Linguifex

Wistanian: Difference between revisions

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| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#ffffff; font-size:2em;" | '''Wistanian'''<br />[[File:Anigalilaun.png|350px]]<br />[əˈniɡəˌlilɑn]
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#ffffff; font-size:2em;" | '''Wistanian'''<br />[[File:Aningali.png|350px]]<br />[ən̻iːn̻ɡəl̻i]
|-
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| '''Spoken in:''' || Wistania
| '''Spoken in:''' || Wistania
|-
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| '''Conworld:''' || Vale
| '''Conworld:''' || Vaal
|-
|-
| '''Total Speakers:''' || ~ 50,000,000
| '''Total Speakers:''' || ~ 50,000,000
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| Taliv<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Taliv-Nati Pidgin<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'''''- Wistanian'''''
| Taliv<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;- Taliv-Nati Pidgin<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;'''''- Wistanian'''''
|-
|-
| '''Basic word order:''' || Verb-Subject-Object
| '''Writing System:''' || Taliv Alphabet<br/>Bwolotil Alphabet<br/>Nati Abugida
|-
| '''Morphological Type:''' || Analytic
|-
| '''Morphosyntactic Alignment:''' || Nominative-Accusative
|-
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#ffffff; font-size:18px;" | '''Created by:'''
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background-color:#ffffff; font-size:18px;" | '''Created by:'''
|-
|-
| Paul A. Daly || Began: January 2017<br/>Status: Mostly Fuctional
| Paul A. Daly || Began: 10 August 2016<br/>Status: Mostly Fuctional
|-
|-
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background color:#ffffff; font-size:18px;" | '''Further Resources'''
| colspan="2" style="text-align:center; background color:#ffffff; font-size:18px;" | '''Further Resources'''
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'''Wistanian''' (IPA: /wɪsˈteɪni.ən/), natively known as '''anigalilaun''' (IPA: /əˈniɡəˌlilɑn/) or 'peace language',  is an ''a priori'' artistic [[w: Constructed_language|constructed language]] created by author, student, and future ESL teacher Paul A. Daly for a series of low fantasy books that he plans to write and publish once he's done with his education. It is spoken as a ''lingua franca'' on the island of Wistania, derived from the Taliv language after their speakers came into contact with speakers of the Nati language. These two people groups allied during the Wistanian War between them and the Bwolotil people. After the war ended with a peace treaty, the language was standardized, recorded, and taught around the island as "the language of peace" and set as the official language of the united government. During the events of the novels, three hundred years after the peace treaty, around 95% of the population speak Wistanian; 60% of whom learn it natively and 20% of whom speak it exclusively.
<big><span style="color:red;">'''This page is currently outdated. Updates to come... eventually.'''</span></big>
 
Wistanian is classified as a mixed language, drawing its roots from Taliv, but borrowing a large amount of words, phrases, and grammar from the Nati, Katapu, Uzin, and Bwolotil languages, spoken by the five people groups that occupy the island. Although there is a standardized dialect, Wistanian has a large amount of dialectal variation and a number of registers.
 
Wistanian is typologically an [[w: Analytic_language|analytic language]] with very small elements of [[w: Agglutinative_language|agglutination]], morphosyntactically a [[w:Nominative–accusative_language|nominative-accusative language]], and syntactically a [[w: Verb-initial_word_order|verb-initial language]] with strong [[w: Head-directionality_parameter|head-initial]] tendencies. Its phonology is fairly small, with an entirely voiced fricative set and no round vowels. Each verb has a stative and durative form, and count nouns are only declined for plural number if their number is more than five. There is a large collection of grammatical particles and honorifics, but no distinctive lexical category for adpositions, adjectives, adverbs, or conjunctions. The language is primarily written using the Talivian Alphabet, but some alternate scripts do exist, namely the Diwa Alphabet and Nati [[w: Abugida|Abugida]].
 
