ʂʰ ʃ ʃʰ ʈ ʈʰ ʋ ʎ ʒ ʒʼ ʔ ᵐb ᵑg̟ ᵑg̠ ᶯɖ ⁿd ⁿd̪/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n̪	n		ɳ		ɲ
Stop	pʰ p b ᵐb bʼ		d̪ ⁿd̪	tʰ t ⁿd d dʼ		ʈʰ ʈ ᶯɖ ɖ ɖʼ		cʰ c ɟ	kʰ k g gʼ	q	ʔ
Fricative		f		sʰ s z	ʃ ʃʰ ʒ ʒʼ	ʂʰ ʂ	ɕʰ ɕ		x ɣ		h
Approximant		ʋ		ɹ̥ ɹ		ɻ		j
Tap						ɽ ɽʼ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant			l̪	l l̥		ɭ		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-palatal	Labial-velar
Approximant	ɥ	w

Vowel inventory: /a u/

	Front	Back
High		u
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, d̪, g̟, g̠, j, l, l̪, m, n, n̪, r, w, ŋ̟, ŋ̠, ɖ, ɭ, ɳ, ɻ, ᵐb, ᵑg̟, ᵑg̠, ᶯɖ, ⁿd, ⁿd̪
Mid-word consonants: c, cʰ, g, h, j, k, kʰ, l, l̥, m, n, p, pʰ, s, t, ts, tsʰ, tɕ, tɕʰ, tʰ, w, ɕ, ɟ, ɥ, ɲ, ɹ, ɹ̥, ʂ, ʈ, ʈʂ, ʈʂʰ, ʈʰ, ʎ, ʔ
Word final consonants: b, bʼ, d, dʒ, dʒʼ, dʼ, f, g, gʼ, j, k, kʰ, l, m, n, p, pʰ, q, r, s, t, tʃ, tʃʰ, tʰ, x, z, ɖ, ɖʼ, ɣ, ɳ, ɽ, ɽʼ, ʃ, ʈ, ʈʰ, ʋ, ʒ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• l → n / #_V[+nasal]
• a → e / _j#
• d → t / _#
• l → h / _k
• m → w / #_
• b → β / V_V
• t → r / _V
• t → r / tV_
• k → ç / _#
• s → h / V_V
• s → h / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ⁿd	nd
ᵑg	ng
ᵐb	mb
ʔ	ʻ
ɳ	ṇ
j	y
ɖ	ḍ
ɭ	ḷ
ɲ	ny
pʰ	ph
tʰ	th
x	kh
ʒ	j
c	chy
ɕ	ch
ʈ	ṭ
ʂ	ṣ
ʃ	sh
ɽ	ṛ
ʋ	v
ɹ	r̈
ɻ	r̀
ʎ	ÿ
ɣ	g̈
kʰ	k̈
ɟ	j̈

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:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and 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.

Ergative	Suffix -a anyua /aˈɲua/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix anyu /ˈaɲu/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something)
Genitive	Suffix -um anyuum /aˈɲuum/ dogʼs
Dative	Suffix -u anyuu /aˈɲuu/ to (the/a) dog

Singular

	Animate	Inanimate
Definite	Suffix -um ng̠amunum /ᵑg̠aˈmunum/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an n̪apan /ˈn̪apan/
Indefinite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ap ng̠amunap /ᵑg̠aˈmunap/	Suffix -u n̪apau /n̪aˈpau/

Plural

	Animate	Inanimate
Definite	Suffix -un ng̠amunun /ᵑg̠aˈmunun/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɳ Else: Suffix -uɳ n̪apaṇ /ˈn̪apaɳ/
Indefinite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -pʰ Else: Suffix -upʰ ng̠amunuph /ᵑg̠aˈmunupʰ/	Suffix -aʋ n̪apaav /n̪aˈpaaʋ/

