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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Múntavut
‘The free speech’
A Concise Description
1. The Sounds of Múntavut
Múntavut is relatively unproblematic to pronounce for English speakers, since most of
the sounds of the language are familiar. There are sixteen distinct consonant sounds,
and six basic vowels. All sounds are pronounced approximately as in English, except
where indicated.
Consonants represented by one letter in the Latin transliteration:
b
d
f
g
k
l
m
n – may be doubled, when written ‘nn’, pronounced as in Italian
p
r – rolled, as in Spanish
s – always unvoiced: like the first ‘s’ in ‘says’, but not the second
t
v
z – mostly at the beginning of words
Consonants represented by two letters in the Latin transliteration:
sh – as in English
ch – as in German after a/o/u, or the Scottish ‘loch’
Note that some consonant combinations have restricted distributions, e.g., ‘sp’ cannot
occur at the beginning of a word. There are fewer combinations possible than in
English.
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Vowels
a – as in ‘cat’
i – as in ‘bit’
e – as in ‘pet’
o – rather like in the German ‘Obst’
u – as in ‘put’
ā – neutral ‘schwa’, like both the ‘u’ and the ‘e’ in ‘butter’
Dipthongs
Most combinations occur; they are generally pronounced quite sharply, without
slurring.
2. Words of Múntavut
Words and phrases are generally made in Múntavut by combining root words with
grammatical particles as suffixes; modifiers of all kinds attach to the end of words in a
defined order.
The default stress position in Múntavut words is on the penultimate syllable;
exceptions are always indicated by an acute accent in the Latin transliteration. Where
two vowels occur together, and one of them carries the stress, the stress is also
indicated on the appropriate vowel for clarity, even if this represents the penultimate
syllable.
Personal pronouns
Subject pronouns (he, she, etc) do not stand alone in Múntavut as they do in English;
they are attached to the verb they govern. The following table gives a list of the forms
of personal pronouns in three of the four cases used in Múntavut, which will be
familiar to those who have studied European languages such as German, or even Old
English:



Nominative (subject case – I, we, etc);
Accusative (direct object case – us, them etc);
Dative (indirect object case – (to) me, (to) us, etc).
Form
I
you
(familiar;
singular and plural)
he
she
it
we
Nominative
shi
me
Accusative
shu
mu
Dative
shuke
muke
inde
inne
nor
nen
(in)du
(in)nu
nur
nun
(in)duke
(in)nuke
nurke
nunke
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
you
(formal; men
singular and plural)
they (masc. or neut.) inden
they (fem. or mixed) innen
mun
munke
(in)dun
(in)nun
(in)dunke
(in)nunke
These forms add directly to the verb; where more than one form is required, they add
in the above order: nominative, then accusative, then dative. The accusative and
dative particles are separated from the root word by a hyphen in the Latin
transliteration, for clarity. These particles are also not included in the stress pattern
of the word, whereas the nominative pronoun is, where present.
Examples of simple verb phrases to illustrate use of the personal pronouns:
Shenishi-nu – ‘I love her.’
Apinen-nur-dunke – ‘We give it to them.’
The nominative particle can sometimes be dropped when the context is clear. The in
syllable in the third-person accusative forms (in brackets in the table) is only used
where the nominative particle has been dropped. Both the nominative and accusative
particles must be attached to the verb if used.
Tarinde-du-munke or Tar-indu-munke – ‘He sends him to you.’
The in syllable in the third-person dative forms (in brackets in the table) is only used
in the verb-phrase construction where the nominative particle has been dropped and
there is no accusative particle present. However, it is important to note that the dative
particles may be detached from the verb, and placed elsewhere in the sentence for
emphasis. In such cases the full form, including the in syllable where applicable, must
be used:
Vudijinne-nur-duke or Induke vudijinne-nur –
‘She told (it to) him,’ or ‘She told (it to) him.’
Nouns
Nouns carry no gender in Múntavut. Nevertheless, the forms of nouns depend on how
they are being used in the sentence – in other words, which case governs their use.
Here a fourth case comes into play: the genitive, the case governing possession.
