The Islandish Language

Grammar:
Islandish is a very simple language with very flexible grammar. For starters, there are no articles such as "the" or "a". A sentence such as "The rain in spain is the bane of the plain." would be "Rain in Spain is Bane of Plain".
Adverbs and adjectives are the same. "Good" is the same word as "well".
There are no plurals. To indicate plurals, the speaker uses a modifier such as "some" or "several". For example, "I gather flowers." would be "I gather flower." Whereas "I would like eggs for breakfast." might be phrased "I like two egg for breakfast."
There is no past or future tense. To indicate a past event, the speaker inserts the word "did", and to indicate future, "will".
There is no set formula for turning a noun into a verb, a verb into an adjective, and whatnot. Thus, it is perfectly acceptable to simply change the use of a word. For example, "I make lunch for Zabby." could be expressed as "I lunch Zabby".

Pronunciation:
Every otter has his or her own type of accent, but the generally accepted standard is the "Sipilont" accent, made from a fusion of the accents of European river otters, American river otters and California sea otters. To simulate this accent, start by saying "ah". Now slowly close the back of your throat and force half of your voice through your nose, so that the "ah" sounds more like "ng". Now hold your tongue close to the roof of your mouth and tighten your lower jaw. If you are doing this correctly, when you say "Now is the time for all good otters to come to the aid of their wetlands.", it should come out sounding like "Ngau isth zah tom foh awl guht oddus du gum du de ehd ohv dheya we'londts."

Don't worry... it all makes sense in context.

Vocabulary:
As with any language, Islandish centers on those things most important to those who speak it. Thus, there are many words surrounding such concepts as water, fish and play, while there are almost none for concepts such as clothing. Below is a vocabulary list. On the left is English to Islandish, sorted by part of speech. On the right is Islandish to English.

English Islandish Part of speech all tul adjective bad naga adjective big ho adjective creek tepp adjective down meh adjective east kees adjective good, well yee adjective imbued with neh adjective much omoh adjective north en adjective silly vssn adjective south ek adjective up ahtu adjective very yeh adjective west fes adjective soon pess adverb and, with ka conjunction danger greeya interjection Goodbye wut interjection Hello wut interjection no chk interjection oh oh interjection okay okheh interjection sorry nura interjection yes wa interjection air, breath wheh' noun arm, foreleg guung noun baby myeh noun bird toop noun blessing yeetek noun bodily waste bipf noun clam pekka noun claw kaht noun cloudy area where rain mixes with the sea Sherin noun cold choor noun crustacean nookah noun day yaw noun ear heha noun eel eel noun elf ewff noun eye uurah noun family lutara noun fire kabora noun fish hesh noun flower snim noun food hep noun foot, flipper foop noun forest ditsar noun friend chepa noun fruit takru noun fur felsh noun genitals (female) ushra noun genitals (male) usra noun gift fwasa noun God Mungu noun hand pahn noun Heaven, sky Hiveng noun house (built above ground) muur noun house (burrow) bor noun ice weshma noun Jesus Jusu noun joy tchee noun kelp semsha noun lake lumot noun leg geng noun light ipk noun lobster laenook noun marlin empa noun marsh, swamp moosh noun milk lema noun mouth huun noun muzzle he'un noun nageel nageel noun neck kreng noun nose shu noun number chim noun oyster mook noun peace chool noun pearl fthu noun people luteh noun pepper, hot sauce vashna noun person lut noun pine oress noun pond numot noun pup / child peluh noun rain plannah noun refrain pracha noun river washa noun rock pn noun saint Sanga noun sand wush noun sea ~umek noun slide (noun) weeshar noun snow (falling) sheh' noun snow (on the ground) shap noun song prrrta noun spouse Chpeh noun starfish wummish noun tail shwas noun thanks weeneh noun torso mui noun toy zikka noun tummy-rock pakn noun urchin tikka noun verse pruv noun village Moorba noun water (fresh) ubba noun water (salt) appa noun waterfall ~asho noun whisker pishk noun winter shehtul noun world ngabu noun eight gwo number five nuk number four mar number nine far number one ep number seven han number six nee number ten epsah number three shay number two ket number by na preposition far poh preposition for ag preposition from ur preposition in an preposition near pi preposition on, above ed preposition so that ti preposition through annah preposition to a preposition he, him, his es pronoun how wahu pronoun I, me, my sri pronoun it, its veh pronoun now uun pronoun she / he eth pronoun she, her, hers esh pronoun us kheh pronoun what te pronoun where wur pronoun who wuk pronoun why uuw' pronoun You, your u pronoun can, may whoh verb decorate zavak verb did, done peh verb do pa verb ear heech verb fall (like rain) uuk verb fill ghah verb give fwa verb hear heh verb is eh verb leave (behind) frook verb like mema verb Love Chp verb make peace choola verb mate (verb) Chpusreh verb need shee verb play zook verb praise fuf verb pray Mucheh verb romp oag verb say, declare tuleh verb see uur verb sing Prrr verb slide weesh verb speak wutchu verb visit zoov verb

