Behru cesik
Behru Cesik (meaning Behru way of speaking) is the highest language of the Behru empire. The stage of the language represented in this article is that spoken when the empire conquered the Yamazi dynasty of Winanda and began imposing its culture over a wide area.
Phonology
Phonemes
All Behru consonants except /h/ have voiced and voiceless counterparts. Voiceless consonants are usually weakly aspirated, the voiceless sonorants strongly so. Voiceless consonants are listed after their voiced counterparts in the table. Romanization is listed in Bold below the ipa. Romanization will be used in all sections of the article other than the phonology section.
| Labial (Kálihi) | Alveolar (jüdíixáahniík) | Post alveolar (jüdíixëhnémihi) | Palato-alveolar (jüdíixáansingerihi) | Palatal (singerihi) | Velar (singezóok) | Glottal (mákughétóok) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive (zotozilíi) |
p b p b |
t d t d |
g k g k |
h h | |||
| Afrricate (zotaxehmozilíi) |
tɕ dʑ c j |
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| Fricative (xehmozilíil) |
ɸ β f v |
s z s z |
ɕ ʑ sh zh |
x ɣ x gh |
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| Nasal (dzátacetozilíi) |
m m̥ʰ m hm |
n n̥ʰ n hn |
ɲ ɲ̥ʰ ñ hñ |
ŋ ŋ̥ʰ ng hng |
|||
| Approximant (manjiuzilíi) |
w w̥ʰ w hw |
l l̥ʰ l hl |
r r̥ʰ r hr |
j j̥ʰ y hy |
Behru has 4 base vowels, a, ɛ, u, and o, whose qualities change based on length and stress. Each vowel has 3 forms, long, short, and reduced. The vowel centralizes when it reduces, a and o reduce to ə̆, u reduces to ʊ, ɛ reduces to ɪ̆. The vowel ɛ uniquely changes to i: when lengthened. As before, romanized forms are marked in the chart. In addition, vowels may carry a high tone or a low tone, a high tone is marked with an acute, e.g., á, í, úu, óo. Low tone is unmarked. Reduced vowels are always low tone, even if derived from an originally high toned vowel.
| Front | Front-mid | Mid | Mid-back | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Close |
i: ii |
ɪ̆ i |
ʊ̆ ü |
u u: uu u | |
| Mid |
ɛ e |
ə̆ ë |
o o: oo o | ||
| Open |
a: a aa a |
Phonotactical restraints and Sandhi
Rule 1
All syllables start with 1 to 4 consonants and contain only 1 vowel, no more, no less.
j̥ʰa, mút, cen, xoo, ɲɛ are all permitted.
ɛt, u and itɕ are not permitted due to not having an initial consonant.
sɛun, lai, and ɣə̆if are not permitted due to having 2 vowels.
tpt, xn, mj̥ʰ are not permitted due to having no vowels.
*exception: kl̥t and zrn are permitted because /l/ and /r/ may optionally function as reduced vowels.
Rule 2
All consonants in a consonant cluster must agree in voicing if they do not, the voicing of the first consonant of the second syllable controls the voicing. kx, tɸ, n̥ts, bw, dɣy and m̥y̥ʰ are all permitted due to all members of the cluster agreeing in voice. sʊ̆ɸk+zwáan must be changed to sʊ̆βgzwáan because they do not agree in voicing. As z is the first consonant of the second syllable and is voiced, it changes all unvoiced consonants in the cluster to voiced, changing k to g and ɸ to β l̥ʰən+ksɛ must become l̥ʰən̥ksɛ, because k, the first consonant of the second syllable, is unvoiced, changing the voiced n to voiceless n̥.
Rule 3
Syllable initial consonant clusters are permitted, they may consist at most
Stop + Fricative + Liquid (/l/ or /r/) + /w/ or /j/, or
Nasal+ /w/ or /j/ in that order.
kfr̥j̥ is permitted as it contains a stop fricative, liquid, and /j/ in the right order, and all consonants agree in voicing, as specified in rule two. kn̥ and ŋr are not permitted as nasals may not coexist with stops, fricatives, or liquids in consonant clusters. skj̥ is not permitted as fricatives may not precede stops, sɲ̥ is not permitted as fricatives may not precede nasals. mj is permitted as /j/ may come after a nasal. zlw is permitted as all constituents are in the right order, fricative>liquid> /w/ or /y/ wzl and lzw are not, however, they are not in the right order. βj is permitted, the contituents are in the right order and of the right type. Rule 4 any alveolar consonant followed by /j/ is transformed to its palatal counterpart. tj̥ and dj become tɕ and dʑ respectively. sj̥ and zj become ɕ and ʑ respectively nj and n̥j̥ʰ become ɲ and ɲ̥ʰ respectively.
