Ibani

World Language is a universial auxiliary language created in 2022-2026 by Atmano. It has a simple phonology, its words are not inflected and its vocabulary is derived from a wide range of language across the globe. The native name of the language is Ibanidangu (lit. general-language) which maybe be abbreviated to Ibani or Dangu in everyday speech.

Ka sina wela ta-wawa Ibani? Do you want to speak Ibani?

Alphabet

A a B b D d E e G g H h I i K k L l M m N n O o P p R r S s T t U u W w Y y

C, f, j, q, v, x, z and others occur in proper nouns. They are pronounced as in the source language.

In learning material and dictionaries compound words are separated with a hyphen (e.g. peda-ruga ’path’ lit. foot-way) but this hyphen can be dropped outside of educational context. Thus, the peda-ruga can be written as pedaruga ’path’, siguro-hala > sigurohala ’safety’, wisu-ku > wisuku ’everything’.

Note however that these affixes always keep their hyphen: bi- (forms adverbs), ta- (indicates that the following word is a verb).

Phonology

Vowels

There are 5 vowels. There are no diphthongs. When two vowels are written next to each other they belong to separate syllables. The vowel combinations ai and au occur in the language. They can be pronounced separately /a.i/, /a.u/ or as diphthongs /aj/, /aw/. The vowels have the following IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) values:

	Front	Back
Close	i [i]	u [u]
Mid	e [e̞]	o [o̞]
Open	a [a~ɐ~ɑ]

Common vowel allophones and pronunciation guide for English speakers:

a ≈ [a] [ɑ] [ʌ] like English TRAP or PALM or STRUT

e ≈ [e] [ɛ] like English DRESS

i ≈ [ɪ] like English FLEECE

u ≈ [ʊ] [ʉ] [ɯ] like English GOOSE or FOOT

o ≈ [o] [ɔ] like English THOUGHT

Consonants

The 14 consonants have the following IPA values:

	Bilabial		(Denti-) Alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
Nasal	m [m]		n [n]
Plosive	p [pʰ]	b [b]	t [t̪ʰ]	d [d̪]			k [kʰ]	g [ɡ]
Fricative			s [s]						h [h]
Trill			r [r]
Approximant	w [w]		l [l]		y [j]

• The letter h can be silent and simply mark a syllable boundary (hiatus) between vowels. This is its primary function in the language, e.g. wahe [ˈwɐ.he̞] ~ [ˈwɐ.e̞], sakiti-hala [sɐˈ.ki.tiˌ.hɐ.la] ~ [sɐˈ.ki.tiˌ.ɐ.la]. The are no minimal pairs that are distinguished only by the presence or absence of h.
• There are no r/l minimal pairs which means that failing to produce different sounds for these letters cannot lead to misunderstanding due to the swapping of r and l, e.g. because the word kara ’to do’ exists, a word like *kala is not allowed in the language.

Common consonant allophones and pronunciation guide for English speakers:

p ≈ [p] like English PIT

b ≈ [b̥] like English BIT

t ≈ [tʰ] [t] like English TIME

d ≈ [d] [d̥] like English DIME

k ≈ [k] like English COAT

g ≈ [g̥] like English GOAT

s ≈ [s̪] like English SIP

h ≈ [ɦ] [x] [ç] [Ø] like English HIP

l ≈ [ɫ] like English LOW

r ≈ [r] [ɹ] [ʀ] like English ROW or LETTER

w ≈ [ʋ] [v] like English WELL

y ≈ [ʝ] like English YELL

m none like English MOON

n ≈ [n̪] like English NOON; [ŋ] before k/g like English SINK and FINGER

Syllable Structure

The following syllable structures are allowed: (C= consonant, V = vowel)

V i ’and’

CV pu ’tree; wood’

CVC sim.ba ’lion’

The initial consonant can be any of the consonants. The final consonant cannot be h. Not all consonant clusters are allowed to form between syllable boundaries. If you cannot pronounce any given consonants cluster insert a very short i sound between the consonants.

Typical consonant clusters include: mp mb nt nd nk ng sk sp st ks ps ts rm lm rn ln rk lk rk lp rp lt rt ls ns (rs)

Word Stress

The stress falls on the second to last syllable (penultimate stress). In other words, stress the last vowel that is followed by a consonant, e.g. mana, gaskiya, sokolate. Note however that stress is not phonemic so misplacing the stress never changes the meaning of a word.

Morphology

Words are not inflected but adpositions, adverbs and grammatical markers are used instead of inflection.

