Qilaphma

LANGUAGE FAMILY: QILDABIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 4.94M / #11
SPOKEN IN: Qildab - 4M / Shuri - 500K / Ek Jad - 300K / Sheishal - 140K
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: nye˥k sa˥ te˥k u˥ka˥ul mo˥tap mi˥ntap nye˥k mwae˥nguz kwo˥ te˥k u˥l su˥mul ka˥mtap
Pronunciation: njeː˥k sa˥ te˥k u˥ˈka˥ul ˈmo˥tap ˈmi˥ntap njeː˥k ˈmwɛː˥ŋuz kwo˥ te˥k u˥ɭ ˈsu˥mul ˈkʰa˥mtap

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /d h j k kʰ m n p pʰ s t tʰ w ŋ ɡ ɭ ɾ ʨ ʨʰ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n				ŋ
Stop	p pʰ	t tʰ d				k kʰ ɡ
Affricate				ʨʰ ʨ
Fricative		s					h
Approximant					j
Tap		ɾ
Lateral approximant			ɭ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aː e eː i iː o oː u uː ɛ ɛː ɯ ɯː ʌ/
Tones: ˥

	Front	Back
High	i iː	ɯ ɯː u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː	ʌ
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: h, hj, j, k, kj, kw, kʰ, m, mj, mw, n, nj, p, pj, pʰ, pʰj, s, t, tʰ, w, ɾ, ʨ, ʨʰ, ʨʰw
Mid-word consonants: d, h, hj, j, k, kk, kkj, kpj, kpʰ, ks, kt, kw, kʨ, kʰ, m, md, mh, mj, mm, mn, mnj, mp, mpʰj, ms, mt, mɡ, mʨ, mʨʰ, n, nd, nh, nj, nk, nm, nmj, nn, np, ns, nt, ntʰ, nɡ, nɡj, nʨ, nʨʰ, p, pj, pk, ps, pt, pʨ, pʨʰ, pʰ, pʰj, s, t, tk, tt, tʨ, tʨʰ, tʰ, w, ŋ, ŋd, ŋh, ŋhj, ŋj, ŋk, ŋm, ŋmj, ŋn, ŋp, ŋpʰ, ŋpʰj, ŋs, ŋɡ, ŋɡj, ŋʨʰ, ɡ, ɡj, ɡw, ɭd, ɭk, ɭm, ɭp, ɭpʰ, ɭpʰj, ɭs, ɭt, ɭtʰ, ɭɡ, ɭɡj, ɭɡw, ɭɭ, ɾ, ɾh, ɾj, ɾw, ʨ, ʨʰ
Word final consonants: k, m, n, p, t, ŋ, ɭ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• w → b / #_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
p	b / #_ !_ʰ
pʰ	p
ɡ	g
ŋ	ng
ɭ	l
ɾ	r
ʌ	eo
ɯ(ː)	eu
ɛ(ː)	ae
j	y
ː
tʰ	t
kʰ	k
ʨʰ	ch
ʨ	j

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 two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix kyo˥nuz /ˈkjo˥nuz/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb)
Accusative	Prefix ka˥- ka˥kyo˥nuz /ka˥ˈkjo˥nuz/ (verb done to) doɡ

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix ko˥kuz /ˈko˥kuz/ man	No affix a˥ul /ˈa˥ul/ woman
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix so˥- so˥ko˥kuz /so˥ˈko˥kuz/ men	Prefix ja˥- ya˥a˥ul /ja˥ˈa˥ul/ women

Articles

Definite	to˥ /to˥/ the
Indefinite	yeo˥p /jʌ˥p/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	pa˥l /pʰa˥ɭ/ I	ka˥ /kaː˥/ me
2nd singular	so˥l /so˥ɭ/ you (masc)	ya˥t /ja˥t/ you
3rd singular masc	sa˥ /sa˥/ he, it	pa˥ /pʰa˥/ him, it
3rd singular fem	o˥p /o˥p/ she, it	to˥ /to˥/ her, it
1st plural	jo˥ /ʨo˥/ we	yi˥ /ji˥/ us
2nd plural	nyo˥m /njoː˥m/ you all	na˥m /na˥m/ you all
3rd plural masc	weo˥p /wʌ˥p/ they (masc)	ka˥ /kʰa˥/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	ho˥ /hoː˥/ they (fem)	ba˥ /pa˥/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	na˥ /na˥/ my
2nd singular	i˥m /i˥m/ your
3rd singular masc	te˥k /te˥k/ his
3rd singular fem	mo˥ /mo˥/ her
1st plural	ka˥ /ka˥/ our
2nd plural	ma˥k /ma˥k/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	pa˥p /pʰa˥p/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	we˥k /weː˥k/ their (fem)

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st person	No affix ka˥mtap /ˈka˥mtap/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix mw- Else: Prefix mwɛː˥- mwae˥ka˥mtap /mwɛː˥ˈka˥mtap/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	No affix ka˥mtap /ˈka˥mtap/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix m- Else: Prefix mi˥- mi˥ka˥mtap /mi˥ˈka˥mtap/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	No affix ka˥mtap /ˈka˥mtap/ (he/she/it/they) learn	Prefix ji˥- yi˥ka˥mtap /ji˥ˈka˥mtap/ (he/she/it/they) learned

Qilaphma uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: a˥ - a˥ ka˥mtap /a˥ ˈka˥mtap/ 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.
Qilaphma uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix a˥- a˥ka˥mtap /a˥ˈka˥mtap/ have learned

Numbers

Qilaphma has a base-10 number system:
1 - kyo˥
2 - mu˥
3 - a˥m
4 - to˥m
5 - yi˥m
6 - a˥ndi˥
7 - mi˥k
8 - ta˥
9 - chu˥t
10 - be˥
11 - kyo˥ nye˥k be˥ “one and ten”
100 - ri˥l “hundred”
101 - ri˥l nye˥k kyo˥ “hundred and one”
200 - mu˥ ri˥l
1000 - wo˥ “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ja˥-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix ki˥-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ji˥-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix a˥-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ke˥-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sa˥-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ji˥-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ji˥-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix i˥-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix wi˥-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix i˥-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix i˥-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix ji˥-
Augmentative = Prefix ʌ˥-

Dictionary

4425 Words.