Rule 5 The combinations /ji:/ and /jɪ/ are always converted to /ʑi:/ and /ʑɪ/ respectively. In the same manner, /wʊ/ and /wu:/ are always converted to /βʊ/ and /βu:/ respectively. This rule overides rule 3, the syllable /zlji:/ will be converted to /zlʑi:/ even though /zlʑ/ is otherwise forbidden at the beginning of a syllable due to having a fricative after a liquid. The /β/ and /ʑ/ will be converted into /ɸ/ and /ɕ/ if it would violated rule 2, /pl̥w̥ʰʊ/ would be converted to /pl̥ɸʊ/, not /pl̥βʊ/, /kj̥i:/ to /kɕi:/, not /kʑi:/. Rule 6 The only consonants that may occur syllable finally are t/d, p/b/, ɸ/β, k/g, n/n̥, m/m̥, ɲ/ɲ̥, ŋ/ŋ̥, and ɕ/ʑ. Voicing is not distinguished in the final position. Final stops and fricatives may have nasals preceding them , and ɕ/ʑ and ɸ/βmay precede any one of the others(but not eachother). Two nasals may not occur in a row in these syllables. raβn is a permitted syllable, but raβʑ is not. ramβ is permitted. l̥̥ʰʊm̥k is permitted, l̥ʰumn is not. kaβʑ and kaʑβ are not permitted, ʑ and β may not be together at the end of a syllable. Rule 7 A sequence of vowels is always interrupted by glides and or has the first vowel deleted to avoid violating rule 1. The change depends on the first vowel, ɛ, ɪ, and ii insert /j/ in a sequence of vowels. /ɪ/ is deleted when /j/ is inserted. uu, u, o, and ʊ insert /w/ in a sequence of vowels. /u/ and /ʊ/ are deleted when /w/ is inserted. kaɛ would become kɛ kau would become ku kɛɛ would become kɛjɛ kɪo: would become kjo: ki:o would become ki:jo ku:a would become ku:wa kua and kʊa would both become kwa kɛi: would become kɛji:, which would then become kɛʑi: due to rule 5 kʊu and kuu would both become kwu, which would then become kβu due to rule 5, and then kɸu due to rule 1. sɪɪ would become sjɪ due to rule 5, which would then become ɕi due to rule 4.
Nouns
Behru nouns delcine for 12 cases and 3 numbers. The 12 cases can be grouped into the simple cases, Nominative, Causative, Ablative, Benefactive, Posessive, Instrumental, Adessive, Locative, and Dative, and the complex cases, Accusative, Genitive, and Comparative. The complex cases use a different stem than simple cases.
|
múki, dog-like animal (i-type ) |
ratu, wind (u-type ) |
ksopa, shelf (a-type) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | múkësh | ratët | ksopët |
| Causative | múkye | ratúsh | ksopé |
| Ablative | múking | ratung | ksopang |
| Benefactive | múkimpi (múki-kimpi) | ratwimpi | ksopempi |
| Posessive | múkihno (múki-kihno) | ratwihno | ksopehno |
| Adessive | múkicra (múki-kicra) | ratwicra | ksopecra |
| Instrumental | múkl | rato | ksopo |
| Locative | múxi (múk-hi) | raswi (rat-hwi) | ksofi (ksop-hi) |
| Dative | múkci | ratcwi | ksopci |
| Paucal stem | múkíi- | raswíi- | ksopégii- |
| myéngu water | bghoze bucket | nadno berry | rwidli people, tribe | hnáza platform, step | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | myénguzu | bghozezu | nadnozu | rwidlizu | hnázazu |
| Causative | myéngóye | bghozéjje | nadnóye | rwidlíish | hnázáash |
| Ablative | myéngweng | bghozeng | nadnweng | rwidleng | hnázang |
| Benefactive | myéngwimpi | bghozempi | nadnokimpi | rwidlikimpi | hnázempi |
| Posessive | myéngwihno | bghozehno | nadnokihno | rwidlikihno | hnázehno |
|
Adessive |
myéngwicra | bghozecra | nadnokicra | rwidlikicra | hnázecra |
| Instrumental | myéngo | bghozho (bghoz-yo) | nadno | rwidlyl | hnáza |
| Locative | myéngwíik | bghozíik | nadnóok | rwidllíik | hnazíik |
| Dative | myénguci | bghozeci | nadnoci | rwidlici | hnázaci |
| Paucal stem | myéngugíi | bghozíi | nadnwíi | rwidlíi | hnázegíi |
| tsan support | húm fluid | byéng metal | südzlar elbow | kwél cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | tsaan | húum | bzhíing | südzlaar | kwíil |
| Causative | tsañje | húhmye | byén'gye | südzlarje | kwélje |
| Ablative | tsanding | húmbing | byén'ging | südlarjing | kwélzing |
| Benefactive | tsaanpi | húmpi | bzhíingpi | südzlarpi | kwíilpi |
| Posessive | tsaahnno | húuhmno | bzhíihngno | südzlahrno | kwíihlno |
| Adessive | tsaancra | húumcra | bzhíingcra | südzlarcra | kwíilcra |
| Instrumental | tsaahnu | húuhmu | bzhíihngu | südzlaarzho | kwíiyo |
| Locative | tsanti | húmpi | byéngki | südzlarshi | kwélsi |
| Dative | tsaanci | húumci | bzhíingci | südzlaarci | kwíilci |
| Paucal stem | tsansíi | húmvíi | byéngxíi | südzlarzhíi | kwélzíi |
Verbs
Behru verbs agree with both subject and object in number an animacy, and can function as replacements for many nouns. For example, the Behru word "muhlamaleslzilíi" means "you can't sing them", a verb used in place of a noun meaning "consonants". Like a regular noun, it may have endings added to it and be declined.
Abstract endings (kshémudoon ceddobaaghe)
| Number | Singular | Paucal | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person | hi | bu | ñji |
| Second person | ka | ku | (long)he |
| Third person | hyu | zú | hlon |
| Fourth person | li |