Todo
Ypyḷḷityyn = a place name?
aikataaḷ = a vagrant
Iki aikamainta kyy = the man is wandering
Introduction
A priori language ([tiŋkaʈkiramai] 'mother language') is a language inspired aesthetically by Finnish and Tamil. It is spoken by a tribe of dwarves in the Tolkienian fantasy world of Rotunu.
Numbers: 0: riemü 1: aintu 2: lüöntü 3: vaṭṭu 4: jäämü 5: kuovu 6: töḷḷü 7: naamu 8: ümpü 9: marru 10: iikü
Phonology
Orthography
Consonants
| Labial | Dental | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n̪/ | ṇ /ɳ/ | nj /ɲ/ | ng /ŋ/ | |
| Plosive | p /p~b/ | t /t̪~d̪/ | ṭ /ʈ~ɖ/ | tj /c/ | k /k~g~x/ | |
| Trill/Flap | r /ɾ~r/ | |||||
| Approximant | v /ʋ/ | l /l̪/ | ḷ /ɭ/ | j /j/ | ||
/p t̪ ʈ c k/ are voiceless word-initially, as geminates and before consonants, and voiced otherwise. /k/ can be [x] intervocallically.
Vowels
/ɑ e i o u æ ø y/ ⟨a e i o u ä ö ü⟩
There is vowel harmony in roots and suffixes: e i are neutral, a o u are back vowels, and ä ö y are the front counterparts of a o u. A word with only neutral vowels is considered to be a front-vowel word.
Prosody
Stress
A priori language has no phonemic stress.
Intonation
Phonotactics
Morphophonology
Morphology
Nouns
- nom: tingka 'mother', äänü 'son'
- gen: tingkako, äänükö
- ade: tingkavuur, äänüjüür
- abl: tingkava, äänüvä
- all: tingkarru, äänürrü
- ine: tingkantu, äänüntü
- ela: tingkaḷpa, äänüḷpä
- ill: tingkatan, äänütän
- com: tingkanar, äänünär
- ins: tingkattu, äänüttü
- ess: tingkanal, äänünäl
The plural is formed with -ṇṭO: tingkaṇṭo, äänüṇṭö.
Pronouns
- tai, ümü, äḷä, taiṇṭo, ümüṇṭö, äḷäṇṭö
- taijuur ain nyömäi = I have a dream
Verbs
- puu = does
- küü = is
- nüö = dreams
Adjectives
Adjectives conjugate like verbs.
- jäkä = good
- unja = bad
- äälä = big
Derivational morphology
- -mAi: deverbal noun
- kiramai "language"; nüömäi "dream"
- -tAAḷ: agent noun
- kirataaḷ: "speaker"
Syntax
Constituent order
Noun phrase
A priori language uses an indefinite article ain. There is no definite marker.