Cerian
Čérízon
sérešu čérí
Pronunciation[[Help:IPA|[[tʃeːˈriːzon]
[ˈseːreʃu tʃeːˈriː]]]]
Created byLili21
DateMar 2017
SettingCalémere
EthnicityCerians
Native speakers450,000,000 (2312)
Evandorian languages
  • Central Evandorian
    • Íscégon
      • Cerian

Cerian — natively Čérízon [tʃeːˈriːzon] or sérešu čérí [ˈseːreʃu tʃeːˈriː] — is the main global lingua franca on the planet on Calémere, particularly in the nations of its Western Bloc, and its second-most spoken language by number of native speakers (after Chlouvānem). It is an Evandorian language belonging to the Central Evandorian branch, and one of the direct descendants of one of the two most important Classical language of the Calemerian Western civilization, namely Íscégon.

Native to the country of Ceria (Cer.: Čéría; Isc.: Ciairegiion) in the western part of Evandor, Cerian is the official language of seven countries in Evandor - Ceria, Šáritun, Vétaní, Čaga, Rogoma, Noméde Ínéma, and Sternia (Cer. Seténía - co-official with Majo-Bankrávian) - and 37 other countries around the planet. It is also a regionally recognized language in the Evandorian countries of Besagret, Helinetia, Ingvensia, Auralia and Nordulic (Cer.: Bésói, Helinétía, Envenšía, Órolía, Nódóle), and in many other countries of the planet, including even a few areas in the northwestern Chlouvānem Inquisition.

Introduction

Phonology

Orthography

Consonants

The consonant inventory among different Cerian dialects is fairly similar, with the most noticeable exception being Hilly Southeastern Cerian which are the only ones that didn't merge Íscégon /l/ into /r/ (the distinction is still kept everywhere in the spelling - e.g. áleron "road" /ˈaːreron/ even if 95% of the speakers merge them).

→ PoA
↓ Manner
Labial Labiodental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasals m n
Plosives p b t d k g
Affricates
Fricatives f v s z ʃ ʒ h
Approximants j
Trill r

Vowels

Front Central Back
High i iː u uː
Mid e eː o oː
Low a aː

Vowels are extremely varied in different Cerian dialects, with the long-short contrast being actually realized depending on dialect as a pure quantity one, a quality one, a hybrid quality-quantity, by having monophthongs vs. diphthongs, and with some possible mergers or (more rarely) splits. The phonemic representation given above is conventional and reflects the spelling as well as the underlying phoneme in most (not necessary all) Cerian dialects. For example, élógen "lamp" - phonemically represented as /eːˈroːgen/ is pronounced in different ways, including:

  • Evandorian dialects: [e(ː)ˈroːgɐn] (Mánébodin Cerian or Standard Evandorian Cerian), [ɪːˈroːgɪn] (Čagan Cerian), [eə̯ˈʁɔːgən] (Central Coastal), [eˈlogɛn] (Hilly Southeastern - note the conservation of /l/), [(j)eːˈruːgʲən] (Šáritunen)
  • Púrítonen dialects: [eɪ̯ˈrʊə̯gən] (NE Coastal Púrítonen), [ɛɪ̯ˈruːgen] (Inland Northern Púrítonen), [eɪ̯ˈʁoʊ̯gen] (Bénáteno Lake)
  • Céránentian dialects: [eːˈɾoːgʲɪn] (Cánésen), [eˈruːgʲɪn] (Pásuone)

Some Cerian dialects from Evandor may have kept closer values to Íscégon, notably for example with /iː/ which became /e/ in most Cerian dialects (and is thus represented in the orthography). So for example Šáritunen Cerian speakers pronounce refusécé "castle" (Mán. Cer. [refuseːˈkeː]) as [riːpʉseːˈkeː] - a different development from Íscégon rípsercé. Similarly, rébé "stone" (< Ísc. rírbé) is [riːˈbeː] in Šárituni (St. Cer. [re(ː)ˈbeː]), and jéče "word" (< Ísc. giécí) is [dʒeːˈɕiː] (Mán. Cer. [ˈʒeːtʃɐ]).