==Introduction==
[[File:WistaniaMap.png|thumb|left|The island of Wistania]]
 
===Setting===
 
The language is spoken on the fictional planet Vale, on a large yet isolated island called Wistania. The language belongs to the Talivian sub-family, which evolved steadily throughout the Taliv's existence. After having been settled on by the Taliv for several hundred years, the island became the new home for the Bwolotil people, who had fled to the island to hide a large collection of magical and extremely dangerous ajmastones. The Bwolitil were originally apathetic toward the Taliv until they discovered that the Taliv held one such ajmastone as a central symbol of their culture. The Bwolotil, therefore, engaged in war with the Taliv to apprehend their ajmastone. Three separate people groups also inhabited the island during this war, one of which was the Nati people who allied with the Taliv to win the war. This alliance led to the formation of the Taliv-Nati [[w: Pidgin|pidgin]], which was later named ''anigalilaun'', meaning "the language of peace". During the events of the novel series (about 300 years after the end of the war) Wistanian is the majority language of the island. The language also has a number of influences from the Katapu (sister peoples to the Nati and known for their religious traditionalism), the Uzin (a people distantly related to the Bwolotil who settled the island shortly after the beginning of the war), and the Bwolotil.
 
The people of Wistania are highly diverse, with a number of unique customs, traditions, and holidays among them, however, they do share a common government, law, and citizenship. The nation has ten capital cities spread across the island run by government officials called '''alaudd''' (plural, '''alauddan'''. Literally "high ones".). These ''alauddan'' meet together periodically every nine days to discuss and make national decisions. The main trade of Wistania is flowers, which are used as food, medicine, and decoration. Their diets are composed mainly of fruits and vegetables, which they normally turn into salads or soups, as well as fish, seeds, nuts, and some red meats. A majority of Wistanians are tan-skinned, Bwolotil people being slightly darker. Although brown is a common eye color, blue and green eyes are also very typical. Wistania is a very colorful and musical nation, with a diverse collection of music genres based on pan flutes, dulcimers, voice, drums, and other percussion instruments. Their most common sports include competitive archery, acrobatics, track, rainball (like basketball with four goals) during the rainy season, and a soccer-like sport during the dry season. The largest religion in Wistania is Valism, which was spread by the Katapu. The belief pertains to ajma spirits and the worship of Vale, an ajma that created their planet and enclose all the other ajma into ajmastones to keep them from harming life.
 
The five different people groups of Wistania remained isolated from each other for part of the post-war era. However, trade and intermarriage became more commonplace, requiring a competent ''lingua franca''. This is followed by religious evangelism by the Katapu, engineering from the Uzin, and entertainment from the Nati, all of which Wistanian was the primary language for distribution and promotion. Eventually, the language became taught as a mandatory subject in school. After only a couple of centuries, Wistanian advanced from a government-only auxiliary language into the national language of the island, natively and fluently spoken by most of its citizens.


As a result, Wistanian is mostly regular, with a moderately small phonological inventory and vast dialectal variation. It is the most spoken and embraced by the Taliv and Nati people groups, and the least spoken by the Bwolotil people group, who often protest the language's difficulty. The other five languages are still spoken, especially the Bwolotil language which still has a number of monolingual non-Wistanian speakers. Both the Uzin and Katapu have important texts written in their languages, while Taliv and Nati have shifted into archaism, although they are still taught in school.
<span style="color:red;">'''Update update (27/8/2019): A brand new grammar sketch is currently in the works. Soon after that gets written, I plan for this page to be officially updated. I'm keeping it as is for now, however, because I am still using it as a reference. It's not completely obsolete, just a couple things have changed (e.g., re-labels, more details, plus there are conjunctions now). I hope to update this here very very soon. Thanks for your patience.'''</span>


===Goals===
<span style="color:red;">'''Update update update (20/3/2020): Updates to this page have begun, but they are not finished. Do not trust everything you read here.</span>


Wistanian was created with three goals in mind:
<span style="color:red;">Headers that are currently correct: Intro, Phonology, Consonants, Vowels, Syllable Structure, Prosody, Romanization . . .</span>


