Tchavit*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SINNUTIAN
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: viː geːd ˈmheːmis ˈyyiːmis tzeː ˈzidˤuv viː ˈgmimmis tzeː hyx ˈnasuv o ˈyyfuus
Pronunciation: viː geːd ˈmheːmis ˈjiːmis ʦeː ˈzidˤuv viː ˈgmimmis ʦeː hyx ˈnasuv o ˈjfuus
Tchavit word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d dˤ f g h j k l m n p q r s sˤ t tʰ tˤ v w x z ð ħ ɣ ɮ ʁ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ ʧʰ θ χ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Stop	p b			t tʰ tˤ d dˤ			k g	q		ʔ
Affricate				ʦ ʦʰ	ʧ ʧʰ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ	χ ʁ	ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɮ
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e eː i iː o oː u uː y ɔː ɛː/

	Front	Back
High	i iː y	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low-mid	ɛː	ɔː
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, f, fʃ, g, gm, h, j, jf, jl, k, kn, kʁ, l, lm, m, mh, mk, mn, mʁ, mʔ, mʦ, n, nχʁ, p, s, sχ, t, ts, tʁ, v, vχ, x, z, zd, ʁ, ʁb, ʃ, ʃb, ʃl, ʃm, ʃp, ʃt, ʔ, ʕ, ʦ, χ, χn, χt
Mid-word consonants: ff, g, gs, gt, gts, gtʰ, gɮ, gʃ, gʧ, j, m, mg, mn, ms, mt, mʧ, mʧɮ, n, ng, ns, nt, nts, nx, nʦʰ, r, rg, rs, rsg, rt, rtɮ, rtʰ, rw, rx, rɮ, rʃ, rʦʰ, rʧʰ, s, sg, sn, sr, ss, stʰ, sɮ, t, tg, tn, tr, tw, tɮ, tʰ, tʰg, tʰɮ, w, ws, wtʰ, wx, wɮ, wʃ, wʦʰ, wʧʰɮ, x, xg, xn, xt, xɮ, ɮ, ɮb, ɮg, ɮs, ɮt, ɮtw, ɮtʰ, ɮtʰg, ɮtʰtʰ, ɮx, ɮɮ, ɮʦʰ, ɮʧ, ɮʧʰɮ, ʃ, ʦ, ʦr, ʦʰ, ʦʰs, ʧ, ʧʰ, ʧʰs
Word final consonants: b, d, dˤ, f, h, j, k, l, m, n, q, r, s, sˤ, t, tˤ, w, x, z, ð, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʤ, θ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• t → ʧ / n_
• d → ∅ / _#
• b → w / V_V
• l → j / #C_
• a → æ / _(C)e
• w → b / V_V
• ʦ → z / V_V
• d → k / _w
• u → ∅ / _o
• e → æ / _[+labial]
• a → ∅ / #_m

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	yy
χ	kaa
ʦ	tz
ʁ	r
ʃ	shc
ʔ	'

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	Plural
Masculine	If starts with vowel: Prefix gm- Else: Prefix gmi- ˈgmishcmauv /ˈgmiʃmauv/ man	If starts with vowel: Prefix jf- Else: Prefix jfo- ˈyyfoshcmauv /ˈjfoʃmauv/ men
Feminine	If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix na- ˈnafaus /ˈnafaus/ woman	Prefix ʔeː- ˈ'eːfaus /ˈʔeːfaus/ women
Neuter	If starts with vowel: Prefix χ- Else: Prefix χi- ˈkaaitrouv /ˈχitʁouv/ dog	Prefix zi- ˈzitrouv /ˈzitʁouv/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	biː /biː/ the	e /e/ a
Plural	fa /fa/ the	yr /yr/ some

Pronouns

1st singular	zot /zot/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	hyd /hyd/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	geːd /geːd/ he, him, his
3rd singular fem	yylyð /jlyð/ she, her, hers
3rd singular neut	shcbɔːt /ʃbɔːt/ it, its
1st plural	shcba /ʃba/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	a /a/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	kriː /kʁiː/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	shcma /ʃma/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
3rd plural neut	yyiː /jiː/ they (neut), them (neut), theirs (neut)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	geːʤ /geːʤ/ my
2nd singular	m'eq /mʔeq/ your
3rd singular masc	tzeː /ʦeː/ his
3rd singular fem	yylu /jlu/ her
3rd singular neut	lmeːx /lmeːx/ its
1st plural	iː /iː/ our
2nd plural	mhoː /mhoː/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	lmeːl /lmeːl/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	ok /ok/ their (fem)
3rd plural neut	skaaot /sχot/ their (neut)

Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix z- Else: Prefix zi- ˈzilmeːˌʧakmis /ˈzilmeːˌʧakmis/ (I/you/he/she) learns	Prefix ɔː- ˈɔːlmeːˌʧakmis /ˈɔːlmeːˌʧakmis/ (we/they) learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix f- Else: Prefix fa- ˈfalmeːˌʧakmis /ˈfalmeːˌʧakmis/ (I/you/he/she) learned	If starts with vowel: Prefix j- Else: Prefix jy- ˈyyylmeːˌʧakmis /ˈjylmeːˌʧakmis/ (we/they) learned
Remote past	Prefix e- ˈelmeːˌʧakmis /ˈelmeːˌʧakmis/ (I/you/he/she) learned (long ago)	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃb- Else: Prefix ʃbɔː- ˈshcbɔːlmeːˌʧakmis /ˈʃbɔːlmeːˌʧakmis/ (we/they) learned (long ago)

Tchavit uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: lmeːl - lmeːl ˈlmeːʧakmis /lmeːl ˈlmeːʧakmis/ 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.
Tchavit uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Prefix e- ˈelmeːˌʧakmis /ˈelmeːˌʧakmis/ have learned

Numbers

Tchavit has a base-10 number system:
1 - hyz
2 - ne
3 - u
4 - shcte
5 - po
6 - vuːh
7 - yyiː
8 - yylu
9 - mna
10 - shcok
11 - shcokhyz “ten-one”
100 - hyz gmim “one hundred”
101 - hyz gmim hyz “one hundred one”
200 - ne gmim
1000 - hyz kaaoɣ “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix eː-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix viː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mn- Else: Prefix mna-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix guː-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix gm- Else: Prefix gmo-
Noun to verb = Prefix iː-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n- Else: Prefix ne-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix pu-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix tse-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix tʁ- Else: Prefix tʁo-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mn- Else: Prefix mnɔː-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fʃ- Else: Prefix fʃe-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix keː-
Augmentative = Prefix le-

Dictionary

4423 Words.