Nouns

Nouns can be identical in singular and plural. There is no grammatical gender, case or definite/indefinite forms.

• adamu ’man, men’

• kota ’house, houses’

If necessary a word can be pluralized by compounding. If the noun refers to a person the plural is formed by adding the word loka ’people’ after the word. For other words the word samu ’group’ is used. Note that this word is only added to one word per phrase.

• adamu-loka ’men’ lit. men-folk

• kota-samu ’houses’ lit. house-group

• hada-samu kota ’those houses’ lit. that-group house

• or hada kota-samu ’those houses’ lit. that house-group (Samu and loka should not be repeated: hada-samu kota-samu)

While definiteness is not regularly marked the definiteness or indefiniteness of something can be shown (when absolutely necessary) with the word eka ’one’ and hada ’that, those’. Especially for uncountable nouns the word neho ’some’ can be used.

• eka kota ’one house’; ’a house’; ’some house’

• hada kota ’that house’, ’the house’

• neho kawa ’some coffee’

Adjectives

The language uses a concept taken from Persian that’s called ezafe in Persian but a more appropriate name for it in this context would be yazafe. Adjectives (including possessive adjective such as my) are attached to the head noun with the adposition ya ’of’ which they follow. The possessive pronoun comes last.

kota ya dai ya kirmisi ya mana ’my big red house’

house YAZ big YAZ red YAZ Sg1

Comparison is formed by placing the particle po ’-er’ or en ’-est’ before an adjective. Nothing can come between po/en and the adjective and the markers can even be hyphenated.

dai ’big’

po dai ’bigger’ = po-dai

en dai ’biggest’ = en-dai

Adverbs

There is a small number of independent adverbs but most adverbs are formed from nouns and adjectives with the prefix bi-. These adverbs can denote manner, time or instrument.

hamise ’eternal’ > bi-hamise ’forever’

haraka ’hurry’ > bi-haraka ’quickly; fast’

erte ’morning’ > bi-erte ’in the morning’

kalamu ’pencil, pen’ > bi-kalamu ’with a pen’

busi ’bus’ > bi-busi ’by bus’

Independent adverbs include: indi now, anda then, baragi almost, hidihari today, mono only etc.

Adverb comparison works just like adjective comparison:

bi-haraka ’fast’

po bi-haraka ’faster’

en bi-haraka ’fastest’

Pronouns

Personal

	Pronoun	Meaning	Yazafe
Sg 1	mana	I, me	ya mana ’my, mine’
Sg 2	sina	you	ya sina ’your, yours’
Sg 3	una	he, him / she, her / it	ya una ’his, her/hers, its’
Pl 1	mana-loka	we, us	ya mana-loka ’our, ours’
Pl 2	sina-loka	you all	ya sina-loka ’you all’s’
Pl 3	una-loka	they, them (human only)	ya una-loka ’their, theirs’
Pl 3	una-samu	they, them (non-human)	ya una-loka ’their, theirs’

The personal pronouns have short versions that should be used exclusively in slang and very informal contexts: Sg1 ma, Sg2 si, Sg3 u, Pl1 malo(ka), Pl2 silo(ka), Pl3 ulo(ka).

Demonstrative

	Singular	Plural
Proximal	hidi this	hidi-samu these
Distal	hada that	hada-samu those

Reflexive: itse self, -self, oneself (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves)

Reciprocal: eka-kitu each other, one another

Relative: ke that, which

Correlatives

Correlatives are related words that are formed by changing vowels, prefixing and suffixing.

The vowel u is used for questions (with k(u)- prefix), i is used for proximal and a for distal reference.

The affixes wisu- ’every-’, ne- ’no-’, -wela ’any-/-ever’ and kau- ’some-’ are used to form compound words based on the question words.

	Question	Proximal	Distal
Object	ku what, which, who	hidi this	hada that
Place	kuku where	iki here	aka there
Manner	kusu how	isi like this, this way	asa so, like that
Time	kundu when	indi now	anda then
Qauntity	kusu boho how much/many	isi boho this much/many, this amount	asa boho that manu/much, that amount
Quality	ku loye (ya) what kind of	hidi loye (ya) this kind of	hada loye (ya) that kind of, such

More question words can be derived with suffixes and the word kusu ’how’:

ku-manu ’who’, ya ku-manu ’whose’, kusu eski ’how old’

WISU-: wisu-manu ’everyone’, wisu(-ku) ’everything’, wisu-kundu ’always’ etc.

