Avalonian

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Magellanican (c) Rebecca Ashling 2019-2020. I assert that the Magellanican conlang presented here is my intellectual property and confirm that Linguifex may post this material on their site.


Magellanican (Mag: Nawhatti Telkun) is a polysynthetic language of the affixal, scopal subtype. It has nominative-accusative morphosyntactic alignment with ergative morphology and canonical VSOX word order.

It is the official language and lingua franca of Magellanica (Mag: Telku) and has approximately 300 million speakers. The Commonwealth of Magellanica (Mag: Karatti Qanakte Telkun) comprises the entirety of the fictional continent of Magellanica.

Magellanica lies in the southern Pacific Ocean from 35°S to 65°S, north to south, and from 110°W to 140°W, east to west. Its nearest continental neighbour is Antarctica which is about 1100 km due south of Magellanica.


Introduction

Magellanica was the last of the inhabitable continents to be colonised. It first became inhabited around 8000 BCE, very likely by accident. Genetic evidence suggests the Palaeo-Magellanicans originated from South America. They were the first and only successful colonisers of the continent.

It is most likely useless to attempt to relate the languages of Magellanica to those of South America or elsewhere given the ten thousand year time gap. Although intrepid lumpers and goropists are certainly giving it a good old try.

The initial group of colonisers was very small and the founder effect is evident in the modern Magellanican phenotype. Most of the population are of unusually short stature, averaging about 1.4 metres in height. It is believed early mutations in the early generations resulted in red and blonde hair occurring in a sizeable minority as well as the presence of blue, grey and green eye colours in a somewhat smaller minority.

The original speakers of Magellanican, the Jamikal people, originated from the Rulheri, an island in the western part of the Liverish Sea (Mag: Irhat Jepilte). From about one thousand years ago it became the lingua franca of the entire area surrounding the Liverish Sea, and then the entire continent following the advent of smallpox in the 16th Century.

Magellanican is the sole survivor of a small language family so is now an isolate. It has no traceable genealogical relation to any other language, ancient or modern outside its own extinct family.

It does however form a sprachbund with neighbouring languages, sharing such features as a bisyllabic root structure, primary stress on the first syllable, , head-marking and a strong tendency for polysynthesis.

The dialect described on this page is the standard variety promulgated by the Commonwealth of Magellanica and is based on the North-Western dialect.



Phonology

Orthoɡraphy

General Remarks On Orthography

Magellanican has a variety of native scripts collectively known as (Mag: Quljekatti Telkun) which were logo-syllabic like Mesopotamian cuneiform and were largely under the control of a scribal class. When the Latin alphabet (Mag: Quljekatti Quurapan) was introduced in the 17th century, its ease of use enabled more widespread literacy and a severe decline in the influence of the scribes.

Quljekatti Quurapan is currently the dominant orthography with the role of the various Quljekatti Telkun writing systems being restricted to ceremonial or artistic use.

Magellanican spelling in Quljekatti Quurapan is a deep orthography which reflects etymology and phonological processes such as sandhi.

Magellanican Alphabet

Letter IPA Value
⟨a⟩ /ɑ/
⟨aa⟩ /aʊ/
⟨e⟩ /ɛ/
⟨ee⟩ /aɪ/
⟨h⟩ /h/
⟨i⟩ /i/
⟨ii⟩ /eɪ/
⟨j⟩ /j/
⟨jh⟩ /xʲ/
⟨k⟩ /k/
⟨kh⟩ /x/
⟨kj⟩ /kxʲ/
⟨kw⟩ /kxʷ/
⟨l⟩ /l/
⟨lh⟩ /ɬ/
⟨m⟩ /m/
⟨mh⟩ /v/
⟨n⟩ /n/
⟨nh⟩ /z/
⟨p⟩ /p/
⟨ph⟩ /f/
⟨q⟩ /ʔ/
⟨r⟩ /ɹ̠/
⟨rh⟩ /ʃ/
⟨t⟩ /t/
⟨th⟩ /s/
⟨tl⟩ /tɬ/
⟨tr⟩ /tʃ/
⟨u⟩ /u/
⟨uu⟩ /oʊ/
⟨w⟩ /w/
⟨wh⟩ /xʷ/

