Basadeiian

Natively known as: Basadeɪæn /ˈbasaˌdeɪæn/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
yâ kha kha shoki reru ambu yâ lazi r̀ú kha dziq̀or̀ú r̀aq̀âyú lachobâ
Pronunciation: /jɑ χa χa ˈʃoki ˈreru ˈambu jɑ ˈlaʒi ʁʉ χa ˈʣiɢoʁʉ ˈʁaɢɑjʉ ˈlaʧobɑ/
Basadeiian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d h j k l m mb p q r t w ç ŋ ŋɡ ɡ ɢ ʁ ʃ ʎ ʒ ʝ ʣ ʤ ʦ ʧ χ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m				ŋ
Stop	p b	t d			k ɡ	q ɢ
Affricate		ʦ ʣ	ʧ ʤ
Fricative			ʃ ʒ	ç ʝ		χ ʁ	h
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral approximant		l		ʎ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a e i o u ɑ ɔ ə ʉ/

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ʉ	u
High-mid	e		o
Mid		ə
Low-mid			ɔ
Low	a		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Word initial consonants: b, d, h, j, k, l, m, mb, p, q, r, t, w, ç, ŋ, ŋɡ, ʁ, ʃ, ʒ, ʣ, ʤ, ʧ, χ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, h, j, k, l, m, mb, p, q, r, t, w, ç, ŋ, ŋɡ, ɡ, ɢ, ʁ, ʃ, ʎ, ʒ, ʝ, ʣ, ʤ, ʦ, ʧ, χ
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• b → Ø / _ʦ
• N → h / _S

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y
mb	mb
ç	sh̀
ŋ	ng
ɑ	â
ɔ	aw
ə	á
ɡ	g
ɢ	q̀
ʁ	r̀
ʃ	sh
ʉ	ú
ʎ	ỳ
ʒ	z
ʝ	y̌
ʣ	dz
ʤ	j
ʦ	ts
ʧ	ch
χ	kh

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-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 ijá /ˈiʤə/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb)
Accusative	Suffix -jo ijáyo /ˈiʤəjo/ (verb done to) doɡ

Singular	No affix ijá /ˈiʤə/ doɡ
Plural	Suffix -ʦa ijátsa /ˈiʤəʦa/ doɡs

Articles

Definite	kha /χa/ the
Indefinite	a /a/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	pe /pe/ I	yá /jə/ me
2nd singular	po /po/ you (masc)	ngâ /ŋɑ/ you
3rd singular masc	kha /χa/ he, it	qe /qe/ him, it
3rd singular fem	hu /hu/ she, it	chaw /ʧɔ/ her, it
1st plural	mbá /mbə/ we	pú /pʉ/ us
2nd plural	e /e/ you all	ú /ʉ/ you all
3rd plural	â /ɑ/ they	yi /ji/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	pe /pe/ my
2nd singular	ngâ /ŋɑ/ your
3rd singular masc	kha /χa/ his
3rd singular fem	hu /hu/ her
1st plural	mbá /mbə/ our
2nd plural	e /e/ your (pl)
3rd plural	â /ɑ/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st singular	Suffix -çɔ hamush̀aw /ˈhamuçɔ/ (I) learn	Suffix -te hamute /ˈhamute/ (I) learned	Suffix -ʤu hamuju /ˈhamuʤu/ (I) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
2nd singular	Suffix -mbe hamumbe /ˈhamumbe/ (you) learn	Suffix -lɔ hamulaw /ˈhamulɔ/ (you) learned	Suffix -me hamume /ˈhamume/ (you) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
3rd singular	Suffix -jɑ hamuyâ /ˈhamujɑ/ (he/she/it) learns	Suffix -ʤi hamuji /ˈhamuʤi/ (he/she/it) learned	Suffix -ŋu hamungu /ˈhamuŋu/ (he/she/it) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
1st plural	Suffix -mʉ hamumú /ˈhamumʉ/ (we) learn	Suffix -ɢʉ hamuq̀ú /ˈhamuɢʉ/ (we) learned	Suffix -χə hamukhá /ˈhamuχə/ (we) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
2nd plural	Suffix -ʒi hamuzi /ˈhamuʒi/ (you all) learn	Suffix -ʃo hamusho /ˈhamuʃo/ (you all) learned	Suffix -ʤɔ hamujaw /ˈhamuʤɔ/ (you all) learned (lonɡ aɡo)
3rd plural	Suffix -qɑ hamuqâ /ˈhamuqɑ/ (they) learn	Suffix -ʃe hamushe /ˈhamuʃe/ (they) learned	Suffix -ŋɡu hamunggu /ˈhamuŋɡu/ (they) learned (lonɡ aɡo)

Basadeiian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ʣɔ - dzaw hamu /ʣɔ ˈhamu/ will learn

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).
Basadeiian uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Suffix -wu hamuwu /ˈhamuwu/ learns/is learninɡ

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.
Basadeiian uses the word for ‘already’ khatsú for the perfect aspect.

Numbers

Basadeiian has a base-10 number system:
1 - la
2 - ngaw
3 - bú
4 - yu
5 - hu
6 - mbaw
7 - akú
8 - wibu
9 - jâ
10 - yátsâtú
11 - yátsâtúla “ten-one”
100 - la iyú “one hundred”
101 - la iyú yâ la “one hundred and one”
200 - ngaw iyú
1000 - la keba “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ma
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -li
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -χə
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -te
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ʁo
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -ʦʉ
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -me
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -ʣi
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ʝe
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -χə
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -tʉ
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ʎɑ
Diminutive = Suffix -he
Augmentative = Suffix -ki

Dictionary

4403 Words.

Spoken by

• Basadu

Common Female Names

Nasuru