Prosody

Stress

Intonation

Phonotactics

Morphophonology

Morphology

Nouns

Cerian nouns have lost most of the inflections of Íscégon, leaving only a predictable agglutinative pattern, regular for almost all nouns. Cerian nouns distinguish two cases - one called "nominative" (but also used as accusative), and an "indirect" case used after all prepositions and as the object of some verbs.
Nouns also distinguish between singular and plural, but the two forms are identical for all nouns ending in a vowel; to avoid ambiguity, Cerian has developed a marked plural (usually called the "indefinite plural") used when the plurality is important but not otherwise shown in a sentence. Every noun has the indefinite plural (which is completely regular), even nouns ending in -n which do mark plural normally. The indefinite plural, however, is never used in the indirect case, as indirect plurals are always marked.

The regular inflection of a Cerian noun is as follows:

Vowel noun - rutó "hawk" N-noun - vútin "tree"
Singular Plural Pl. Indef. Singular Plural Pl. Indef.
Nominative rutó rutó rutóoran vútin vútiné vútinoran
Indirect rutón rutóin vútini vútinen

Gender and Articles

Cerian has grammatical gender and two definite articles, one for each gender, used in the singular only (plural vs. plural indefinite inflection does the same effect in the plural). As in most Evandorian languages, -n is a marker of feminine gender, so that most nouns (not all) ending with that letter are feminine; those which end in vowels are usually masculine. Note that natural gender is prevalent, as shown e.g. by couplets such as "brother" and "sister" where the nouns have the "wrong" ending.
The masculine article is šo; the feminine one is šen.

Examples:

  • Masculine nouns: šo rutó "the hawk"; šo sérešu "the language"; šo jéče "the word"; šo císenen "the brother".
  • Feminine nouns: šen réboten "the price"; šen číečón "the flower"; šen putuánen "the wall"; šen ránéco "the sister".

Note that adjectives do not have gender in any way, and nouns which have the same form as an adjective may be used in either gender (prevalent in Púrítonen Cerian) or are feminine and have a marked masculine form (prevalent in most dialects). This is most notable with denonyms, as the corresponding adjectives usually end in -n. "Cerian" is an exception, as it has two forms (different from the adjective) in all dialects.

Examples:

  • šo Čérízuo "the Cerian man"; šen Čérízen "the Cerian woman" (all dialects)
  • čérízon "Cerian"; nódólénen "Nordulaki"; imúnigúronen "Chlouvānem" (all dialects)
  • šo Nódóléo "the Nordulaki man", šen Nódólénen "the Nordulaki woman"[1]; šo Imúnigúronno "the Chlouvānem man"; šen Imúnigúronen "the Chlouvānem woman". (Standard Evandorian Cerian; most dialects)
  • šo Nódólénen, šen Nódólénen "the Nordulaki man/woman"; šo Imúnigúronen, šen Imúnigúronen "the Chlouvānem man/woman" (most Púrítonen Cerian dialects)

There are words that can be used in both genders - šo bésuon "the son" and šen bésuon "the daughter" is a notable example.

Pronouns

Cerian pronouns are simple, even though they are more complex than nouns, with four forms: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative/oblique (post-prepositional).

Number Person Gender Nominative Accusative Genitive Oblique
Sing. 1st fe ésuon on
2nd se séšon son
3rd Masc. uso usázon úsan
Fem. ísen íne insázon insan
Pl. 1st péru pérén píren
2nd ríšu re ríšán ríšun
3rd Masc. súno súnne usúnnon usúron
Fem. isún isúre isúnnon isúron

The 2nd person plural pronoun is also used as a courtesy form, albeit Evandorian Cerian is becoming less formal and allowing the use of in more contexts. For example, in Ceria is normal to use the 2SG pronoun when talking to a shopkeeper - in most other Cerian-speaking countries this is usually frowned upon.