Consonants

Magellanican has a total of 24 consonants which according to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Stucture is an average inventory. The most striking features of the inventory, according to WALS, are the presence of a lateral obstruent. The consonants are displayed in the table below:

Labial Central Alveolar Lateral Alveolar Palato-Alveolar Palatal Plain Velar Labialised Velar Glottal
Plosive /p/ /t/ /k/ /ʔ/
Affricate /tɬ/ /tʃ/ /kxʲ/ /kxʷ/
Voiceless Fricative /f/ /s/ /ɬ/ /ʃ/ /xʲ/ /x/ /xʷ/ /h/
Voiced Fricative /v/ /z/
Nasal /m/ /n/
Liquid /l/ /ɹ̠/
Semivowel /j/ /w/

Vowels

Magellanican has a total of 8 vowels, 4 monophthongs and 4 diphthongs. The diphthongs pattern phonologically as long vowels. According to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures Magellanican has 4 vowel qualities which is a small inventory. Magellanican has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 6.0 which according to WALS is a moderately large ratio. The vowels are displayed in the table below:

Front Short Long Front Short Back Long Back
Hiɡh /i/ /eɪ/ /u/ /oʊ/
Low /ɛ/ /aɪ/ /ɑ/ /aʊ/

Allophony

1) /p, t, k/ are realised as [pʰ, tʰ, kʰ] in word-initial position.

2) /tɬ, tʃ, kxʲ, kxʷ/ are realised as [tɬʰ, tʃʰ, kxʲʰ, kxʷʰ] in word-initial position.

3) /n/ is realised as [ŋ] in coda position.

4) /ɹ̠/ is realised as [ʃ] in coda position before a stop.

5) /ɹ̠/ is realised as [ʒ] in coda position elsewhere.

6) /pp, tt, kk/ are realised as [pf, ts, kx].

7) /mm, nn/ are realised as [mb, nd].

8) /ll, ɹ̠ɹ̠/ are realised as [ld, ʒd].

9) /ɹ̠j/ is realised as [ʒ].

10) In closed syllables /i, u/ are realised as [ɪ, ʊ].

Prosody

1) Words in Magellanican bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

2) Magellanican words bear secondary stress on every odd-numbered syllable following the initial syllable.

3) Rhythm type is trochaic.

4) To an English speaker, Magellanican would appear to be spoken with a slower tempo than English is.

Phonotactics

1) The syllable template is CV(C).

2) Permitted syllable coda consonants are /p, t, k, m, n, l, ɹ̠/.

3) Consonant clusters may not have more than two segments.

4) Consonant clusters only occur at syllable boundaries within the word.

5) /ʔ/ and fricatives do not occur in consonant clusters.

6) Permitted consonant clusters as per the table below:

P T K M N L R
P
T
K
TL
TR
KJ
KW
M
N
L
R
W
J

a) Latin orthography used for clarity.

b) First consonant of consonant cluster runs along be top of table, second consonant of consonant cluster runs down riɡht of table.

c) √ in a cell means the indicated consonant cluster is permitted.

8) Consonant clusters are coda consonant + onset consonant in terms of syllabification.

9) /i, eɪ/ may not follow /kxʲ, xʲ, j/.

10) /u, oʊ/ may not follow /kxʷ, xʷ, w/.

11) Within a morpheme, long vowels may not precede liquids or semivowels.

12) Long vowels do not occur in closed syllables or precede consonant clusters.

13) Vowel clusters do not occur.

14) Canonical morpheme syllabification templates:

a) Roots: CV(C)- or CV(C)CV(C)-

b) Suffixes: -(C)CV(C) or -CV(C)CV(C)

c) Particles: CV(C) or CV(C)CV(C)

15) Monosyllabic roots are uncommon and mainly comprise pronouns and certain common nouns and verbs.

