Ødiláïffe

Consonants

 * The alveolar trill and lateral approximant are in complimentary distribution, with /r/ appearing in syllable onset, and /l/ in syllable coda and intervocallically.
 * Velar consonants become labialised before rounded vowels.
 * Nasal consonants become voiceless word-initially.
 * Plosives and affricates become devoiced word-finally.
 * All consonants except approximants and affricates can be geminated.

Vowels

 * The mid central and open back vowels vary in roundedness to agree with the preceding vowel. Mid central vowels are rounded if in the first syllable of a word; open back vowels are unrounded if in the first syllable of a word.
 * Back vowels become rounded after labial and labialised velar consonants.
 * All vowels can be geminated. Vowels can take on three phonemic lengths: short, long and extra-long.

Diphthongs
The possible dipthongs in Ødilaaife are /ai/, /aɯ/, /ay/, and /au/, written «ai, aw, ay, au» respectively. Diphthongs can be geminated. Ungeminated diphthongs are long, and geminated diphthongs are extra-long. In geminated diphthongs, the first component is the one that becomes lengthened.

Phonotactics
Possible syllables in Ødilaaife are (C)(C)V(V)(V)(C)(C)(C). Syllable initials may be a single consonant, a geminant, or a consonant cluster. Medials can be a short vowel, a long vowel, and extra-long vowel, or a diphthong or extra-long diphthong. Codas can be a single consonant, a geminate consonant, a consonant cluster (which may include a geminate sonorant or fricative as its first component), but they may not be approximants or consonant clusters with geminate second components.

Writing System

 * Geminant consonants are written as double letters. Long vowels are written doubled, and extra-long vowels are written tripled.

Nouns
Ødilaaife has two grammatical genders, into which all nouns are sorted. The masculine gender, which consists of nouns ending in rounded vowels and obstruents, has three declension patterns, while the feminine gender, consisting of nouns ending in unrounded vowels and sonorants, has two. Nouns in Ødilaaife decline for definiteness and number, but do not decline for case. Declension can be performed through vowel ablaut or lengthening, epenthesis of a final vowel, or lengthening or mutation of a consonant, depending on the declension pattern.

First Declension
The first declension belongs to the masculine gender. First declension nouns end in rounded vowels. The plural is marked in this pattern by raising the penultimate vowel. Definiteness is marked by raising the ultimate vowel. The following chart is an example of the first declension noun tauhku "tree."

Second Declension
The second declension belongs to the masculine gender. Second declension nouns end in plosives. The plural is marked in this pattern by appending the vowel -ă to the end of the noun. Definiteness is marked by lengthening the final consonant. The following chart is an example of the second declension noun ĵudok "tool."

Third Declension
The third declension belongs to the masculine gender. Third declension nouns end in fricatives. The plural is marked in this pattern by changing the voicing of the final fricative: voiced to voiceless, or voiceless to voiced. Definiteness is marked by lengthening the final consonant. The following chart is an example of the third declension noun zwüeś "school."

Fourth Declension
The fourth declension belongs to the feminine gender. Fourth declension nouns end in unrounded vowels. The plural is marked in this pattern by raising the penultimate vowel. Definiteness is marked by raising the ultimate vowel. The following chart is an example of the fourth declension noun øde "language."

Fifth Declension
The fifth declension belongs to the feminine gender. Fifth declension nouns end in sonorants. The plural is marked in this pattern by raising the ultimate vowel. Definiteness is marked by lengthening the final consonant. The following chart is an example of the third declension noun vωcon "flower."

Determiners
Ødilaaife does not utilize articles to specify noun, however it does make use of other determiners for purposes such as deixis and partition. These determiners agree with their head noun in gender and sometimes number, but most of them are irregular and therefore must be applied to memory.