NE-: ne-manu ’no one’, ne-ku ’nothing’, ne-kundu ’never’ etc.

-WELA: manu-wela ’whoever, anyone’, ku-wela ’whatever, anything’, kundu-wela ’whenever, any time’ etc.

KAU-: kau-manu ’someone’, kau-ku ’something’, kau-kundu ’sometime(s)’ etc.

Quantifiers & Numerals

Quantifiers and cardinal numbers precede the noun, e.g. boho ewa ’a lot of water’, dudesi natu ’twenty children’. Plural markers are not necessary on nouns that follow a quantifier or a numeral as the number can be inferred from those words.

pari	a few, a couple	boho	many, much, a lot
kitsi	a little	po-boho	more
neho	some, any	en-boho	most
kitu	(an)other, else	wisu	all, every, each

	Ones		Teens		Tens
1	eka	11	desi-eka	10	desi
2	du	12	desi-du	20	dudesi
3	tini	13	desi-tini	30	tinidesi
4	keturi	14	desi-keturi	40	keturidesi
5	penki	15	desi-penki	50	penkidesi
6	sesi	16	desi-sesi	60	sesidesi
7	seti	17	desi-seti	70	setidesi
8	asti	18	desi-asti	80	astidesi
9	nau	19	desi-nau	90	naudesi
0	sero	100	sata	1000	tusanti

Ordinal Numbers

Ordinal numbers are formed by using any numeral in the yazafe construction, e.g. hari ya eka ’the first day’ (lit. day YAZ one).

Weekdays & Months

eka-hari Monday, du-hari Tuesday, tini-hari Wednesday, keturi-hari Thursday, penki-hari Friday, sesi-hari Saturday, seti-hari Sunday, also: week

eka-mense January, du-mense February, tini-mense March, keturi-mense April, penki-mense May, sesi-mense June, seti-mense July, asti-mense August, nau-mense September, desi-mense October, desieka-mense November, desidu-mense December

Verbs

Verbs can be modified by adverbs. The unmarked forms can be used to refer to any tense or mood if they are clear from the context. If you are using an adverb that refers to the past (e.g. yesterday, last year, earlier…) or future (e.g. tomorrow, in two weeks, later…) the past or future tense marker can be omitted in most contexts. There is only one past tense form so the way you translate it into English depends on the context. It is possible to emphasize the continous aspect by placing the word hamba ’on-going’ before the verb (and its markers) or saying that you just did something by using the word tiko ’just, recently’. NEgation is marked with the adverb ne ’not’.

Tense/Mood	Marker	Example	Translation
Unmarked	[ne] Ø	Mana [ne] karanta kitabu.	I [don’t] read book(s).
Imperative	[ne] Ø	[Ne] Karanta kitabu!	[Don’t] Read a book/books!
Past	[ne] di	Mana [ne] di karanta kitabu.	I have [not] read a/the book.
Future	[ne] sa	Mana [ne] sa karanta kitabu.	I will [not] read a/the book.
Conditional	[ne] inki	Mana [ne] inki karanta kitabu.	I would [not] read a/the book.
Continuous	[ne] hamba	Mana [ne] hamba karanta hada kitabu.	I’m [not] reading that book (right now).
Recent Past	[ne] tiko	Mana tiko di karanta hada kitabu.	I just read that book.

Modal verbs go before the main verb but after the verbal markers. They include:

munkini	can, may	inki munkini	could might
lasima	must, have to	inki lasima	should
wayaga	need (to)	ne wayaga	not have to
wela	want to	inki wela	would like to
danga	dare	ne danga	not to dare

Mana ne di wayaga ta-basari tiketi. ’I didn’t have to buy a ticket.’, Ka sina-loka wela nomi neho kawa? ’Do you all want to have some coffee?’

Copula

wa be

Hada adamu wa aku ya mana. ’That man is my brother.’

Ku una wa? ’What is it?’

Wa boho auto na ruga hidihari. ’There are many cars on the street today.’

Ne wa baridi hidirame. ’It’s not cold tonight.’

Inki wa eye, aika mana-loka munkini ila hidihari. ’It would be good if we could start today.’

