Umod Primer
Part 1
First, familiarize yourself with the system of Umod transcription and sounds. Now, try and pronounce the following Umod names and words (syllables have been separated by a dot):
1. Wold.um.on
2. Fyl.ga
3. Tyl.nor.aek
4. Bru.hyl Ga.har.a [Note: The br- in Bruhyl is B+r, not a rolled r]
5. Gyl.nor.bur.aen.om
Now, let's move on to Nouns....
Umod does not actually have nouns in the sense that English does. Umod has "roots" which must have one of several affixes to actually function as a word. Let's take the root "zol" which carries the meaning of "mountain." But is it a single mountain, a chain of mountains, or a few mountains out of a chain? This is where the elaborate system of affixes comes into play.
Let's suppose we want to say "the mountain" meaning "one mountain peak." We need to say uzol. What about "a mountain (in general)"? Now, we say i zol. What about "some of the mountains"? Umod says this in one word: zolnei. We can summarize this system in a chart:
|
INDEFINITE |
|
|
DEFINITE |
|
| Singular |
Partitive |
Plural |
Singular |
Partitive |
Plural |
| i |
-noe |
-i |
u- |
-nei |
-u |
To understand, remember that the indefinite article in English is "a" or "an" and the definite article is "the". Partitive might be new to some learners. Think of this as being a part of something, a few of something. So, as above, zolnei means "some of the mountains" since it is both definite and partitive. Zolnoe would mean "some mountains (in general, i.e. no specific mountains)".