Islandish English Part of speech ~asho waterfall noun ~umek sea noun a to preposition ag for preposition ahtu up adjective an in preposition annah through preposition appa water (salt) noun bipf bodily waste noun bor house (burrow) noun chepa friend noun chim number noun chk no interjection chool peace noun choola make peace verb choor cold noun Chp Love verb Chpeh spouse noun Chpusreh mate (verb) verb ditsar forest noun ed on, above preposition eel eel noun eh is verb ek south adjective empa marlin noun en north adjective ep one number epsah ten number es he, him, his pronoun esh she, her, hers pronoun eth she / he pronoun ewff elf noun far nine number felsh fur noun fes west adjective foop foot, flipper noun frook leave (behind) verb fthu pearl noun fuf praise verb fwa give verb fwasa gift noun geng leg noun ghah fill verb greeya danger interjection guung arm, foreleg noun gwo eight number han seven number heech ear verb heh hear verb heha ear noun hep food noun hesh fish noun he'un muzzle noun Hiveng Heaven, sky noun ho big adjective huun mouth noun ipk light noun Jusu Jesus noun ka and, with conjunction kabora fire noun kaht claw noun kees east adjective ket two number kheh us pronoun kreng neck noun laenook lobster noun lema milk noun lumot lake noun lut person noun lutara family noun luteh people noun mar four number meh down adjective mema like verb mook oyster noun Moorba village noun moosh marsh, swamp noun Mucheh pray verb mui torso noun Mungu God noun muur house (built above ground) noun myeh baby noun na by preposition naga bad adjective nageel nageel noun nee six number neh imbued with adjective ngabu world noun nookah crustacean noun nuk five number numot pond noun nura sorry interjection oag romp verb oh oh interjection okheh okay interjection omoh much adjective oress pine noun pa do verb pahn hand noun pakn tummy-rock noun peh did, done verb pekka clam noun peluh pup / child noun pess soon adverb pi near preposition pishk whisker noun plannah rain noun pn rock noun poh far preposition pracha refrain noun Prrr sing verb prrrta song noun pruv verse noun Sanga saint noun semsha kelp noun shap snow (on the ground) noun shay three number shee need verb sheh' snow (falling) noun shehtul winter noun Sherin cloudy area where rain mixes with the sea noun shu nose noun shwas tail noun snim flower noun sri I, me, my pronoun takru fruit noun tchee joy noun te what pronoun tepp creek adjective ti so that preposition tikka urchin noun toop bird noun tul all adjective tuleh say, declare verb u You, your pronoun ubba water (fresh) noun ur from preposition ushra genitals (female) noun usra genitals (male) noun uuk fall (like rain) verb uun now pronoun uur see verb uurah eye noun uuw' why pronoun vashna pepper, hot sauce noun veh it, its pronoun vssn silly adjective wa yes interjection wahu how pronoun washa river noun weeneh thanks noun weesh slide verb weeshar slide (noun) noun weshma ice noun wheh' air, breath noun whoh can, may verb wuk who pronoun wummish starfish noun wur where pronoun wush sand noun wut Hello interjection wut Goodbye interjection wutchu speak verb yaw day noun yee good, well adjective yeetek blessing noun yeh very adjective zavak decorate verb zikka toy noun zook play verb zoov visit verb

Alphabet / phonetics:
Wild otters generally don't concern themselves with learning to read, but the Islanders found it necessary to develop a visual language in order to properly communicate with other cultures such as the elves of neighboring dimensions. The alphabet is based on shapes found in water.
Islandish does contain several sounds not found in English, such as the snuff (burst of air through the nose), tongue click, throat click, bark and trill. The crescendo and decrescendo are usually only written down for pups just learning to read, to teach them where to put emphasis is a word.

Think you've got all that? Here are a couple of sentences you can test yourself with.