Níevzi

Nivian
Níevzi
Pronunciation	['ɲjevzi]
Created by	Nicolelle
Setting	Lezsía
Native speakers	301,486 (2012)
Language family	language isolate
Early form	Sirina
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Persirus, Sævíus

Nivian (Nivian: Níevzi, /'ɲjevzi/) is an a priori language that was the second generation of Siryn languages. Its purpose is to express the complex thoughts of humans in a superior manner.

Background

The first evidence of Níevzi is from a carved stone discovered in the Íuçol Forest in present-day Pęrsirùs from thousands of years ago, before the Sirina people separated. Experts believe that it belonged to Sirê Zesú's (the creator of the first generation of Sirina languages) grand-successor. It wasn't until about 100 years after the language was created that the Latin alphabet made its way to Siryn. The first generation was very simple and is still used in some parts of Lezsía, /'lɛt͡sja/, (the region consisting of Pęrsirùs and Sævíùs).

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m			n	ɲ	ŋ
Plosive	p b			t d				k g
Fricative	ɸ	f v	θ ð	s v t͡s	ʃ ʒ				χ ʁ	h
Approximant				ɹ			j
Flap or tap		ⱱ
Lateral fric.				ɬ
Lateral app.				l

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i				u
Near-close		ɪ
Close-mid	e				o
Mid			ə
Open-mid	ɛ œ
Near-open	æ		ɐ
Open

Phonotactics

There are two types of consonant clusters allowed in the Níevzi language. These occurances are the ONLY time two cononants can be consecutive in the same syllable.

• xi /ʃ/ - This cluster can only be used in the beginning of a syllable, but not a word.
• zs /t͡s/ - This cluster can be used anywhere in a word or syllable.

Orthography

Letters	Name	Pronunciation	Further informations
Ææ	al	/æ/	-
Aa	a	/a/	-
Ää	av	/ɔ/	-
Åå	å	/e/	-
Bb	bå	/b/	-
Çç	çå	/θ/	-
Ċċ	ċå	/ð/	-
Dd	då	/d/	-
Ee/Ęę	e	/ɛ/	ę is used only before an r. e is used for every other case
Ëë	íë	/œ/	-
Ėė	ë	/œ/	A very short "ë" sound. It is mainly used to separate two consecutive consonants
Ff	få	/f/	-
Gg	ga	/g/	-
Hh	ha	/h/	Exception: It will be pronounced like /χ/ (vl uvular fricative), when it an "a" follows it.
Ii	i	/i/	-
Íí	ía	/j/	Used *only* before a vowel to add a short "y" sound to it.
Îî	î	/aɪ/	-
Ʒʒ	ʒa	/ʒ/	-
Kk	ek	/k/	-
Mm	em	/m/	-
Nn	en	/n/	-
Oo	o	/o/	-
Øø	ío	/ɔɪ/	-
Pp	på	/p/	-
Rr	rå	/r/	Exception: When "r" is used at the beginning of a word or at the end of a syllable it is pronounced as /ʁ/
Tt	ta	/t/	-
Uu	u	/u/	-
Ùù	íù	/ə/	-
Vv	vå	/ⱱ/	Exception: It is pronounced like /v/ when it ends a word.
Ww	wå	/w/	-
Xx	ax	/k͡s/	-
Yy	yv	/ɪ/	-
Zz	za	/z/	-

Dialects

There are two main dialects: Vef and Lod. They were created after the Siryn Split, when the people who favored a strong, absolute dictatorship moved to present-day Sævíùs, /'sævjəs/, (literally means "powerful land") and the people who favored a limited monarchy moved to present-day Pęrsirùs, /pɛʁ'siʁəs/ (literally means "land of family"). Immediately after the separation, there were many wars between the new nations. However, after a horrible defeat, Sævíùs isolated themselves from all outside influence. As a result, a new dialect of Níevzi was born.

• Vef /'vɛf/ - Vef literally translates to "old", since this dialect was the original second-generation. A Níevzi class will be teaching this dialect as it is the one most accepted to be regular "Níevzi". Vef is spoken by a majority of the people in Pęrsirús.

