Aterran Imperial

Modern Standard Imperial
Drikva Yakke
Pronunciation	[ˈdrik.vɑ ˈjɑk.ʃe]
Created by	BenJamin P. Johnson, creator of: Adzaay Aterran Languages Arbulian Modern Standard Imperial Hakdor Ashian Northern Western Braereth Tenibvreth Eomentesa Merineth Dlatci Gothic Romance Extemplar Latin Italian Gothic Bad Romance Grayis Maltcégj Northeadish Valthungian Griutungi Old Valthungian Middle Valthungian curator of: Brooding Nymeran
Date	2020
Setting	Planet Aterra

Drikva Yakke /ˈdrik.vɑ ˈjɑk.ʃe/, or Modern Standard Imperial, is a standardized analytic language developed from an earlier creolized form of of various ancient languages, though it still retains a rather deep orthography from an earlier form. It is written in the Imperial Script (Kuggi Yakke /ˈkuɡ.ʒi ˈjɑk.ʃe/), which is an alphabet originally written vertically in syllable blocks, but is now most commonly written left-to-right in individual letters. The block-form letters are still commonly used similarly to how majuscule letters are used in Latinate scripts.

Phonology

The Imperial Language is actually a snapshot of several languages over the course of several centuries. While the written language changed very little in that time, the spoken language changed significantly, and the word order and syntax became much more rigid. In a way, it is analogous to Latin, the Classical form of which would barely be understood by speakers of Vulgar Latin a few centuries later, but the word forms remained largely the same.

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal
Stop	p · b	t · d			k · ɡ
Affricate	pf · bv		ts · dz	tʃ · dʒ	(kʃ) · (ɡʒ)
Fricative	f · v	θ · ð	s · z	ʃ · ʒ	· h
Nasal	m		n		ŋ
Lateral		l	(ɬ) · ɮ
Lateral Affricate			tɬ · dɮ
Tap			ɾ
Approximant				j

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i ·	· u
	ɪ ·	· ʊ
Mid	e ·	· o
	ɛ ·	· ɔ
Mid	æ ·	· ɑ

Diphthongs

There were no diphthongs in Old Imperial; The modern diphthongs are contractions or earlier bi-syllabic constructions. E.g. meu ‘I’ was pronounced as /ˈme.u/ rather than the modern /mew/.

