Bźatga

Bźatga (/ˈbʒatgɐ/) is an Indo-European language spoken by the tribes of the Enśi Bźata "The Bźatan Islands", a small archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean. According to the people of these islands, the language came with their ancestors from a land called Creńa along with a knowledge of metalworking and the sacred horse.

Phonology and Orthography

Orthography

Bźatga is written with the following 18 letters of the Latin alphabet:

a b c d e g i j l m n o r s t u v z

In addition to these base forms, called primary or unmarked letters, diacritics are used to create secondary and tertiary forms, which are collectively called the marked letters. In the case of vowels, secondary forms represent pretonic and therefore unstressed variants and are marked with a breve, e.g. răveŭsemi "I have seen" (see Phonetic Processes for special use of ŭ). Secondary forms of consonants are iotised variants of the primary sounds and are marked with an acute accent (note that the graph ł is used for secondary l), e.g. craśu "drier". The tertiary forms of both vowels and consonants are marked with the caret and only the letters ê, ô, ŝ and ẑ occur. They are not derived from the primary forms.

The table below shows the various forms of the letters:

	Vowels	Stops	Fricatives	Sonorants
Primary	a	e	i	o	u	b	t	d	c	g	v	s	z	j	l	m	n	r
Secondary	ă	ĕ	ĭ	ŏ	ŭ				ć	ǵ		ś	ź		ł		ń	ŕ
Tertiary		ê		ô								ŝ	ẑ

Additionally, two purely orthographic conventions are used:

• The letters î and û occur in diphthongs deriving from vi, *ji and *vu; e.g. doû, doî "black" from **dovu, **dovi
• The hook is used with any vowel or diphthong to show the absence of a following nasal, in Class 4 Nominals; e.g. camvǫ "foster son", pl. camvone.

Taken together the following letters may occur in Bźatga orthography:

a ă ą b c ć d e ĕ ê ę g ǵ i ĭ î į j l ł m n ń o ŏ ô ǫ r ŕ s ś ŝ t u ŭ û ų v z ź ẑ

Consonants

Bźatga contains the following consonant inventory:

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n		ɲ
Plosive	b	t      d			k      g
Fricative	β	s      z	ʃ      ʒ
Affricate		t͡s      d͡z	t͡ʃ      d͡ʒ
Approximant				j
Trill		r
Lateral app.		l		ʎ

Vowels

Bźatga has the following eight pure vowels:

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	i u e o ɛ ɔ ɐ a
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Note: /ɐ/ is an allophone of /a/ found in unstressed final or pretonic position.

In addition there are the following six diphthongs: /aj/, /ɛj/, /ɔj/, /aw/, /ɛw/, /ɔw/.

Stress

Stress placement is regularly on the first syllable of a word. The only exception to this is in words with an unstressed prefix, the vowel of which is marked with a breve, e.g. căbrova "tribesman" /kɐˈbrɔvɐ/.

Phonetic Processes

Bźatga has a number of phonetic processes which affect the spelling and pronunciation of words in inflexion and composition.

Iotisation

Iotisation is the process by which an inflexional j affects the preceding consonant. It is seen, for example, in the comparative forms of adjectives and in some verb forms. All consonants, except j itself, are affected by iotisation, in the following ways:

• most consonants change to their secondary form, e.g. glasa "clear, blue", cpv. glaśu "bluer".
• d and t become ć and ǵ respectively, e.g. môde "soft", cpv. môǵu "softer".
• b and m are simply followed by the letter j, e.g. caba "crooked", cpv. cabju "more crooked".
• v becomes j, e.g. dova "black", cpv. doju "blacker".

Palatalisation

Palatalisation is an allophonic process whereby certain consonants are affected by a following i. This mainly affects the sonorants l, n and r, which are altered to their secondary form, and the letters d and t which become ẑ and ŝ respectively. For example, dana "gift", pl. dańi, cata "pool", pl. caŝi.