• Lod /'lod/ - Lod literally translates to "new", since this dialect is newer than the original second-generation. This is spoken in Sæviús. The pronunciations of some letters are slightly different and there is an irregular group of verbs that have a different ending from the regular "ë".

• æ → pronounced as /aɪ/

• å → pronounced as /ɛ/

• ë → pronounced as /ə/

• r (if it ends a syllable/starts a word and is pronounced as /ʁ/) → pronounced as /l/

• -o verb ending in place of "-ë" for the following verbs:

æzsirë → æzsiro (to connect (people))

zipæmë → zipæmo (to play)

æmë → æmo (to stay/remain)

elisnanë → elisnano (to buy)

polæzesë → polæzeso (to lie)

lîvnavë → lînavo (to eat)

nofelë → nofelo (to balance)

dåvíë → dåvío (to release)

Syntax

Word Order

KEY	S: Subject	Aji: Inner Adjective*	Ajo: Outer Adjective*	Art: Article	Do: Direct Object	Io: Indirect Object	Av: Adverb
Va: Action Verb	Vl: Linking Verb	Vh: Helping Verb	Pa: Predicate Adj.	Pn: Predicate Nominative	Pr: Preposition	Op: Object of Prep.	N: Noun

Basic Sentence:
Va

• Lîbëría. (She understands.)

Va-S'Art

• (ex)

Va-S'Art Do Io

• (example coming soon)

Vl-S'Art Pa

• Ċymëríi-tåzipam'lå zsema. (This toy is red.)

Vl-S'Art Pn'Art

• (ex)

Helping Verbs (Take off the "ë" or "o" verb ending for the action/linking verb. If the verb is one syllable and the helping verb starts with a consonant, change the ending to "ė".):
Va'Vh

• Æzes'gæçërù (I can speak.)

Va'Vh-S'Art Do

• lė'gæçiraz-tåʒen'zså råsir'å. (Words can move people.)

Va'Vh-S'Art Do Io

• rësvė'olërío-tåíolamęr'vå råzipam'vå såíalimęr'vå. (The boy has to give the toy to the girl.)

Vl'Vh-S'Art Pa

• Ċym'olëría sæva. (She has to be powerful.)

Vl'Vh-S'Art Pn'Art

• Ċym'gæçëríi-tånam'vå kølan'å. (The thing can be an animal.)

Modifiers:
*There are two different kinds of adjectives in Níevzi: Inner Adjectives and Outer Adjectives. Outer adjectives are usually physical character traits (i.e. hair color). They are obvious and everyone can agree on them. This type of adjective precedes the noun, but is connected to it as the same word. Inner adjectives focus more around personality. They are the traits that you have to look deeper to discover. This category also includes physical traits that are of opininon, like beauty. Inner adjectives are left as they are and is placed, as a new word, after the noun.
AjoN'Art Av Aji Av

• (ex)
• There can be as many inner and outer adjectives as wanted. The extra outers would continue to connect to the beginning of the noun. The extra inners would continue to be added at the end of the noun as a new word.
• The first Adverb modifies the Outer Adjective, and the second Adverb modifies the Inner Adjective. This allows you to add multiple adjectives with multiple adverbs with having to use any other words, like "and". If there are more than one Outer Adjective, the adverbs would go in order from left to right, corresponding with the adjective placement. If there are more than Inner Adjective with Adverbs, it would just follow the pattern; "Aji Av Aji Av Aji Av Aji Av...", where the Adverb modifies the word that immediately precedes it.

Av Va // Av Vl // Av Va'Vh // Av Vl'Vh

• (ex)
• When modifying a verb, the adverb immediately precedes it as a new word for each type of verb. When there are more than one adverb, just keep adding on adverbs at the beginning (Av Av Av Av Av Av Verb)

Questions:
S'Art Verb

• Yv'polæzesëz? (Did you lie?)
• Invert the placement of the verb and subject, and remove the "-". All of the modifiers keep the same rules for positioning (i.e. adverbs go directly before the verb). If there is no subject noun, the subject pronoun moves to the front of the verb, instead of being at the end. See the example above.