Tibëdëyel
Tibëdëyel is a conlang spoken in Tibëdë.
Phonology
Consonants
| Letter | IPA symbol(s) |
|---|---|
| b | b |
| c | ts |
| d | d |
| dh | ð |
| f | f |
| g | ɡ |
| k | k |
| l | l |
| m | m |
| n | n |
| ŋ | ŋ |
| p | p |
| q | x |
| s | s |
| sh | ʃ |
| t | t |
| th | θ |
| v | v |
| y | j |
| z | z |
Note: There is no 'r' is Tibëdëyel- 'l' takes its place.
Vowels
| Letter | IPA symbol(s) |
|---|---|
| a | æ, ɑɪ |
| e | ɛ |
| ë | i, iɪ |
| i | ɪ |
| o | ɒ |
| ö | ɔɪ |
Grammar
Case System
Tibëdëyel uses an ergative-absolutive case system, where the subject of an intransitive verb and the object of a transitive verb are the same, but the subject of a transitive verb is different. Cases are always marked by suffixes. Tibëdëyel recognises four cases: absolutive (no suffix), ergative (-'lelë'), genitive (-'yel'), and locative (-'vib').
Word order
The most commonly used word order is Subject Verb Object, but since cases are marked it is not very important. In fact, it is not uncommon to see Verb Subject Object and Subject Object Verb, though the latter is seen as somewhat archaic by speakers (like saying words like 'thee' and 'thou' in English).
Tense
Most present tense verbs have 'a' as the last vowel sound in the word. For the past tense, 'e' is normally the last vowel sound and for future tense it is usually 'o'. There are exceptions to all three of these, but these are how the tenses are normally distinguished. An example of such an exception is 'adlavë', meaning "to want"- in this case, the second to last vowel is changed for tense.
