Nabhika

Note: From this point on, // contain phonemic transcription, [] contain phonetic transcription, but Nabhikan words will be in bold.

Nabhika
Pronounced:	/nabʰika/
Timeline and Universe:	none
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Nakat
Total speakers:	13 million
Writing system:	Latin
Genealogy:	...
Typology
Morphological type:	Agglutinative
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Basic word order:	SVO
Credits
Creator:	ILuvEire
Created:	February 2009

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Alveolar		Retroflex		Velar		Glottal
Nasal		m				n	ɳ ṇ					ŋ ng
Plosive	p pʰ ph	b bʱ bh				t tʰ th	d dʱ dh	ɖ ḍ	ʈ ṭ	k kʰ kh	g gʱ gh
Fricative			f	v	s	z	ʂ ṣ	ʐ ẓ				h
Trill						r	ɽ ṛ
Lateral						l	ɭ ḷ

When the IPA is the same as the transcription, no extra character is put down. If there's a change from IPA, it's noted. An h is added to show aspiration, and ̣ (under-dot) is used to indicate the consonant is retroflex.

Vowels

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Back
High	i							u
High-mid			e					o
Low					a

Any vowel can be lengthened, and it's marked with a macron.

Syllable Structure

The basic syllable structure is (O)S(O)(O)(O)V. I think this is how it would be written at least.

The onset is optional, and can be any obstruent. The nucleus (mandatory) can be any sonorant followed by 3 optional obstruents. The coda is any vowel (but not other sonorants!) This means that there are many words that are just on vowel long. Like "ā" meaning "therefore."

Nouns

Nabhika words use two genders, animate and inanimate. There are three numbers, singular, dual, and plural. Many, many nouns use a triconsonantal root. These nouns frequently are changed into verbs.

Cases

Case	Suffix	Example 1	Example 2
Nominative	None	zvan-dog	bhāṣika
Accusative	-a	zvana	bhāṣikā
Gentitive	-i	zvani	bhāṣikai

When a word ending with an a is in the accusative case, the vowel is lengthened. Similarly, when a noun is in the gentitive case and ends with an i the vowel is just long.

Plurals

• For the dual number, you'll need to change the vowel of the last syllable. Then add the suffix ṣi.

a	->	e
e	->	i
i	->	ī
o	->	i
u	->	e

• The plural just lengthens the last vowel and adds the suffix -ra.

Examples

Singular	Meaning	Dual	Plural
Zavān	dog	zavēnṣi	zavānra
Bhāṣika	language	bhāṣikeṣi	bhāṣikāra

Pronouns

In informal Nabhika, men use one set of pronouns, and women use another set. Men use the woman's set when speaking formally.

Masculine Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
First person	ta	nā
Second person	an	tunā
Third person	hū	i

Feminine Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
First person	le	nanu
Second person	kim	kuma
Third person	aromi	ṣi

Verbs

Nabhika uses a triconsonantal root, like many Semitic languages.

Tense	Affirmative	Negative
Past	CaCC	CaCCmath
Present	CoCuC	aCōCimaC
Future	CiCaCne	CioCaṣCe

And, and example verb (zvn - to bark) conjugated:

Tense	Affirmative	Negative
Past	zavn	zavnmath
Present	zovun	azōviman
Future	zivanne	ziovaṣṇe

Irregular Verbs

Do		Go		Be		Come
baḷ	baḷmath	ṣa	ṣameth	dha	dhamath	madń	maḍńmath
biḷane	bioḷaṣe	ṣiane	ṣaṣe	dhane	dhoi	miḍańe	mioḍaṣṇe
boḷu	abōḷima	ṣō	aṣōima	dhō	adhōima	moḍuń	amōḍimań
bḷiā	ābḷōń	ṣīā	āṣōń	dhā	ādhōń	mḍińā	āmoḍńoń

Adjectives

To put it simply, we ain't got none. In Nabhika, all adjectives are treated like verbs, and conjugated as such.

Sample Text

An introduction

Ta Taileḷ moḍuń. Nat zvānra moḍuń. Iń Sirenia ṇoḷuń horuth.