# '''To be naturalistic, yet unique.''' It should have its own unique phonology, grammar, and lexicon, not identical to any natural language on earth, but still naturalistic and sensible.
'''Wistanian''' (IPA: /wɪˈsteɪniən/), natively known as '''aningali''' (IPA:[ən̻iːn̻ɡəl̻i]) and often nicknamed '''Wisto''', is an ''a priori'' artistic constructed language . Its development began in August 2016 for use in a WIP novel series by prominent characters who are monolingual or bilingual in the language. It is currently on "Version 9.1," having received several edits, updates, and an occasional total rehaul during its development.
# '''To represent the Wistanian culture.''' This language was designed for songs and speeches, bedtime stories and battle cries, gentle wisdom and fierce ambition, hope and struggle. This language is designed for the Wistanians: their personality, their history, and their heart.
# '''To be novel-friendly.''' Crazy letters and long words will confuse and alienate most readers, which is why Wistanian was designed to have short, easily readable words that readers can enjoy, one small sentence at a time.


===Development and Inspiration===
In-universe, Wistanian is spoken by groups of fictional peoples on a large tropical island on a planet called Vaal (IPA: [veːl̻]). It is a descendant of the Taliv language after having merged with the Nati language during the Wistanian War. These two language communities worked together against the Bwolotil people who were seeking complete possession of the land. This war eventually ended with the signing of a peace treaty between four people groups, the Taliv, Nati, Bwolotil, and the Katapu who remained mostly separated from much of the fighting. About half a decade later, a fifth people group, the Uzin, joined the Wistanian union. The creole that arose from the Taliv-Nati alliance grew in popularity and loaned a large number of terms from the other languages. During the time of the novels, Wistanian has become the ''lingua franca'' of the island. It is considered the language of government, economy, and education, and it is mandatorily taught in most schools. There are approximately 50 million speakers, comprising 95% of the island's population. Of that number, 60% are native in the language and 20% speak it monolingually.


Wistanian is the first constructed language by its author and is currently on its seventh version. Wistanian is a unique language that derives influences from several natural languages, especially [[w: Spanish_language|Spanish]] and [[w: Tamil_language|Tamil]], but their influence is mostly found in the lexicon while contributing only minimally to the grammar, which is more alike to [[w: Cantonese|Cantonese]] and [[w: Abui_language|Abui]].
Dialects of Wistanian are broadly split into three categories: the Standard Dialect, spoken in the central mountains, major cities, and among the Taliv and Nati people groups; The Western Dialect, spoken by a majority of Bwolotil and many Uzin speakers; and The Northern Dialect, spoken by the Katapu and some Uzin. Each dialect is mutually intelligible, although some variations have diverged enough to be confusing to the standard listener. These dialects vary in pronunciation, lexicon, and sometimes syntax. Aulwin Wistanian is a mostly unintelligible variety spoken on a small island off Wistania's northwest shore.


* Wistanian V1 was non-sense gibberish with a "general aesthetic" thrown around in the first drafts of the novels.  
Typologically, Wistanian is a verb-initial and heavily isolating language with around 1.2 morphemes per phonological word. Its phonology is fairly small including an entirely voiced fricative set and no round vowels. Verbs conjugate for perfective, imperfective, and stative aspects with an additional irrealis form for each. Count nouns are declined for plural number only if its number is higher than five. Wistanian has a large collection of grammatical particles, honorifics, and conjunctions (which are sensitive to switch-reference), but no distinctive lexical category for adpositions, adjectives, or adverbs. The language is primarily written using the Talivian Alphabet (which has horizontal RtL and vertical UtD variants). Some alternate scripts do exist, namely the Diwa Alphabet and Nati Abugida.
* Wistanian V2 was an English [[w: Relexification|relex]] (but without tense and articles) recorded on the Notes App of the author's iPhone.
* Wistanian V3 was the first attempt not to make the language just like English. Due to a question about verb aspect, the author discovered the subreddit [https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/ r/conlangs] and revised the language. This version eventually resulted in a [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A6KEK3XpFpO3cAyVG-51KMlOGPU5f6IG/view?usp=sharing 23-page grammar].
* Wistanian V4 was the result of deeper relationships with r/conlangs users over Discord. This version is marked by a fluctuating word order, adding /p/ and /k/, the Talivian alphabet, and at least some semblance of naturalism. It also has a [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Iq-ta5iplwmt7HSKnHNmIxZc2Eo5Ts-L/view?usp=sharing grammar document that's 49 pages long].
* Wistanian V5 was a heavily edited response to discrepancies, holes, and potential improvements on the previous version. It is marked by a stricter word order, orthography changes, and "converbs" (which are now relativizer particles). It also saw the advent of the [https://www.reddit.com/r/wistanian/ r/wistanian subreddit] and [https://wistania.miraheze.org/wiki/Main_Page Wikistania]. Although a grammar document was under development, its only complete representation is in [https://www.reddit.com/r/conlangs/comments/7q6zr3/wistanian/ Reddit post that offers a summary].
* Wistanian V6 is marked by a total lexicon rehaul that attempted (and failed) to respect diachronic change. Within this version, huge edits and revisions occurred among each lexical category. Nouns lost their locational cases, verbal conjugation was completely scrapped and redone, modifiers were re-analyzed and removed, honorifics were restructured, particles were added, colors and numbers were redone, and the history was clarified to be more realistic.  
* Wistanian V7 is a recognition of these dramatic changes. With this version, the lexicon is expected to be polished, the script is expected to be tweaked, and many of the basics are expected to be expanded. This article accurately represents Wistanian in its current version (unless otherwise noted).


