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). Syllable initials may be a single consonant, a geminant, or a consonant cluster that does not include an affricate. 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 or an affricate, but they may not be approximants or consonant clusters.

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."

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; 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.)