Alandabor

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Phonotactics

All vowels can be lengthened and all consonants can be geminated. These features are shown in the orthography by double letters.

All fricatives except /h/ become approximates when syllable final.

Syllables follow a (C)V(C) structure, with only stops, nasals and the trill /r/ permitted in the rime.

No stress accent.

Female speakers place a rising tone on all syllables except final syllable, which is given a falling tone. Male speakers do the opposite, placing a falling tone on all syllables except the last, which is given a rising tone. Monosyllabic words are given no tone.

Grammar

SVO(V2O2) word order.

Adjectives are placed before the words they describe, and can describe nouns, verbs, or other adjectives.

All clauses are preceded by the particle fid. Noun, verb and adjective clauses are all permitted, with one word in any clause able to be 'highlighted' by the prefix gu-, which has the same function as the English particles that, which and who in the sentences

It was the one that he saw yesterday.

The red car which he drove was parked outside.

and

The man who pruned my garden laughed.

Gender given by prefixes fu- (feminine), da- (masculine) and er- (neuter). These can be placed on nouns and pronouns only.

All nouns and pronouns are naturally singular unless inflected.

Plurality is given by superfix which renders all vowels in a word voiceless. This is represented in the orthography by an apostrophe before a word. Voiceless vowels are not given full phonemic status. When placed on a verb, this superfix indicates a repeated action. Adjectives cannot be pluralised.

Apart from plurality, there are no grammatical structures that denote number in Alandabor. Numbers (both cardinal and ordinal) are represented by nouns. The noun ri, for example, represents the concept of 'thirdness'.

Person can be given to both nouns and pronouns, by the preceding particles gai (first), li (second) and kic (third).

Only a single pronoun is used, kaer, which can be given gender, plurality and/or person by the affixes and other modifying structures listed above.

If a noun or pronoun is not given a particular gender or person, these aspects of it are considered unspecified.

Dictionary

Nouns

-People

-Animals

The Natural World

-Man Made Objects

-Anatomy

-Psychological

-Shapes

-Numbers

*These words are only used metaphorically, poetically or in philosophical writings, and are of no practical value in everyday life.