Soc'ul'

Soc'ul'
soc'ul'
Jul soc'ul', "Soc'ul' language"
Pronunciation	[so̞˧kʷʰu˩lˀ]
Created by	Dillon Hartwig
Date	2020
Setting	Pollasena
Native to	Knrawi Isles
Language family	Wasc Soc'ul'
Early form	Pre-Soc'ul'
Official status
Official language in	Knrawi Empire
Range map of Soc'ul' (green) and Knrawi (pink)

Soc'ul' /ˈsoʊkʊl/ (Soc'ul': [so̞˧kʷʰu˩lˀ]) is a Wasc language spoken primarily by the Cuoñ'o people, with strong influence from Knrawi and other languages of the Knrawi Isles.

Etymology

Soc'ul', the language's autonym, is inherited from the Pre-Soc'ul' autonym səkʰulːa, from Wascotl *(cek)-cek-sole-la "our tongue".

Orthography

Soc'ul' is written with the Wacag logography. Its romanization is as follows.

Soc'ul' Romanization

A a	Á á	Ā ā	B b	B' b'	C c	C' c'	Cñ cñ	Cñ' cñ'	D d	D' d'
E e	É é	Ē ē	H h	I i	Í í	Ī ī	Ï ï	J j	L l	L' l'
M m	M' m'	N n	N' n'	Ñ ñ	Ñ' ñ'	O o	Ó ó	Ō ō	P p	Pf pf
Pm pm	Pm' pm'	R r	R' r'	S s	T t	Tn tn	Tn' tn'	Ts ts	Tx tx	T' t'
U u	Ú ú	Ū ū	Ü ü	V v	V' v'	X x	Y y	Ý ý	Z z	Z' z'

This romanization matches IPA except

• ⟨c⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨h⟩, ⟨j⟩, ⟨ñ⟩, ⟨x⟩, and ⟨y⟩ represent /k/, /ə/, /ʔ/, /x/, /ŋ/, /ʃ/, and /ɰ/
• ⟨pm⟩, ⟨tn⟩, ⟨cñ⟩, ⟨pf⟩, ⟨ts⟩, and ⟨tx⟩ represent /ᵖm/, /ᵗn/, /ᵏŋ/, /p͡f/, /t͡s/, and /t͡ʃ/
• ⟨ü⟩ and ⟨ï⟩ represent /u/ and /i/ when ⟨u⟩ and ⟨i⟩ would cause ambiguity
• ⟨o⟩ represents /ə/ when realized as [o̞] except between a labialized consonant (except allophones of /u(ː)/) and a plain velar consonant (except /ɰˀ/)
• Apostrophes mark glottalization and aspiration.
• Acutes and macrons mark long and overlong vowels respectively, except in ⟨ý⟩ in which it marks glottalization.
• Labialization and palatalization are marked by surrounding vowel letters.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants

	Labial/ labiodental				Alveolar				Post- alveolar				Palatalized velar/ palatal				Velar				Labialized velar				Glottal
Nasal	ᵖm	m	ᵖmˀ	mˀ	ᵗn	n	nˀ	ᵗnˀ					ᵏŋʲ	ŋʲ	ᵏŋʲˀ	ŋʲˀ	ᵏŋ	ŋ	ᵏŋˀ	ŋˀ	ᵏŋʷ	ŋʷ	ᵏŋʷˀ	ŋʷˀ
Stop		b		bˀ	t	d	tʰ	dˀ					kʲ		kʲʰ		k		kʰ		kʷ		kʷʰ		ʔ
Affricate	p͡f				t͡s				t͡ʃ
Fricative		v		vˀ	s		z	zˀ	ʃ				xʲ	(ʝ)		(ʝˀ)	x	(ɣ)		(ɣˀ)	xʷ	(ɣʷ)		(ɣʷˀ)
Approximant						l		lˀ						(j)		(jˀ)		(ɰ)		(ɰˀ)		(w)		(wˀ)
Trill						r		rˀ

Notes:

