Yacavestu

Yacavestu/Lexicon

Yacavestu is a head-final ("Altaic") agglutinative language spoken in Eastern Talma and Northern Etalocin, and is an official language of Quelocin (!werotunub in Yacavestu, from the !Zoom name tkwe) alongside Clofabosin. It's inspired aesthetically by drug names (cf. Clofabosin), Zulu, Welsh, and Estonian. It has clicks from !Zoom and is also in a sprachbund with Adutsib. It is an isolate, though some believe it is related to Idavic.

Yal eŋcuvil g!ifam herazu vestazad. = Methavir nalaminyl mekerylide ester axoram.

Todo

• reduplication
• -mad (e.g. ololirmad)
• -vab
• -mob
• -al
• -am
• -xab
• -mob
• -zob?
• -ub
• -ode
• rotunu = 'world'
• elir = 'one'

Panzux should be Yaca

Phonology

Consonants

m n ŋ p t ʈ k b d g f s h v z l ɬ r r(voiceless) j ⟨m n ŋ p t th c b d g f s h v z l hl r hr y⟩

clicks: @ g@ ! g! | g| || g||

(/ks/ is written ⟨x⟩.)

Word final l may be retroflexed to /ɭ/ or even lenited to /ɻ/. The lateral fricative /ɬ/ may be a palatal lateral fricative or even a palatal central fricative /ç/ depending on dialect. In those dialects the lateral click is also realized as a palatal click.

/d/ is often retroflex.

Final ŋ is disallowed but initial ŋ is allowed

Vowels

Yacavestu vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/		u /u/
Mid	e /e/		o /o/
Open		a /a/

Morphology

Nouns

Case suffixes

• -b: definite accusative
• -am, -bam: genitive
• -zod, -bazod: at, in
• -adul, -badul: to / -zodul
• -vil, -bavil: from / -zovil

Suffixaufnahme

-am herazu, -amerazu = about

Definiteness and possession

Nouns take a suffix for definiteness. Possessive suffixes are added directly to the noun for inalienable possession, and to the classifier for alienable possession.

vestu - 'language'
Number→ State↓	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	vestu	vestil
Definite	vestub	vestilab
1sg possessor	vestel	vestilel
2sg possessor	vestiyab	vestiliyab
3sg possessor	vestun	vestilun
1pl possessor	vestelax	vestilelax
2pl possessor	vestubax	vestilubax
3pl possessor	vestunax	vestilunax

Verbs

Unlike in Clofabosin, Yacavestu verbs come in many different conjugations.

The subjunctive comes from a historical *hu.

Active verbs: -zad, subjunctive -zathu

Stative verbs: -rub, subjunctive -rugu

Verbs of motion: -thol, subjunctive -tholu

question particle: -bi, as in tritholubi? (is he coming?)

Usage

Yacavestu doesn't use personal pronouns as commonly as Clofabosin; verbs of motion, titles, names or kinship terms are generally used.