Natively known as: Ǎtǎno /ɑˈtɑnʊ/
Attano, also call the King’s Language, is an official language in Bakianna and Innarea and only taught to those of noble birth. As a language, it follows from Ancient Chealain and has no known successors.
…and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
…te ro sawi gadhǐ thǎ mungǔ te juchǎ thǎ bini bina ga vaoke
Pronunciation: /tɛ ɹʊ sæˈwi ˈgæðɪ θɑ ˈmuŋʌ tɛ ˈʤuʧɑ θɑ ˈbini biˈnæ gæ ˈvaʊkɛ/
Attano word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind
Dictionary – Coming Soon
Phonology and Spelling
Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ/
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||
| Stop | p b | t d | k g | |||||
| Affricate | ʧ ʤ | |||||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | h | |||
| Approximant | ɹ | j | ||||||
| Lateral approximant | l |
Co-articulated phonemes
| ↓Manner/Place→ | Labio-velar |
|---|---|
| Approximant | w |
Vowel inventory: /aɪ aʊ eɪ i u æ ɑ ɔɪ ɛ ɪ ʊ ʌ/ Diphthongs: aɪ, aʊ, eɪ, ɔɪ ?
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| High | i | u |
| Near-high | ɪ | ʊ |
| Low-mid | ɛ | ʌ |
| Near-low | æ | |
| Low | ɑ |
Syllable structure: (C)V ?
Stress pattern: No fixed stress ?
Word initial consonants: b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, w, z, ɹ, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ, θ
Mid-word consonants: b, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, w, z, ð, ŋ, ɹ, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ, θ
Word final consonants: N/A
Phonological changes (in order of application): ?
- h → Ø / V_
- i → e / _k#
- P → p / l_
- w → Ø / #_
- v → w / #_
- ɛ → ı̃ / S_#
Spelling rules:
| Pronunciation | Spelling |
|---|---|
| aɪ | ie |
| aʊ | ou |
| eɪ | ay |
| j | y |
| æ | a |
| ð | dh |
| ŋ | ng |
| ɑ | ǎ |
| ɔɪ | oi |
| ɛ | e |
| ɪ | ǐ |
| ɹ | r |
| ʃ | sh |
| ʊ | o |
| ʌ | ǔ |
| ʒ | zh |
| ʤ | j |
| ʧ | ch |
| θ | th |
Grammar
Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. “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: prepositions ?
Nouns
| Singular | No affix kuwǎ /ˈkuwɑ/ dog |
| Plural | Prefix wʊ- wokuwǎ /wʊˈkuwɑ/ dogs |
Articles
| Definite | Indefinite | |
|---|---|---|
| Singular | ki /ki/ the | i /i/ a |
| Plural | fo /fʊ/ the | du /du/ some |
Pronouns
| 1st singular | waǐ /waɪ/ I, me, mine |
| 2nd singular | ku /ku/ you, yours |
| 3rd singular masc | ro /ɹʊ/ he, him, his |
| 3rd singular fem | chǐ /ʧɪ/ she, her, hers |
| 1st plural inclusive | pao /paʊ/ we, us, ours (including you) |
| 1st plural exclusive | ki /ki/ we, us, ours (excluding you) |
| 2nd plural | ǎ /ɑ/ you (all), yours |
| 3rd plural | chǎ /ʧɑ/ they, them, theirs |
Possessive determiners
| 1st singular | vaǐ /vaɪ/ my |
| 2nd singular | ǐ /ɪ/ your |
| 3rd singular masc | thǎ /θɑ/ his |
| 3rd singular fem | ǎ /ɑ/ her |
| 1st plural inclusive | la /læ/ our (including you) |
| 1st plural exclusive | mɔǐ /mɔɪ/ our (excluding you) |
| 2nd plural | feǐ /feɪ/ your |
| 3rd plural | be /bɛ/ their |
Verbs
| Present | No affix heǐfǐ /ˈheɪfɪ/ study |
| Past | Prefix læ- laheǐfǐ /læheɪˈfɪ/ studied |
| Remote past | Prefix zɑ- zǎheǐfǐ /zɑˈheɪfɪ/ studied (long ago) |
| Future | Prefix sæ- saheǐfǐ /sæˈheɪfɪ/ will study |
Imperfective aspect
The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am studying and habitual actions, such as I study (every night). Attano uses an affix for imperfective:
| Imperfective | Prefix sɑ- sǎheǐfǐ /sɑˈheɪfɪ/ is studying |
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. Attano uses the word for ‘finish’ saǎ for the perfect aspect.
Numbers
Attano has a base-20 number system:
- 1 – maǐ
- 2 – zhǐ
- 3 – bu
- 4 – ge
- 5 – waǐ
- 6 – reǐ
- 7 – ga
- 8 – ro
- 9 – zǎ
- 10 – be
- 11 – zhidu
- 12 – weǐvǎ
- 13 – shaolǐ
- 14 – kuthǐ
- 15 – chalǎ
- 16 – feǐje
- 17 – hubǔ
- 18 – chijeǐ
- 19 – zaoda
- 20 – sasu
- 21 – sasu te maǐ “twenty and one”
- 400 – reǐne “fourhundred”
- 401 – reǐne te maǐ “fourhundred and one”
- 800 – zhǐ reǐne “two fourhundred”
- 8000 – chanǎ “eightthousand”
Derivational morphology
- Adjective → adverb = Prefix sɑ-
- Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix bɪ-
- Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix bɪ-
- Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ʃaʊ-
- Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix ku-
- Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Prefix ɹʊ-
- Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix hʌ-
- Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix ʧi-
- Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix kʌ-
- Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix kɪ-
- One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix ʧɛ-
- Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix læ-
- Diminutive = Prefix ʧɑ-
- Augmentative = Prefix gɛ-