Qusan*

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: mum nun utʃ oːztl tlel chiːts mum cuom tlel metʃ opoːhl miːch ntzecu
Pronunciation: mum nun utʃ oːztl tlel chiːts mum kwom tlel metʃ ˈopoːhl miːch ˈntzeku
Qusan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b c d f g h j k kʷ l m n p q r s t w x z ɬ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʎ ʔ ʧ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ
Stop	p b		t d		c	k kʷ g	q	ʔ
Affricate				ʧ
Fricative		f	s z	ʃ		x		h
Approximant					j
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral fricative			ɬ
Lateral approximant			l		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /e iː o oː u uː/

	Front	Back
High	iː	u uː
High-mid	e	oː o

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial 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, ʃ, ʔ
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, bs, bx, bɾ, d, dɾ, f, g, gl, gn, gɾ, k, ks, kt, kw, kɾ, l, lb, ld, ldɾ, lg, lk, lm, lp, ls, lt, lɾ, m, mb, mbɾ, mp, mpl, mpɾ, n, nb, nd, ndɾ, nf, ng, ngl, ngɾ, nk, nkl, nkɾ, nm, ns, nstɾ, nt, ntɾ, p, ps, pt, pɾ, r, s, sd, sg, sgɾ, sk, skɾ, sl, sm, sp, st, stɾ, t, tɾ, x, xp, xpl, xs, xtɾ, ɲ, ɾ, ɾb, ɾd, ɾf, ɾg, ɾk, ɾl, ɾm, ɾn, ɾp, ɾpɾ, ɾs, ɾt, ɾx, ɾʧ, ʎ, ʧ
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, ʃ, ʔ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• s → ʂ / _t

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɾ	r
ʎ	y / #_
ʎ	ll
kw	cu
k	c
ʧ	ch
ɲ	ñ
x	g / _{e,i}
x	j

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 before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

Singular	No affix chiːsiːch /ˈchiːsiːch/ dog
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix tl- Else: Prefix tluː- tluːchiːsiːch /tluːcˈhiːsiːch/ dogs

Articles

Definite	tuː /tuː/ the
Indefinite	ʃuː /ʃuː/ a, some

Pronouns

1st singular	moː /moː/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	noh /noh/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	nun /nun/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	tɬom /tɬom/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	noː /noː/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	iːj /iːj/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	ntzetl /ntzetl/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	tʃo /tʃo/ my
2nd singular	tlup /tlup/ your
3rd singular masc	tlel /tlel/ his
3rd singular fem	chiː /chiː/ her
1st plural	moʃ /moʃ/ our
2nd plural	tlem /tlem/ your (pl)
3rd plural	huː /huː/ their

Verbs

	Future
1st singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -om nototzom /ˈnototzom/ (I) will learn
2nd singular	If ends with vowel: Suffix -tz Else: Suffix -utz nototzutz /noˈtotzutz/ (you) will learn
3rd singular	Suffix -iː nototziː /ˈnototziː/ (he/she/it) will learn
1st plural	Prefix tɬo- tɬonototz /tɬoˈnototz/ (we) will learn
2nd plural	Suffix -oːch nototzoːch /noˈtotzoːch/ (you all) will learn
3rd plural	Prefix tzo- tzonototz /ˈtzonototz/ (they) will learn

Qusan uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: iː - iː nototz /iː noˈtotz/ learned

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).
Qusan uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If starts with vowel: Prefix mp- Else: Prefix mpiː- mpiːnototz /mpiːˈnototz/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Qusan has a base-20 number system:
1 - moːn
2 - niːh
3 - notl
4 - chiː
5 - ʔoːt
6 - muːm
7 - oːpeguch
8 - chiːtz
9 - u
10 - noc
11 - oht
12 - tʃol
13 - tzortotʃ
14 - moːñutʃ
15 - ʃunuːmiː
16 - cʷiːsiːp
17 - ntzetregnotl
18 - cuoju
19 - mempemploːcʷ
20 - ntziːmoːs
21 - ntziːmoːsmoːn “twenty-one”
400 - moːn huː “one fourhundred”
401 - moːn huː moːn “one fourhundred one”
800 - niːh huː “two fourhundred”
8000 - moːn miːcoː “one eightthousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -uːt
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -iːm
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -iːm
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -iː
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ch Else: Suffix -iːch
Noun to verb = Suffix -oː
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -oːtl
Tending to = Suffix -oːtz
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mp Else: Suffix -oːmp
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -up
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -eh
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -uːn
Diminutive = Prefix moː-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -tz Else: Suffix -otz

Dictionary

4450 Words.