	Front	Back
Mid-High	ej	ew
Low-High	aj	aw

Orthography & Romanization

Rom	IPA	Description
a	ɑ	Like 〈a〉 in English father.
ae	aj	Like 〈i〉 in English wine.
ai	aj	Like 〈i〉 in English wine.
ao	aw	Like 〈ow〉 in English house.
à	æ	Like 〈a〉 in English bat.
b	b	Like 〈b〉 in English bot.
bb	bv	Like 〈bv〉 in English obvious.
bh	v	Like 〈v〉 in English very. Identical to 〈v〉, but from an earlier /bʰ/.
d	d	Like 〈d〉 in English day.
dd	dz	Like 〈dz〉 in English adze. Identical to 〈tz〉, but from an earlier /dd/.
dh	ð	Like 〈th〉 in English this. (Never as in thin.)
dl	dɮ	Not an English sound. Identical to 〈dlh〉, but from an earlier /dl/.
dlh	dɮ	Not an English sound. The sound of 〈d〉 followed immediately by 〈lh〉.
dzh	dʒ	Like 〈j〉 in English joke.
e	e	Like 〈e〉 in Spanish vero.
ei	ej	Like 〈ay〉 in English day.
eu	ew	Like the 〈e〉 in egg followed immediately by 〈w〉.
è	ɛ	Like 〈e〉 in English bet.
f	f	Like 〈f〉 in English foot. Identical to 〈ph〉.
g	ɡ	Like 〈g〉 in English get. (Never as in gel.)
gg	ɡʒ	A little like 〈gg〉 in English suggest. A 〈g〉 followed by a 〈zh〉 (see).
h	h	Like 〈h〉 in English have.
i	i	Like 〈i〉 in English machine.
ie	jɛ	Like 〈ye〉 in English yet.
iu	ju	Like 〈you〉 in English you.
ì	ɪ	Like 〈i〉 in English bit.
k	k	Like 〈k〉 in English keep.
kh	kʃ	Like 〈ct〉 in English action. Identical to 〈kk〉, but from earlier /kʰ/.
kk	kʃ	Like 〈ct〉 in English action. Identical to 〈kh〉, but from earlier /kk/.
l	l	Like 〈l〉 in English laugh.
lh	ɬ~ɮ	Not an English sound. Like 〈ll〉 in Welsh llygoden, but usually voiced.
m	m	Like 〈m〉 in English man.
n	n	Like 〈n〉 in English no.
ng	ŋ	Like 〈ng〉 in English singer. (Never as in finger or ginger.)
o	o	Like 〈oa〉 in English boat.
ò	ɔ	Like 〈au〉 in English caught.
p	p	Like 〈p〉 in English put.
ph	f	Like 〈f〉 in English foot. Identical to 〈f〉, but from earlier /pʰ/.
pp	pf	Not an English sound. Like 〈pf〉 in German Apfel. From earlier /pp/.
r	ɾ	Like 〈r〉 in Spanish pero; like 〈t〉 in (American) English water.
s	s	Like 〈s〉 in English soap.
sh	ʃ	Like 〈sh〉 in English shoe.
t	t	Like 〈t〉 in English table.
th	θ	Like 〈th〉 in English thing. (Never as in these.) From earlier /tʰ/.
tl	tɬ	Not an English sound. Identical to 〈tlh〉, but from an earlier /tl/.
tlh	tɬ	Not an english sound. Like 〈tl〉 in Nahuatl coyotl.
ts	ts	Like 〈ts〉 in English cats. Identical to 〈tt〉.
tsh	tʃ	Like 〈ch〉 in English chair.
tt	ts	Like 〈ts〉 in English cats. Identical to 〈ts〉, but from earlier /tt/.
tz	dz	Like 〈ds〉 in English ads. Identical to 〈dz〉, but from an earlier /ts/ that became voiced.
u	u	Like 〈oo〉 in English boot.
ua	wɑ	Like 〈wa〉 in English want.
ue	we	Like 〈we〉 in English went.
ui	wi	Like 〈wee〉 in English week.
ù	ʊ	Like 〈oo〉 in English good.
v	v	Like 〈v〉 in English very. Identical to 〈bh〉, but from earlier /w/.
y	j	Like 〈y〉 in English yes.
z	z	Like 〈z〉 in English zoo.
zh	ʒ	Like 〈si〉 in English vision or 〈g〉 in French genre.

You will note that there are several combinations which appear to have identical pronunciation. This is due to sound changes during the creolization of the Imperial language which have created mergers. For example, the kh in thikhe ‘sharp’ and the kk in thrakku ‘like that’ are both pronounced like the ksh in thraksha ‘like this’. However, in Old Imperial, they were pronounced [ˈuːkʰɑ], [tʰrɑkˈkũ], and [tʰrɑkˈtʃɑ], respectively.

Morphology

Substantives

Gender

All nouns are classified as either masculine or non-masculine. This is, of course, a grammatical construct rather than an anatomical one, and aside from including some specifically masculine words – such as òla ‘father’, phetùk ‘brother’, rosha ‘man’, &c – the masculine class is mainly notable for the feature that masculine nouns usually end in a vowel, while non-masculine nouns do not.

Number

Grammatical number is not automatically indicated on nouns, though a singular~plural distinction exists in personal pronouns. Grammatical number for nouns may be marked if necessary by way of reduplication (in the case of masculine nouns) or a pluralizing particle (in the case of non-masculine nouns), but is usually ignored when not explicitly required. The plural is never indicated in the presence of numerals.

A small set of nouns which generally come in pairs may have irregular dual forms. (See Dual Nouns below.)

Pluralising Masculine Nouns

Masculine nouns are pluralised through a process of reduplication.