==Phonology==
==Phonology==


===Inventory===
Derived from the Taliv language, trimmed down by Nati influence, Wistanian has 16 consonants and 5 vowel phonemes. All vowels are almost completely unrounded in the standard dialect, and there's a heavy trend toward voiced fricatives and plosives. Allophony is rather sparse in standard speech, however, it becomes more common in certain dialects. Syllable structure is CCVC, although onsets are restricted to single consonants or fricative-semivowel clusters and codas do not include /w/, /j/, or /ɦ/. There are three varieties of stress that are defined by vowel quality and volume. Despite clear trends, stress is irregular and lexical.
====Consonants====


[[File:WistanianZoratinFlower gold.png|thumb|right|The Wistanian symbol of peace, modelled after the ''zoraddin'' flower.]]
===Consonants===
 
The consonants are as follows (allophones are in [brackets]):
The consonants are as follows (allophones are in parentheses):


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" |  
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" |  
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Labial
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Labial
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Alveolar
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Alveolar<sup>1</sup>
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Palatal
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Palatal
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Velar
! style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Velar
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| style="text-align: center;" | n
| style="text-align: center;" | n
| style="text-align: center;" |  
| style="text-align: center;" |  
| style="text-align: center;" | (ŋ)
| style="text-align: center;" | [ŋ]<sup>2</sup>
| style="text-align: center;" |  
| style="text-align: center;" |  
|-
|-
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| style="text-align: center;" | z
| style="text-align: center;" | z
| style="text-align: center;" | ʒ
| style="text-align: center;" | ʒ
| style="text-align: center;" | (ɣ)
| style="text-align: center;" | [ɣ]<sup>3</sup>
| style="text-align: center;" | ɦ
| style="text-align: center;" | ɦ
|-
|-
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Liquid
! colspan="2" style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;" | Liquid
| style="text-align: center;" | w ~ βʷ
| style="text-align: center;" | w ~ βʷ<sup>4</sup>
| style="text-align: center;" | ɾ ~ r
| style="text-align: center;" | ɾ ~ r<sup>5</sup>
| style="text-align: center;" | j
| style="text-align: center;" | j
| style="text-align: center;" |  
| style="text-align: center;" |  
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|}
|}


* Alveolars are pronounced [[w: laminal_consonant|laminally]].
# Alveolars (except /ɾ ~ r/) are pronounced [[w: laminal_consonant|laminally]].
* n > ŋ / _[velar]
# n > ŋ / _[velar]
* ɦ > ɣ / #_, [stress]_
# ɦ > ɣ / #_, [stress]_
* [w] is spoken in emphasized or slow speech, while [βʷ] is spoken in quick speech. In the Western Dialect, it is always pronounced as [w].
# /w/ is spoken in emphasized or slow speech, while /βʷ/ is spoken in quick speech. Whenever immediately following a consonant, this is always pronounced as /w/. In the Western Dialect, it is always pronounced as /w/.
* [r] is spoken in emphasized or slow speech, while [ɾ] is spoken in quick speech. In some words, the trilled is preferred even in quick speech; for example, '''ggarauni''' (large) is almost always pronounced [kəˈrɑni].
# /r/ is spoken in emphasized or slow speech, while /ɾ/ is spoken in quick speech. In some words, the trilled is preferred even in quick speech; for example, '''ggarauni''' (large) is almost always pronounced [kərɑni].


