The Language of Paja

Natively known as: paza /paˈʒa/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
nú sher sha pulde shaduz nenshit nú sha tæryaldæ súkshiú zina pæd lon
Pronunciation: /ny ʃer ʃa pulˈde ʃaˈduʒ nenˈʃit ny ʃa tæˈrjaldæ sykˈʃiy ʒiˈna pæd lon/
Paja word order: and he his hat holding stood and his wet face the wind to turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: d j k l n p r s t ʃ ʒ

↓Manner/Place→ BilabialAlveolarPalato-alveolarPalatalVelar
Nasaln
Stoppt dk
Fricativesʃ ʒ
Approximantj
Trillr
Lateral approximantl

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y æ


FrontBack
Highi yu
High-mideo
Near-lowæ
Lowa
Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable ?
Spelling rules:

PronunciationSpelling
y
j y
ʃ sh
ʒ z

Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object (Prepositional phrase) Verb. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door with a key opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have six cases:

  • Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
  • Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
  • Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.
  • Dative is the recipient of something: man gives ball to dog.
  • Locative is the location of something: man is in town.
  • Ablative is movement away from something: man walks from town.
Nominative No affix
piplú /piˈply/
dog (doing the verb)
Accusative Prefix tu-
tupiplú /tuˈpiply/
(verb done to) dog
Genitive If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃe-

shepiplú /ʃeˈpiply/
dogʼs
Dative If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix sæ-

sæpiplú /sæˈpiply/
to dog
Locative Prefix pa-
papiplú /paˈpiply/
near/at/by dog
Ablative If starts with vowel: Prefix ʒ-
Else: Prefix ʒo-

zopiplú /ʒoˈpiply/
from dog


Singular Plural
Definite No affix
piplú /piˈply/
the dog
If starts with vowel: Prefix ʃ-
Else: Prefix ʃy-

shúpiplú /ʃyˈpiply/
the dogs
Indefinite If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix te-

tepiplú /teˈpiply/
a dog
Prefix ʃu-
shupiplú /ʃuˈpiply/
some dogs


Articles

Paja encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

Nominative Accusative Genitive Dative Locative Ablative
1st singular lúd /lyd/
I
púz /pyʒ/
me
tal /tal/
mine
ya /ja/
to me
zi /ʒi/
to me
shu /ʃu/
from me
2nd singular shi /ʃi/
you
she /ʃe/
you
ta /ta/
yours
lo /lo/
to you
nut /nut/
to you
zú /ʒy/
from you
3rd singular masc sher /ʃer/
he, it (masc)
/ʒæ/
him, it (masc)
sha /ʃa/
his, its (masc)
lú /ly/
to him, to it (masc)
sú /sy/
to him, to it (masc)
la /la/
from him, from it (masc)
3rd singular fem pan /pan/
she, it (fem)
pe /pe/
her, it (fem)
ne /ne/
hers, its (fem)
/sæ/
to her, to it (fem)
te /te/
to her, to it (fem)
ti /ti/
from her, from it (fem)
1st plural sa /sa/
we
pút /pyt/
us
shis /ʃis/
ours
pæl /pæl/
to us
yo /jo/
to us
ten /ten/
from us
2nd plural par /par/
you all
le /le/
you all
yú /jy/
yours (pl)
na /na/
to you all
pi /pi/
to you all
nu /nu/
from you all
3rd plural pa /pa/
they
/jæ/
them
tel /tel/
theirs
sho /ʃo/
to them
zud /ʒud/
to them
shú /ʃy/
from them


Possessive determiners

Possessive
1st singular tal /tal/
my
2nd singular ta /ta/
your
3rd singular masc sha /ʃa/
his
3rd singular fem ne /ne/
hers
1st plural shis /ʃis/
our
2nd plural yú /jy/
your (pl)
3rd plural tel /tel/
their


Verbs

Present No affix
zalo /ʒaˈlo/
learn
Past Prefix o-
ozalo /oˈʒalo/
learned


Paja uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future Particle before the verb: li -
li zalo /li ʒaˈlo/
will learn



Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).

Paja uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective If starts with vowel: Prefix erʒ-
Else: Prefix erʒy-

erzúzalo /erˈʒyʒaˌlo/
learns/is learning



Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.

Paja uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect Reduplicate whole word
zalozalo /ʒaˈloʒaˌlo/
have learned


Numbers

Paja has a base-10 number system:

1 - pu
2 - te
3 - yar
4 - lo
5 - nash
6 - su
7 - nædlat
8 - se
9 - tú
10 - nes
100 - poshtæ
1000 - shos

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix a-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix t-
Else: Prefix tu-

Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix atl-
Else: Prefix atly-

Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lu-

Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
Else: Prefix na-

Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix urk-
Else: Prefix urke-

Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix a-
Tending to = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix læ-

Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix y-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix te-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix i-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix yd-
Else: Prefix ydy-

Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix py-

Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix la-

Paja - English Dictionary

Key: spelling /pronunciation/ part of speech. definition(s)

adj. adjective | adv. adverb | art. article | conj. conjunction | det. determiner | interj. interjection | n. noun | num. numeral | prep. preposition | pron. pronoun | v. verb