In simplest terms, take the first letter of the noun, follow it by 〈a〉 (if the first vowel of the noun is a, o, or u) or 〈e〉 (if the first vowel is a, i, or e) and then add the singular noun. E.g.:

• rosha ‘man’ → rarosha ‘men’
• shi ‘animal’ → sheshi ‘animals’
• kama ‘table’ → kekama ‘tables’

There are, of course, some exceptions and nuances, as well as flat-out irregularities:

• If the first or second syllable of the noun is lax (i.e. contains à, è, ì, ò, or ù), it becomes tense (i.e. drop the accent mark). E.g.:
  • tì ‘wood’ → teti ‘woods’ (‘types of wood’)
  • dà ‘stone’ → deda ‘stones’
  • lòga ‘husband’ → laloga ‘husbands’
• If a masculine noun begins with 〈ng〉, the 〈g〉 is dropped in reduplication, E.g.
  • nga ‘time’ → nenga ‘times’
• If a masculine noun begins with an aspirate – that is, a cluster with 〈h〉 from an earlier aspirate in Old Imperial (i.e. bh, dh, kh, lh, ph, or th – but not sh or zh, which are just transcriptional), the 〈h〉 is dropped, E.g.:
  • lhadzhè → lalhadzhè ‘mountains’
  • phetùk ‘brother’ → paphetuka ‘brothers’
  • thule ‘tree’ → tathule ‘trees’
• If a masculine noun begins with vowel, it is pluralized like a non-masculine noun (see below).

Pluralising Non-Masculine Nouns

Non-masculine nouns are pluralised simply by preceding the noun with the particle kve. E.g.:

• meth ‘place’ → kve meth ‘places’
• paletsh ‘woman’ → kve paletsh ‘women’
• trìl ‘reason’ → kve trìl ‘reasons’

Unlike masculine nouns, the kve particle does not affix to the noun and does not affect the quality of the vowels of the noun, except…

Pluralising Vowel-Initial Nouns

Both masculine and non-masculine nouns beginning with a vowel are pluralised by preposing the particle kv- as an affix, eliding the e. E.g.:

• elin ‘mother’ → kvelin ‘mothers’
• ebreth ‘wife’ → kvebreth ‘wives’
• atze ‘island’ → kvatze ‘islands’

Irregular & Suppletive Nouns

There are several of the most common nouns which have irregular plurals. Some of the most common are:

• òla ‘father’ → kvòla ‘fathers’ (not **kvola)
• pàn ‘child’ → pepàn ‘children’ (not **kve pàn)
• tè ‘person’ → kvètè ‘people’ (not **tete), but
  • tetzavà ‘cyborg’ → kvètetzava ‘cyborgs’ (not **kvètètzava, using the irregular plural of tè or **tetetzava using the regular masculine plural)
• yìr ‘thing’ → kveyir ‘things’ (not **kve yìr)

Dual Nouns

Some non-masculine nouns, particularly those referring to body parts which come in pairs, use masculine-type reduplication when referring explicitly to the paired sense, and kve otherwise. E.g.:

• blizh ‘eye’ → beblizh ‘pair of eyes’ → kve blizh ‘(many) eyes’
• bresh ‘foot’ → bebresh ‘pair of feet’ → kve bresh ‘(many) feet’
• dèt ‘horn’ → dadet ‘pair of horns’ → kve dèt ‘(many) horns’
• dendor ‘leg’ → dedendor ‘pair of legs’ → kve dendor ‘(many) legs’
• doman ‘hand’ → dedoman ‘pair of hands’ → kve doman ‘(many) hands’
• noth ‘ear’ → nanoth ‘pair of ears’ → kve noth ‘(many) ears’
• rinen ‘knee’ → rerinen ‘pair of knees’ → kve rinen ‘(many) knees’
• yinkesh ‘wing’ → yeyinkesh ‘pair of wings’ → kve yinkesh ‘(many) wings’

Possession

Possession is indicated with the adposition go. In addition to standard possession of nouns, it is also used with pronouns to form the basis of the possessive pronouns rather than a separate genitive-like construction. (Old Imperial, however, did use genitive pronouns which were lost after The Expansion.)

Yìrku dà go meu (ei).
‘That is my stone.’
(“That-thing stone of me [is].”)

