Qiildabeh*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: QILDABIC
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: num mimp ubi ḩɔ hlu ilak num ntzikɛ hlu më tɬup na imēsi
Pronunciation: /num mimp uˈbi ħɔ hlu iˈlak num ntziˈkɛ hlu më tɬup na imēˈsi
Qiildabeh word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c d dˤ f h j k kʷ l m n p q r s sˤ t tˤ w x z ð ðˤ ħ ǂ ɣ ɬ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʘ ʤ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	p b			t tˤ dˤ d		c	k kʷ	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʤ
Fricative		f	θ ð ðˤ	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ
Lateral approximant				l
Click	ʘ					ǂ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e ē ë i o ò u ɑ ɔ ə ɛ/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
High-mid	ë e ē		o ò
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low	a		ɑ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable
Word initial consonants: ch, cz, dˤ, h, hl, ht, j, k, kw, kʷ, l, m, mp, n, nt, ntz, p, ql, s, sˤ, t, tl, ts, tz, tɬ, tʃ, tˤ, w, ztl, ð, ħ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, bb, d, dd, dˤ, f, h, j, jj, k, kr, l, ll, lʔ, m, mm, n, nd, nt, ntˤ, nð, q, qq, r, rb, rr, s, sˤ, t, tl, tʤ, tˤ, tˤtˤ, w, ww, x, ð, ðˤ, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʕl, ʕt, ʕtˤ, ʤ, θ
Word final consonants: ch, cz, h, hl, ht, j, k, kw, kʷ, l, m, mp, n, nt, ntz, p, ql, s, t, tl, ts, tz, tɬ, tʃ, w, ztl, ǂ, ʃ, ʔ, ʘ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• j → r / V_V
• [+nasal] → m / _#
• j → i / C_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	’
θ	th
ʤ	j
x	kh
ð	dh
ʃ	sh
sˤ	ş
dˤ	ḑ
tˤ	ţ
ʕ	ʻ
ɣ	gh
ħ	ḩ
aː	ā
iː	ī
uː	ū
j	y

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

	Singular	Plural
Masculine	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -im hətim /həˈtim/ man	Prefix tɬu- tɬuhət /tɬuˈhət/ men
Feminine	If ends with vowel: Suffix -mp Else: Suffix -amp ’uɑmp /ʔuˈɑmp/ woman	Suffix -uch ’uɑuch /ʔuɑˈuch/ women
Neuter:uc	Prefix a-	Prefix ntzò-

Articles

Definite	chu /chu/ the
Indefinite	ntzu /ntzu/ a, some

Pronouns

1st singular	tza /tza/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	ɑ /ɑ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	mimp /mimp/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	chi /chi/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	nu /nu/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	tɬum /tɬum/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	i /i/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	nɑ /nɑ/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	mutz /mutz/ my
2nd singular	mɛ /mɛ/ your
3rd singular masc	hlu /hlu/ his
3rd singular fem	ump /ump/ her
1st plural	më /më/ our
2nd plural	u /u/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	’a /ʔa/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ḩɔ /ħɔ/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st singular	Prefix ɛ- ɛnəkrin /ɛnəˈkrin/ (I) learn	Prefix nə- nənəkrin /nənəˈkrin/ (I) learned
2nd singular	Suffix -an nəkrinan /nəkriˈnan/ (you) learn	Suffix -ən nəkrinən /nəkriˈnən/ (you) learned
3rd singular masc	Suffix -u nəkrinu /nəkriˈnu/ (he) learns	Suffix -ə nəkrinə /nəkriˈnə/ (he) learned
3rd singular fem	If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ep nəkrinep /nəkriˈnep/ (she) learns	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kʷ Else: Suffix -ukʷ nəkrinukʷ /nəkriˈnukʷ/ (she) learned
1st plural	Suffix -un nəkrinun /nəkriˈnun/ (we) learn	Prefix i- inəkrin /inəˈkrin/ (we) learned
2nd plural	Prefix u- unəkrin /unəˈkrin/ (you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mu- munəkrin /munəˈkrin/ (you all) learned
3rd plural masc	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -im nəkrinim /nəkriˈnim/ (they) learn	Suffix -im nəkrinim /nəkriˈnim/ (they) learned
3rd plural fem	Suffix -ɑ nəkrinɑ /nəkriˈnɑ/ (they) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix mp- Else: Prefix mpa- mpanəkrin /mpanəˈkrin/ (they) learned

Qiildabeh uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: tzuk - tzuk nəkrin /tzuk nəˈkrin/ 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.
Qiildabeh uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If starts with vowel: Prefix ntz- Else: Prefix ntzə- ntzənəkrin /ntzənəˈkrin/ have learned

Numbers

Qiildabeh has a base-10 number system:
1 - tləch
2 - ztlup
3 - mon
4 - ntzu
5 - həʻin
6 - mə
7 - lɑ
8 - mɑn
9 - ntzun
10 - u
11 - tləch num u “one and ten”
100 - tləch miku “one hundred”
101 - tləch miku tləch “one hundred one”
200 - ztlup miku
1000 - tləch ukʷ “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tz Else: Suffix -ɛtz
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -a
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tl Else: Suffix -itl
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -i
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ëm
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ztl Else: Suffix -aztl
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix i-
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -un
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɛtl
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ɔ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -i
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɔm
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tz Else: Suffix -ɛtz
Augmentative = Suffix -u

Dictionary

4416 Words.