A summary of Iotised and Palatalised consonants is given below:

	Stops	Fricatives	Sonorants
Primary	b	t	d	c	g	v	s	z	j	l	m	n	r
Iotised	bj	ć	ǵ	ć	ǵ	j	ś	ź		ł	mj	ń	ŕ
Palatalised		ŝ	ẑ							ł		ń	ŕ

Alternation of j/i and v/u

As stated above, there are six dipthongs in Bźatga: ai, ei, oi and au, eu, ou. These are only permitted to occur before a consonant or at the end of a word. When any of these comes to occur before a vowel, the second element becomes j or v respectively, e.g. saide "(he) seeks" but saja "seek!". The same is true in reverse, so dova "black" becomes doudra "blackness".

Because of this alternation, only a, e and o can usually occur before j and v. In a few rare cases the combination iv occurs, which becomes jû before a consonant, e.g. łiva "colour" becomes łûleda "colourful, coloured".

Whenever the combinations **ji and *vu would occur as a result of inflexion or derivation, the consonant is lost and the remaining i or u forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel. The same occurs to the combination *ovi, which becomes oî. The second element of a diphthong formed in this way is marked by a caret, not to show a difference in pronunciation from the unmarked form, but to show the absence of the consonant. This process can clearly be seen in the declension of the adjective dova "black": dova (NAsg), doû (Osg, < *dovu), doî (Pl, < *dovi). Note also the change of *iji > î and *ivu, *iju > jû (e.g. bźija "power, status", Osg. bźû, pl. bźî).

Alternation of l/ŭ and ł/ĭ

The letter l and its marked form ł may only stand in pre-vocalic position, whether word initially or medially. When these sounds come to stand before a consonant they alternate to ŭ and ĭ respectively, e.g. velą "seeing" but veŭdoja "visible".

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns have no grammatical gender but are marked for case, number and definiteness. There are two cases in the singular: the Nominative-Accusative (NA) which is used for the subject and direct object of verbs; and the Oblique (O) which is used following prepositions and in some other constructions. Case is not marked in the plural.

Nouns belong to one of four declensions based on the NASg. Indef:

• 1st and 2nd declension end in a vowel (-a or -e)
• 3rd declension end in a consonant
• 4th declension have a stem in -n but a NASg Indef. in a vowel marked with a hook (e.g. aų).

Every noun has an Indefinite and a Definite form for each case and number. All definite nouns are declined according to the 1st declension though the noun is still considered to belong to its original declension. Definite forms are only used in the absence of another determiner, such as a possessive adjective, and are not usually used with proper nouns.

Decl.	Singular	Plural
Nom.-Acc.	Oblique
1	Indef.	dońa	dońu	dońi	"person"
Def.	dońida	dońidu	dońiẑi
2	Indef.	sule	sule	sułi	"sun"
Def.	sułida	sułidu	sułiẑi
3	Indef.	troud	trouda	troude	"foot"
Def.	trouẑida	trouẑidu	trouẑiẑi
4	Indef.	aų	auna	aune	"name"
Def.	auńida	auńidu	auńiẑi

Notes:

• stem-final consonants may undergo palatalisation in the Indef. plural and all definite forms, e.g. vade "oracle", pl. vaẑi.
• stem-final v or j may also disappear before -i according to rules set out above, e.g. căbrova "tribesman", pl. căbroî.

The following nouns are irregular:

Decl.	Singular	Plural
Nom.-Acc.	Oblique
3	Indef.	źi	źija	źije	"king"
Def.	źîda	źîdu	źîẑi
3	Indef.	bô	bova	bove	"cow"
Def.	boîda	boîdu	boîẑi
3	Indef.	aģi	aģa	aģe	"father"
Def.	aģida	aģidu	aģiẑi

Adjectives

Adjectives follow the noun they qualify and agree with that noun in number and case. Adjectives belong to one of two declensions much like those of nouns, according to the sound at the end of the word. There are no definite forms of adjectives.