Verbs
Verbs in Ødilaaife conjugate for four tenses: present, future, recent past, and remote past; two aspects: perfective and imperfective; three moods: indicative, subjunctive, and conditional; two voices: active and antipassive; and also agree with the person, gender and, number of the absolutive argument. The infinitive form of most verbs ends in a voiceless plosive or affricate, i.e. «p, t, c, ć, k». Most verbs are regular, though there are a handful of irregular verbs.

Absolutive Agreement
For regular verbs, agreement with the absolutive argument is performed simply through appending a vowel to the end of the infinitive. The following table will demonstrate using the verb cyrk "to work."

Tenses
Present tense for regular verbs is simply the infinitive plus the absolutive agreement vowel. The other tenses however are conjugated by mutating the last consonant of the infinitive. The recent past tense is conjugated by voicing the final consonant; the remote past by turning the final consonant into a voiced fricative; and the future by turning the final consonant into a voiceless fricative. This conjugation will also be demonstrated using the verb cyrk, conjugated for the genderless plural.

Aspects
Aspects are very simple to conjugate. The imperfective aspect is merely the unmarked form, much like the present tense is unmarked. The perfective aspect is marked by gemination of the final consonant. Once again, demonstration using the verb cyrk in the present tense, genderless plural.

Moods
While Ødilaaife technically has five moods, only three are marked morphologically (the other two through syntax changes). The indicative mood is unmarked, for it is the common mood. The subjunctive mood is marked by nasalizing the final consonant. The conditional mood, however, can be marked in a few different ways: if the verb begins in a plosive, the plosive becomes a fricative; if it begins with a fricative, the fricative becomes geminated; if it begins in a sonorant, an s- is appended; and if it begins in a vowel, that vowel becomes raised. Conjugation of the moods will be demonstrated using cyrk again. (Other demonstrating verbs will be added later to demonstrate the other forms of the conditional mood.)

Voice
Active voice is the default voice, as in most languages, and therefore uses the basic form of the verb. Antipassive constructions in Ødilaaife are formed using a conjugated form of the verb sap "to go," followed by the antipassive participle, which is formed by lengthening the last vowel of the verb stem and appending the normal object agreement suffix. The antipassive form of cyrk is demonstrated below.

Pronouns
Pronouns in Ødilaaife are distinct from other parts of speech because they still bare forms in the dual number, which were lost in all other parts of speech. Additionally, there are two forms of the second person, for formal and informal situations. There are two sets of pronouns in Ødilaaife. The first set is the oblique pronouns, used for most instances of the word, including transitive patient, intransitive subject, postpositional complement, and copular arguments. The oblique pronouns are: The second set, the ergative pronouns, are used only as the agent of transitive verbs. These are:

Adjectives
Adjectives in Ødilaaife decline to agree with their head noun in gender; however unlike determiners they are regular in their formation. Adjectives generally end in high vowels, either front or back. The gender is determined by the roundedness of the final vowel, so that adjectives agreeing for masculine nouns end in rounded vowels and those agreeing for feminine nouns end in unrounded vowels. The lemma form is given as the feminine form; the feminine form is also used for groups of people containing both men and women. An example is given with the adjective tembi "beautiful."

Adverbs
Adverbs are formed from adjective roots by changing the final vowel into a diphthong. Adverbs modifying verbs are in the feminine form (they end in -ai or -aw) and those modifying adjectives or adverbs are in the masculine form (they end in -ay or -au).

Syntax
The default word order for transitive clauses is SVO, and for intransitive clauses the default is VO. Adjectives precede nouns, but adverbs follow verbs and other adjectives. Instead of prepositions, Ødilaaife uses postpositions, so that the postpositional complement precedes the postposition, which itself precedes the head noun or verb.

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 1

 * Ððokna ÿe kamribe kω bonśi ÿe źidri sw tayfetti þaane nofunn. Vaileh ÿe ćrekkzed xωn tayfetti ćuu ÿe ćuub mamønntø baihnaidă swlw üipaleg lw qivøt ïiþacc.
 * All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.