Paiodd

Phonology

Vowels

In Paiodd, all vowels exist in a hierarchy according to strength. The farther forward and high a vowel is, the weaker it is. The farther back and high it is, the stronger it is. The following is a list of the vowels, in order from weakest to strongest.

  /ə/ /i/ /e/ /a/     /o/ /u/
                  /ɔ/
    /ɪ/ /ɛ/ /æ/

The vowels in each row only interact with each other when vowels change, as they often do in Paiodd. A change in vowel to a stronger or weaker vowel can occur in both nouns and verbs to indicate whether an inflected noun is related to a verb or another noun, and to indicate which tense a verb carries. For more on these specific cases, see the sections on Nouns and Verbs below.

To explain the relationship of the vowels, however, what I mean is that depending on the word, /o/ may become either /ɔ/ or /a/, and /ɔ/ may become either /a/ or /æ/. However, /æ/ will always strengthen to /ɔ/, and weaken to /ɛ/. /ɛ/ will always strengthen to /æ/ and weaken to /ɪ/, and so on.

Similarly, both /i/ and /ɪ/ weaken to /ə/. However, /ə/ never occurs as a root vowel, so one need not worry about whether it strengthens to /i/ or /ɪ/.

Diphthongs often occur in Paiodd stem words. These are the vowel changes in diphthongs:

ai - é (weakened), ó (strengthened) ea - é (weak), eo (strong) ei - í (weak), é (strong) eo - ea (weak), eu (strong) [no surprises here!] ia - ie, io ie - í, ia io - ie, iu oa - oe, ou oe - oi, oa oi - ó, oe ou - ó, ou (no change when strengthened)

Consonants

The consonants in Paiodd also interact with each other, but only in nouns, so these interactions will be explained in the section on Nouns. The consonants are:

/p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /θ/ /x/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /ð/ /ɣ/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /ŋ̥//w/ /j/ /ɹ/ /l/ /h/ /s/ /ʃ/ /ʧ/ /z/  /ʒ/ /ʤ/

There are a few possible consonant clusters, most of which are the same or similar to English.

In word-initial position, the stops /p/ /t/ /k/ /b/ /d/ /g/ as well as the fricative /f/ can be combined with the approximants /ɹ/ and /l/. In addition, /m/, /v/ and /θ/ can also combine with /ɹ/ in word-initial position.

Likewise, /s/ can combine with any of the voiceless stops, as well as /θ/, /ɹ/ and /l/ in word-initial position.

Any of the consonants may occur with the semi-vowels /j/ and /w/, which mark aspect in verbs.

Any consonants may occur in any combination word-medially, though voicing assimilation may result, and approximants /ɹ/ and /l/ assimilate to a preceding /s/ /ʃ/ /z/ /ʒ/ /m/ /n/ /t/ /d/ /l/ or /ɹ/. The resulting double consonants are pronounced doubled.

In word-final position, any consonant may occur singly and voiced stops may occur doubled (though they are usually pronounced as a single consonant in this case). The permissible clusters in word-final position are:

/m/ before labials
/n/ before alveolars
/s/ before voiceless stops
/ɹ/ before stops and fricatives
/l/ before stops and fricatives

Pronouns

There are three personal pronouns in Paiodd, which can be made plural by adding the prefix æ-:

gué /gʷeː/ I
nir /nɪɹ/  you
sem /sɛm/  he, she, it

The plurals are:

ægué /ægʷeː/ we
ænir /ænɪɹ/  you (pl)
æsem /æsɛm/  they

These pronouns do not change form, as Paiodd does not have cases. To show possession and other relationships between pronouns and other nouns, the noun suffixes are attached to the pronouns as prefixes. In this case, there may not be any difference between the singular and plural forms of the prefixed pronouns. In other words, íagué can mean either 'my' or 'our'. Sometimes, however, the plural prefix may co-occur with other prefixes, giving for example, íægué, 'our'. For a complete list of the prefixes, see Noun Suffixes below.

Paiodd word order demands that the subject be directly attached to the verb, so the only difference between subject pronouns and object pronouns is where they occur in the sentence.

Gué nir dur.  You love me.
BUT Nir gué dur. I love you.

There is also no copula in Paiodd, so to express the sense of 'to be' one has only to place the noun or adjective that describes the pronoun after it in the sentence.

Gué piver. I am the king.
Nir shopía. You are beautiful.

Nouns

Nouns are perhaps the most interesting feature in Paiodd. Although there is no gender or case, they do inflect to indicate whether they are related to other nouns, or to the verb in their clause. To indicate these inflections, changes occur on the root vowel and in the final consonant of the root. When a noun is related to a verb, this is called the Verbal Inflection. When it is related to another noun, it is in the Nominal Inflection.

Nouns that end in stops end in the voiced stop, written double:

sabb war
lodd man
ashigg death

This uninflected form is used when the noun is the subject or direct object of the verb. The plural is formed simply by changing the final consonant into a fricative:

/b/ to /v/ sav wars
/d/ to /ð/ lodh men
/g/ to /ɣ/ ashigh deaths

The Verbal inflection is formed by weakening the final vowel of the root word according to the vowel hierarchy described above, and taking the voiced form of the final consonant. The plural is the voiced fricative in the same place of articulation.

seb-, sev-
lad-, ladh-
ash'g /aʃəg/ or ashg- /aʃk/, ash'gh- or ashgh-

The Nominal inflection involves no change to the root vowel, but the final consonant is devoiced. The plural is simply the voiceless fricative:

sap-, saf-
lat-, lath-
ashic-, ashich-

Nouns ending in –ss are different from those ending in stops in the uninflected form, where they take –ss, which is unvoiced (whereas –bb, -­dd, and –gg are all voiced). The plural of the uninflected form, then is –sh, thus:

athress a crown, athresh crowns

In the verbal and nominal forms, however, the same rules that apply to stops apply to -ss, except that z becomes zh and s becomes sh (affricates, not fricatives).

athriz- athrizh-	
athres- athresh-

When the nouns ends in /m/ or /n/, the verbal inflection still weakens the root vowel and takes /m/ as the final consonant, while the nominal inflection retains the root vowel and takes /n/. There is no difference in the plural forms.

thum flower thom-  thun- nominal
chum water  chom-  khun- nominal

Nouns ending in /ɹ/ and /l/ are similar, with a weakened vowel and /ɹ/ in the verbal inflection, and the unchanged vowel and /l/ in the nominal.

tshondar beast tshonder- tshondal- nominal
iul god ior- iul- 

Finally, some nouns end in vowels, especially when they are derived from verbs ending in vowels. The verbal inflection of such nouns weakens the vowel and adds /ɹ/, while the nominal inflection adds /l/.

suró father surar- suról-
tika a pass tiker- tikal-

Noun Suffixes

-ía has a general meaning of 'with' and can be used to express instrument in the verbal, and possession in the nominal, and to form subordinate clauses when attached to verbs. It probably comes from the verb ía 'to know'
-uí is a negative suffix, usually meaning something like 'without'. It also makes verbs negative. This probably comes from the verb uí 'to ignore'
-ir indicates a location in, on, or at the noun suffixed, and is used with verbs to express ideas like 'where they ate'.
-é indicates a time, and is also used for conditional statements when attached to verbs.