Decl.	Singular	Plural
Nom.-Acc.	Oblique
1	mara	maru	maŕi	"great"
2	made	made	maẑi	"good"

Comparison

The comparative adjective is formed by adding –ju to the stem, which undergoes iotisation where possible, e.g. maŕu "greater" < mara, seńu "older" < sena, doju "blacker" < dova. Comparative adjectives are not inflected for case or number.

The superlative adjective is made with the suffix -va, which also causes iotisation to the preceding consonant, e.g. maŕva "greatest", seńva "oldest", doiva "blackest". Superlatives function like normal adjectives and agree with their noun in number and case.

Numerals

Cardinal

The cardinal numbers occur before singular forms of nouns. Only ôna "one" is inflected for case.

The lower numerals are:

• 1-10: ôna, da, ći, ceudre, ćace, seś, seća, oću, nava, dega
• 11-19: ônzega, dazga, ćizga, ceǵzega, ćiaczega, seźega, sećzega, oćzega, nauzega

The decades from 20 to 100 are: vegŝi, ćigot, ceǵgot, ćacot, seśgot, sećcot, oćcot, naucot, cata.

These are nouns which stand in the NASg. before a NASg. noun. Vegŝi is indeclinable and cata is a 1st declension noun; the others are all 3rd declension.

Numbers like "26" or "69" are formed with the unit followed by the decade in the OSg., e.g. seś vegŝi "26", nava seśgota "69". Nouns may be placed between the two numerals in the NASg., e.g. seś vera vegŝi "26 men", nava teja seśgota "69 houses".

Ordinal

Ordinal numbers are adjectives of the 1st declension, which behave like any other. They ordinals from 1-10 are: ćata, ała, ćića, ceuǵa, ćacda, seśda, sećveda, oćveda, naveda, degveda.

Pronouns

Personal

Personal pronouns distinguish three persons in the singular and plural. Unlike some other languages, Bźatga does not distinguish gender in the third person singular, so e means "he, she, it". Both singular and plural have Nominative-Accusative and Oblique forms, but pronouns also have a Genitive form functioning like a possessive adjective.

Pers.	Singular	Plural
Nom.-Acc.	Oblique	Genitive	Nom.-Acc.	Oblique	Genitive
1	mi	mô	ma	śńi	sna	ara
2	tu	tô	ta	śi	sa	śara
3	e	ju	eja	je	êve	ja

The NA pronouns are used as subject and direct object of the verb. As subject, they are really suffixes which attach to the verb directly. The 3rd person e is not added to verbs, which generally end in a vowel, so for example, carde implicitly means 'he/she/it loves' unless another subject is stated. As direct object, the pronouns follow the verb and subject, e.g. cardemi e "I love him", velse Maigǫ tu "Maigǫ saw you".

The Oblique forms are used following prepositions, e.g. cate ju "with him/her/it", ẑi sna "from us".

The Genitive pronouns precede the noun they qualify and function much like possessive adjectives in English, e.g. ma teje "my house", śara adŕi "your father".

Demonstrative

The demonstrative pronouns each have two forms: a) one referring to humans, deities and sometimes animals; and b) one referring to inanimates and abstracts.

	Singular	Plural
Nom.-Acc.	Oblique
"this" a)	soda	sodu	soẑi
"this" b)	śida	śidu	śiẑi
"that" a)	so	sou	soi
"that" b)	se	seu	sei

Verbs

Verbs have two tenses (past and non-past), two voices (active and passive) and each verb is marked for person, number and relativity. Mood is restricted to the indicative (unmarked) or imperative but quasi-moods may be indicated by means of the conditional and modal prefixes (see below). Most verbs also have a verbal noun, present participle, past passive participle and a participle of necessity.

