Sceptrian

Sceptrian (batop lushar or lusha) is an a priori language created for the fantasy world Akekata by juhhmi.

History

Lore: Sceptrian language, named after the Sceptre peninsula, derives from Lutian language used in the Empire of Western Sceptre. With its 12 million native speakers, Sceptrians outnumber those speaking Khattish and Guddean, the other two main West-Herookuan languages.

Actual: I weren't sure how to continue with Aoma (except for translations which I haven't been interested in) so I decided to begin creating a new language based on my scribbles. Remarkably, there is no script yet(!), but I'll be deriving it from the ancient Templar (or Jauhmö) of Aoma after I have created some basic vocabulary and considered of the older language (again, I began from the wrong direction) to add depth. I promise that one day I'll have a good proto-language first, realistic daughter languages second, scripts third and modern languages fourth...

Problems: As mentioned above, I'm still too lazy to create a proto-language...

Basic Grammar

Sceptrian is a fusional language with large morpheme per word ratio, but the morphemes themselves convey more information. The primary word order of the language is verb-agent-object while antipassive constructions use subject-verb(-object). Sceptrian has two numbers, three persons, three grammatical genders, seven declensions and nine inflectional cases with an absolutive-ergative morphosyntactic alignment. Verbs are conjugated for three tenses, additional aspects and various moods. These all will be discussed below.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m m			n ń n			ng ŋ
Plosive	p b p b			t d t d			k g k g	q q
Fricative	ph bh ɸ β	f v f v	th dh θ ð	s z s z	sh zh ʃ ʒ	h ç	h x	qh χ	h h
Affricate				ts t͡s	tsh t͡ʃ
Approximant	w w					j j
Trill				r ŕ r
Lateral	pl bl pˡ bˡ		tl dl tˡ dˡ	l sl l ɬ			kl gl kˡ gˡ

The liquids r and l can appear as syllabic consonants: tlsl /tˡl̩ɬ/, prn /pr̩n/ and trk /tr̩k/

Vowels

Monothongs

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i i		u u
Close-mid	e e
Mid		o ə
Open-mid	é oe ɛ œ		ó ɔ
Near-open	ae æ
Open		a ä	a ɑ

Diphthongs

In Sceptrian, there are only closing diphthongs which go up in the vowel chart:

• Back: ou /ɔʊ̯/
• Front: ai /äɪ̯/, ei /ei̯/, oi /œi̯/

Phonotactics

• Basic syllabic structure is CV, where the onset (beginning) consonant can be of any type.
  • It is possible to use liquids and approximants as glides (CLV) between the onset and the rime (ending).
  • Up to two consonants may appear in the onset (CCV), especially fricative-plosive combinations, but never two plosives: stak, fkos, ksaru.
• Nucleus can be either a vowel or a liquid, thus CVC and CLC are also possible syllables.
  • Vowels (diphthongs included) may exist as a stand-alone nucleic syllable (V), mostly in the beginning or at the end of a word.
• Coda (final) may consist of up to three consonants with only one plosive: kat, kańt, kańts. Glides can appear in coda as well: tokl
  • Approximants j, w and voiced plosives (voiced fricatives rarely) never appear as coda (final) even though they may be written that way: nad /nät/.
• Closed syllables, i.e. those ending in coda, are not as common word-medially as open syllables (ending in nucleus) are.
  • Voicing status must be the same for consonants touching at syllable boundaries and the voiced one reduces into voiceless: katba /kätpä/ vs. kat ba /kät^(h) bä/

Orthography

Script

from auman templar/jauhmö --> ligatures!