====Vowels====
===Vowels===


The following table features the five distinct monophthongs of Wistanian, /i e a ɑ ɯ/, in each form of phonological stress. With primary stress, they are long and tense; with secondary stress, they are short and tense; with tertiary stress, they are short and lax (/e/ and /ɑ/ never recieve tertiary stress). Wistanian's one diphthong /a͡i/ is always long and has no lax form, therefore receiving only primary stress.
The following table features the five distinct monophthongs of Wistanian, /i e a ɑ ɯ/, in each form of phonological stress. With primary stress, they are long and tense; with secondary stress, they are short and tense; with tertiary stress, they are short and lax (/e/ and /ɑ/ never receive tertiary stress). Wistanian's one diphthong /a͡i/ has no lax form, therefore only taking on primary or secondary stress. (Secondary stress is only observed in polysyllabic perfective verbs).  


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
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* All vowels become breathy after /ɦ/.
* All vowels become breathy after /ɦ/.
* /ɯ/ and /ɑ/ shift to [u] and [ɒ] after /w~βʷ/.
* /ɯ/ and /ɑ/ shift to [u] and [ɒ] after /w~βʷ/.
* There is one diphthong, /a͡i/, which always receives primary stress.


===Phonotactics===
===Syllable Structure===


====Syllable Structure====
Wistanian has a (C<sub>1</sub>/FA)V(C<sub>2</sub>) syllable structure. (C<sub>1</sub>) can be any phoneme that is a consonant, (FA) can be any fricative (/v/, /z/, /ʒ/, or [ɣ]) immediately followed by an approximate (/w/ or /j/), V is any vowel, and (C<sub>2</sub>) is any consonant that is not an approximate (/w/ or /j/) or /ɦ/.


Wistanian has a (C/FA)V(N) syllable structure where C represents any consonant, F represents any fricative, A represents /j/ or /w/, V represents any vowel, and N represents any consonant that is not /j/, /w/, or /ɦ/.
(C/FA) refers to the optional syllable onset which can either be any consonant or a fricative/approximate cluster (/vj/, /vw/, /zj/, /zw/, /ʒj/, /ʒw/, [ɣj], [ɣw]). V refers to the required syllable nucleus which must be any vowel. (N) is an optional coda, which can be any consonant except /j/, /w ~ βʷ/, or /ɦ/. For example, legal syllables are /vjan/, /pe/, /ai̯l/, and /ɑ/, but syllables like /bjaw/, /zpe/, /ild/ and /r/ are not legal.
 
Syllable onsets may be any consonant or any fricative followed by /j/ or /w/:
 
* m, n, p, b, t, d, k, ɡ, v, vj, vw, z, zj, zw, ʒ, ʒj, ʒw, ɦ, ɦj, ɦw, w, r, j, l.
 
Syllable nuclei may be any vowel:
 
* i, e, a, ɑ, ɯ, ai̯
 
Syllable coda may be any consonant that is not /j/, /w/, or /ɦ/.
 
* m, n, p, t, k, b, d, ɡ, v, z, ʒ, ɾ, l
 
====Stress====
 
Stress usually falls on the first non-lax vowel (/ai̯/, /i/, /e/, /a/, /ɯ/, or /ɑ/). But there are many exceptions, especially where the vowels /i/ and /a/ come into place since you must know whether or not those sounds are the stressed /i/ or /a/ or the lax [ɪ] or [ə]. A prime example is between the words '''viman''' and '''viman''', which are spelled identically. When stress is on the /i/ as in [ˈvimən], the word means “sugar”, but when stress is on the /a/ as in [vɪˈman], the word means “sky.” /ai̯/ and /e/ are always stressed. /ɯ/ is always stressed unless it's word-initial (in which case it will usually shift to [ʊ]). /ɑ/ is usually stressed unless non-lax /a/ or /i/ are present. Secondary stress is also lexical, but rare. Many particles and common monosyllabic words are not stressed unless the feature the /e/ or /ai̯/ vowels. (E.g.,'''va''' is normally [və], and '''zi''' is normally [zɪ]; but '''aa''' is normally [ˈe].)
 