Articles

Paleli encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative
1st singular	g̟an /g̟an/ I	r̀a /ɻa/ me, I	a /a/ mine	g̟ap /g̟ap/ to me
2nd singular	d̪u /d̪u/ you	ya /ja/ you	g̟u /g̟u/ yours	n̪um /n̪um/ to you
3rd singular	ba /ba/ he, she, it	raṇ /raɳ/ him, her, it, he, she	utsh /utʃ/ his, hers, its	bum /bum/ to him, her, it
1st plural inclusive	g̠u /g̠u/ we (including you)	n̪uṭ /n̪uʈ/ us, we (including you)	ṇaṇ /ɳaɳ/ ours (including you)	g̟a /g̟a/ to us (including you)
1st plural exclusive	n̪u /n̪u/ we (excluding you)	bu /bu/ us, we (excluding you)	na /na/ ours (excluding you)	um /um/ to us (excluding you)
2nd plural	batsh /batʃ/ you all	g̟aṇ /g̟aɳ/ you all	du /du/ yours (pl)	ndu /ⁿdu/ to you all
3rd plural	butshʰ /butʃʰ/ they	ṇu /ɳu/ them, they	an /an/ theirs	nap /nap/ to them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	a /a/ my
2nd singular	g̟u /g̟u/ your
3rd singular	utsh /utʃ/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	ṇaṇ /ɳaɳ/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	na /na/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	du /du/ your (pl)
3rd plural	an /an/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ap g̟atagap /g̟aˈtagap/ (I) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -q Else: Suffix -aq g̟atagaq /g̟aˈtagaq/ (I) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an g̟atagan /g̟aˈtagan/ (I) learned (long ago)
2nd singular	Suffix -ud g̟atagud /g̟aˈtagud/ (you) learn	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʃʰ Else: Suffix -utʃʰ g̟atagutshʰ /g̟aˈtagutʃʰ/ (you) learned	Suffix -un g̟atagun /g̟aˈtagun/ (you) learned (long ago)
3rd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -um g̟atagum /g̟aˈtagum/ (he/she/it) learns	Suffix -uk g̟ataguk /g̟aˈtaguk/ (he/she/it) learned	Suffix -uq g̟ataguq /g̟aˈtaguq/ (he/she/it) learned (long ago)
1st plural inclusive	Suffix -u g̟atagu /g̟aˈtagu/ (we) learn (including you)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʈ Else: Suffix -uʈ g̟ataguṭ /g̟aˈtaguʈ/ (we) learned (including you)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʃ Else: Suffix -atʃ g̟atagatsh /g̟aˈtagatʃ/ (we) learned (including you) (long ago)
1st plural exclusive	Suffix -a g̟ataga /g̟aˈtaga/ (we) learn (excluding you)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -un g̟atagun /g̟aˈtagun/ (we) learned (excluding you)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ub g̟atagub /g̟aˈtagub/ (we) learned (excluding you) (long ago)
2nd plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ut g̟atagut /g̟aˈtagut/ (you all) learn	Suffix -uɳ g̟ataguṇ /g̟aˈtaguɳ/ (you all) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ud g̟atagud /g̟aˈtagud/ (you all) learned (long ago)
3rd plural	Suffix -up g̟atagup /g̟aˈtagup/ (they) learn	Suffix -am g̟atagam /g̟aˈtagam/ (they) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -dʒ Else: Suffix -adʒ g̟atagadj /g̟aˈtagadʒ/ (they) learned (long ago)

Paleli uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: g̠u - g̠u g̟atag /g̠u ˈg̟atag/ 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).
Paleli uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Suffix -u g̟atagu /g̟aˈtagu/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Paleli has a base-10 number system:
1 - la
2 - aṇ
3 - nap
4 - g̟uṭʰ
5 - ḷana
6 - uṇ
7 - n̪umun
8 - ḷatu
9 - ᶯḍu
10 - g̟uṇ
11 - g̟uṇ bu la “ten and one”
100 - n̪uk “hundred”
101 - n̪uk la “hundred one”
200 - aṇ n̪uk
1000 - nathu “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -u
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -um
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -um
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -um
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -uɳ
Noun to verb = Suffix -ap
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ud
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʰ Else: Suffix -utʰ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʃ Else: Suffix -atʃ
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -u
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -an
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -uk
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -un
Augmentative = Suffix -u

Dictionary

4468 Words.