Romanization

Modern

Consonant variation:

• Letter r is used with consonants for /r̩/ and between vowels for /r/, but after vowels in the end of syllables for rhoticization or /ɚ/. Letter ŕ is used to emphasize the use of /r/ after vowels oŕ /ər/.
• Similarly letter n can appear with nasalization but ń always as /n/: an /ã/ vs. ań /an/.
• With ng /ŋ/, the accent signals lengthening eńge /eŋ:e/ or eŋŋe.
• Letter h has three allophones: /x/ appears word-finally, /ç/ with front vowels and /h/ with back vowels tihtóhnah /tiçtɔhnäx/.
• Labialization of plosives may be indicated by either PuV (V is any vowel except u) or PwV (where V can be u)

There are five ways of sound altering which may be used for grammatical purposes (tense, aspect, mood; cases, possessive affixes...)

• Lengthening: paata /pä:tä/, péete /pɛ:te/-/pɛe̯te/, póote /pɔ:te/.
  • Not used word-finally.
• Lateral release: plo /pˡə/, tla /tˡä/
• Nasalization: on /ə̃-œ̃/, oń /ɔn/
  • Back vowels are always nasalized between two nasals and all vowels after short ng: mónge /mɔ̃ŋẽ/, but nasalization does not occur with front vowels and long ńg: nińge /niŋ:e/.
• Rhotacization: or /ɚ/, oŕ /ər/ or /r/, ar /ä˞/, aŕ /är/.
• Aspiration/breathy voice: pho /pʰə/-/ɸə/, bho /bʱə/-/βə/, tha /tʰä/-/θä/, dha /dʱä/-/ðɑ/.
  • Aspirated plosives have mostly turned into the corresponding fricatives as shown above.

Old

The old romanization system (or part of it) was used until western regions of Eastern Sceptre were joined with the Western Sceptre empire in 7th era 161, during the war against Empress Renula of Golden Islet. A revision was needed when both Sceptrian and Aoma were used in the same printing press and texts had to be distributed to westlang-using communities.

Consonants:

• Nasal: ŋ ng /ŋ/
  • Texts from the first century of the seventh era use ǥ for word-initial /ŋ/.
• Fricative: ŧ th /θ/, đ dh /ð/, ś sh /ʃ/, ź zh /ʒ/, ħ qh /χ/
• Affricate: c ts /t͡s/, č tsh /t͡ʃ/
• Lateral: š sl /ɬ/, ǩ kl /kˡ/, ǧ gl /gˡ/

Vowels: ø oe /œ/, æ ae /æ/

Compact equivalents of sound altering:

• Lengthening with a bar: ṓ /ɔ:/ and ō /ə:/
• Lateral release with a breve diacritic: tŏ /tˡə/
• Nasalization with a tilde: õ /ə̃/, on /ən/
• Rhotacization with a diaeresis: ö /ɚ/, or /ər/
• Aspiration with a grave accent: pò /pʰə/, pô /pʰɔ/

Comparison between the systems:

• Old: Ǧë śošēŧã
• Modern: Gler shosleethan

Morphology

Pronouns

Cases: ABS, ERG, DAT, POS, CAU-ABL

Personal

Second person includes polite versions as well which were adapted by Aoma-sperkers. Third person singular makes distinction between abstract (Ab), animate (An) and inanimate (In) pronouns while plural only between Ab-An and In.

Pronoun inflection

Case	1SG	2SG	3SG.Ab	3SG.An	3SG.In	1PL	2PL	3PL.A	3PL.In	2SG.POL	2PL.POL
ABS	na	fo	tha	su	hi	mo	po	slo	kwo	Nith	With
ERG	nae	foe	thaa	suu	hii	moslo	poslo	sloslo	kwoslo	Nithe	Widhes
DAT	nai	foki	thai	swi	hiki	mokli	pokli	slokli	kwokli	Nithki	Withkli
POS	nar	for	thar	sur	hir	moŕ	poŕ	sloŕ	kwoŕ	Nithor	Withoŕ
CAU-ABL	napa	fopo	thapa	supu	hipi	moplo	poplo	sloplo	kwoplo	Nitto	Witto

Nouns

Nouns in Sceptrian form the basis of derivational morphology. They are declined according to number and case in seven declensions grouped in three genders.

Gender

There are three grammatical genders or classes, abstract, animate and inanimate, which can be fully recognized from their singular dative form endings, k, i and ei. The seven declensional patterns or simply declensions, which are determined by their absolutive ending, are distributed among these classes.