Genitive forms are adjectives and decline as such, cf. bícon ésuon esu ríté "my pen is blue", fú šoséreon ton bíconi rítéu ésuonno "I write with my blue pen".

Demonstratives

Cerian, as most Evandorian languages do, distinguishes between a series of "moving" demonstratives and a series of "static" demonstratives. Furthermore, it distinguishes between proximal and non-proximal demonstratives with, in the non-proximal, a further, more marked form, identifying a higher position. The "moving" series distinguishes number but not gender, while the "static" series is invariable.

Static Moving
Singular Plural
Non-proximal Same height éon
that/those
aréso
that one moving
aréjé
those ones moving
Higher órion
that/those one(s) up there
óriéso
that one moving up there
oriéjé
those ones moving up there
Proximal pán
this/these
péso
this one moving
péjé
these ones moving

Adjectives

Cerian adjectives are morphologically simple, distinguishing case only. They can be classified in two ways depending on if they end in -n or a vowel.

  • -n adjectives form their oblique form by adding -no, e.g. eréden "fourth" → erédenno.
  • Vowel adjectives add an -u morpheme, which is, however, rarely seen as such:
    • -a and -e combine with the -u, forming -eu (-éu if the stem vowel is long), e.g. fúsuná "hot" → fúsunéu; ontére "big" → ontéreu.
    • -i becomes semivocalic, triggering the changes siš, cič, and gij, e.g. méroni "sweet" → méroniu; pósi "easy" → póšu.
    • -u and -o become (< pre-Cerian *ou), e.g. ramo "first" → ramó; čufutú "enough" → čufutó. Those that already end in are practically invariable, e.g. egoró "ninth" → egoró.

Numbers

Numbers, in Cerian, are simple adjectives and only have two forms: cardinal and ordinal. As all Evandorian languages, and most Calemerian languages anyway, its counting system is decimal.

Digit Cardinal Ordinal
0 nóron (or norinon)[2]
1 si ramo
2 dédo duro
3 ténse ténon
4 éjan eréden
5 qué quéteren
6 suóša suóšaten
7 curíse curítéšen
8 šiló šílen
9 egón egoró
10 cótu cótuni
11 cótasi cótuni ramo
12 cótadédo cótuni duro
13 cótaténse cótuni ténon
14 cótaéjan cótuni eréden
15 cótaqué cótuni quéteren
16 cótasuóša cótuni suóšaten
17 cótacuríse cótuni curítéšen
18 cótašiló cótuni šílen
19 cótaegón cótuni egoró
20 dérecótu dérecótuni
21 dérecótasi dérecótuni ramo
30 técótu técótuni
40 erícótu erícótuni
50 quétocótu quétocótuni
60 suóšótu suóšótuni
70 curícótu curícótuni
80 šícótu šícótuni
90 egócótu egócótuni
100 téčá téčošon

Prepositions

Cerian uses only prepositions; most of them require the oblique case, but a few ones (notably, re) require the nominative. Many prepositions also have forms contracted with the articles:

Prepositions requiring nominative case:

  • biázo – through
  • den – about, concerning
  • re – of

Prepositions requiring oblique case:

  • bi – on
  • in – from; made of
in+šo = ío, in+šen = íjen
  • ó – in, inside
ó+šo = očo, ó+šen = očen
  • ton – with
ton+šo = tójo, ton+šen = tójen
  • toro – to (dative)
toro+šo = tóšo, toro+šen = tóšen

Verbs

Cerian verbs may be said to be more morphologically complex than Íscégon ones, as grammaticalization added a completely new tense - the future - and a new aspect - the habitual. On the other hand, the older past continuous has been replaced in form by the shorter non-continuous past, as the two perfective tenses (future and past) are now analytic. On the other hand, the subjunctive of all verbs except "to be" (íso) is now analytically formed by the participle plus the subjunctive of íso. Note that the "present perfective" is semantically past, and the "past perfective" is a pluperfect.