16) Monosyllabic suffixes may have a word-final allomorph consisting of a single coda consonant which is employed after a short vowel.

17) Roots originating through foreign borrowings may exceed two syllables.

Morphophonemics

Internal Sandhi

1) Consonant clusters resulting from suffixation undergo sandhi as per the table below:

 P T K M N L R
pp tp kp mp np lp rp P
pt tt kt mt nt lt rt T
pk tk kk mk nk lk rk K
pp tt kk mm nn ll rr Q
ptl tl ktl mtl ntl ltl rtl TL
ptr tr ktr mtr ntr ltr rtr TR
pkj tkj kj mkj nkj lkj rkj KJ
pkw tkw kw mkw nkw lkw rkw KW
pp tp kp mp np lp rp PH
pt tt kt mt nt lt rt TH
ptl tl ktl mtl ntl lh rtl LH
ptr tr ktr mtr ntr ltr rh RH
pkj tkj kj mkj nkj lkj rkj JH
pkw tkw kw mkw nkw lkw rkw WH
v̄ph v̄th v̄kh v̄mh v̄nh v̄lh v̄rh H
pm tm km mm nm lm rm MH
pn tn kn mn nn ln rn NH
pm tm km mm nm lm rm M
pn tn kn mn nn ln rn N
v̄lh v̄tl v̄lh ml nl ll rl L
v̄rh v̄tr v̄rh mr nr lr rr R
v̄jh v̄jh v̄kj mj nj lj rj J
v̄wh v̄wh v̄kw mw nw lw rw W

NOTES:

a) Latin script used for clarity.

b) First consonant of consonant cluster runs across top of table, second consonant of consonant cluster runs down riɡht of table.

c) The notation v̄ indicates the previous vowel was lengthened.

2) If a three-segment consonant cluster results from suffixation then the first consonant of that cluster is deleted.

3) If a long vowel occurs in a closed syllable due to suffixation then that long vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

4) If /j/ occurs after a long front vowel due to suffixation then /j/ is realised as [xʲ].

5) If /w/ occurs after a long back vowel due to suffixation then /w/ is realised as [xʷ].

6) The effects of internal sandhi are indicated in the orthography.

External Sandhi

1) External sandhi only occurs between words within the same clause.

2) Effects are identical to those of internal sandhi except:

a) Vowel lengthening does not occur.

b) Word-final consonants are unaffected.

c) Word-initial consonants are affected as they would if they followed the word-final consonant in question across an internal morpheme boundary.

d) Word-initial /ɬ, ʃ, xʲ, xʷ/ do not become affricates as the result of external sandhi.

e) Word-initial /l, ɹ̠, j, w/ do not become affricates as the result of external sandhi.

f) Word-initial /j/ is realised as [xʲ] when following a word-final long front vowel.

g) Word-initial /w/ is realised as [xʷ] when following a word-final long back vowel.

3) The effects of external sandhi are indicated in the orthography.

Morphology

General Remarks On Morpholoɡy

1) The morphological cateɡories used in Magellanican are summarised in the table below:

Category Description Inflected?
Noun Nouns, pronouns, numerals Yes
Verb Verbs, many adjectives, adpositions Yes
Suffix These express adjunction, verbal modality, inflection or derivation No
Particle Conjunctions, some adverbs, interjections No

2) Magellanican is an affixal polysynthetic lanɡuaɡe and only one root per word is permitted.

3) Compoundinɡ of roots does not occur.

4) According to the World Atlas of Language Structures, Magellanican has a predominant preference for suffixinɡ.


Nominal Morphology

General Remarks On Nominal Morphology

1) Nouns indicate distinct entities. Nouns are inflected for number, possessor, demonstration or case.

2) Maximal nominal structure:

nominal or verbal root + derivational suffix(es) + number suffix + possessive suffix + demonstrative suffix + case suffix

Number

1) Magellanican has a singular-plural number system

2) Singular nouns are singular by default and take the paucal or plural suffixes to indicate more than one instance.

3) The paucal number mark nouns that are from two to five in number.

4) The plural number indicates nouns that are six or more in number.