Stress is realized through vowel lengthening and sometimes a higher intonation.


===Prosody===
===Prosody===


''needs expansion''
Wistanian speakers are usually soft and clear, as politeness and simplicity are important values in many of their cultures. In most Talivian villages, speaking loudly is considered rude and is, therefore, looked down upon. In the Southwest, the volume is typically louder. Speed also varies as the Northeast prefers slow and careful speech while the Northwest prefers fast-paced speech.
 
Prosody varies among the different people groups. In the standard dialect, a soft and clear tone is expected. In most Talivian villages, speaking loudly is considered rude and is therefore looked down upon. In the Southwest, the volume is typically louder. Speed also varies as the Northeast prefers slow and careful speech while the Northwest prefers fast-paced speech.
 
Another key contrast among dialectal prosody is merging like vowels between separate words. For example, a Uzin speaker would most likely pronounce '''auvi ilam''' (young bird) by merging the final '''-i''' in '''auvi''' and the initial '''i-''' in '''ilam''', like [ˈɑvˈiləm]. A Nati speaker would pronounce both '''i''''s by lengthening it like [ˈɑv ˈiːləm]. A Bwolotil or Katapu speaker would insert a glottal stop between them: [ˈɑvi ˈʔiləm]. A Taliv speaker may add an empenthetic '''y''' and pronounce it like [ˈɑvi ˈjiləm].


===Orthography===
===Orthography===
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====Romanization====
====Romanization====


Wistanian employs its own script, but it is romanized with a system that reflects the script and its spellings. The romanization rules are as follows:
Wistanian employs its own script, but it is romanized for Earthlings with a system that reflects the script and its spellings. The romanization rules are as follows:


* /m/, /n/, /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /v/, /z/, and /l/ are represented with the corresponding IPA symbol.
* /m/, /n/, /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /v/, /z/, and /l/ are represented with the corresponding IPA symbol.
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* /ɑ/ and [ɒ] is represented by ⟨au⟩.
* /ɑ/ and [ɒ] is represented by ⟨au⟩.


Wistanian employs a number of peculiar digraphs: ⟨bb⟩ = /p/, ⟨dd⟩ = /t/, ⟨gg⟩ = /k/, ⟨aa⟩ = /e/, and ⟨au⟩ = /ɑ/, .
===Script===
 
When Wistanian writing was developed, /p t k/ only existed allophonically, and /e, ɑ/ did not exist at all. Therefore, glyphs were not made for those sounds. As the language changed and came into contact with other languages, /p t k/ became distinct sounds. Rather than making new glyphs, spellers decided to double up ⟨b⟩, ⟨d⟩, and ⟨g⟩. /e/ is only present in loan words, and the emergence of /ɑ/ is not yet decided, although it's likely due to some conditional /a/ shifting and substrate influence. Since there are only three vowel glyphs, they combined ⟨a⟩ with ⟨u⟩ to represent /ɑ/ as ⟨au⟩, doubled up ⟨a⟩ to represent /e/ as ⟨aa⟩, and kept ⟨ai⟩ as the digraph for the language's only diphthong, /ai/. ⟨ii, ia, iu, ui, ua, uu⟩ are respelled as ⟨yi, ya, yu, wi, wa, wu⟩.


[[File:Slide1.PNG|thumbnail|left|250px|The Wistanian script.]]
<big><span style="color:red;">'''ACURATE INFORMATION ENDS HERE.'''</span></big>


====Script====
====Script====
Wistanian has an alphabet which represents the different sounds in Wistanian. The alphabet was inspired by Latin, IPA, and Greek, but is often described as Armenian-looking. The font, based on [[w: Cambria_(typeface)|Cambria]], was created using [https://sketchbook.com/ Autodesk Sketchbook] for the iPad and converted into a font using [https://www.calligraphr.com/en/ Calligraphr] and [https://www.cr8software.net/typelight.html TypeLight].
Wistanian has an alphabet which represents the different sounds in Wistanian. The alphabet was inspired by Latin, IPA, and Greek, but is often described as Armenian-looking. The font, based on [[w: Cambria_(typeface)|Cambria]], was created using [https://sketchbook.com/ Autodesk Sketchbook] for the iPad and converted into a font using [https://www.calligraphr.com/en/ Calligraphr] and [https://www.cr8software.net/typelight.html TypeLight].