Conjugation of "to be" (íso) — where two forms are given, the first is masculine and the other is feminine.

↓ Tense / → Aspect Indicative Subjunctive
Habitual Continuous Perfective Habitual Continuous Perfective
Present ešon esu fedí esu ešončen fášučen fedí fášučen
Past esítin sétu
sétin
fedí sétu
fedí sétin
ešoná fáená fedí fáená
Future esínzión zoníso
zoníten
fedí zoníso
fedí zoníten
ešizínon díteníso
díníten
fedí díteníso
fedí díníten
Active participle endáe fedí
Verbal noun íso
Informal imperative enše
Formal imperative enšečen

Note that the copula is usually esu, but ešon is used for gnomic, natural truths. As an example, "my pen is blue" is bícon ésuon esu ríté, but "the sky is blue" is šen gáteon ešon ríté. The habitual form is typically used with large, typically unchanging objects - the sky, the sea, trees, buildings... while the continuous is used mostly for small objects or temporaneous states (cf. ser vs. estar in Portuguese). When in doubt, however, use esu.
Note, however, that when "to be" is used in order to indicate possession, esu denotes alienable possession while ešon denotes inalienable.

Example conjugation of another verb - čéléton "to read" (stem čélét-):

↓ Tense / → Aspect Indicative Subjunctive
Habitual Continuous Perfective Habitual Continuous Perfective
Present čéléteon máčéléti čéletí esu čéletáe ešončen čéletáe fášučen čéletí fášučen
Past čéletótín sočéléti čéletí sétu
čéletí sétin
čéletáe ešoná čéletáe fáená čéletí fáená
Future čélénzión zončéléti čéletí zoníso
čéletí zoníten
čéletáe ešizínon čéletáe díteníso
čéletáe díníten
čéletí díteníso
čéletí díníten
Active participle čéletáe čéletí
Passive participle čéleté čéletéco
Verbal noun čéléton
Informal imperative čéléše
Formal imperative čéléšečen

Passive forms are formed by using the passive participles instead of the active ones; habitual and continuous indicative use the participles with the respective forms of íso (e.g. čeletótínčéleté esítin, zončélétičéleté zoníso/zoníten).


Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

To have

The verb "to have" is usually translated by a dative construction, i.e. toro + oblique pronoun + íso (to be):

Torón ešon císenen. – I have a brother.
Toro cáruton ésuonno esu bénuo opéuso. – my uncle has a new car.

Dependent clauses

Vocabulary

The family

  • Family: šo zómo
  • Father: šo ófano; mother: šen méan
  • Son/daughter: šo/šen bésuon
  • Brother: šo císenen; sister: šen ránéco
  • Husband: šo ótó; wife: šen čétíren
  • Uncle: šo cáruto; aunt: šen cátézin

Basic vocabulary

  • Boy: šo cúrasu (dial. also šo vajúni)
  • Girl: šen ráginen (dial. also šen vajúnien)
  • Friend: šo íporo (m), šen íporian (f)
  • Man: šo iróčo; woman: šen térínan
  • Pen: šen bícon
  • School: šo comíbero
  • Ship: šo gama
  • Tree: šen tócoro
  • to see: sítelon
  • to eat: suóron
  • to say: poédon
  • to do: cáripon
  • to sleep: ródónion
  • to write: šoséron

Cardinal points

All of them are masculine (article šo), but the article is always omitted if used without an adjective:

  • North: časúné
  • South: quéšon
  • West: uíra
  • East: mutin

Example texts

Other resources

Notes

  1. ^ Old Cerian: -euo, -eunen.
  2. ^ Norinon is a high-style reborrowing of Íscégon nornon.