5) Number suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Number Abbreviation Suffix
Singular SG -∅
Paucal PC -me (-m)
Plural PL -hal

NB: -m is a word-final allomorph employed after a short vowel.

Case

1) Case marks relationships between noun and noun or noun and verb.

2) Magellanican cases are summarised in the table below:

Case Abbreviation Suffix (Allomorph) Functions
Absolutive ABS -∅ a) Marks citation form of noun

b) Indicates definite O argument of a transitive verb

c) Marks definite S argument of an intransitive verb

Ergative ERG -nu (-n) a) Indicates definite A argument of a transitive verb

b) Indicates the possessor

Dative DAT -hee a) Marks indefinite A argument of a transitive verb

b) Indicates beneficiary of action

c) Used with a gerund indicates purpose or intent

Instrumental INST -tik a) Marks indefinite O argument of a transitive verb

b) Indicates indefinite S argument of an intransitive verb

c) Marks use of tool or instrument

d) Indicates proximal cause

Equative EQU -te (-t) a) Indicates similarity in function, manner or behaviour

b) Indicates similarity to, likeness to

c) Made or consisting of a particular substance

d) Indicates the souce of comparison.

Comitative COM -kwe a) Marks physical proximity or social connection to someone

b) Indicates collaborative effort with someone in a joint activity

c) Marks reciprocicity

d) Indicates possessor when copula used in 'have' construction

Locative LOC -ki (-k) a) Indicates place where

b) Marks time when

Allative ALL -wa a) Marks motion towards

b) Indicates time until

c) Marks destination or goal

Ablative ABL -jaa a) Indicates motion away from

b) Marks time since

c) Indicates the source or origin

d) Marks aversion to or opposition to

e) Indicates the source of comparison

Perlative PERL -qam a) Marks motion across, along, through or by way of

b) Indicates duration

c) Marks mode or means of transport or transmission

d) Indicates reason, motive or ultimate cause

e) Marks topic of conversation

NB: Parenthesised forms are word-final allomorphs employed after a short vowel.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

1) Magellanican personal pronouns and their associated possessive suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Person Abbreviation Pronoun Possessive Suffix
1st Person Singular 1SG ni -nti
2nd Person Singular 2SG ki -kti
3rd Person Singular 3SG ti -tti
4th Person Sinɡular 4SG pi -pti
5th Person Singular 5SG li -lti
1st Person Paucal Exclusive 1PC EXCL nuk -ntuk
1st Person Paucal Inclusive 1PC INCL nikuk -niktuk
2nd Person Paucal 2PC kuk -ktuk
3rd Person Paucal 3PC tuk -ttuk
4th Person Paucal 4PC puk -ptuk
5th Person Paucal 5PC luk -ltuk
1st Person Plural Exclusive 1PL EXCL nat -ntat
1st Person Plural Inclusive 1PL INCL nikat -niktat
2nd Person Plural 2PL kat -ktat
3rd Person Plural 3PL tat -ttat
4th Person Plural 4PL pat -ptat
5th Person Plural 5PL lat -ltat

2) Clusivity is a relatively recent innovation in Magellanican and thus the inclusive pronouns and their possessive suffixes differ somewhat in form from the other paucal and plural pronouns.

3) Personal pronouns take case in the same manner as nouns.

Demonstrative Pronouns

1) Pronominal demonstratives are identical to the 3rd, 4th and 5th person pronouns.

2) Adnominal demonstratives are suffixes, believed derived from compounds of the 3rd, 4th, 5th person pronouns and the sole Old Jamilhin demonstrative ken.

3) Adnominal demonstrative suffixes are rarely used with core arguments except for emphasis.

4) The demonstratives are displayed in the table below:

Distance Abbreviation Locus Of Application Person Demonstrative Suffix
Proximal PROX Near speaker 3rd -tken
Medial MED Near hearer 4th -pken
Distal DIST Away from speaker and hearer 5th -lken
Emphatic Pronouns

These are no dedicated emphatic pronouns, but as verbs mark A, S and O arguments and Magellanican is pro-drop, the use of the pronouns correlating with these can be used for emphasis.

