Asári
| Asári | |
|---|---|
| Asári | |
| Pronunciation | [[Help:IPA|aˌsa:'ri]] |
| Created by | – |
| Native to | Thessia and other Asari Worlds, the Citadel |
| Native speakers | Trillions (2185) |
Asáric
| |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | as |
| ISO 639-2 | asa |
| ISO 639-3 | asa |
Background
Asári is the most-spoken language in the Milky Way Galaxy. The Asari race, first to discover the Citadel Station, quickly became the leaders of galactic government and other affairs. Being one of the most widespread and certainly the 'oldest' spacefaring race in the modern Milky Way, the Asari enjoy the benefits of having Asári as one of the four administrative languages of the Citadel Council.
The Asari language detailed in this article is High Asari, or Asári teporu (AT).
Asári is of my own creation, even though it is meant to be spoken by a race of aliens created by Bioware. I have not copied or used any material from other Asari-langauge Conlangs. (Nor am I aware that they exist as of writing this sentence)
Phonology
| Letters | Pronunciation | Further information |
|---|---|---|
| a | [a:] | has no short version |
| c | [kʰ]/[-] | used as glide after a and long u |
| e | [ɛ] / [e:] | - |
| g | [g]/[-] | used as glide after a and long u |
| h | [h] | - |
| i | [i] | - |
| k | [kʰ] | rarely used, usually replaced by c |
| l | [l] | - |
| m | [m] | - |
| n | [n] | - |
| o | [ɔ]/[o:] | short/long |
| p | [p] | - |
| r | [r] | |
| s | [s] | - |
| t | [t] | - |
| u | [ʉ] | has no short version |
| v | [v] | - |
| x | [ks] | - |
| y | [i] | makes the same sound as i |
| z | [z] | rarely used |
The Asári alphabet also has stress marks that can be placed over any vowel (á, é, í, ó, ú, ý) to indicate the primary stress placement on a word if it does not follow the standard stress rules.
The phones [b] and [d] have merged with [p] and [t] and are no longer in use. They are still found in some archaic words, such as ardat-yakshi.
Consonants
Here is a chart of the Consonantal Phonemes in Asári:
| Phonemes | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stop | p | t | kʰ g | |||||
| Affricate | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | |||||
| Fricative | f v | s | ʃ | ks | h | |||
| Approximant | r | |||||||
| Lateral approximant | w | l |
The digraph sh represents [ʃ], and ng represents [ɲ].
Vowels
Here is a table of the vowel phonemes in Asári:
| Phonemes | Short | Long | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | Front | Back | |
| Closed | i | - | ʉ | |
| Mid-closed | - | e: | o: | |
| Mid-open | ɛ | ɔ | - | - |
| Open | a | - | - | - |
Asári has a relatively small number of individual phonemes, which is what makes it so easy for other species to learn and one of the reasons it is the main administrative language of the Citadel Council.
Stress
Stress falls on the first syllable of a word, unless specified otherwise by an accented vowel. Vowels in stressed syllables are always long, if a length distinction can be made for that vowel. This can change the meaning of seemingly homophonic words:
- teporu [te:'pɔ,rʉ] (high, adj.) vs. tepóru [tɛ,po:'rʉ] (gate, n.)
Glides
Asári has two glides: the j-type glide and the w-type glide, each represented by specific letters in specific positions.
The letters c and g represent these glides respectively. They are only used as glides after the phonemes [a] and [ʉ:]. (a and long u)
For example:
| Word | Pronunciation | Glide Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| tagó | [ta,wo:'] | w-glide | hand |
| uge | [ʉ:'wɛ] | w-glide | moon |
| oeaci | [o:'ɛa,ji] | j-glide | ocean (human loanword) |
| arúcetú | [a:,rʉ:'jɛ,tʉ:'] | j-glide | to work (from German arbeiten) |
Grammar
Nouns and Gender
Nouns in Asári are not inflected for gender, in keeping with Asári's simple grammatical concepts. They are, however, inflected for number.
There are three numbers in Asári, singular, dual, and plural. Number inflection for nouns is done by conjoining a word before the noun. teng is used for two of something, and acia is used for any number over three. Here is a chart showing the prefixed number markers for nouns in different numbers:
| Singular | Dual | Plural | Meaning | Definite |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| asári | teng-asári | acia-asári | asári | asári-te |
| sale | teng-sale | acia-sale | land (country) | sale-te |
| aeó | teng-aeó | acia-aeó | eye | aeó-te |
There are a significant number of Asári-absorbed human loanwords, such as aeó - eye, or te - the. These simpler loanwords have become so common that they have replaced their archaic Asári counterparts. Many of these come from English and other Germanic languages.
Proper nouns are pluralized by suffixing ae:
- Aria (name) - Ariae (if the noun ends in a, then only e is added)
- Mari (type of fish) - Mariae
Personal Pronouns
| Case | 1st person | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Nominative | eia | teia | ||
| Accusative | co | tecó | ||
| Dative | cu | tecú | ||
| Genitive | coia | tecóia | ||
| Case | 2nd person | |||
| Singular | Plural | |||
| Nominative | vo | tevó | ||
| Accusative | meia | teméia | ||
| Dative | maia | temáia | ||
| Genitive | aer | teáer | ||
| Case | 3rd person | |||
| Feminine (Neutral) | Plural | |||
| Nominative | sene | ten | ||
| Accusative | sena | tena | ||
| Dative | senu | tenu | ||
| Genitive | seno | teno | ||
Most proper nouns derive their plural form in Asári through the addition of acia - many. However, in the instance of pronouns, a t is added. Asári tends to avoid consonant clusters, and because of this, a 'glider e' is insterted between the t and the next consonant. For instance:
- eia - I -> teia - we.
This is not true of most of the other pronouns:
- meia - you (acc.) -> meia - teméia - you pl. (acc.) (note the accent on é to preserve the pronunciation of meia)