Adwan

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-Palatal	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m			n				ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p b			t d				c ɟ	k ɡ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ʂ	ɕ ʑ		x ɣ
Affricate					t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant								j	w
Flap / Tap				ɾ
Lateral				l

Vowels

Monophthongs	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-mid	e		o
Near-close	ɪ
Mid		(ə)
Open-mid	œ
Near-open		(ɐ)
Open	a

• (ə) is an allophone of [œ]
• (ɐ) and (ə) are allophones of eachother, though (ə) is usually an allophone to [œ], while (ɐ) is an allophone of [a] when it follows another vowel.
• [e] tends to become [ɪ] when final, unstressed and preceding a nasal consonant (usually [n]).

Of the 7 vowels, two of them are represented by letters that also represent consonants. The vowels [i] and [u] represent the consonants [j] and [w] when before vowels, respectively. Diaeresis marks are added to ‹i› and ‹w› to mark vocalic forms of each respective vowel when preceding other vowels.

Compare thia /θja/, to thïa /θi.a/, or mwet /mwet/, to mẅet /mu.et/.

Irregular stress is also marked by acute accents (áéíóúẃý), though in some monosyllabic words, it marks historically irregular stress, such as the preposition ví, which used to be einví.

Alphabet

The Adwanic Alphabet consists of 23 letters. It does not include the letters Jj, Kk, Qq, or Xx.

Aa Bb Cc Dd Ðð Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Uu Vv Ww Yy Zz

Orthography

Adwanic orthography is quite phonemic, marking stress and following a relatively logical set of spelling rules. Adwan makes heavy use of digraphs, and many letters produce different sounds depending on what they precede or succeed. Though not straightforward like many languages, the following rules are consistent in the governing of Adwanic orthography.

Note: orthographic pronunciation rules are explained via IPA.

Letter	Context	IPA
a		[a]
ae	only used before consonantal i.	[i]
aë		[ae]
ai / ay		[aɪ]
aw		[au]
b		[b]
c		[k]
cg		[tʃ]
ch		[x]
d		[d]
dd		[ðd]
dg		[dʒ]
dh		[ð]
di	before vowels	[ɟ]
ð	before and after voiced consonants	[ð]
	before and after voiceless consonants, final	[θ]
e		[e]
ei / ey		[eɪ]
ew		[eu]
f		[f]
	before irregularly stressed vowels	[v]
g	initial, before consonants	[g]
	before p, t, and c	[x]
	intervocalic, final	[ɣ]
gh	after i.	[j]
h	rarely used alone.	[x]
hg		[x]
hi	before vowels	[çj]
i		[i]
	before vowels	[j]
l		[l]
lh	after w and before vowels.	[w]
m		[m]
n	final, before consonants	[ŋ]
	in between vowels, in infinitive endings	[n]
ni	before vowels	[ɲ]
nn	final, before consonants	[n]
	in between vowels	[ŋn]
o		[o]
oi / oy		[oɪ]
ow		[ou]
p		[p]
ph	before irregularly stressed vowels.	[f]
r		[ɾ],[r]
s		[s]
sg		[ʃ]
sgi	before vowels	[ɕ]
ss		[ʂ]
t		[t]
th		[θ]
ti	before vowels	[c]
tt		[θt]
u		[œ]
ue	only used after consonantal w.	[u]
uë		[œ.e]
v		[v]
w		[u]
y		[ɪ]
z		[z]
zg		[ʒ]
zgi	before vowels	[ʑ]

Stress

Adwanic stress is pretty noticeable. Typically, stress falls on the penultimate syllable in a word. However, if the penultimate syllable consists of a syllabic consonant (l, n, m, r), stress is pushed back once more, thus essentially shaping up the rule to be not simply the penultimate syllable, but stress falling on the penultimate vowel.

However, stress is an important part in Adwan, for it provides one of the most used morphological grammar uses. Irregular stressed is marked by an acute accent, which is important as there are many words that are spelt the same but have completely separate stress. This is seen mostly in conjugations of -en verbs, where the past is simply the present stressed at the final syllable, such as iag fusgaċ, or I cook, while iag fusgáċ means I cooked.

Typically, diaeresises are replaced by accute accents if said semivowel was irregularly stressed. If a semivowel is marked as a vowel and is in the default penultimate position, diaeresises are kept, while if the same occurs in irregular places, an accute accent is then used to not only differentiate the vowel from the consonant, but to indicate irregular stress.

Capitalization and Punctuation

The first letter of every sentence in Adwan is capitalized, as are Proper nouns. Note, however, that adjectives and any other sort of part of speech capitalized in English, such as languages and national adjectives (she's French, they're German, etc etc) are not capitalized, very much like other Indo-European languages. Adwan uses the standard set of punctuation, with a period to end sentences, a comma to split up separate ideas and typically indicate pauses, question marks to mark interrogative sentences and exclamation points to mark exclamations. Colons and semi-colons are also commonly used.