We use felas, star, as the exemplar, because it is regular. Some words follow slightly
different patterns; their discussion must await a full-length publication. The root
form of any word is taken to be its indefinite, singular nominative form.
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
(1) Nominative
Single
Plural
Indefinite
felas
felasi
Definite
felasut
felasuti
(2) Accusative: endings -u/-inua
Indefinite
Definite
Single
felasu
felasutu
Plural
felasinu
felasútinu
a
If the noun ends in a vowel, these endings become -ne/-nine in the indefinite.
(3) Dative: endings -ke/-ike
Indefinite
Single
felaske
Plural
felasike
b
Note disappearance of t before -ke ending.
Definite
felasukeb
felasútike
(4) Genitive: endings -o/-onec
Indefinite
Definite
Single
felaso
felasuto
Plural
felasone
felasútone
c If the noun ends in a vowel, these endings become -no/-none in the indefinite.
Note the shift of stress to the ut syllable in plural forms with the definite article; this is
usual. Otherwise in general the stress shifts to the penultimate syllable in inflected
forms, e.g. felas, but felaso
Proper nouns
Proper nouns are often used with the definite article in Múntavut, particularly when
not used nominatively. In all cases they must be inflected as other nouns:
Fenishi Zirenasutu – I see Zirenas.
Note on the use of the genitive
In expressions such as ‘the woman’s house’, the word order is different in Múntavut
to that in English: the expression becomes ‘the house of the woman’. The definite
article is then used with both words: ruchut malinuto. Where the whole noun phrase is
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
not in the nominative, for example: ‘we saw the woman’s house’ (accusative), only
the object itself is modified; the genitive part of the phrase remains the same:
Fenijinen ruchutu malinuto.
Adjectives
Adjectives are uninflected, except in comparison, but must always follow the noun
they modify. New nouns are formed freely in Múntavut by the combination of noun
and adjective, often by figurative extension, e.g., zirenas – ‘precious smile’ = ‘full
moon’.
The comparative forms of adjectives are formed by the addition of –(i)fe. The
superlative form substitutes the ending –(i)fet:
ast – ‘precious’
ástife – ‘more precious’
ástifet – ‘most precious’
Adverbs
Adverbs are usually formed from the adjectives by the addition of –(n)ā. They may be
placed anywhere in the clause with the verb they modify. The comparative forms of
adverbs are formed by the addition of –fe; the superlative form substitutes the ending
–fet:
zos – quick
zosā – quickly
zósafe – quicker (= more quickly)
zósafet – quickest (= most quickly)
Note also from these examples that adjectives and adverbs tend to keep the stressed
syllable of the root word when inflected as comparatives/superlatives.
Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are indicated by adding the appropriate personal pronoun
particle (see above) to the noun. Note that no noun can carry both a possessive
adjective and the definite article, since one replaces the other in function. This is as in
English, but unlike Catalan, for instance. Examples:
Bichonil-shi – ‘My problem’ (nom.).
(Shenifinde) shilasu-indu – ‘(He loved) his daughter (acc.).’
The possessive adjectives in the genitive case have the following forms:
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Form
I
you
(familiar;
singular and plural)
he
she
it
we
you
(formal;
singular and plural)
they (masc. or
neut.)
they
(fem.
or
mixed)
Richard F Smith
Genitive
sho
mo
indo
inno
no
non
mon
onde
onne
For example:
(Salijinde) torgutu shilas-indo – ‘(He found) his daughter’s book’ (= ‘(He found)
the book of his daughter).
The same particles are used as stand-alone words for possessive pronouns:
(Torgut nefor) sho – ‘(The book was) mine.’
Demonstrative pronouns and adjectives
Le has approximately the same meaning as ‘this’ in English; lo corresponds to ‘that’:
Le nor veran-shi – ‘This is my story.’
Lo nejor kran – ‘That was bad.’
The demonstrative adjectives are formed using these two words as particles,
uninflected, at the end of the noun (including case endings) they modify; no definite
article is required:
(Apijinne-shuke) nidosu-le – ‘(She gave me) this ring.’
Where another adjective is also included, the second, non-demonstrative adjective
follows the noun phrase:
(Apijinne-shuke) nidosu-le faren – ‘(She gave me) this silvery ring.’