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Modern Standard Imperial are simple in scope, including first and second person singular and plural forms, and third person singular distinction between masculine and non-masculine grammatical gender. The third person plural does not have a gender distinction. The first person plural does not make a clusivity distinction (meaning there is no differentiation between “we including you” and “we but not you.”)

The personal pronouns are:

Singular		Plural
meu	‘I, me’	ta	‘we, us’
vè	‘you’	hei	‘you (all)’
shva	‘he, him’	dì	‘they’
dehu	‘she, her, it’

Prepositions

Imperial has a small set of adpositions, many of which serve multiple purposes. While Old Imperial, which had a much freer word order, used both prepositions and postpositions, the modern language uses prepositions exclusively. Because the language does not inflect for case, this placement is very important.

Some of the more common prepositions are:

	Translation	Equivalent Case	Example
dhi	under, on the bottom of	Subessive	Yìraggè dhi bresh go meu. Something is on the bottom of my foot.
dzu	under, beneath, below	Sublative	Thombir dzu dà. The worm is under the rock.
go	of, belonging to, related to	Genitive	tètsha òla go meu ei. This is my father.
ke	to, towards	Allative	vè ke shuthket ati? Are you going to town?
khan	without, lacking	Abessive	ta khan dì meti. We will go without them.
lhao	over, above	Superlative	Yaral lhao mahe hati thruga. A bird flew over the house.
li	behind	Postessive	Teggè li mitlu ei. Someone is behind the door.
lu	in, inside of	Inessive	Reshte lu yash. The fish is in the water.
ma	from, out of	Delative	Meu ma methku hati ngatsha thuri. I just came from there.
na	on, on top of, upon	Superessive	Thule na lhadzh’ei. The tree is on the mountain.
ne	on, on the side of	Pertingent	Shise ne blishmitlu. The snow is on the window.
ngè	through	Translative	Dehu ngè yathrèk hati vanda. She walked through the forest.
thie	with, in the company of	Commitative	Pàn thie shva g’òla. The child is with his father.
tho	in front of, before	Antessive	Bebage tho mah’ei. The dogs are in front of the house.
ti	at, in (a location)	Locative	Shva ti mahe go shva. He is at his house.
vae	for, to	Benefactive	Metsha satha vae vè. Here is a gift for you.

Adjectives

Adjectives, with the exception of numerals, almost exclusively follow the nouns the modify. Though that is slightly out of character for a language that is otherwise strong head-final, this is at least in part due to the language’s verb-final and optional null-copula status, as adjectives in many circumstances may be seen simply as verbs.

Nearly all adjectives can receive the suffix –ei ‘to be’ in order to convert them into a verb; however, this copulative ending is usually optional. If no copula is indicated, the adjective may precede the subject if they make up the entirety of the sentence. E.g.:

• ‘I am cold.’
  • Amedi meu.
  • Amedi meu ei.
  • Meu amedei.
• ‘The mountain is green.’
  • Lhadzhè merri.
  • Merri lhadzh’ei.
  • Lhadhzè merrei.

Numerals

The Imperial numerals are duodecimal – that is, base-12 – as are numbers in most Aterran languages with the exception of Hakdor. For duodecimal transcription, 〈X〉 is used to represent ‘ten’ and 〈B〉 for ‘eleven’. Decimal equivalents are given in parentheses after the duodecimal.

The “teen” numerals are slightly irregular, having gone through an additional stage of sound change. Higher numbers are compounded with ya ‘and’.

