Alternian

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
sash zhoot ya gayahk eesa zheesh sash noos net ya geezdee saejeezh yeebzah
Pronunciation: /sæʃ ʒut jə gæˈjɑk iˈsæ ʒiʃ sæʃ nus net jə gizˈdi səˈʔiʒ jibˈzɑ/
Alternian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

FONT SOURCE

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g j k n p s t z ʃ ʒ ʔ

↓Manner/Place→ BilabialAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasaln
Stopp bt dk gʔ
Fricatives zʃ ʒ
Approximantj

Vowel inventory: e i o u æ ɑ ə


FrontCentralBack
Highiu
High-mideo
Midə
Near-lowæ
Lowɑ
Spelling rules:

PronunciationSpelling
i ee
e e
æ a
ə a
u oo
o o
ɑ ah
p p
b b
t t
d d
s s
z z
n n
ʃ sh
ʒ zh
j y
k k
g g
ʔ ej

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 seven cases:

  • Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
  • Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
  • Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
  • Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
  • Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
  • Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
  • Instrumental is the use of something: man writes with (using) pen.
Nominative No affix
eettee /itˈti/
dog (doing the verb)
Accusative Suffix -ok
eetteeok /itˈtiok/
(verb done to) dog
Genitive If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ik

eetteek /itˈtik/
dogʼs
Dative If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ɑt

eetteet /itˈtit/
to dog
Locative If ends with vowel: Suffix -jko
Else: Suffix -ojko

eetteeyko /itˈtijko/
near/at/by dog
Ablative If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -æs

eettees /itˈtis/
from dog
Instrumental If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -əd

eetteed /itˈtid/
with/using dog


Singular Plural
Definite If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -ut

eetteet /itˈtit/
the dog
If ends with vowel: Suffix -ki
Else: Suffix -əki

eetteekee /itˈtiki/
the dogs
Indefinite If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -ed

eetteed /itˈtid/
a dog
No affix
eettee /itˈti/
some dogs


Articles

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

Pronouns

Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Locative Ablative Instrumental
1st singular sheesh /ʃiʃ/
I
ah /ɑ/
me
ee /i/
mine
e /e/
to me
yash /jəʃ/
to me
ees /is/
from me
o /o/
with/using me
2nd singular ezh /eʒ/
you
bo /bo/
you
yeed /jid/
yours
ye /je/
to you
nok /nok/
to you
see /si/
from you
bek /bek/
with/using you
3rd singular masc zhoot /ʒut/
he, it (masc)
da /dæ/
his, it (masc)
oo /u/
his, its (masc)
se /se/
to his, to it (masc)
go /go/
to his, to it (masc)
gah /gɑ/
from his, from it (masc)
shee /ʃi/
with/using his, with/using it (masc)
3rd singular fem noot /nut/
she, it (fem)
noo /nu/
her, it (fem)
yey /jej/
hers, its (fem)
ot /ot/
to her, to it (fem)
yees /jis/
to her, to it (fem)
shoo /ʃu/
from her, from it (fem)
neen /nin/
with/using her, with/using it (fem)
1st plural inclusive dee /di/
we (including you)
seet /sit/
us (including you)
sa /sæ/
ours (including you)
ba /bæ/
to us (including you)
a /ə/
to us (including you)
ahzh /ɑʒ/
from us (including you)
soo /su/
with/using us (including you)
1st plural exclusive desh /deʃ/
we (excluding you)
bah /bɑ/
us (excluding you)
sheek /ʃik/
ours (excluding you)
gahy /gɑj/
to us (excluding you)
gas /gəs/
to us (excluding you)
boo /bu/
from us (excluding you)
shet /ʃet/
with/using us (excluding you)
2nd plural dan /dən/
you all
sooy /suj/
you all
dat /dət/
yours (pl)
zheen /ʒin/
to you all
yee /ji/
to you all
no /no/
from you all
so /so/
with/using you all
3rd plural noy /noj/
they
nen /nen/
them
ze /ze/
theirs
ya /jə/
to them
shahd /ʃɑd/
to them
sad /səd/
from them
yat /jæt/
with/using them


Possessive determiners

Possessive
1st singular a /æ/
my
2nd singular zhee /ʒi/
your
3rd singular masc ya /jə/
his
3rd singular fem yod /jod/
her
1st plural inclusive seezh /siʒ/
our (including you)
1st plural exclusive zhen /ʒen/
our (excluding you)
2nd plural dee /di/
your (pl)
3rd plural zo /zo/
their


Verb tenses

Remote past Suffix -u
bagdashoo /bəgˈdəʃu/
learned (long ago)
Past Suffix -ə
bagdasha /bəgˈdəʃə/
learned
Present No affix
bagdash /bəgˈdəʃ/
learn
Future If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
Else: Suffix -iʒ

bagdasheezh /bəgˈdəʃiʒ/
will learn
Remote future If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -æj

bagdashay /bəgˈdəʃæj/
will learn

Verb aspects

Perfective Suffix -e
bagdashe /bəgˈdəʃe/
learn
Habitual Suffix -i
bagdashee /bəgˈdəʃi/
learn (often, habitually)
Progressive If ends with vowel: Suffix -po
Else: Suffix -æpo

bagdashapo /bəgˈdəʃæˌpo/
am/are learning
Perfect Reduplicate first part of first syllable
babagdash /bəˈbəgdəʃ/
have learned


Adjective number

Singular No affix
doah /doˈɑ/
Plural Reduplicate first part of first syllable
dodoah /doˈdoɑ/
Dual If ends with vowel: Suffix -gnə
Else: Suffix -ignə

doahgna /doˈɑgnə/
Trial If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
Else: Suffix -eʒ

doahzh /doˈɑʒ/
Paucal Suffix -is
doahees /doˈɑis/


̞

Adjective animacy (only for non-trolls; humans, objects, dogs, etc)

Animate If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -it

doaht /doˈɑt/
Inanimate If ends with vowel: Suffix -ji
Else: Suffix -eji

doahyee /doˈɑji/

Numbers

Alternian has a base-10 number system:

1 - yay
2 - zha
3 - zhook
4 - yazh
5 - shoot
6 - se
7 - shosh
8 - e
9 - nota
10 - seezh
100 - egogna
1000 - doy

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -o
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -i
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ed
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
Else: Suffix -uʒ

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -et

Noun to verb = Suffix -æt
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ɑt
Tending to = Suffix -ɑ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
Else: Suffix -id

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -e
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ɑd
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -eʃ
Diminutive = Suffix -is
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -is

Sexual = Suffix -us

Alternian - English Dictionary

Key: spelling /pronunciation/ part of speech. definition(s)

adj. adjective | adv. adverb | art. article | conj. conjunction | det. determiner | interj. interjection | n. noun | num. numeral | prep. preposition | pron. pronoun | v. verb