Indefinite adjectives/pronouns
The indefinite adjectives include ‘any’, ‘no’ and ‘some’ in English. The related
pronouns include ‘anything’, ‘nothing’, ‘none’, ‘someone,’ etc. The indefinite
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
adjectives behave exactly like other adjectives grammatically – they are uninflected
and are attached at the end of the word they modify:
Shannen lenvu-ze – ‘We have no time.’
The pronouns inflect according to the case they are governed by, as with other nouns:
Shannen zenu – ‘We have none.’
Shanfinne lenvu maltonke – ‘She had time for everyone.’
Verbs
In the following tables we use the regular verb elesá (to return, to come back
(intrans.)) as our model. The verb stem is ele-, and this basic element remains
constant throughout. If there is a specified subject, this stem (plus tense particle, see
below) is used alone uninflected. For example:
Zirenas (or Zirenasut) rutino – ‘Zirenas frowns.’
Where there is no specified subject, the verb stem takes one of the personal pronouns
introduced above, which depend on the person (first, second, or third), gender and
number of the subject. Note that some verbs have a penultimate syllable in the vowel
i; in these cases, the i is dropped in the stem before the verb is conjugated with
pronoun endings with a first letter i, eg. apisá, to give: apime, apinde, etc. Ease of
pronunciation is a guide.
Present tense
Form
Verb alone
Combined with
personal pronoun
eleshi
eleme
I
you (familiar; singular
and plural)
he
she
it
ele
we
you (formal; singular and
plural)
they (masc. or neut.)
they (fem. or mixed)
eleínde
eleínne
elennor*
elennen*
elemen
eleínden
eleínnen
* Note doubling of n, which is pronounced as two separate consonants, as in inne
(she): in + ne.
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Future tense
The future tense is indicated by addition of the syllable or to the stem, or insertion of
this particle between the stem and the pronoun endings. This syllable may be stressed,
and is always so when no pronoun is present.
Form
Verb alone
Combined with
personal pronoun
eleórshi
eleórme
I
you (familiar; singular
and plural)
he
she
eleór
it
we
you (formal; singular and
plural)
they (masc. or neut.)
they (fem. or mixed)
eleorinde
eleorinne
eleornor
eleórnen
eleórmen
eleorinden
eleorinnen
Maladinuti eleór – ‘The men will return.’
Foriut eleór – ‘Foriu will return.’
Past Imperfect – used for habitual actions in the past
The past imperfect tense is indicated by addition of the syllable f(i) to the stem, or
insertion of this particle between the stem and the pronoun endings. This particle is
usually stressed in the resulting word, except in some irregular verbs.
Form
Verb alone
Combined with
personal pronoun
elefishi
elefime
I
you (familiar; singular
and plural)
he
she
elefi
it
we
you (formal; singular and
plural)
they (masc. or neut.)
they (fem. or mixed)
elefinde
elefinne
elefinor
elefinen
elefimen
elefinden
elefinnen
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Preterite – used to indicate a single completed event or action in the past
The preterite is indicated by addition of the syllable j(i) to the stem, or insertion of
this particle between the stem and the pronoun endings. This particle is usually
stressed in the resulting word, except in some irregular verbs.
Form
Verb alone
Combined with
personal pronoun
elejishi
elejime
I
you (familiar; singular
and plural)
he
she
eleji
it
we
you (formal; singular and
plural)
they (masc. or neut.)
they (fem. or mixed)
elejinde
elejinne
elejinor
elejinen
elejimen
elejinden
elejinnen
Note: there are no past perfect or pluperfect tenses. These senses are indicated using
the past preterite together with time phrases as necessary for clarity. The same applies
to the future perfect and conditional perfect.
Conditional tense
This tense is formed from the stem of the verb combined with the syllable um or un^,
plus pronoun endings if appropriate. The ending is always stressed in stand-alone
verbs (no pronoun).
Form
Verb alone
Combined with
personal pronoun
eleúmshi
eleúme*
I
you (familiar; singular
and plural)
he
she
eleúm
it
we
you (formal; singular and
plural)
they (masc. or neut.)
they (fem. or mixed)
eleuminde
eleuminne
eleúnnor^
eleúnnen^
eleúmmen
eleuminden
eleuminnen
^un is used in the third person neutral singular and first person plural to avoid the
disallowed consonant combination mn.