Note, however, Adwanic sentences tend to be much longer than their English counterparts. Run on sentences don't exist in Adwan, due to the certain inflections and positioning strategies. Commas are more commonly used not only to separate separate ideas in sentences, but to separate sentences as well. Typically, there are paragraphs that could be one full sentence long. Note the following wording in English, and then its literal Adwanic gloss.

The Nutcracker is a two-act ballet by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky's adaptation of the story "The Nutcracker and the Mouse King" by E. T. A. Hoffmann was commissioned by the director of the Imperial Theatres Ivan Vsevolozhsky in 1891. The original production was staged by Marius Petipa on 18 December 1892, premiering on a double-bill with a now semi-forgotten Tchaikovsky opera, Iolanta.

Nutcracker ballet with two acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchakovsky is, adaptation of story of Tchaikovsky "Nutcracker and King of Mice" by E-T-A Hoffman, was commissioned and original production by director of Imperial Theaters Ivan Vsevolozhsky, was staged by Marius Petipa on day 18 of December in year of 1892, on a feature double with now somewhat opera forgotten Iolanta.

Commonly, however, with much influence, sentences tend to be shorter to make a stronger statement.

In general, names are never shortened to be such as E. T. A. Hoffman, as Adwanic names only consist of a first and a last name. However, in the event that names are shortened as so, dashes are used, therefore J.K Rowling would be J-K Rowling.

Grammar

Adwan is a heavily inflected language, with nouns, pronouns, adjectives, numbers and determiners declining for up to seven cases, and verbs conjugating for a variety of criterias such as tense, person, mood, voice, and aspect.

One special aspect of Adwan is the fact that, although lacking in articles, it contains a particle, known as the nominalizing article, which nominalizes whatever succeeds it.

Nouns

Nouns decline for up to five cases, most shared with one European language or another:

1. Nominative, Obrádonif
2. Accusative, Mesgcgúdonif
3. Genitive, Pessénnonif
4. Dative, Ioviétonif
5. Locative, Sgwzídonif

Typically, the Nominative is not governed by anything, as it marks subjects, though the verb to be does govern the nominative. The accusative is governed by most verbs and is thus named the verbal case (mesgcgudo = verb). The genitive marks possession and movement from, while the dative marks movement to.

Adwan declines for two number classes: singular and plural, though many declensions have collapsed the distinction between singular and plural.

Declensions in Adwan depend on the noun's gender, along with whether the consonant a noun ends in is voiced or unvoiced, along with what vowel they end in. Below is a list of voiced and unvoiced consonants.

Voiced:

b d dg dh g l m n r v z zg

Voiceless:

c cg ch f h p s sg t th

First Declension

The first declension consists of masculine nouns ending in voiced consonants.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-Ø	-i
Accusative	-a	-as
Genitive	-is	-is
Dative	-em	-ów
Locative	-am	-áwn

Nouns in the first declension:

Puzg (dog), nedh (wallet), covlidg (vacation), thematúm (computer), hovreg (gentleman)

Second Declension

The second declension consists of masculine nouns ending in a voiceless consonant.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-Ø	-i
Accusative	-inn	-ẃnn
Genitive	-é	-ear
Dative	-em	-ýwn
Locative	-o	-oá

Nouns in the second declension:

Hosg (city), mlucg (dirt), cerógc (cabinet), mezdyt (pyramid)

Third Declension

The third declension consists of masculine nouns ending in -e.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-e	-enn
Accusative	-e	-eo
Genitive	-u	-u
Dative	-o	-oán
Locative	-y	-io

Nouns in this declension:

cote (coast), lovne (money), wpoite (market), ceme (fire)

Fourth Declension

The fourth declension consists of masculine nouns ending in -o.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-o	-w
Accusative	-w	-wn
Genitive	-osg	-osg
Dative	-yw	-iú
Locative	-e	-wsg

Nouns in this declension:

Fifth Declension

The fifth declension consists of feminine nouns ending in voiced consonants.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-Ø	-i
Accusative	-e	-en
Genitive	-yr	-yr
Dative	-o	-eas
Locative	-ig	-ug

Sixth Declension

The sixth declension consists of feminine nouns ending in voiceless consonants.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-Ø	-et
Accusative	-yss	-ith
Genitive	-ist	-ïas
Dative	-éyn	-udh
Locative	-yth	-igh

Seventh Declension

The seventh declension consists of feminine nouns that end in -a.

a
	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-a	-an
Accusative	-w	-y
Genitive	-i	-í
Dative	-o	-oho
Locative	-enn	-eath

In the dative plural and the locative singular and plural, the antepenultimate syllable is stressed.