Grammatical Markers

Phrasal

Marker	Function	Example
aika	if, in case, supposing that	Mana hamba, aika sina hamba. ’I’ll go if you go.’
aw	or, either	Ka sina wela kawa au te? ’Do you want coffee or tea?’
de	but	Mina wela hamba, de mina ne yema waktu. ’I want to go but I don’t have time.
i	and	sina i mana ’you and me’
pe (optional)	marks the object of a sentence when it’s ambiguous	Mina di anta pe moni ko una-loka. ’I gave money to them.’ (Mi di anta una-loka moni. is also correct.)
ka	1) question particle, begins a yes/no question 2) if, whether	1) Ka sina di basari mewa? ’Did you buy fruit?’ 2) Mina ne saba, ka una wa na kota au ne. ’I don’t know whether s/he’s at home or not.’
ke	that; subordinates a clause to a main clause	Mina saba, ke una wa na rabota. ’I know that s/he’s at work.’

Adjectival (Yazafe)

Marker	Function	Example
ya	turns words into adjective complements	mana ’I/me’, kirmisi ’red’, kota ’house’ > kota ya kirmisi ya mana ’my red house’

Adverbial

Marker	Function	Example
bi-	forms adverbs	(noun) bahati ’fortune, happiness’ > bi-bahati ’happily, fortunately’ (adjective) eye ’good’ > bi-eye ’well’ (pronoun) mana ’I/me’ > bi-mana' ’my way; in my opinion’

Verbal

For negation, tense, mood and aspect marking see the section Verbs.

Marker	Function	Example
ta- (optional)	forms action verbs; ”does X” marks a word as a verb	bairami ’feast’ > ta-bairami ’to celebrate E.g. Mi wela ta-mata sina. ’I want to see you.’
bunda	forms inchoative verbs; ”becomes X”	hami ’hot’ > bunda hami ’to get hot; to become hot(ter)’
kara	forms causative verbs; ”makes something X”	hami ’hot’ > kara hami ’to heat up; to make hot(ter)’

Prepositional

Prepositions:

Marker	Function	English
na	locative	in, on, at
ko	lative, benefictive	to, for, towards
se	separative	from, off, out of
me	comitative	with
bila	abessive	without
kupa	1) topic, circumessive 2) all-purpose prepositions	1) about, around, on 2) (varies)

Nouns used as prepositions in the yazafe construction:

Marker	Function	Example
ili ya	over, above	'
ala ya	under, below	'
mise ya	between, among, amid	'
itri ya	before, in front of	'
atra ya	behind, after	'
tepe ya	on the top of, atop	'
naibu ya	inside, within, in	'
soto ya	outside, out	'

This kind of compound prepositions (and there are more of them) can be further specified with the prepositions na/ko/se, e.g. na itri ya kota ’in front of the house (stationary)’, ko itri ya kota ’in front of the house (movement towards)’, se itri ya kora ’from in front of the house (movement away)’. These prepositions are not compulsory if the speaker/writer deems the context clear enough.

Word Derivation

New words can be formed by compounding. In true compounds the head noun comes last. News words can also be formed using yazafe. If an existing word cannot be used and a compound word is not possible the word takes in a new loanword from any of the world’s languages adapted to the phonology of the language.

Compounding: susu ’milk’ + mai ’fat’ > susu-mai ’butter’ ”milk fat” sakiti ’sick’ + manu ’person’ > sakiti-manu ’patient’ ”sick person”

Yazafe: susu ’milk’ + mai ’fat’ > susu ya mai ’cream’ ”fatty milk” kulitsa ’cake’ + alma ’apple’ > kulitsa ya alma ’apple pie, apple cake’ ”cake of apple(s)”

Word Order

SVO: Subject – Adverb – Verb – Object – Adverbials

Mana ne karanta kitabu bi-haraka. SG1 NEG read book ADV-hurry ’I don’t read books fast.’

Conversation

A: - Hai. Wisu bi-eye? Hello. How are you? (lit. All well?)

B: - Hai. Wisu bi-eye. Kusu sina wa hidihari? Hello. Good (lit. all well). How are you today?

A: - Ne badi. Kuku sina hamba? Not bad. Where are you going?

B: - Ko kota. I sina? Home. And you?

A: - Mana hamba ko kawakota. Ka sina wela ta-kele me mana? I’m going to a cafe. Do you want to come with me?

B: - Siguro. Mana bi-gaskiya wayaga kopa ya kawa atra ya hada hari ya rabota. Sure. I really need a cup of coffee after that workday.

A: - Ke hamba! Let’s go!

B: - Ke hamba! Ka una wa leho? Let’s! Is it far?

A: - Ne, mono penki minuta bi-peda. No, just five minute on foot.

B: - Lepo. Mana wa yupa alasi ta-hamba boho. Nice. I’m too tired to walk much.

Dictionary

The Ibani dictionary is available at: https://lexiconga.com/408494270