The script, often referred to as '''araman taliv auzanigza''' (lit. "dishes of the Taliv") began its evolution during the Diwa oppression when the Taliv people were secretly plotting escape by setting their dishes outside their homes in certain orders to convey messages. After their escape and resettlement on the Wistanian island, the dishes gave form to the written language.
The script, often referred to as '''araman taliv''' (lit. "Talivian dishes") began its evolution during the Diwa oppression when the Taliv people were secretly plotting escape by setting their dishes outside their homes in certain orders to convey messages. After their escape and resettlement on the Wistanian island, the dishes gave form to the written language.


Another interesting feature of the script is "compound glyphs." They are /k/, /t/, /p/, /e/, and /ɑ/, and they are made by doubling or combining two different glyphs together. This is why the romanization of Wistanian uses ⟨gg⟩ for /k/, ⟨au⟩ for /ɑ/, as well as the other digraphs.
Another interesting feature of the script is "compound glyphs." They are /k/, /t/, /p/, /e/, and /ɑ/, and they are made by doubling or combining two different glyphs together. This is why the romanization of Wistanian uses ⟨gg⟩ for /k/, ⟨au⟩ for /ɑ/, as well as the other digraphs. The letter for ⟨i⟩ is also normally connected to the consonant before it.


Like the lexicon and grammar, Daly redesigned the Wistanian script multiple times - three, to be exact. The original script was an alphabet, but it did not capture the "spirit" of Wistanian, so it was scrapped for an abugida. The abugida, which was beautiful, was also difficult to learn and write, prompting yet another redesign. The original design is now considered as the old Diwa alphabet, while the abugida is an alternative script used by the Nati.
Like the lexicon and grammar, the Wistanian script has been redesigned multiple times - three, to be exact. The original script was an alphabet, but it did not capture the "spirit" of Wistanian, so it was scrapped for an abugida. The abugida, which was beautiful, was also difficult to learn and write, prompting yet another redesign. The original design is now considered as the old Diwa alphabet, while the abugida is an alternative script used by the Nati.


===Dialectal Variation===
===Dialectal Variation===
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==Syntax==
==Syntax==


Wistanian follows a fairly rigid syntax and tight grammar for a number of historical reasons. Firstly, due to its mixing with the Nati language, Taliv lost most of its irregularities and exceptions. Secondly, as the Katapu began to teach Wistanian, they had spread false information to "make more sense" of the language, which resulted in further simplification that was later adopted as standard. In Wistanian's infancy, it was almost engineered to be as efficient as possible. However, learners were still able to incorporate features from their native language into Wistanian, providing it with several of its current syntactical quirks (e.g., imperative word order was introduced by the Nati learners).  
Wistanian follows a fairly rigid syntax due to its recent creolization and standardization at its in-universe conception. In almost all cases, Wistanian is verb-initial, followed by the nominative, accusative, instrumental, then purposive noun phrases.


===Lexical Categories===
===Lexical Categories===


Wistanian has four traditional lexical categories (parts of speech): the noun ('''davagg'''), the verb ('''anai'''), the particle ('''mauvaldul'''), and the honorifics ('''garajil''').  
Wistanian has six lexical categories, the noun, verb, particle, coordinator, honorific, and interjection.  