Reflexive Pronouns

These are no dedicated reflexive pronouns in Magellanican. Using the verbal absolutive pronominal suffix in the same number and person as the verbal ergative pronominal suffix is sufficient to convey reflexivity.

Interrogative Pronouns

1) There is one interroɡative pronoun: je 'who, what' which is undifferentiated for number.

2) All other interrogatives are built from this by adding the appropriate case. Eɡ: jek 'where?', jep 'with whom?'

3) There is an interrogative pronominal possessive suffix: -yet 'whose?'.

4) Suffixing -ye to a noun gives the sense of 'which?'.

5) The canonical word-order of Magellanican is VSOX. Interrogative pronouns or nouns taking an interrogative suffix violate this by being fronted to before the verb.

6) When an interrogative pronoun is used with a verb, that verb takes plural agreement.

Relative Pronouns

Magellanican lacks relative pronouns and therefore uses a strategy of gap relativatisation.

Indefinite Pronouns

There is one indefinite pronoun: vahu 'somebody, something'. When placed before a noun it indicates the concept of 'any'. When used with a verb that verb uses plural agreement.

Negative Pronouns

There is one negative pronoun: tahu 'nobody, nothing'. When placed before a noun marks the concept of 'none'. When used with a verb that verb uses plural agreement.

Universal Pronouns

There is one universal pronoun: kal 'everybody, everything'. When placed before a noun in it indicates the concept of 'all' or 'each'. When used with a verb that verb uses plural agreement.

Adjectives

1) Magellanican has no true adjectives.

2) There are three types of adjective-equivalents:

a) Several derivational suffixes with an adjectival meaning attached to the noun.

b) A noun in equative case suffix following the noun they modify.

c) Relativised verbs following the noun.

Possessive Constructions

1) If only pronouns are involved as the possessor then the possessum is marked with the appropriate possessive suffix.

2) If a noun is involved as the possessor then the possessum is marked with the appropriate suffix, most commonly 3rd or 4th person, and the possessor takes the ergative case.

Numerals

1) Magellanic uses a hybrid vigesimal-decimal system with a sub-base of 5..

2) The numerals of Magellanican are listed in the table below:

Numeral
0 rheru
1 in
2 ek
3 ma
4 tu
5 tam
6 tamin
7 tamek
8 tamma
9 tantu
10 tuqet
11 tuqetin
12 tuqetek
13 tuqetma
14 tuqettu
15 tuqettam
16 tuqettamin
17 tuqettamek
18 tuqettamma
19 tuqettantu
20 likti
40 ektikti
60 matikti
80 tulikti
100 nette
200 eknette
1.000 utkap
1.965 utkap tantunette matikti tam
3.000 maqutkap
10.000 paru
50.000 tamparu
100.000 avhē
600.000 taminavhē
1.000.000 jenni
7.000.000 tamejhenni

3) Numeral strings precede from left to right, highest exponent numerals first.

4) Numerals from 21 to 99 are formed by the appropriate vigesimal numeral plus the appropriate numeral from 1 to 19.

5) The decimal numerals from 100 and over are prefixed with a number from 1-9 as a multiplier.

6) Cardinal numerals precede the noun.

7) Ordinal numerals follow the noun and take the equative case. They take final position in the noun modifier string.

Verbal Morphology

General Remarks On Verbal Morphology

1) Verbs express actions, processes or states of being. Verbs are inflected for A, S and O arguments, aspect, valency and mood.

