Handy Language

"Raj that, you interloper!"   "I don't give a Taj, you violator!" "Will you two put a sock in it?  We got business..."   "Hey, di Bocco, stuff you."    

Natively known as: Ngela /ˈᵑgela/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... la û ettu komch tû merru la mul tû ndatsâmʻ pit âl laʻoprâ Pronunciation: /la ɨ etˈtu komʧ tɨ ˈmerru la mul tɨ ˈⁿdatsəmʔ pit əl ˈlaʔoprə/ Handy word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /h j k l m n p r s t w ŋ ɸ ʔ ʦ ʧ β ᵐb ᵑg ⁿd/
↓Manner/Place→ Bilabial Alveolar Palato-alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal m n ŋ
Stop p ᵐb t ⁿd k ᵑg ʔ
Affricate ʦ ʧ
Fricative ɸ β s h
Approximant j
Trill r
Lateral approximant l
  Co-articulated phonemes
↓Manner/Place→ Labial-velar
Approximant w
  Vowel inventory: /a ã e ẽ i ĩ o u ũ ə ɨ ɨ̃/
Front Central Back
High i ĩ ɨ ɨ̃ u ũ
High-mid e ẽ o
Mid ə
Low a ã
  Syllable structure: Custom defined Stress pattern: No fixed stress Word initial consonants: h, j, k, l, m, p, s, t, w, ɸ, ʦ, β, ᵐb, ᵑg, ⁿd Mid-word consonants: h, hj, hl, hm, ht, j, jl, jm, jn, jr, js, k, kk, kt, kw, kʦ, l, lh, lk, lm, m, mj, mn, mʔ, mʦ, n, nj, nk, nn, nr, nt, nw, nʦ, p, pm, pn, pp, pr, ps, pʧ, r, rh, rk, rn, rr, rt, s, sj, sk, sm, sn, sp, sr, sʔ, t, tj, tk, tl, tn, tp, ts, tt, tw, tʔ, w, wk, wl, ws, wt, wβ, ŋ, ŋh, ŋk, ŋl, ŋm, ŋn, ŋp, ŋr, ŋs, ŋʦ, ɸ, ʔ, ʔm, ʔn, ʦ, ʦl, ʦr, ʦs, ʧ, ʧm, β, βl, ᵐb, ᵑg, ⁿd Word final consonants: h, js, k, l, lk, lt, lʧ, mp, mʔ, mʧ, n, nk, nw, nʦ, nʧ, p, r, rm, rr, rt, rʧ, s, sk, t, wm, wʔ, ŋ, ŋk, ŋt, ɸ, ʦ, ʧ, β, ᵐb, ᵑg, ⁿd   Phonological changes (in order of application):  
  • j → d / #_
  • ʦ → s / _{h,i,j}
  • ʧ → s / _C
  Spelling rules:
Pronunciation Spelling
ⁿd nd
ᵑg ng
ᵐb mb
ʦ ts
ʔ ʻ
ə
ɨ
β b
ɸ f
j y
ʧ ch
ŋ ng
 

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: prepositions  

Nouns

Masculine Feminine
Definite If ends with vowel: Suffix -mʔ Else: Suffix -əmʔ ihâmʻ /ˈihəmʔ/ Suffix -as muas /ˈmuas/
Indefinite Suffix -a iha /ˈiha/ If ends with vowel: Suffix -wʔ Else: Suffix -ẽwʔ muwʻ /muwʔ/
 

Articles

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

Pronouns

1st singular larr /larr/ I, me, mine
2nd singular wẽ /wẽ/ you, yours
3rd singular masc /ɨ/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem ndã /ⁿdã/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural mbẽ /ᵐbẽ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural yilt /jilt/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc ndu /ⁿdu/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem nde /ⁿde/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)
 

Possessive determiners

1st singular hẽ /hẽ/ my
2nd singular mu /mu/ your
3rd singular masc tû /tɨ/ his
3rd singular fem kamʻ /kamʔ/ her
1st plural ndi /ⁿdi/ our
2nd plural hânts /hənʦ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc kẽ /kẽ/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem ngã /ᵑgã/ their (fem)
 

Verbs

Present No affix ndati /ˈⁿdati/ learn
Past Suffix -ɨs ndatiûs /ⁿdaˈtiɨs/ learned
  Handy uses a standalone particle word for future tense:
Future Particle before the verb: ⁿde - nde ndati /ⁿde ⁿdaˈti/ will learn
  Imperfective aspect   The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).   Handy uses an affix for imperfective:
Imperfective If ends with vowel: Suffix -mp Else: Suffix -ɨ̃mp ndatimp /ˈⁿdatimp/ learns/is learning
  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.   Handy uses an affix for the perfect aspect:
Perfect If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵐb Else: Suffix -aᵐb ndatimb /ˈⁿdatiᵐb/ have learned
 

Numbers

  Handy has a base-20 number system:   1 - tsurr 2 - bũb 3 - yib 4 - ngã 5 - yi 6 - ndĩ 7 - tû 8 - antsũpsĩ 9 - mûp 10 - lala 11 - feynẽngâ 12 - asû 13 - hâku 14 - kâchû̃ 15 - hû̃nts 16 - mer 17 - bũyleng 18 - sũmya 19 - âmĩ 20 - kẽt 21 - kẽttsurr “twenty-one” 400 - kapa “fourhundred” 401 - kapa la tsurr “fourhundred and one” 800 - bũb kapa “two fourhundred” 8000 - lumb “eightthousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ⁿd Else: Suffix -iⁿd Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ir Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -i Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -p Else: Suffix -ap Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -at Noun to verb = Suffix -ũmp Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -iʧ Tending to = Suffix -ɨp Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ɨ̃ⁿd Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rm Else: Suffix -ĩrm One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵐb Else: Suffix -aᵐb Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -ɨk Diminutive = Suffix -ũŋt Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ᵑg Else: Suffix -eᵑg

Dictionary

4493 Words.


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