User:Praimhín/Rõktiap

Rõktiap is a classical language of Rulak, with a rich tradition of literature, science and philosophy.

Phonology

Orthography

Rõktiap uses a syllabic alphabet called Rõktiapma Rõethar [r̝ɤktʰi̯ɒpmɒ r̝ɤɜthɒr̝̥], which resembles Hangul. The same script is used for a modern descendant called Zienruol, but not for Hʻõelmriusi, another modern descendant, which uses the Rietz alphabet.

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Stop	voiceless aspirated	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	k /kʰ/	ĸ /qʰ/	q /ʔ/
	voiceless unaspirated	pp /p/	tt /t/	kk /k/	ĸĸ /q/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/	g /ɡ/	ɢ /ɢ/
Fricative	voiceless		s /s/		ʜ /χ/	h /h/
	voiced		z /z/		ȝ /ʁ/
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/	ng /ŋ/
Lateral			l /l/
Fricative trill			r /r̝/

Nasals and liquids are devoiced in syllable codas. For example nool (wave) is pronounced [no:ɬ], and ᴋᴋurs (shoulders) is pronounced [qur̝̥s] or [qur̝̥ɕ].

Vowels

	Front	Back
		Unrounded	Rounded
High	i /i/		u /u/
Mid	e /e/	õ /ɤ/	o /o/
Low	ä /æ/		a /ɒ/

Prosody

Stress

The first syllable of a multisyllabic word is pronounced at a slightly higher pitch, on a falling tone.

Phonotactics

The syllable structure of Rõktiap is (C)(l/r)V(V)(C)(s).

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns inflect for case and number. There are two numbers, the singular, which is unmarked, and the plural, which uses the suffix -i for nouns ending in s and -s otherwise. For example:

• qiim (flower), qiims (flowers)
• ᴋol (language), ᴋols (languages)
• ʜeik (shark), ʜeiks (sharks)
• lias (mound), liasi (mounds)
• ttões (beaver), ttõesi (beavers)

There are 18 cases in Rõktiap:

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	qiim	qiims
Accusative	qiimken	qiimsken
Genitive	qiimma	qiimsma
Dative	qiimtoo	qiimstoo
Instrumental	qiimtrun	qiimstrun
Equative	qiimttin	qiimsttin
Adessive	qiimnõs	qiimsnõs
Ablative	qiimnõn	qiimsnõn
Illative	qiimbo	qiimsbo
Inessive	qiimhos	qiimshos
Elative	qiimhon	qiimshon
Sublative	qiimzaat	qiimszaat
Superessive	qiimʜes	qiimsʜes
Delative	qiimʜen	qiimsʜen
Translative	qiimttel	qiimsttel
Benefactive	qiimro	qiimsro
Causal	qiimkõns	qiimskõns
Terminative	qiimᴋip	qiimsᴋip

Verbs

There are only two verbs in Rõktiap: qua (to do) and tre (to be). These are extremely irregular, and tre is defective in that it doesn't have progressive forms:

	Simple	Progressive	Perfect
Past	ȝuum	ȝuon	ȝiums drun
Present	qua	quan	ȝiums tre
Future	uᴋor	uᴋõn	ȝiums nrup

	Simple	Perfect
Past	drun	triis drun
Present	tre	triis tre
Future	nrup	triis nrup

Rõktiap often relies on circumlocutions for many verbs that can't be translated directly from English or other Rulakian languages:

Dii·nõn kein·too ttos tre.

1SG.ABL 2SG.DAT love be.PRES

I love you.

Ttões·ma ʜõip·s·hos qiup qiim tre.

beaver.GEN eye.PL.INESS one flower be.PRES

The beaver sees a flower.

Buot·no·ma ɢaim·s·bo qiup säi ʜeik ȝuum.

brain.AGENT.GEN hand.PL.ILL one big shark do.PAST

The scholar caught a big shark.

Hʻeik ngiäl·ttel ȝuum, qeik buotno "Quõi"·ttin drun.

shark earth-TRANSL do.PAST, CONJ scholar "Wow".EQU be.PAST

The shark died, and the scholar said "Wow".

Syntax

Constituent order

Rõktiap is almost completely head-final, except for complementizer phrases, such as those using the word lo (whether, interrogative marker) and met (if), which are head-initial.