2) Maximal verbal structure:

verbal or nominal root + derivational suffix(es) + aspect suffix + mood suffix + ergative pronominal suffix + absolutive pronominal suffix

Verbal Pronominal Suffixes

Person Absolutive Suffix (Allomorph) Ergative Suffix
1st Person Singular -ni (-n) -nti
2nd Person Singular -ki(-k) -kti
3rd Person Singular -ti(-t) -tti
4th Person Sinɡular -pi (-p) -pti
5th Person Singular -li (-l) -lti
1st Person Paucal Exclusive -nuk -ntuk
1st Person Paucal Inclusive -qkuk -niktuk
2nd Person Paucal -kuk -ktuk
3rd Person Paucal -tuk -ttuk
4th Person Paucal -puk -ptuk
5th Person Paucal -luk -ltuk
1st Person Plural Exclusive -nat -ntat
1st Person Plural Inclusive -qkat -niktat
2nd Person Plural -kat -ktat
3rd Person Plural -tat -ttat
4th Person Plural -pat -ptat
5th Person Plural -lat -ltat

NB: Parenthesised forms are word-final allomorphs employed after a short vowel.

Voice

1) Transitive verbs in Magellanican have three voices:

a) Active

b) Antipassive

c) Passive

2) These are indicated by the presence or absence of verbal pronominal suffices as per the table below:

Voice Abbreviation Ergative Suffix? Absolutive Suffix? Promoted Argument Case Of Demoted Argument Function
Active ACT Yes Yes N/A N/A No topicalisation of either argument
Antipassive ANTIP Yes No ERG DAT Topicalisation of A argument
Passive PAS No Yes ABS INST Topicalisation of O argument

3) Intransitive verbs do not indicate voice as their S argument is the only topic of the sentence.

Mood and Modality

1) Magellanican has four formally marked moods. These are listed in the table below:


Mood Abbrevation Suffix Function
Indicative IND -∅ Declarative statements
Interrogative INT -kī Polar Questions
Conditional COND -ntu "If" statements
Coordinative COORD -tvā Marks an action going on at the same time as another action.

2) Other distinctions of modality are conveyed by several derivational suffixes.

Negation

1) Negation is indicated by the particle tā. This precedes the verb.

2) tā can occur independently, having the meaning 'no!' or 'don't!".

The Imperative And Prohibitive

1) The imperative indicates that an order to perform an action is made. The base form of the verb marks the imperative.

2) The prohibitive marks that an order to not perform an action is made. The prohibitive is formed by placing the negative particle va before the base form of the verb.

Tense

Magellanican lacks tense as a grammatical category. However, tense-like functions are provided by several derivational suffixes.

Aspect

1) Magellanican has two aspects. These are listed in the table below:

Name Abbreviation Suffix Function
Imperfective IPFV -∅ Indicates an ongoing action
Perfective PFV -lle Marks a completed action

2) Other aspectual distinctions can be conveyed by several derivational suffixes.

The Gerund

1) The gerund uses the suffix -ken which is adde in lieu of pronominal ergative or absolutive suffixes

2) It transforms the verb into a noun which can be used much as any noun can.

Adverbs

1) Magellanican lacks true adverbs.

2) Forms conveying adverbial meanings appear in three classes:

a) A noun in equative case following a verb.

b) Several derivational suffixes with adverbial meanings attached to the verb.

Relativisation

1) Magellanican lacks relative pronouns and uses gap relativisation.

2) A relativised clause follows the noun it modifies.


Other Parts Of Speech

Adpositions

1) Magellanican lacks true adpositions.

2) It does have three classes of adposition-equivalents:

a) The non-core cases which have adpositional functions but are often quite general in their application.

b) Relativised stative verbs with an adpositional sense which are more specific in application than cases.

c) Suffixes on the verb.

Derivational Suffixes

1) There are hundreds of derivational suffixes in Magellanican and they fall into the following types:

a) Denominalisers

b) Deverbalisers

c) Attributive

d) Adverbial

e) Miscellaneous

2) Denominalisers turn a noun into a verb.

3) Derverbalisers turn a verb into a noun.

4) Attributives add a descriptive sense to nouns and verbs.

4) Adverbials impart various temporal and locative meanings to verbs

5) Miscellaneous suffixes change the meaning of nouns and verbs without changing their classes.

