Natively known as: Iuʌn /iuˈʌn/
Eyun developed primarily around the Plains Valley and is the traditional language of the Bainren. It is the official language of Bain’nard.
…and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
…vot sod á yeddil át áyni vot á nanlæg básve sev li kædsæ
Pronunciation: /vot sod ɑ jedˈdil ɑt ɑjˈni vot ɑ ˈnanlæg bɑsˈve sev li kædˈsæ/
Eyun word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned
Phonology and Spelling
Consonant inventory: /b d g j k l n r s t v ʃ/
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | n | |||||
| Stop | b | t d | k g | |||
| Fricative | v | s | ʃ | |||
| Approximant | j | |||||
| Trill | r | |||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
Vowel inventory: /a e i o æ ɑ ɔ ɜ/
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ||
| High-mid | e | o | |
| Low-mid | ɜ | ɔ | |
| Near-low | æ | ||
| Low | a | ɑ |
Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: No fixed stress ?
Word initial consonants: b, d, j, k, l, n, r, s, t, v, ʃ
Mid-word consonants: b, bb, bn, bv, d, dd, dg, dj, dn, ds, dt, g, gb, gg, gj, gk, gv, j, jb, jj, jk, jn, jv, k, kb, kr, l, ld, lg, ll, lr, ls, lt, n, nk, nl, nn, nr, ns, r, rd, rk, rl, rn, rr, rs, rt, rʃ, s, sb, sg, sj, sl, sn, sr, ss, st, sv, t, tb, tl, ts, tv, tʃ, v, vg, vl, vr, vv, ʃ, ʃj, ʃk
Word final consonants: b, d, g, k, l, s, t, v
Phonological changes (in order of application): ?
- b → β / V_V
Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| j | y |
| ɑ | á |
| ɔ | aw |
| ɜ | u |
| ʃ | sh |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject-Object-Oblique-Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door with a key opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?
Nouns
Nouns have three cases:
- Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man. However, the ergative affix is only applied if there is an absolutive in the sentence.
- Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
- Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
| Ergative | Suffix -a shawba /ˈʃɔba/ dog (doing the verb to something) |
| Absolutive | No affix shawb /ʃɔb/ dog (doing the verb not to something) |
| Genitive | If ends with vowel: Suffix -nsa Else: Suffix -ɔnsa shawbawnsa /ʃɔbɔnˈsa/ dogʼs |
| Singular | No affix shawb /ʃɔb/ dog |
| Plural | If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ɑk shawbák /ˈʃɔbɑk/ dogs |
Articles
| Definite | na /na/ the |
| Indefinite | yaw /jɔ/ a, some |
Pronouns
| Ergative | Absolutive | Genitive | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ru /rɜ/ I | vek /vek/ me, I | ke /ke/ mine |
| 2nd singular | vaw /vɔ/ you | ká /kɑ/ you | tu /tɜ/ yours |
| 3rd singular | sod /sod/ he, she, it | bæ /bæ/ him, her, it, he, she | ta /ta/ his, hers, its |
| 1st plural | æ /æ/ we | ve /ve/ us, we | ra /ra/ ours |
| 2nd plural | shá /ʃɑ/ you (all) | saw /sɔ/ you (all) | na /na/ yours |
| 3rd plural | yu /jɜ/ they | á /ɑ/ them, they | bu /bɜ/ theirs |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | lá /lɑ/ my |
| 2nd singular | æ /æ/ your |
| 3rd singular | á /ɑ/ his, her, its |
| 1st plural | id /id/ our |
| 2nd plural | ag /ag/ your |
| 3rd plural | vaw /vɔ/ their |
Verbs
| Present | Past | Remote past | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | Suffix -i dovudi /doˈvɜdi/ (I) study | If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ab dovudab /doˈvɜdab/ (I) studied | If ends with vowel: Suffix -dɑ Else: Suffix -ɜdɑ dovududá /ˌdovɜˈdɜdɑ/ (I) studied (long ago) |
| 2nd singular | No affix dovud /ˈdovɜd/ (you) study | Suffix -æ dovudæ /doˈvɜdæ/ (you) studied | Suffix -is dovudis /doˈvɜdis/ (you) studied (long ago) |
| 3rd singular | No affix dovud /doˈvɜd/ (he/she/it) studies | If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ɔd dovudawd /dovɜˈdɔd/ (he/she/it) studied | Suffix -a dovuda /dovɜˈda/ (he/she/it) studied (long ago) |
| 1st plural | No affix dovud /doˈvɜd/ (we) study | Suffix -ɔs dovudaws /dovɜˈdɔs/ (we) studied | Suffix -ɑ dovudá /dovɜˈdɑ/ (we) studied (long ago) |
| 2nd plural | If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ɜd dovudud /doˈvɜdɜd/ (you all) study | Suffix -ɔ dovudaw /dovɜˈdɔ/ (you all) studied | If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -od dovudod /doˈvɜdod/ (you all) studied (long ago) |
| 3rd plural | No affix dovud /doˈvɜd/ (they) study | If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -æb dovudæb /doˈvɜdæb/ (they) studied | If ends with vowel: Suffix -g Else: Suffix -æg dovudæg /doˈvɜdæg/ (they) studied (long ago) |
Eyun uses a standalone particle word for future tense:
| Future | á /ɑ/ will |
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. Eyun uses the word for ‘finish’ dádga for the perfect aspect.
Numbers
Eyun has a base-20 number system:
- 1 – saw
- 2 – ræb
- 3 – nad
- 4 – yaw
- 5 – di
- 6 – te
- 7 – yol
- 8 – nu
- 9 – sá
- 10 – so
- 11 – atshæ
- 12 – ræsgas
- 13 – vonsa
- 14 – serda
- 15 – veldu
- 16 – doggobe
- 17 – yebnu
- 18 – bersa
- 19 – nadyæd
- 20 – shosvi
- 21 – saw vot shosvi “one and twenty”
- 400 – ræk “fourhundred”
- 401 – ræk saw “fourhundred one”
- 800 – ræb ræk “two fourhundred”
- 8000 – vawd “eightthousand”
Derivational morphology
- Adjective → adverb =
- If ends with vowel: Suffix -g
- Else: Suffix -ig
- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɑ
- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -ɑ
- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -e
- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɜ
- Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Suffix -o
- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) =
- If ends with vowel: Suffix -bvæ
- Else: Suffix -ibvæ
- Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Suffix -ɜ
- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɔb
- Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Suffix -ɑ
- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -it
- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) =
- If ends with vowel: Suffix -d
- Else: Suffix -ɑd
- Diminutive = Suffix -æg
- Augmentative =
- If ends with vowel: Suffix -tʃa
- Else: Suffix -ætʃa