Ghefatze'
| DATE | November 2016 |
I wrote Ghefatze' on holiday years ago because I wanted to play with a language that had a bunch of wet, mushy sounds. I'm normal.
Phonology
| LETTER | SOUND | LETTER | SOUND | LETTER | SOUND | ||
| lh | ɬ | tz | ts | i | i | ||
| m | m | n | n | ɪ | ɪ | ||
| r | ɹ | rr | ɽ | u | u | ||
| f | f | s | s | a | ɑ | ||
| j | j | p | p | e | ε | ||
| b | b | t | t | ' | ʔ | ||
| d | d | gh | x | k | k |
Pronouns
| SUBJECT | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
soft C joska, "to jump" |
hard C kalh, "to have" |
e- epe'e, "to speak" |
V- atze, "to drink" |
|
| 1st person | lhɪt | lhit | lhet | lhat |
| second person | sɪt | sit | set | sat |
| 3rd person (single) | fɪt | fit | fet | fat |
| 3rd person (plural) | fjɪt | fjit | fjet | fjat |
| unknown/one | tɪt | tit | tet | tat |
| OBJECT | POSSESSIVE | |
| 1st person | lham | alh |
| second person | sam | as |
| 3rd person (single) | fam | af |
| 3rd person (plural) | fjem | afje |
| unknown/one | tam | at |
Tenses
- The present tense softens the initial consonant of the verb root.
- tz → s
- r → rr
- p/b → f
- d → t
- k → gh
- m/n → no change
- If the initial consonant is already soft (lh, j), no change.
- If there is no initial consonant, add lh- before the vowel.
- eg. kalh, "to have"; lhɪt ghalh, "I have"; lhit kalh, "I had"
| AFFIX | TENSE | EXAMPLE |
|
-t (tt → ') |
past | lhɪt joskat, "I ran" |
| -be | distant past | lhɪt joskabe, "I ran a long time ago" |
| -gh | imperfect past | lhɪt joskagh, "I was running" |
| -ghebis | imperfect future | lhɪt joskaghebis, "I will be running" |
| -bis | future | lhɪt joskabis, "I will run" |
| -mis | distant future | lhɪt joskamis, "I will run in a long time" |
| -tze | hypothetical | lhɪt joskatze, "I could run" |
|
(C)-in (V)-n |
conditional | lhɪt joskan, "I would run" |
|
ghi-(C) gh-(V) |
imperative | ghijoska, "run!" |
Nouns
- -m indicates a change of state to the noun
- ghefi, "bread"
- ghefim hɪt fjar, "I make bread"
- -od indicates a change of location to the noun
- ghefi, "bread"
- ghefod hɪt zhen, "I eat bread" (emphasising the bread is gone)
- These markers can be added to a pronoun by adding a- before the subject.
- lhɪt joskat, "I ran"
- a lhɪtod joskat, "I ran" (and went to a different place)
Statement markers
- Suffixes can reinforce the state of the phrase:
- -natze, "false, telling a narrative"
- -aft, "true, emphasis, reinforcement"
- fɪt joskaghenatze, "he was running" (telling a story)
- fɪt joskaghaft, "he was running" (emphasising the truth of this statement)
- fɪt joskaghenatzaft, "he was running" (telling a story that really happened)