Todo
Ypyḷḷityyn = a place name?
njokanaaḷ = a vagrant
Iki njokamainta kyy = the man is wandering
Introduction
A priori language ([tiŋkaʈkiramai] 'mother language') is a language inspired aesthetically by Finnish and Tamil.
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.
Retroflexes are not allowed word-initially, as in Tamil.
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 ü 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
- nominative: tingka 'mother', äänü 'son'
- genitive: tingkako, äänükö
- adessive: tingkavuur, äänüjüür
- ablative: tingkava, äänüvä
- allative: tingkarru, äänürrü
- inessive: tingkantu, äänüntü
- elative: tingkaḷpa, äänüḷpä
- illative: tingkatan, äänütän
- comitative: tingkanar, äänünär
- instrumental: tingkattu, äänüttü
- essive: tingkanal, äänünäl
The plural is formed with -ṇṭO: tingkaṇṭo, äänüṇṭö.
Pronouns
- tai, ümü, äḷä, taiṇṭo, ümüṇṭö, äḷäṇṭö = 1sg, 2sg, 3sg, 1pl, 2pl, 3pl
- taijuur ai nyömäi = I have a dream
Verbs
- puu = does
- küü = is
- nüö = dreams
- ṭolu = eats
Adjectives
Adjectives conjugate like verbs.
- jäkä = good
- unja = bad
- äälä = big
- ingku = small
Derivational morphology
- -mAi: deverbal noun
- kiramai "language"; nüömäi "dream"
- -nAAḷ, -nAAḷU-: agent noun
- kiranaaḷ: "speaker"
Syntax
Constituent order
Noun phrase
A priori language uses an indefinite article ai. There is no definite marker.