dlhukat	0		tvalh	10	(12)	umè tvalh	20	(24)	tvalh	10	(12)
ilè	1		tvalè	11	(13)	umè tvalh ya ilè	21	(25)	umè tvalh	20	(24)
umè	2		tvamè	12	(14)	umè tvalh ya umè	22	(26)	shar tvalh	30	(36)
shar	3		tvashar	13	(15)	umè tvalh ya shar	23	(27)	etlh tvalh	40	(48)
etlh	4		tvetlh	14	(16)	umè tvalh ya etlh	24	(28)	pikh tvalh	50	(60)
pikh	5		tvapikh	15	(17)	umè tvalh ya pikh	25	(29)	ukka tvalh	60	(72)
ukka	6		tvakka	16	(18)	umè tvalh ya ukka	26	(30)	kvet tvalh	70	(84)
kvet	7		tvakvet	17	(19)	umè tvalh ya kvet	27	(31)	thra tvalh	80	(96)
thra	8		tvathra	18	(20)	umè tvalh ya thra	28	(32)	kladha tvalh	90	(108)
kladha	9		tvadhla	19	(21)	umè tvalh ya kladha	29	(33)	vuku tvalh	X0	(120)
vuku	X	(10)	tvuku	1X	(22)	umè tvalh ya vuku	2X	(34)	yosh tvalh	B0	(132)
yosh	B	(11)	tvayosh	1B	(23)	umè tvalh ya yosh	2B	(35)	blaesh	100	(144)

Exponents

Higher numbers can be formed i the same way using exponents on a long scale:

tvalh	10	(12)
blaesh	100	(144)
latlha	1,000	(1,728)
tvalh latlha	10,000	(20,736)
blaesh latlha	100,000	(248,832)
thrakvi	1,000,000	(2,985,984)
tvalh thrakvi	10,000,000	(35,831,808)
blaesh thrakvi	100,000,000	(429,981,696)
latlha thrakvi	1,000,000,000	(5,159,780,352)
tvalh latlha thrakvi	10,000,000,000	(61,917,364,224)
blaesh latlha thrakvi	100,000,000,000	(743,008,370,688)
thrappa	1,000,000,000,000	(8,916,100,448,256)

Verbs

TAM Marking

Imperial verbs do not inflect, so indications of tense, aspect, mood, mode, evidentiality, voice, and other verbal features are indicated almost exclusively with particles.

Tense

The past tense is formed using the auxiliary verb hati. E.g.:

• ‘He sees that tree.’ Shva thule ku veta.

→ ‘He saw that tree.’ Shva thule ku hati veta.

The future is formed using the auxiliary ati, which follows the verb, or may be suffixed to the verb in some circumstances. E.g.:

• ‘He sees that tree.’ Shva thule ku veta.

→ ‘He will see that tree.’ Shva thule ku vet’ati.

Negation

Negation with dlhu

Negation is formed on most verbs by directly preceding the verb with the negative particle dlhu. E.g.:

• ‘She will teach you how to make it.’ Dehu vè shatviati dehu, thrakla dehu dehi.

→ ‘She will not teach you.’ Dehu vè dlhu shatviati dehu.

Negation with ruk

The copula ei and the null copula are negated by replacing the copula (if extant) with the negative verb ruk. Some other common verbs also use ruk for negation instead of dlhu. E.g.

• ‘That child is my brother.’ Pàn ku phetùk go meu (ei).

→ ‘That child is not my brother.’ Pàn ku phetùk go meu ruk.

• ‘Something is not right.’ Yìraggè yadì ruk.

Irregularity & Suppletion

Many common verbs show suppletion or irregularity in one or more forms (in bold):

Present	Negative	Past	Negative Past	Future	Negative Future
veta ‘to see’ (regular)	dlhu veta	hati veta	dlhu hati veta	vet’ati	dlhu vet’ati
ati ‘to go’	ruk ati	ganati	ruganati	meti	ruk meti
dehi ‘to do’	dlhu dehi	hati dehi	dlhu hati dehi	dedehi	dlhu dedehi
ei ‘to be’	ruk	gan(ei)	rugan(ei)	lezh	ruklezh
hati ‘to finish’	dlhu hati	hehati	dlhu hehati	hat’ati	dlhu hat’ati
satha ‘to give’	dlhu satha	hati satha	dlhu hati satha	sasathi	dlhu sasathi
thuri ‘to come’	ruk thuri	gan thuri	rugan thuri	thur’ati	ruk thur’ati

• He goes into that house. Shva lu mahe ku ati.

→ He does not go into that house. Shva lu mahe ku ruk ati.

→ He went into that house. Shva lu mahe ku ganati.

→ He did not go into that house. Shva lu mahe ku ruganati.

