Ğimbekan
Ğimbekan (IPA: /ʝɪmbɛkæn/) is a tribal language spoken in the ice wastelands of Ğimbe'a, the largest continent of the Moon of Pyk (Ğim: Pikaú). The tribe is spread out amongst the frozen wastes, although they do meet up occasionally for religious festivals and special hunting seasons, so dialects are pretty much the same.
The tribes have lived in the wastes for hundreds of generations, and skills of hunting, cloth-making, butchery and farming the Ekále are handed down from father to son, mother to daughter, ect.
Alphabet, Diphthongs, Triphthongs and Consonant Clusters
The language is highly inflected, however has relatively simple sounds, and a rather short alphabet. Constisting of 6 vowels, and 13 consonants.
A - /æ/ as in Hat.
Á - /æʊ/ as in Power
B - /b/ as in Boat
D - /d/ as in dog
E - /ɛ/ as in pet
F - /f/ as in foot
Ğ - /ʝ/ Like the greek letter in γερή
G - /g/ as in good
I - /ɪ/ as in sit
K - /k/ as in Kill
L - /l/ as in long
M - /m/ as in more
N - /n/ as in no
P - /p/ as in person
R - /ɹ/ as in red
S - /s/ as in soon
T - /t/ as in tonne
U - /ʌ/ as in put
Ú - /u:/ and in Boom
Diphthongs
Ae - /æi:/ as in Eye
Au - /ɔ/ as in thought
Aú - /æu:/ as an Pow
Eu - /œ/ as in french Neuf
Ue - /ʊɛ/ as in went
Áu - /æu:ʌ/ as in Power
Úa - /u:æ/ as in Sewer (british pron.)
Áe - /æu:ɛ/ like saying Ow and Eh in quick succession
Úe - /u:ɛ/ Like saing 'Ou Est' in french
Triphthongs
There are only three possible triphthongs
Aua - /æʌæ/ Like a elongated version of hour (british pron.)
Eau - /ɛjæʴ/ - another odd triphthong, almost like sayin eyar
Ueá - /ʌɛjæu:/ - the most complicated triphthong, sort of like saying away ow!
Consonant Clusters
Sğ - /ʃ/ as in Short
Tğ - /ʧ/ as in Choose
Nğ - /nj/ as in Spanish Niño
Ng - /ŋ/ as in Thing
Lr - /w/ as in Was
Grammar
Ğimbekan's grammar may seem imposing, and that's because it is. We'll start off with verbs, and who is doing them. Similar to Spanish, verbs in Ğimbekan have three possible endings. The Masculine ending, aune, the femenine ending, unú and the Neutral ending, ida.
The idea is you take the final vowel of the ending and you add the inflection.
You will notice also that there are two inflections in each case for 'it' and 'they' meaning that if your talking about a book in the room, you use one inflection(namely it that is here), and if you are talking about a book that is at someone else's house or in a library, you use the other, (it that isn't here) and with they, the same applies for a group of people. This is not the case with he and she, they are the same inflection wherever the aforementioned person may be.
The verb 'to eat' is femenine, Dikitunú. These are it's inflections.
I eat - Dikitunasğ - IPA /dɪkɪtʌnæʃ/
You (sing) eat - Dikitunama - IPA /dɪkɪtʌnæmæ/
You (pl) eat - Dikitunamau - IPA /dɪkɪtʌnɔ/
We eat - Dikitunibid - IPA /dɪkɪtʌnɪbɪd/
It (that is here) eats - Dikitunibo
It (that is not here) eats - Dikitunibú
He eats - Dikitunga
She eats - Dikitungasğ
They eat (that are here) - Dikitunur
They eat (that aren't here) - Dikitunulr
The verb To Hunt is Masculine, Ğunaelranaune, these are it's inflections:
I hunt - Ğunaelranaunaba - IPA /ʝʌnæi:wænɔnæbæ/
You (sing) hunt - Ğunaelranaunútú - IPA /ʝʌnæi:wænɔnu:tu:/
You (pl) hunt - Ğunaelranaunúti - IPA /ʝʌnæi:wænɔnu:tɪ/
We hunt - Ğunaelranaunáelri - IPA /ʝʌnæi:wænɔnæu;ewɪ/
It (that is here) hunts - Ğunaelranaunuma
It (that is not here) hunts - Ğunaelranaunume
He hunts - Ğunaelranaunati
She hunts - Ğunaelranaunáetu
They hunt (that are here) - Ğunaelranaunisğ
They hunt (that aren't here) - Ğunaelranaunauam
And finally, we need a neutral verb to complete our collection, let's take a relatively simple one, 'to jump' is Sğúngida.
I jump - Sğúngidutu - IPA /ʃu:ɳɪdʌtʌ/
You (sing) jump - Sğúngidatu - IPA /ʃu:ɳɪdætʌ/
You (pl) jump - Sğúngidirbu - IPA /ʃu:ɳɪdɪɹbʌ/
We jump - Sğúngideauma - IPA /ʃu:ŋɪdɛjæʴmæ/
It (that is here) jumps - Sğúngidalra
It (that is not here) jumps - Sğúngidúlri
He jumps - Sğúngidağ
She jumps - Sğúngidadá
They jump (that are here) - Sğúngidáet
They jump (that aren't here) - Sğúngidáeti
Possessive Pronouns
The words we have discussed above have give us an insight to what the pronouns are in Ğimbekan, however there are a couple more, this is where He and She aquire their partners. The stand alone words (however they are usually used as inflections) are:
my - Adan
Your - Adún
Your (pl) Adúen
Our - Ibin
His - Unan
His that is not here - Unarin
Hers - Sğin
Hers that is not here - Sğibarin
Its - Dun
Its that is not here - Dugarin
Theirs - Ten
Theirs that is not here - Tengarin
They are usually joined to the begining of a word to make an inflection, for example, the word for Cat is Engal, so my cat would be Adanengal, But what about a noun that doesn't begin with a vowel, Mother for example is Suğağa, All you do is take the n off the inflection and add it, (kind of like -y +ies rule in English) so my mother would be, Adasuğağa.
The inflected verbs are inflections themselves, and they attach to the end of the noun that is performing said verb. So, if we said 'My mother jumps' it would be like typing 'Mymothershejumps' in English, We join these together by use of an apostrophe if the first word ends in a vowel and the second starts with one, if, for example, the first ends in a consonant, and the second in a vowel, the apostrophe is not necessary. My mother jumps would be Adasuğağasğúngidadá. My mother's cat jumps is even more complex, as because the cat belongs to my mother, it will be inflected once again, the cat is the object, and this language is OSV so it would be like writing Hercatmymotheritjumps (assuming they are both present) and would be Sğinengaladasuğağasğúngidadá - IPA /ʃɪŋɛŋælædæsʌʝæʝæʃu:ŋɪdædæu:/
Now, let's say Mother and Cat are no longer present, and this happened in the past. The word for 'In the past' is Saeman - IPA /sæi:mæn/ This is added to the end of the word as yet another inflection. This time you would say Sğibarinengaladasuğağasğúngidúlrisaeman. The word for in the future (as in will jump) is Ǧeralra, this is used in the same way.