* Note that the m is not doubled here.
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Imperative
The singular informal form is simply the stem of the verb, with the exception of the
irregular verbs. The ‘we’ form (‘let’s’) is the infinitive minus –á, plus the ending –en,
stressed; the plural/formal ‘you’ form is the verb stem plus –s:
Form
you (sing. informal)
we
you (formal; singular
and plural)
Verb
ele
elesén
eles
Continuous verb forms
Continuous verb forms, such as ‘we are running’ and ‘we were saying,’ are not found
in Múntavut. In the present and future tenses the simple present and future tenses are
used, respectively, distinguished by the context. In the past tense the past imperfect
tense should be used.
Passive voice
There are no specific passive forms in Múntavut. Instead an impersonal pronoun fas is
used, rather akin to the French ‘on’ or the German ‘man’, although they are both used
rather differently:
Fas tarij-indu – ‘He was sent’ (Meaning literally ‘one sent him.’)
Fas por-nur – ‘It will be done.’ (Meaning literally ‘one will do it.’)
Participles
There are no distinct participle verb forms in Múntavut: there are no compound tenses
(hence no past partciples), and present participle forms in English are either rendered
using the infinitive form of the verb, or by periphrasis, for example:
Fenijishi-du hachisá – ‘I saw him laugh/laughing’
Felin veriná-shu ven fenishi-nu – ‘Try to stop my seeing her’ (= ‘Try to stop me that
I see her’).1
Note that in the latter case the infinitive cannot be used, viz.
Felin veriná-shu fenisá-nu
as it would lead to potential ambiguity: ‘Try to see her stop(ping) me’ is another
potential interpretation of the sentence if two infinitives were to be used, because
word order is flexible (see later).
1
For use of the relative pronoun ven see p.11.
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
‘To be’
The verb ‘to be’, nuná, is irregular:
Form
Present
Future
Preterite
Conditional
norshi
norme
Past
imperfect
nifi
nefim
I
you
(familiar;
singular and plural)
he
she
it
we
you
(formal;
singular and plural)
they (masc. or
neut.)
they
(fem.
or
mixed)
ni
nem
niji
nejim
nui
num
ne
ne
nor
nemen
nen
ninde
ninne
nornor
nornen
normen
nef
nef
nefor
nefen
nefem
nej
nej
nejor
nejen
nejem
nume
nume
numor
numen
numem
nen
ninden
nefi
neji
numin
nen
ninnen
nefi
neji
numin
Where there might be ambiguity the personal pronouns may be used in addition to
these forms, usually directly before or after the verb.
Several other common verbs follow a similar pattern: fená (‘to come’, root f-); jená
(‘to go’, root j-) and sivá, ‘to be able to’/‘can’, root s-):
Fume – ‘He/she would come.’
Jejor – ‘It went.’
Sinnen – ‘They will be able to.’
Prepositions
Prepositions govern specific cases in Múntavut, as in German and Russian, which
must be learned. However, the preposition in Múntavut always follows the noun or
noun phrase it refers to:
(Panveuti maz) marodalútone re – ‘(The birds sleep) in the marodal trees’
(genitive).
Relative pronouns
The relative pronouns ‘that’ and ‘which’ are rendered by the single, invariant word
ven in Múntavut2. The relative pronoun ‘who/whom/whose’, as in English, depends
on the case it is governed by in its relative clause:
2
However, see section on subjunctive later.
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Who (nominative): bin
Whom (accusative): bun
Whom (dative): buke
Whose (genitive): buno
These pronouns tend to come at the beginning of the relative clause (though there is
flexibility; see section on word order later). Nevertheless, buno must belong to a
noun, and therefore always follows the noun it refers to:
Fenijishi maladinutu, shilas buno dunijinne pazan - I saw the man, whose daughter
died yesterday.
