dikusionar 98

language basics

#sounds #syllables #intonation #structure #adjectives #word forms and compounds #romanization stuff

sounds

vowels front central back
close i /i/ u /u/ 1
close-mid e /e/ o /o/
open-mid ú /ɞ/ ó /ɔ/
open a /a/
consonants bi-labial labio-dental dental alveolar post alveolar retroflex palatal velar glotal
plosive p /p/ b /b/ t /t/ d /d/ k q /k/ or /g/ 2
nasal m /m/ n /n/
tap r /ɾ/ 3
fricative f /f/ or /v/ s /s/ z /z/ j /ʐ/ h /h/
approximant ŕ or r /ɹ/ y /j/
lat. approx l /l/ or /w/ 4
  1. when before other vowels or at the end of a word, becomes /w/
  2. written as q before a, o, and ó
  3. is /ɹ/ when at the end of a CVC
  4. is /w/ when at the end of a CVC

syllables

  • V - only as first or last syllable of word
  • (C)CV(V)
    • see CC rules
    • second V can't be the same
    • at end of a word, assume (C)CVV instead of (C)CV V
  • CVC
    • last C can only be l, s, n, r
    • cannot appear before a CCV

CC rules

first second
b d k l r
p l r
f l r

intonation

in words with

  • 3 syllables or more
    • verb or substantive - second last syllable
    • adjective - third last
  • 2 syllables - first

structure

a phrase can be

  • (S)VO
    • a verb is conjugated to the subject, so the subject can be omitted
    • the object can optionally be in the accusative case
    • gives emphasis on the object ("I saw her")
  • (S)OV
    • put el before the object
    • if it's an indirect object, put "de" before it
    • emphasis on the action ("I saw her")

adjectives

appear after the substantive, in order of most important to least important (subjective to speaker)

in the same way, an adverb comes after the verb

when an adjective is doubled (by concatenation, see word forms) it becomes a superlative

to refer to the adjective itself (instead of the word as a substantive or adjective) put the particle "se-" before

counting

when referring to multiple things, without specifying a number (i.e. "many ducks" instead of "two ducks") use eni ('many') as the first adjective

union pronouns are considered plural by default, and using eni is incorrect

word forms and compounds

some 'base' words can have different forms depending if they're used by themselves, or as part of a compound word, conjugating verbs or using other forms does not count as compounding

as an agglutination language, you can make new valid words by combining existing "dictionary" ones, although their meaning will be set part trough the context you use them and not be set in stone

when putting words together to form a compound, if two words don't have a particle form, they have a ' between them, i.e. not needed when at least one of the words has a particle form

two word compounds always have a ' though

romanization stuff

an apostrophe (') has the use of a hyphen in portuguese/english