W̃yovavã language

Orthography

A a	/æ/	O o	/o/
à ã	/ɑ/	Õ õ	/ɔ/
E e	/ɞ/	U u	/ə/
Ẽ ẽ	/ɛ/	Ũ ũ	/u/
H h	/ʍ/	V v	/w/
I i	/i/	W w	/y/
Ĩ ĩ	/ɪ/	W̃ w̃	/œ̃/
L l	/ɰ/	Y y	/j/

To show a vowel is stressed, it is doubled.

Word classes

In this language, there are only two specific word classes – active and particular. Active words are what would be classed as verbs, nouns and even prepositions, and cover nearly all words, while particular, or particles, are used in only a few instances to show a small number of concepts.

The difference between active and particular words come in the fact that particles cannot be inflected or modified, while actives can. 

Permanence

All active words have three forms – permanent, semi-permanent and temporary – relating to how easily this noun is perceived to be destroyed or moved. Sentence order depends on this in nearly all circumstances – however, there are some exceptions.

Here is an example of this inflection, “Ayõõ” (“rock”, “boulder”):

Permanent	Ayõõ
Semipermanent	Aayõ
Temporary	Ãyõõ

Partialness

Partial nouns are those which describe an object that is entirely attached or functions as part of a larger object – for example, “hand” is a partial noun to “arm” which is in itself partial to “body”.

Personal suffixes

If an object is considered close or in the possession of the person being addressed, the suffix “-hi” can be added to the noun. 

Particles & sentence order

For sentence structure, three particles are important (these all come after the noun):

-          “Ye”, indicating the place an action takes in (locative)

-          “W”, indicating a benefactive noun (the noun an action takes place for)

-          “O”, indicating a singular permanent noun (only for the instances when this cannot be inferred from sentence order)

In ordinary sentences, the nouns are organised in order of permanence, from most to least. For example, the sentence “The mouse rustled in the trees” would be written as:

-          Tree-PERM LOC mouse-SEMI.PERM sound-TEMP rustling-TEMP

Or, for “the mouse rustled in the tree”:

-          Tree-PERM SING LOC mouse-SEMI.PERM sound-TEMP rustling-TEMP

Exceptions to sentence structure

In these instances, the system of permanence is ignored:

-          If a partial noun is the permanent noun as well, it must come last

-          If a plural non-permanent noun is present, it must come first

-          For conditional or negative tenses, this order is reversed

-          For the predicate (the verb “to be”), the order is again reversed, with the locative coming at the start of the sentence

Vocative particle

The particle “ya” comes after a noun to indicate the vocative case, or the person/object being addressed.

Numerals 1-10 

1 – Õvo

2 – Õvw

3 – Õvi

4 – Õlo

5 – W̃l

6 – Õvovi

7 – Õvwvi

8 – Õvivi

9 – Õlovi

10 – W̃lãvi