Brassian

Natively known as: srǐ /srʲǐ/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
svà tse̋ vē ě tse̋ glî svà ȁ tse̋ ȉs ˈkhrōmlȉz ˈshchȅnȉ a̋sht
Pronunciation: /svʲà ʦe̋ vʲē ě ʦe̋ glʲî svʲà ȁ ʦe̋ ȉs ˈxrōmlʲȉz ˈɕːȅnʲȉ a̋ʂtʲ/
Brassian word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b bʲ d dʲ f fʲ g j k l lʲ m mʲ n nʲ p pʲ r rʲ s sʲ t tʲ v vʲ x z zʲ ɕː ʂ ʂː ʐ ʐː ʦ ʨ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m mʲ		n nʲ
Stop	p b pʲ bʲ		d t dʲ tʲ				k g
Affricate			ʦ		ʨ
Fricative		v vʲ f fʲ	s z sʲ zʲ	ʐ ʂ ʂː ʐː	ɕː		x
Approximant						j
Trill			r rʲ
Lateral approximant			lʲ l

Vowel inventory: a e i o u
Tones: ̄ ̀ ́ ̋ ̏ ̌ ̂

	Front	Back
High	i	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: advanced ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʨ	ch
x	kh
ʐ	zh
ʂ	sh
ʦ	ts
ʲ
ɕː	shch

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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 after the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

	Animate	Inanimate
Singular	Prefix á- ˈálùlsta̋ /ˈálʲùlsta̋/ dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix str- Else: Prefix strȅ- ˈstrȅshtìnstȁ /ˈstrȅʂtìnʲsʲtʲȁ/ tree
Plural	If starts with vowel: Prefix zv- Else: Prefix zvē- ˈzvēlùlsta̋ /ˈzvēlʲùlsta̋/ dogs	If starts with vowel: Prefix kl- Else: Prefix klȍ- ˈklȍshtìnstȁ /ˈklȍʂtìnʲsʲtʲȁ/ trees

Articles

Definite	vnûch /vnûʨ/ the
Indefinite	vzűs /vzʲűs/ a, some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

1st singular	ā /ā/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	spì /spʲì/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	tse̋ /ʦe̋/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	skhē /sxē/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	tsá /ʦá/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	strùt /strʲùtʲ/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	à /à/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	ā /ā/ my
2nd singular	spì /spʲì/ your
3rd singular masc	tse̋ /ʦe̋/ his
3rd singular fem	skhē /sxē/ her
1st plural	tsá /ʦá/ our
2nd plural	strùt /strʲùtʲ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	à /à/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix êr /êrʲ/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix lʲ- Else: Prefix lʲȁ- lêr /lʲêrʲ/ learned

Brassian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: vnʲūsʲtʲ - vnūst êr /vnʲūsʲtʲ êrʲ/ 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).
Brassian uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: dvʲí - dví êr /dvʲí êrʲ/ learns/is learning

Numbers

Brassian has a base-10 number system:
1 - stī
2 - mà
3 - prű
4 - prōs
5 - í
6 - ní
7 - nē
8 - ēl
9 - pri̋
10 - smű
100 - tó
1000 - gri̋

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix vr-
Else: Prefix vre̋-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix é-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix őpʲ-
Else: Prefix őpʲǎ-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix mn-
Else: Prefix mnū-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix zrʲ-
Else: Prefix zrʲī-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix zl-
Else: Prefix zlū-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix û-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix krʲ-
Else: Prefix krʲé-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix dvʲ-
Else: Prefix dvʲú-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix sm-
Else: Prefix smű-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lì-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fsk-
Else: Prefix fskȍ-
Diminutive = Prefix pá-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pȁ-

Dictionary

3028 Words.