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Lexicon

Nouns

English Magellanican
apple mantan
banana mhanan
beryl larhin
boat kilja
borax qitte
boy tunni
brother larin
cat (placental) jatu
cheetah (marsupial) qaltan
coal munra
cow (marsupial) jatke
cow (placental) mhaka
celebration lipta
child laaphi
chocolate rhuulhat
coffee kappe
community kara
copper wēke
cost, price lhitu
dagger qelha
darkness walru
dog-badger (marsupial) wekpek
dog (placental) peru, quurii
doll numwak
domestic species of Magellanican goose hanhi
leopard-bear (marsupial) makar
dwarf (mythological) takal
eel ninrak
elf qejak
face lurti
father qata
fellow qithup
finger karak
finger-ring kerpun
fire jarha
flower wetta
football phutpal
forest nuna
fox (marsupial) rewek
garden rhuuha
giant otter-platypus (monotreme) hirta
girl lirha
glass hellu
good fortune qanak
grandfather qanra
grandmother qawha
heartbeat tumtum
horse (placental) kamhal
horse-tapir (marsupial) tunta
house qenlu
ice hilku
idiot nalla
Indian Ocean Qinnik
king tanek
language nawha
letter quljek
life muuqe
liquor traju
liver jepil
Magellanica Telku
mammoth (marsupial) munnu
man janak
money qekhep
month lhina
moon lhina
mountain kaja
mother qama
negro nekur
night natar
nitre qirkun
orange naran
person luuhi
pig (marsupial) parkaa
pig (placental) kellu, puqa
pillow qajen
pistol qelha jarhat
rabbit (marsupial) keppa
rain wakan
raccoon (marsupial) willuu
rifle qelhat jarhat
road wiqe
sabre-tooth tiger (marsupial) kaptan
salt rhuune
sea qirhat
shadow jewet
sister kaluu
sky lahi
social group kara
spear qelhat
spouse melki
stone (substance) tulke
sun rhahaa
sword rhiqak
taro tara
tea qitee
tavern puuni
temple turup
thing latpu
thumb kuptu
tree rhuqee
vampire (European) wamre
voice nawha
water ninta
wind whertu
wolf (marsupial) naaru
woman kimet
world hanra
word quljek
zebra (marsupial) hapa

Verbs

English Magellanican
be awake qalwin
be beautiful wata
be brave tathak
be cold hekal
be diseased narun
be free, have freedom qelee
be good qiktuu
be important qaran
be kind taara
be thirsty arwaa
be wicked marha
bite kalka
blame kāma
bully, dog, harry nipmin
carouse tijam
choose kiimi
die hirhu
discuss kenja
drink kinkat
eat matu
enjoy tajak
examine nara
fade miki
fight jhunni
flee quktee
go palka
hate waren
hear lhaathi
help qalma
howl nawa
jump, leap phatte
kill qutkwa
laugh lalha
learn qitta
like tajak
love kimje
merit qirhu
return tuli
sleep qikna
tell penta
urinate qurhuk
wander wilte
wane miki
weave kumuu

Suffixes

English Magellanican
agentive deverbaliser -jak
allow, let, permit -whim
always -qutkuu
be big -pkak
be filled with -hawit
be good -tara
be grey, be dressed in grey, be grey-haired, be old -litta
be hungry -karaa
be lean, be skinny, be underfed -tiila
be red, be dressed in red, be red-haired -rutta
be white, be dressed in white, be fair-haired -karik
can -nnus
cute, small -tkal
for a time -tpi
forever -njup
from mud, using mud -maru
group of things -kalwe
have a nostalgic quality -jaari
have an urge to -kawhit
intend to -nnep
instrumental deverbaliser -tpet
just now -tukhe
must -mithu
need -ljuu
objective deverbaliser -pin
possibly -nee
so it is said -kpenta
still, nonetheless -juu
subjective deverbaliser -pin
through, piercing -knut
to be -mmek
to cause -tuwa
to do -tuwa
to have -min
to make -tuwa
to regret -qewee
to seem -luthi
tomorrow -jerhe
truly -qathan
under -nnu
very -pkak
yesterday -lanti

Particles

English Magellanican
and jam
but jam
many (emphatic) rim

Example texts

Other resources