Mabri

Writing System

The writing system of mabri is logosyllabic (i. e., it is both logographic and syllabic). Each syllable represents a distinct morpheme and is uniquely written with a grapheme.

Romanization

The transcription into the Latin alphabet is straightforward. The phonemes are generally transcribed as pronounced. The exceptions are <j>, <x> and <y>, which correspond to /ʒ/, /ʃ/ and /j/, respectively. The letter <r> is usually pronounced as a tap [ɾ].

Recently, the transcription system has gone through a minor reform. Former <sh> is now written <x> and former <ch> is now written <tx>.

The <n> at the end of the words marks that the previous vowel is nasal, as explained in Phonotactics.

Sounds

Phoneme Inventory

Consonants

This is the consonantal system of mabri.

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Labiovelar	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n
Plosive	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					tx, dj
Fricative		f v		s z	x, j			h
Approximant			w			y
Tap				r
Lat. Approx.				l

Vowels

Mabri has five phonemic vowels, transcribed as <a>, <e>, <i>, <o>, and <u>. In an unstressed position, their phonetic realizations are respectively [ɐ], [e], [i], [o] and [u]. When stressed, at the end of verbs, they are nasalized: [ɐ̃], [ẽ], [ĩ], [õ] and [ũ]. When stressed, elsewhere, they are pronounced as follows: [a], [ɛ], [i], [ɔ] and [u].

Phoneme	Stressed (non-V)	Unstressed	Stressed (V)
/a/	a	ɐ	ɐ̃
/e/	ɛ	e	ẽ
/i/	i	i	ĩ
/o/	ɔ	o	õ
/u/	u	u	ũ

Phonotactics

The syllable structure in Mabri is (C)(C)V. Syllables like a, re and pwi are valid. Syllables have phonemically no coda, although a written "n" appears at the end of verbs. This final "n" indicates that the previous vowel is nasal and is not always pronounced. An epenthetic [m], [n], [ɱ] or [ŋ] will appear, however, if the next word begins with b/p, d/t/z/s/dj/tx/j/x, v/f and g/k, respectively.

Examples:

Kaze txin ha. ['kaze tʃĩ ha]

Mu men taze. ['kaze mẽn 'taze]

Mya kon frugyo. [mja kõɱ 'fɾugjo]

Fa gran bla. [fa gɾɐ̃m bla]

Ladjo yan katxi. ['ladʒo jɐ̃ŋ 'katʃi]

Word Stress

• Monosyllabic prepositions, such as ga and po, are unstressed. Their pronunciations are therefore [gɐ] and [po] (and not [ga] or [pɔ]).

• All the other monosyllabic words are stressed: ka, lo, ban, de ([ka], [lɔ], [bɐ̃], [dɛ]).

• Disyllabic verbs are stressed on the last syllable: latxin, kyofan, broton ([lɐ'tʃĩ], [kjo'fɐ̃], [bɾo'tõ]).

• All the other disyllabic words are stressed on the first syllable: latxi, kyofa, broto (['latʃi], ['kjɔfɐ], ['bɾɔto]).

• That includes disyllabic prepositions: potxi, gale, polye (['pɔtʃi], ['gale], ['pɔlje]).

• Larger words (hyphenated words) are multiply stressed, each part according to the rules above.

Morphology

Words in Mabri can be roughly divided in 4 main groups: verbs, nouns, adjectives and prepositions.

Word Formation

Nominalization

from the subject

Examples:

bro, to, mu (friend, male, animal)

bron, ton, mun (is a friend, is male, is an animal)

txabro, txato, txamu (friendship, maleness, animal nature)

from the object

Examples:

ko, ha, je (food, house, clothing)

kon, han, jen (eats, dwells, wears)

txako, txaha, txaje (ingestion, inhabitation, wearing)

lyeko, lyeha, lyeje (eater, dweller, wearer)

from the verb

Examples: me, re, lyu (vision, thinking, similarity)

men, ren, lyun (sees, thinks, is similar)

lyeme, lyere, lyelyu (seer, thinker, something similar)

kime, kire, kilyu* (something seen, idea, something similar)

• kilyu is synonymous to lyelyu