The Language of Iityan

Natively known as: iitya /ˈiːtja/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
mu chäm yøru to chäm ndëëch mu chuu chäm mepnu tong mesuus ech
Pronunciation: /mu ʧəm ˈjøru to ʧəm ⁿdɛːʧ mu ʧuː ʧəm ˈmepnu toᵑg ˈmesuːs eʧ/
Iityan word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /h j k l m n p r s t ʧ ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd/

↓Manner/Place→ BilabialAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelarGlottal
Nasalmn
Stopp ᵐbt ⁿdk ᵑg
Affricateʧ
Fricativesh
Approximantj
Trillr
Lateral approximantl

Vowel inventory: /a e i iː o u uː ø ɔ ə əː ɛ ɛː/


FrontCentralBack
Highiː iu uː
High-mide øo
Midə əː
Low-midɛ ɛːɔ
Lowa
Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: h, j, m, n, p, t, ʧ, ᵐb, ᵑg, ⁿd
Mid-word consonants: h, hk, hl, hm, hr, ht, j, jj, jm, jn, jr, k, kh, kl, km, kr, ks, l, lj, ls, m, mj, mk, ml, mm, mr, ms, n, nh, nj, nl, p, pj, pk, pl, pn, r, rh, rl, rm, rp, s, sr, t, th, tj, tk, tn, tp, ts, tt, tʧ, ʧ, ʧn, ᵐb, ᵑg, ⁿd
Word final consonants: j, k, m, p, r, s, ʧ, ᵐb, ᵑg, ⁿd
Phonological changes (in order of application):

  • V → [+round] / o_
  • i → j / V_V
  • V → [+round] / _o
  • s → h / V_V
  • k → g / n_
Spelling rules:

PronunciationSpelling
ⁿd nd
ᵑg ng
ᵐb mb
ɔ aw
ə
ɛ
j y
ʧ ch
V₁ː V₁V₁

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 before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Nouns

Singular No affix
hend /heⁿd/
dog
Plural If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -ɛm

hendëm /ˈheⁿdɛm/
dogs


Articles

Iityan has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

1st singular mä /mə/
I, me, mine
2nd singular ndaw /ⁿdɔ/
you, yours
3rd singular chäm /ʧəm/
he, she, him, her, his, hers, it, its
1st plural muu /muː/
we, us, ours
2nd plural chänd /ʧəⁿd/
you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural to /to/
they, them, theirs


Possessive determiners

1st singular mä /mə/
my
2nd singular ndaw /ⁿdɔ/
your
3rd singular chäm /ʧəm/
his, her, its
1st plural muu /muː/
our
2nd plural chänd /ʧəⁿd/
your (pl)
3rd plural to /to/
their


Verbs

Iityan uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past Particle before the verb: pu -
pu hë /pu hɛ/
learned


Iityan uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future Particle before the verb: nəːm -
nääm hë /nəːm hɛ/
will learn



Progressive aspect

The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.

Iityan uses an affix for progressive:

Progressive Suffix -ok
hëok /ˈhɛok/
is learning


Habitual aspect

The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).

Iityan uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual Particle before the verb: təːʧ -
tääch hë /təːʧ hɛ/
learns



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.

Iityan uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ
Else: Suffix -ɔʧ

hëch /hɛʧ/
have learned


Numbers

Iityan has a base-10 number system:

1 - hë
2 - ping
3 - pi
4 - nduu
5 - yëëp
6 - ääng
7 - chuuk
8 - naw
9 - ndør
10 - meii
11 - hë mu meii “one and ten”
100 - yum “hundred”
101 - yum mu hë “hundred and one”
200 - ping yum
1000 - metpis “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -uk

Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑg
Else: Suffix -əːᵑg

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɛːm
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j
Else: Suffix -ej

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -im
Noun to verb = Suffix -u
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -əːm
Tending to = Suffix -əs
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p
Else: Suffix -əːp

Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -əj
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -əː
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵐb
Else: Suffix -ɛːᵐb

Diminutive = Suffix -e
Augmentative = Suffix -oj

Iityan - English Dictionary

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

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