• Abstract (Ab) class contains concepts, emotions, divine and magical subjects, verb forms etc., and they end in either vowel a, ó or i.
• Animate (An) class is preserved for nouns related to living things, e.g. people, animals, body parts, plants and comestibles, whose ending is either a fricative (f, th, s, sh, h), nasal (m, n, ng) or vowel u. Mass nouns, such as meat, milk and food, have nasal endings.
• Inanimate (In) class has nouns such as objects, places and natural formations whose endings are either plosives (p, t, k) or consonant l. Inanimate mass nouns, e.g. sand, salt and water, appear in the l-ending group.

Number

There are two numbers, singular and plural, but abstract i-nouns and inanimate l-nouns are always singular. The declension according to number is complicated and fused with the class/case system explained and tabulated below.

Cases

• Absolutive (ABS): Unmarked base form for subjects of intransitive and objects of transitive verbs
• Ergative (ERG): Agents of transitive verbs
• Dative (DAT): Indirect object; alienable possession gat dothi (a house of (lit. "for") the man); comparison (with ADJ comparative)
• Possessive (POS): Inalienable possession dhóku dothor (the man's head)
• Instrumental-comitative (INS): Using something; with someone; in antipassive constructions
• Lative (LAT): Movement to (+sublative (surface))
• Locative-temporal (LOC-TEMP): Place (+superessive); time (when/duration...verb telicity); with some adpositions
• Ablative (ABL): Movement from (+delative); causal construction with particle ...
• Vocative (VOC): addressing (people, gods); interjections Alae! (Hello! lit. "Day!")

Genders and desinences

	Abstract			Animate						Inanimate
	A		i	F		N		u		P		r
	SG	PL		SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
Absolutive	A	Asl	i	F	(ə)lF	N	Ning	u	ush	P	Pl	l
Ergative	AA	AslA	ii	Fee	Fel	Neen	Neng	uu	uush	Pee	Ple	le
Dative	Ak	Akl	ik	Fi	Fil	Ni	Nil	(u)ji	(u)wi	Pei	Plei	lei
Possessive	An	Ang	ing	For	Foŕ	Nor	Noŕ	ur	uŕ	-N	Pong	lon
Instrumantal-comitative	Ah	Ash	ish	Fos	Fosh	Nos	Nosh	uh	ush	Ph	Ps	-dh
Lative	AgA	AglA	iki	Fko	Fklo	Nongo	Nongo	ugu	uglu	Póo	Plóo	lo
Locative-temporal	AkhA	AlkhA	ikhi	Fku	Fklu	Nongu	Nongu	ukhu	ulkhu	Pu	Plu	lu
Ablative	ApA	AplA	ipi	Fp	Fpl	Nop	Nopl	upu	uplu	PPo	PPol	lp
Vocative	Ae	Asl	ii	Fé	lFé	Né	Nin	-wé	-wésh	Pé	Plé	lé

• A: vowels a and ó
• F: fricatives f, s, sh and h
• N: nasals n, m and ng
• P: plosives p, t, k and q
  • INS ending Ph marks breathy voice and may turn the plosive into corresponding fricative /ɸ, θ, x, χ/ if followed by a plosive.
• - indicates that the original ending is replaced with the following: tip → tin (stick → stick's)

Possessive affixes

Affixes mingle with the cases... Alienable vs. inalienable Dothee óntelon gats/vakuhoz. (A man is watching his house/ his own hand.)

• gatlsl (his houses), gatlóf (their houses), gatsh (with his/their house), gatos (with his houses), gatós (with their houses), gatees, gateis, gans, ..., gatósó, gatsu, gattos argh!
• Only VOC+possessive with 1SG: Posné! (My servant!), Polsmé! (Our servants!)