{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
! style="text-align: center;" | Nouns
! style="text-align: center;" | Nouns
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | davagg
| Any word that can act as a subject or object the verb and is able to be either the head or attributive in a compound.
| Any word that takes on nominal morphology and can act as a subject or object the verb.
|-
|-
! style="text-align: center;" | Verbs
! style="text-align: center;" | Verbs
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | anai
| Any word that takes on verbal morphology and describes a state or action.
| Any word that takes on verbal morphology.
|-
|-
! style="text-align: center;" | Particles
! style="text-align: center;" | Particles
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | mauvaldul
| Any word that has a grammatical role and cannot take on any additional morphemes.
| Any word that has a grammatical role and cannot take on any additional morphemes.
|-
! Coordinator
| Any word that connects two or more words of a similar lexical category or two or more clauses.
|-
|-
! style="text-align: center;" | Honorifics
! style="text-align: center;" | Honorifics
| style="text-align: center; font-style:italic;" | garajil
| A polite title used with many proper nouns.
| A polite title used with many proper nouns.
|-
! style="text-align: center;" | Interjection
| Any word that can stand alone and expresses a feeling or platitude.
|}
|}


===Word Order===
===Word Order===


Wistanian is predominately head-initial and verb-initial. This is manafested in that particles are always expressed first in a particle phrase (PartP), head verbs are expressed first in a verb phrase (VP), and head nouns are expressed first in a noun phrase (NP).  
Wistanian is predominately head-initial and verb-initial. This is manifested in that particles are always expressed first in a particle phrase (PartP), head verbs are expressed first in a verb phrase (VP), and head nouns are expressed first in a noun phrase (NP).  


  '''viga dari aa garauda bi.'''
  '''viga dari aa garauda bi.'''
  vig-a    dari aa  garauda bi.
  vig-a    dari aa  garauda+bi.
  eat-DUR boy  ACC food   goodness
  eat-IPV boy  ACC food+good
  "The boy is eating good food."
  "The boy is eating good food."


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Most of time, declarative and interrogative sentences will be expressed as verb-subject-object (VSO). However, imperative sentences use verb-object-subject (VOS). In the formal register of the Western Dialect, the word order changes dramatically into subject-object-verb (SOV), due to the SOV word order of the Bwolotil language spoken in those areas.  
Most of time, declarative and interrogative sentences will be expressed as verb-subject-object (VSO). However, imperative sentences use verb-object-subject (VOS). In the formal register of the Western Dialect, the word order changes dramatically into subject-object-verb (SOV), due to the SOV word order of the Bwolotil language spoken in those areas.  
Phrases that begin with a relativizer particle (See 4.3.3) are expressed at the end of the NP that it modifies. Temporal phrases that begin with the particle '''auv''' (when/during) will typically be expressed at the beginning or end of a sentence, although some dialects and registers allow it after the VP.


  '''auv bimaj daridd, auzunwaj aa ujadi va jin, lu.'''
  '''auv bimaj daridd, auzunwaj aa ujadi va jin, lu.'''
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Irrealis verbs describe an action that has not occurred. This mood is applied to verbs that refer to a future state or action, interrogative and polite imperative sentences, and conditional, obligative, and potential moods. Irrealis verbs are conjugated with the suffix ⟨-j⟩, which follows after the aspect marking. It is not applied to negated verbs.
Irrealis verbs describe an action that has not occurred. This mood is applied to verbs that refer to a future state or action, interrogative and polite imperative sentences, and conditional, obligative, and potential moods. Irrealis verbs are conjugated with the suffix ⟨-j⟩, which follows after the aspect marking. It is not applied to negated verbs.


Whenever the irrealis is used on a verb without an aspect marker, it is assumed to be indicative of a future action (in most cases). The verb "walk" has not literally happened yet, which is why it is in the irrealis. However, the speaker is sure that the action will occur at some time in the future, which is why it is in the unmarked indicative.
Whenever the irrealis is used on a verb without an aspect marker, it is assumed to be indicative of a future action (in most cases). In the following example, the verb "walk" has not literally happened yet, which is why it is in the irrealis. However, the speaker is sure that the action will occur at some time in the future, which is why it is in the unmarked indicative.


   '''budaij yau miram.'''
   '''nadaij yau miram.'''
   buda   -ai '''-j'''  yau    miram.
   nada   -ai '''-j'''  yau    miram.
   walk.to-PRF'''-IRR''' 1S.NOM store.
   walk.to-PRF'''-IRR''' 1S.NOM store.
   "I will walk to the store."
   "I will walk to the store."
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