Lingo De Yigo

Overview

The language Lingo De Yigo, spelt alternatively as Lingo de Jigo or Lingo de Igo, is a Nezo-Romance language spoken in the islands of Yigó. The language utilizes a three-gender system, contrasting with the two-gender system other Romance languages use.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial/Labio-Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p, b	t̪~t, d̪~d		k (c), g
Fricative	ɸ~f, β~v	s
Nasal	m	n
Liquid	(w)	l	j (y or j)	w*
Flap		ɾ (r)

*/w/ is only pronounced in diphthongs beginning with /u/; for example, esuiso=/ɛzwizɔ/.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid-Open	ɛ (e)	ɔ (o)
Open		a

Grammar

Lingo De Yigo's grammar includes roots that can take different suffixes to invoke meaning. For example:

Root	manducr- (eat)
+-o	manducro "food"
+-ero	manducrero "eater"
+-i	manducri "I eat"
+-uiso	manducruiso "Eat. (imp.)"
+van-	vamanducri "I will eat"
+ven-	vemanducri "I ate"
+-ulo	manducrulo "small amount of food/light snack"
+-ono	manducrono "large amount of food/feast"

Pronouns

Lingo De Yigo has three cases for pronouns: Nominative, Accusative, and Genitive.

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
Singular 1st person	ie/ye/je	me	mi
Plural 1st person	ies	mes	mis
Singular 2nd person	tu	te	ti
Plural 2nd person	tus	tes	tis
Singular 3rd person	lo, le, la	lo, le, la	lo, le, la
Plural 3rd person	los, les, las	los, les, las	los, les, las

Yéshvwae Loanwords

Due to the speakers' proximities, Lingo De Yigo has borrowed a few loanwords from Yéshvwae. One example is the word for "king/queen", "golayam(o,e,a)" (from Yéshvwae golayáeme).