ENG - The Dagomnian orthography is an alphabet comprised of 22 base-Latin characters.
DAG - Dagomni soscribo albico 22 dmelelatini muosojes canadi is.
| Aa | Bb | Cc | Dd | Ee | Gg | Hh | Ii | Jj | Ll | Mm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| al | bi | co | dal | ed | gim | hei | id | jod | lo | mim |
| /a/ |
/b/ | /k/ | /d/ | /e/ | /g/ | /h/ | /i/ | /j/ | /l/ | /m/ |
| Nn | Oo | Pp | Qq Always accompanied by ⟨u⟩ |
Rr | Ss | Tt | Uu | Vv | Xx | Zz |
| nun | od | pe | quo | res | si | to | ud | va | ex | zai |
| /n/ |
/o/ | /p/ | /kʷ/ | /r/ | /s/ | /t/ | /u/ | /w/ | /ks/ | /z/ |
| ' | ( ) | [ ] | ⟨ ⟩ | : | , | . | - | … | ! | ? | ‘ ’ | “ ” |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| austrope "turnaways" |
slejuxtulei "smooth brackets" / stulei |
ecrestulei "sharp brackets" |
ancestulei "bent brackets" |
jutremuos "clause character" |
brimuos "cutting character" |
stavo "stop" |
sermuos "connecting character" |
ectrova "speech pause" |
aipobmuos "exclamation character" |
pregmuos "question character" |
semdicmuosei "single say character" |
duozdicmuosei "double say character" |
The apostrophe is mainly used for combining some proper nouns with noun declensions [i.e. "This operating system was made by Microsoft" -> Huei metro opesari Microsoft'ed canadi but]. It can also be found in informal sentences when words are shortened to reflect their pronunciation. For example, Equom habamus [ˈe̞kʷo̞m haˈbamus] (We have a horse) can be shortened to Equ'm habam's [ˈe̞kʷm̩ haˈbams].
The default word order in Dagomnian is S-O-V (Subject-Object-Verb). Sentences like "She sees me" would translate literally as "She me sees": Sau me vidat. The predicate in general can take the place of an object. Sentences like "I want to play" translate into "I to play want": Eg ludare viloh.
Dagomnian sentences tend to favor context over repitition, so pronouns are regularly dropped, as the context of past texts can fill in the blanks for future texts.
When asking formal questions, the word order becomes O-V-S, placing the subject after the verb; for example, "Is he coming to the party?" translates into "[To] party comes he?": Vestet cemat so?
Direct questions give the subject a global upstep [↑], and questions emphasizing the subject give the subject a global rise [↗]. With the example question, the subject is so; in a direct question, the word is pronounced [↑so̞], and it is pronounced as [↗so̞] in subject-emphasized questions. With sentences that utilize a multi-syllable subject, the intonation is placed on the stress.
Informal questions are made by dropping the ending pronoun and giving a rising tone to the verb.
The most complex syllable structure Dagomnian can produce is (C)(C)(C)V(V)(C)(C)(C). One example of expressing this limit is the word streunx [stɾe̞u̯ŋks] (overdose). However, most syllables tend to remain simple.