Numbers
Cardinal numbers can stand alone as subject or object of a sentence. They can also be
used as adjectives, and then should follow the noun in the usual way.
pem
rep
ach
shon
zin
rul
kish
nam
kut
lat
la-pem
la-rep
lat-ach
la-shon
la-zin
la-rul
la-kish
la-nam
la-kut
rep-lat
rep-lat-em
rep-lat-ep
rep-lat-ach
rep-lat-shon
rep-lat-zin
rep-lat-ul
rep-lat-kish
rep-lat-nam
rep-lat-kut
ach-lat
Ordinal numbers
one
two
three
four
five
six
seven
eight
nine
ten
eleven
twelve
thirteen
fourteen
fifteen
sixteen
seventeen
eighteen
nineteen
twenty
twenty-one
twenty-two
twenty-three
twenty-four
twenty-five
twenty-six
twenty-seven
twenty-eight
twenty-nine
thirty
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
shon-lat
zin-lat
rul-at
kish-lat
nam-lat
ku-lat
lator
lator-lem
lator-ep
veum
Richard F Smith
forty
fifty
sixty
seventy
eighty
ninety
hundred
hundred (and) one
hundred (and) two
thousand
Note that there are some irregularities in the spellings in some cases, which are
sometimes to avoid disallowed consonant combinations, e.g., la-rep (‘thirteen’), not
lat-rep, and sometimes to prevent doubling of consonants, e.g. rul-at (‘sixty’), not rullat. The ordinal numbers are formed by adding –n(a) to the cardinal numbers. The
ordinal numbers can be used as adjectives or adverbs, as appropriate.
Examples of the numbers in use:
Finden zin or zin finden – ‘Five (men) will come.’
Duniji maladini nam-lat-ep – ‘Eighty-two men died.’
Malinut achna – ‘The third woman’ (nominative).
Fej zinna bigoluto kelu – ‘He came fifth in (= time sense, or ‘during’ here) the race’
(genitive).
3. Brief notes on the structure of Múntavut
Word order
Word order is rather more flexible within a verb phrase in Múntavut than in English,
because the function of words is usually readily apparent from their form (c.f. Latin).
An acceptable alternative to the expression
Fenijishi maladinutu, shilas buno dunijinne pazan
could be, for example:
Maladinutu fenijishi, dunijinne shilas buno pazan,
particularly if the verb, dunijinne, is being emphasised.
As noted earlier, buno must always follow shilas directly here, as with all adjectives.
Connecting words and phrases, such as ven, introduced earlier, do not impose any
particular word order in the succeeding phrase, as in English and German, for
example. The same may be said for question words, whether used directly:
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Múntavut – A Concise Description
Richard F Smith
Ba nor lo? or Ba lo nor? – ‘What is that?’
or indirectly:
Susishi sun Foriu nej? or Susishi sun nej Foriu? – ‘I wonder where Foriu was?’
Subjunctive mood
The subjunctive mood describes situations where facts or events are reported as
uncertain, introduced by phrases such as ‘I think/believe,’ ‘I’ve heard …’ or ‘It’s
possible …’. Some languages have distinct verb forms to indicate the subjunctive
mood, but in Múntavut this uncertainty is indicated by a single particle, go, which
may be added either to the relative pronoun ven or to the verb in the subjunctive
clause:
Ferinden ven-go stinajinne, or Ferinden ven stinajinne-go – ‘They (the men) say
(that) she killed herself.’
Modal verbs
Modal verbs are ‘to be able to/can’, ‘to want to’, ‘to have to/must’ etc. They govern
the infinitive forms of their subsidiary verbs in Múntavut, as in English:
Teshi jená – I must go.
Negatives
The usual way of indicating a negative in a sentence is to add the particle zeu to the
verb phrase, after the other endings:
Fenorme-shi zeu lenvu-ze – ‘You won’t see me any more’ (literally ‘never’).
This example illustrates that there are no equivalents in Múntavut to the English ‘any’
phrases. Instead a negative adjective or pronoun is used, as applicable. For example ‘I
don’t have any’ must be translated ‘I have none;’ ‘I don’t see anyone’ must become ‘I
see no one’, etc. It also shows that double negatives are not a problem in Múntavut,
since the sentence literally means ‘You will not never see me.’
[Richard F Smith, dated January 2007- May 2010]
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