→ He will go into that house. Shva lu mahe ku meti.

→ He will not go into that house. Shva lu mahe ku ruk meti.

Syntax

Word Order & Alignments

The basic order of Standard Imperial is SOV; that is: Subject, Object, Verb. However, as with many languages, it doesn’t fit quite so tidily into a single category. Intransitive or “objectless” clauses may be VS, and “verbless” predicative adjectival phrases may be AS or SA depending on various factors.

Typology

SOV~VS; VSO or SVO marked.

Morphosyntactic Alignment

Historically, Ancient Imperial was a heavily marked nominative-accusative language, though this description is rather nominal, as no inflection exists in modern Standard Imperial that might differentiate marked nouns. Modern Imperial shows tendencies toward an ergative-absolutive structure in its non-standard handling of objectless subjects and duplication of certain subjects to coerce them into transitive roles (see Bi-Transitive Verbs), but not enough to be able to consider it an ergative-absolutive language.

Noun Phrases

The standard order ot most noun phrases is:

1. Adposition
2. Numeral
3. Noun
4. Demonstrative/Determiner
5. Adjective (Phrase)
6. Genitive (Phrase)
7. Relative (Clause)

E.g. ‘…with those three thin men from the village who stole my brother’s dog’ would be translated more literally as “with three men those thin (ones) from village who dog of brother of me stole.”

…thie shar rarosha ku meish ma shuthket,
with	three	men	those	thin (ones)	from (the) village
cmt	3	pl-man	dist	thin	del village
thie	shar	ra-rosha	ku	meish	ma shuthket

tèla bagè go phetùk go meu hati gathka.
who	(the) dog	of (the) brother	of me	did steal
rel	dog	of brother	of 1sg	pst steal
tèla	bagè	go phetùk	go meu	hati gathka

Adjective Phrases

Degree adverbs precede the adjective they modify.

1. Degree Adverbs
2. Adjective

‘That was a very good dog,’ would be literally, ‘That (one) dog very good was.’

Tèku bagè kashkì savati gan.
that (onw)	dog	very	good	was
one-that	dog	aug	good	pst.cop
tèku	bagè	kashkì	savati	gan

Alternatively, because of the copula-optional nature of the language as concerns adjectives, it is also correct to render this as: kashkì hati savati bagè ku. (“Very was good dog that.”)

Verb Phrases

The typical verb phrase is arranged:

1. Subject
2. Object
3. Spatial Adverb or Phrase
4. Temporal Adverb or Phrase
5. Standard Adverb
6. Negative Marker
7. Verb
8. (Subject)

Verb Phrases consisting solely of one-word subject and verb:

1. Subject
2. Verb

Copular Clauses

The copula in the Old Imperial language was ei, and was always required; however, in Modern Standard Imperial, the copula is optional in both equative phrases and phrases with adjectival predicates. E.g.:

• ‘That child is my brother.’
  • Pàn ku phetùk go meu ei, or simply
  • Pàn ku phetùk go meu.
• ‘Your stone is heavy.’
  • Dà go vè yagre ei, or
  • Dà go vè yagrei, or
  • Dà go vè yagre.

In cases with an adjectival predicate (or other intransitive verbs) where the subject consists of a single word (usually a pronoun), the subject and verb may invert.

• ‘I am cold.’
  • Amedi meu, or
  • Amedei meu.
• ‘It is heavy.’
  • Yagre dehu.

Relative Clauses

Relative clauses are formed, in pretty standard fashion, by using the interrogatives as relative conjunctions. Relative clauses follow the noun they modify. E.g.:

Tèku bagè, tèla reshte go meu hati langa.
That (one)	(the) dog	is	who	fish	of me	did eat
One-that	dog	cop	one-rel	fish	of 1sg	pst eat
Tè-ku	bagè	∅	tè-la	reshte	go meu	hati langa

‘That is the dog who ate my fish.’

Seklesh kerei ngala yempath phamba.
(The) earth	is-wet	when	the rain	is-falling
Earth	wet-cop	time-rel	rain	fall
Seklesh	kera-ei	nga-la	yempath	phamba

‘The earth is wet when it rains.’