Vithari

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ERELIC
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 1.4M / #28
SPOKEN IN: Beurin - 1M / Bim - 400K
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: mkha˩ sa˩ sa˩ nhli˩y msa˩bɾa˩ i˩y mkha˩ ka˩y mza˩ sa˩ ka˩gh ca˩ck tsu˩bsa˩st
Pronunciation: mkʰɒ˩ sɒ˩ sɒ˩ nɬi˩j ˈmsɒ˩bɾɒ˩ i˩j mkʰɒ˩ kɒ˩j mzɒ˩ sɒ˩ kɒ˩gh ǀɒ˩ǀk ˈʦʼu˩bsɒ˩st

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

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b bʼ d f g h j k kʰ l m n p pʰ r s t tʰ v w x z ŋ ǀ ǀʰ ǂ ǂʰ ǃ ǃʰ ɦ ɬ ɮ ɲ ɾ ʃ ʎ ʤ ʦʼ ʧ ʧʼ ᵑǀ ᵑǃʼ ᶢǀʼ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	pʰ p b bʼ			tʰ t d			k kʰ g
Affricate				ʦʼ	ʧʼ ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v		s z	ʃ		x	h ɦ
Approximant						j
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral fricative				ɬ ɮ
Lateral approximant				l		ʎ
Click			ǀ ᵑǀ ǀʰ ᶢǀʼ	ǃʰ ǃ ᵑǃʼ		ǂ ǂʰ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /i u ɒ ɔ ɛ/
Tones: ˩

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low		ɒ

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bj, bʼ, d, f, g, h, j, k, kw, kʰ, kʰw, l, lw, m, mb, mf, mkʰ, ml, mn, mp, ms, mz, mɬ, mɮ, mɲ, n, nd, ng, nt, nz, nǂ, nɬ, nɮ, p, pl, pʰ, s, t, tʰ, v, w, z, zw, ŋk, ǀ, ǀʰ, ǂ, ǂʰ, ǃ, ǃʰ, ǃʰw, ɦ, ɬ, ɲ, ɲʤ, ʃ, ʤ, ʦʼ, ʧʼ, ᵑǀ, ᵑǀw, ᵑǃʼ, ᶢǀʼw
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: f, ff, gh, j, l, ll, n, ng, nt, p, r, ss, st, t, wn, ǀ, ǀk
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• p → b / m_
• j → d / #_
• w → b / #_
• p → b / V_V

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
bʱ	bh
ᵑǀʱ	ngc
ᵑǃʱ	ngq
ᵑǂʱ	ngx
ɲʧʼ	ntsh
ʧʼ	tsh
ᶢǃʱ	gq
ᶢǂʱ	gx
ᶢǀʱ	gc
ᵑǂ	nx
ǂʰ	xh
ᵑǃ	nq
kʰ	kh
ǃʰ	qh
ǃ	q
ǂ	x
ŋk	nk
ᵑǀ	nc
ǀʰ	ch
ǀ	c
ɮ	dl
j	y
ɲʤ	nj
ʤ	j
ɲ	ny
ɦ	hh
ɬ	hl
pʰ	ph
ʃ	sh
tʰ	th
ʦʼ	ts
ɒ	a
ɛ	e
ɔ	o

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:

• 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).

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

Particle before the noun: kɒ˩ - ka˩ be˩p /kɒ˩ bɛ˩p/ dogs

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɒ˩- ka˩be˩p /ˈkɒ˩bɛ˩p/ dog (doing the verb to something)
Absolutive	No affix be˩p /bɛ˩p/ dog (doing the verb, but not to something)

	Animate	Inanimate
Definite	If starts with vowel: Prefix mkʰ- Else: Prefix mkʰɒ˩- mkha˩she˩ss /ˈmkʰɒ˩ʃɛ˩ss/	Prefix ɒ˩- a˩bu˩ss /ˈɒ˩bu˩ss/
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix mɮ- Else: Prefix mɮɒ˩- mdla˩she˩ss /ˈmɮɒ˩ʃɛ˩ss/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ɒ˩j bu˩ssa˩y /ˈbu˩ssɒ˩j/

Articles

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

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	khu˩ /kʰu˩/ I	tsu˩l /ʦʼu˩l/ me, I
2nd singular	mla˩ /mlɒ˩/ you	ntu˩st /ntu˩st/ you
3rd singular masc	sa˩ /sɒ˩/ he, it	mdla˩ /mɮɒ˩/ him, it
3rd singular fem	kwe˩ck /kwɛ˩ǀk/ she, it	si˩ /si˩/ her, it
1st plural inclusive	ga˩ /gɒ˩/ we (including you)	ze˩ll /zɛ˩ll/ us, we (including you)
1st plural exclusive	mza˩ /mzɒ˩/ we (excluding you)	na˩ /nɒ˩/ us, we (excluding you)
2nd plural	a˩ /ɒ˩/ you all	do˩ff /dɔ˩ff/ you all
3rd plural	ka˩ng /kɒ˩ng/ they	mkha˩ /mkʰɒ˩/ them, they

Possessive determiners

1st singular	khu˩ /kʰu˩/ my
2nd singular	mla˩ /mlɒ˩/ your
3rd singular masc	sa˩ /sɒ˩/ his
3rd singular fem	kwe˩ck /kwɛ˩ǀk/ her
1st plural inclusive	ga˩ /gɒ˩/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	mza˩ /mzɒ˩/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	a˩ /ɒ˩/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ka˩ng /kɒ˩ng/ their

Verbs

	Animate	Inanimate
Present	Suffix -ɛ˩l mfo˩ghe˩l /ˈmfɔ˩ghɛ˩l/	Prefix ɒ˩- a˩mfo˩gh /ˈɒ˩mfɔ˩gh/
Past	Suffix -ɛ˩ mfo˩ghe˩ /ˈmfɔ˩ghɛ˩/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -gh Else: Suffix -u˩gh mfo˩ghu˩gh /ˈmfɔ˩ghu˩gh/
Future	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɒ˩f mfo˩gha˩f /ˈmfɔ˩ghɒ˩f/	Prefix ɔ˩- o˩mfo˩gh /ˈɔ˩mfɔ˩gh/

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).
Vithari uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: mi˩ǀk - mi˩ck mfo˩gh /mi˩ǀk mfɔ˩gh/ learns/is learning

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.
Vithari uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -ɔ˩ mfo˩gho˩ /ˈmfɔ˩ghɔ˩/ have learned

Numbers

Vithari has a base-10 number system:
1 - qhwu˩
2 - vi˩
3 - nhli˩f
4 - pli˩nt
5 - be˩
6 - ya˩f
7 - msa˩ga˩
8 - ndi˩
9 - mfo˩
10 - i˩
11 - i˩ mkha˩ qhwu˩ “ten and one”
100 - qhwu˩ mhlo˩ “one hundred”
101 - qhwu˩ mhlo˩ qhwu˩ “one hundred one”
200 - vi˩ mhlo˩
1000 - qhwu˩ mi˩y “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ɒ˩t
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɒ˩n
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -u˩ss
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ɒ˩-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ɒ˩-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix mɮ- Else: Prefix mɮɒ˩-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix ɒ˩-
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt Else: Suffix -ɔ˩nt
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɛ˩
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɒ˩n
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ɒ˩-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ng Else: Suffix -i˩ng
Diminutive = Prefix ɛ˩-
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -i˩p

Dictionary

4457 Words.