• Glottalized consonants are realized with simultaneous creaky voicing for most speakers, but some speakers realize glottalized stops as implosive either in free variation or word-initially
• Aspirated consonants have light to moderate aspiration
• [j(ˀ)] and [w(ˀ)] are allophones of /i(ː)/ and /u(ː)/ adjacent to vowels
• [j(ˀ)], /ɰ(ˀ)/, and [w(ˀ)] are realized as [ʝ(ˀ)], [ɣ(ˀ)], and [ɣʷ(ˀ)] adjacent to high vowels
• Some speakers devoice voiced obstruents adjacent to voiceless consonants

Vowels

Vowels

	Front		Central	Back
High	i	(y)		u
Mid			ə	(o̞)
Low	a			(ɒ)

Notes:

• All vowels can be long or overlong
• [y], [o̞], and [ɒ] are allophones of /i/, /ə/, and /a/ adjacent to labialized consonants except allophones of /u(ː)/

Prosody

Stress and Pitch

There is no set stress position, but allophonic pitch based on vowels' surrounding consonants. For most speakers these pitches are not contrastive but are seen as proper and are required in recitations; marginal exceptions occur for speakers occur that assimilate voicing in clusters and for speakers that retain tone in loaned Knrawi or tonal substrate words.

Short vowels

	Voiceless /pre-stopped consonant	Aspirated /voiced consonant	Word boundary /vowel	Glottalized consonant
Voiceless /pre-stopped consonant	high	mid	high	low
Aspirated /voiced consonant	high	mid	mid	low
Word boundary /vowel	high	mid	mid	low
Glottalized consonant	high	mid	low	low

Long/overlong vowels

	Voiceless /pre-stopped consonant	Aspirated /voiced consonant	Word boundary /vowel	Glottalized consonant
Voiceless /pre-stopped consonant	high	high falling	high falling	high sharp falling
Aspirated /voiced consonant	high rising	mid	mid	low falling
Word boundary /vowel	high rising	mid	mid	low falling
Glottalized consonant	low sharp rising	low rising	low rising	low

Whether glottalized pre-stopped nasals pattern as pre-stopped or glottalized varies by speaker and region.

Intonation

Declarative sentences generally have a falling pitch throughout, but volume and pitch range can be used for emphasis. In questions or negated sentences the particle xen may also be emphasized with a sharp falling pitch followed by higher pitch in the following word.

Rhythm

Syllables are generally mora-timed, with syllables containing long and overlong vowels having two or three morae; in recitations, continuant coda consonants or coda clusters with them may have their own mora, and overlong syllables may instead have four morae.

Phonotactics

Syllables are at most CC₁VC₂C, with C₁ being a non-lateral approximant and C₂ being C₁ or /ʔ/, but these maximum syllables are very rare. There are no restrictions on what clusters can occur.

Grammar

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives are not their own class of words, but are derived from nouns or verbs. Most often they are derived by zero-marking before other nouns or verbs, or with particles. Some of these derived adjectives and adverbs have meanings that don't directly correspond to the word they are derived from; in most cases this is due to homophony in ancestral Wascotl words after dropping of the adjective suffix *-osc, for example toc "knife" or "sharp" from Wascotl *tequ-(ati) and *tequ-osc respectively.

Syntax

Constituent order

All clauses are strictly VO, and subject and object order are flexible with sufficient marking or context, but VSO order is most common.

Dependent clauses

Dependent clauses follow the head they modify after all other dependents, and are usually marked with a relativizer āh-.

Example texts

Linguifex Translations

• Complaint tablet to Ea-nāṣir
• Enuma Elish
• Hansu Hansuen
• Hymn of Light
• Ishtar spoke to her father
• Lovebirds' Song
• Night's Watch oath
• Ring verse
• Schleicher's fable
• Starlings' Song
• The Lord's Prayer
• The North Wind and the Sun
• The Tower of Babel
• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• Whiskey's Song

Twitter Translations

• Permechikan showcase text
• Ossetian cowboy verse
• My horses collect teeth
• Buddy
• NSFW joke
• Punch Man opening theme

Other resources

Pollasena Wiki

Twitter word of the day

Discord word of the day