Eighth Declension

The ninth declension consists of all neuter nouns ending in a consonant.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-Ø	-a
Accusative	-u	-ea
Genitive	-ý	-éwn
Dative	-ó	-og
Locative	-á	-ẃ

Ninth Declension

The ninth declension consists of all neuter nouns ending in a -i.

	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-i	-y
Accusative	-i	-ý
Genitive	-í	-í
Dative	-o	-ówn
Locative	-e	-éch

Gender Differences

Many nouns in Adwan have separate counterparts depending on the specific gender of the noun. This is common when animate nouns are involved, usually animals and people. Typically, in animate nouns, the original noun is masculine and a feminine ending is added, it usually being -ela for nouns ending in consonants, and -ldga for nouns ending in consonants. It is typical to find originally feminine nouns, which then change their gender to masculine by use of masculine endings such as -ono and -col.

Below is a short list of irregular nouns in their respective genders.

• Poet: Poet (m.), Poetissa (f.)
• Writer: Éscrovio (m.), Éwcrova (f.)
• Doctor: Tomprol, (m.), Tobrola (f.)

• Teacher: Fodur (m.), Braca (f.)

• Dog: Puzg (m.), Pesca (f.)

• Bear: Meðiev (m.), Méova (f.)

• Cat: Mivewn* (m.), Miwa (f.); note, mivewn belongs to the first declension and it's stem becomes mívewnn- in declensions.

• Student: Wrðo (m.), Sgtwnia (f.)

• Cook: Fusger (m.), Frasva (f.)

Adjectives

There are two main declensions for adjectives. Hard declensions consist of declining adjectives that end in a thematic vowel. Typically, gender declinations are obvious in the nominative, for example, big, or rory, can be rory if it describes a neuter noun, or rora if it describes a feminine noun. Soft adjectives typically decline with less variety and don't end in a thematic vowel. Adjectives in Adwan always go after the noun, even when piling.

Note, adjectives can also go through separate declensions, though these work by prefixing. Comparative adjectives have the suffix tai- added, while superlative adjectives have miei- added.

• Big: rory
• Bigger: tairory
• Biggest: mieirory

Hard Declensions

	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Sg.	Pl.	Sg.	Pl.	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-o	-ow	-a	-i	-y	-ïy
Accusative	-o	-e	-a	-ia	-y	-ïy
Genitive	-os	-es	-as	-ias	-iý	-iyn
Dative	-ehg	-iehg	-um	-wm	-iẃ	-iwn
Locative	-io	-ïó	-ia	-ïá	-iy	-ïý

Soft Declensions

	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Sg.	Pl.	Sg.	Pl.	Sg.	Pl.
Nominative	-Ø	-yn	-Ø	-a	-Ø	-i
Accusative	-y	-i	-e	-a	-u	-w
Genitive	-i	-ig	-ia	-iag	-ig	-íg
Dative	-y	-um	-y	-wm	-ý	-úm
Locative	-eg	-eium	-igha	-igha	-yld	-yldw

Determiners

Determiners in Adwan act some-what differently than other parts of speech. Determiners are always declined as soft adjectives, and always govern the genitive case. For example:

All = Twð, therefore All the boys would be twð evlosg, or all (of) (the) boys.

Typically, determiners take up the slot of the subject of the sentence while the original subject becomes partitive. Determiners come before the item they describe.

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are shown below. Note, Adwan does not have any possessive pronouns and thus, makes use of the genitive for possession, thus something like my apple would be worded apple me, with me in the genitive. This is similar to saying apple of me.

Singular
	I	You	It	He	She
Nominative	iag	thw	eni	eno	ena
Genitive	mynn	ċynn	iyt	niol	niala
Accusative	ig	vwg	di	do	da
Dative	tham	twe	nevi	emol	emola
Locative	meo	dwo	iyly	ielo	iwla
	Plural
	We	You	Them (N)	They (M)	They (F)
Nominative	naws	viw	enich	enoch	enach
Genitive	sgnaw	sgvwð	lydym	ledum	laðma
Accusative	iawsg	vascu	diyg	dieg	dwga
Dative	meniém	stwl	devni	devo	deva
Locative	ladw	sluy	lydydg	ledodg	lwdadg

Relative Pronouns

W

Adwanic relative pronouns do not make a distinction between animacy and inanimacy like many european languages do, such as English (compare that, which, and who). The relative pronoun mostly used in Adwan is the relative pronoun Sað, which covers who, which, that, whom, and whose. Wð typically does not decline for gender, for a gender declined sað produces a completely different relative pronoun, neither does wð decline for number.

	Sg
Nominative	wð
Accusative	w
Genitive	i
Dative	wm
Locative	wenn

Wðáð

Saðað declines for gender and for number. Wðað has a connotation of "the one that" or "the thing that", which comes from the derivational morphology of the pronoun, w (which changes to wð- when adding nominalizing articles when -ð- inserts between vowels), that, and að, the nominalizing article. Essentially, the formation of this relative pronoun is simply using the correct form of wð plus the respective nominalizing article affixed on, only with declensions for case being a newly added feature to the nominalizing article.