Verbs possess a relatively simple agglutinative morphology. Each verb consists of a stem to which affixes denoting such things as tense, person and voice are added. The position of the affixes is restricted, with the stem (e.g. vel- "see") taking Position 1, and the other affixes as follows:

• Position 2 must be filled with one of the tense-marking suffixes d for the non-past or s for the past (e.g. veŭd- "sees", veŭs- "saw"). In imperative verbs the position is held by the imperative suffix a (e.g. vela "see!").
• Position 3 denotes voice and is empty when the verb is active, but contains or when passive (e.g. veŭd- "sees", veŭdor- "is seen").
• Position 4 is usually empty, but is filled by ja when the verb is relative (veŭśa "who saw" < vel-s-ja).
• Position 5 is always theoretically filled by a suffix denoting person. In most cases these are identical to the NA pronouns, with an epenthetic e following consonants (e.g. veŭdemi "I see", veŭsoreśi "you were seen"). When the subject is a noun or a 3sg pronoun, the ending is -e, but this disappears following relative ja (e.g. veŭde "he/she/it sees", veŭģa "whom he etc. sees" < vel-d-ja). Only the 2nd person pronouns may be used with the imperative (e.g. velatu "see!").
• Position 0 may be empty or filled by one of the several prefixes:
  • ră functions somewhat like a subjunctive or modal particle, introducing a sense of uncertainty to the verb. It can be translated as 'may' or 'would' (e.g. răveŭseje "they may have seen", răveŭdeśńi "we may see"). It cannot be used with the imperative. The negative form is răn (e.g. rǎnveŭdeje "they may not see").
  • nă is the negative, which may be used with any of the suffixes (e.g. năveŭsemi "I did not see", năveŭģaśi "whom you did not see").
  • mă is the conditional, used with the past or non-past to mean "if ..." (e.g. măveŭdetu "if you see", măveŭsoremi "if I were seen"). The conditional cannot be used with the relative suffix, but combines with the negative as măn (e.g. mănveŭdetu "if you don't see").

The table below summarises the position of the affixes in relation to the stem:

Position 0 Prefixes	Position 1 Stem	Position 2 Tense	Position 3 Voice	Position 4 Relative	Position 5 Person
Ø ră (modal) nă (negative) mă (conditional)	STEM	d (non-past) s (past)	Ø (active) or (passive)	Ø (non-relative) ja (relative)	(e)mi (1sg) (e)tu (2sg.) e/- (3sg.) (e)śńi (1pl.) (e)śi (2pl.) (e)je (3pl.)
a (imperative)

Summary of Verb Forms

Stem: vel- "see"	Active	Passive
Normal	Relative	Normal	Relative
Present	Affirmative	veŭde	veŭģa	veŭdore	veŭdoŕa
Negative	năveŭde	năveŭģa	năveŭdore	năveŭdoŕa
Modal	răveŭde	răveŭģa	răveŭdore	răveŭdoŕa
Negative Modal	rănveŭde	rănveŭģa	rănveŭdore	rănveŭdoŕa
Conditional	măveŭde		măveŭdore
Negative Conditional	mănveŭde		mănveŭdore
Past	Affirmative	veŭse	veŭśa	veŭsore	veŭsoŕa
Negative	năveŭse	năveŭśa	năveŭsore	năveŭsoŕa
Modal	răveŭse	răveŭśa	răveŭsore	răveŭsoŕa
Negative Modal	rănveŭse	rănveŭśa	rănveŭsore	rănveŭsoŕa
Conditional	măveŭse		măveŭsore
Negative Conditional	mănveŭse		mănveŭsore
Imperative	vela
Verbal Noun	velą
Present Participle	evelą
Past Passive Participle	veŭda
Participle of Necessity	veŭdoja

Syntax

The basic word order is SOV.

• veŕida meńida carde "the man loves the woman"
• Małgǫ edra veŭse "Maĭgô saw a bird"

Pronoun subjects are expressed as part of the verb and do not occur separately.

• barva ezdemi "I am eating bread"
• baẑida ģigseje "they climbed the mountain"

Indirect objects are placed at the beginning or end of the SOV structure.

• ma aģi sevą vărcanse da mô "my father taught me to hunt" (hunting to me)
• ca teîdu ańanu ausetu "you went to the wrong house"

Adjectives follow nouns.

• cô mara "a large dog"
• euga vêda "a white horse"