Note: typically, if the gender of an item is unspecified or unknown, the neuter is used.

What you said = Wðýð theithẃsg.

Typically, when the gender is unknown or unspecified, or there is nothing to relate the gender to, the neuter is used.

The one that ate my food, that's her = Wðáð mozgów migw mynn, iyð enacgt.

	Masculine		Feminine		Neuter
	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl	Sg	Pl
Nominative	wðéð	wðiéð	wðáð	wðnaða	wðýð	wgðýð
Accusative	ẅéð	ẅiéð	ẅáð	wnaða	ẅýð	wueiýð
Genative	ïéð	ighéð	ïáð	inaða	ïýð	iwlhýð
Dative	wméð	wmiéð	wmáð	wmadda	wgmýð	ẅigmýð
Locative	wenéð	vunéð	wenáð	vuniáð	wgnýð	vuniýð

Cenn

The relative pronoun cenn roughly translates to the English relative pronoun of where. Cenn only declines for case. Note, cenn is used both relatively and interrogatively, though the interogative adverb for where? in Adwan is taken over by iowie.

Nominative	cenn
Accusative	cewns
Genitive	cennð
Dative	cwnnð
Locative	cewm

Sgow

The relative pronoun sgow roughly translates to the English relative pronoun when. Like cenn, sgow only declines for case.

Note, "siówn" and "siéwn" have accents brought over by their ancestor, dosgown, where "siówn" used to be dosiówn and "siéwn" used to be vesiéwn.

Nominative	sgow
Accusative	sgpo
Genitive	siówn
Dative	siéwn
Locative	siáwn

Nominalizing Article

The nominalizing article in Adwan functions to convert every non-noun in the whole Adwanic language into a part of speech that, if not a noun, atleast functions like a noun. Typically, it's like saying the... one, though its usage is much more complicated than that.

Nominalizing articles are typically used on adjectives to nominalize adjectives. For example, an unspecified big object could be referred to að rora rather than lossla rora. It is also used in omition, especially when the item beforehand is distinct. For example, if there was a red cat and a blue mouse, one could literally ask að sgwzga mozgé að hrowa? which, inexplicitely asks if the red cat ate the blue mouse, but, lazily, literally says the red one ate the blue one? Typically, the feminine article is used when gender is unknown, which proves to be unique due to the neuter generally being the default gender.

When inflected for gender, one could even specify things to people. For example, one could say mevo sguno for old man, but easily enough, one could replace mevo with eð and already assume that the old thing being specified is masculine. The nominalizing article does not inflect for case nor number, merely gender. Note, apart from the three given genders, a separate gender exists -- a non-gendered nominalizing article, which in effect, is used for all parts of speech not divided into gender, such as verbs and adverbs. This gender is not specifically taken into consideration, as it only appears in verbs and adverbs. Typically, for verbs, að is used unless a negative particle precedes að, in which yð is used.

Masculine	eð
Feminine	að
Neuter	yð

The nominalizing article is used with most parts of speech, usually to convey different sets of information. Note the usages below:

• Iag iowg dga ta yð mozganu, I stopped eating for now, lit. I do now not the eating.
• Ena chugdge ziw að moliý, She runs quickly, lit. She runs with the quickness.
• Eð rwssco aun að plossca mozgalúy ag mozgasgwze Vondowli ziw að cgessca, The Russian man and the Polish woman ate with the Czech woman at Vondola's restauraunt, lit. russian and polish ate at eatplace Vondola with czech.

Determiners

Determiners in Adwan are typically declined as nouns and always govern the genitive case. If a determiner ends in a consonant, it declines as a neuter noun, and if it ends in a respective vowel sound, it declines as so. Determiners always come before nouns and, much like English in a fashion, govern the genitive case. Note, for example:

• All the children eat --> Twða cglencíg mozgalu, lit. All of-children eat.

• Some children prefer to eat in the morning than in the afternoon --> Dgun cglencíg thlwðeryig mozgan cwrewn wesċi ċag zgolðnu, lit. Some of-children prefer eat during morning than daytime.

Typically, determiners can be used with nominalizing articles to form specific pronouns.

• Everybody eats --> Að twða mozgyig, lit. all eat.
• Some eat. --> Að dgun mozgyig, lit. some eat.

Note, most determiners denote plurality, such as some, all, most, and even negative seeming determiners such as none and neither.

Many pronouns are formed by addition of determiners and the nominalizing article, such as somebody, nobody, everybody. Note:

• Somebody = að dgun, lit. the some, someone
• Nobody = að ta, lit. the not, not-one
• Everybody = að tuða, lit. the all, everyone.