History: noun + agreeing possessor pronoun --> noun+suffix/infix.case (i.e. something terrible...) Oh, what have I done‽

See non-finite verb forms... Adverbial clauses <-- something from Aoma (lettex) & Finnish (kävellessäni)

Emphasizing clitics

Suffixes ma (for ABS) and noh (for ERG) are used to emphasize either the agent or the object: Ónzaitón dotheenoh pof. (It is the man who's lifting the feather) vs. Ónzaitón dothee pofma. (It is the feather that the man is lifting.). Ma is also used with verbs in antipassive constructions.

Adjectives

agree with their head

rhoticization + vowel change

Verbs

Conjugation

From core nouns: "way-markers" → how the verb reflects the core noun: similarity, making, using...

Animacy distinction when agent

Transitivity, animacy and cases: Ónzaitón dothee pof. (A man (ERG) is lifting a feather (ABS).), Bousón doth. (The man falls.) Bouson pof. (The feather (ABS) falls.). Obs! Object agreement: Zaiton pof. Ónbouson dothee pof. (A feather rises. A man drops a feather.)

• Verb differences when agent-like or patient-like subjects
• Slightly object agreeing OR circumfix! ónzaiton dothee pof vs. ónzaitón dothee su (the man is lifting him)
  • ending vowel o?

Tense

Past, present, future

Aspect

Telicity (completion) marked in verbs: suomessa ammuin karhun vs. ammuin karhua

• past: perfective vs. imperfective only with transitive verbs: näin vs. katsoin (agent vs. experiencer...case?). Different case than PRES (DAT/ABL?)
• present: determination: kirjoitan kirjaa vs. kirjoitan kirjan, joista jälkimmäinen lähestyy futuuria (inceptive?)
• future: completeness/influence of current actions

Mood

Some duplication ;)

Voice

Sceptrian distinguishes between two voices, active and antipassive.

• Irregularities‽

The following system is under development! (How ergative came to be?)

Active construction

Ónzaitón dothee pof.
/ɔ̃zaɪ̯tɔ̃ dəθe: pəf/
ón-zait-ón doth-ee pof-Ø
3SG.AN.PRES.IPFV-lift-CIRC man-ERG feather-ABS
A man is lifting a feather.

Passive construction: To demote the agent (ERG), it's either removed or inflected into causal ablative (ABL). Verb circumfix remains untouched.

Ónzaitón pof (dothpo).
/ɔ̃zaɪ̯tɔ̃ pəf (dəθpə)/
ón-zait-ón pof-Ø (doth-po)
3SG.PRES.IPFV-lift-CIRC feather-ABS (man-ABL)
A feather is being lifted (by a man).

Antipassive construction: Agent (ERG) transforms into subject (ABS) and object (ABS) takes the instrumental-comitative (INS) case. Word order becomes SV(O), and the verb circumfix loses its former part and may receive the emphasizing clitic ma.

Doth (ma)zaitón (pofos).
/dəθ (mä)zaɪ̯tɔ̃ (pəfəs)/
doth-Ø (ma/)Ø-zait-ón (pof-os)
man-ABS (POL.)ANTIP-lift-3SG.PRES.IPFV (feather-INS)
The man is lifting (a feather).

Ideas: Instrument and turning it into an agent. Here I used the object-agreement (if it stays, remember to update the examples above!)

• Ónzaiton dothee pof vakuhos sur. (...with his hand... (should come up with the personal affixes since now you can interpret him using someone else's hand))
  • Ónzaiton pof vakuhos dothir.
  • Ónzaiton pof tiph dothish suwi. (A feather is being lifted with the man's stick for them.) DAT inflected!
• Vakuh zaito(/ó)n pofos. (a hand lifts the feather)/(someone intentionally lifts the feather with their hand)
  • Tip zaiton pofos dothpo. (a stick, which is being held by a man, lifts the feather) ABL as causative.

Non-finite forms

Multiple... --> adjectives?

Adpositions

• "in" with lative, locative and ablative cases to form illative, inessive, elative
• "on" to emphasize the surface aspect
• "under" for, well, movement under something

Derivational Morphology

Verbs and adjectives easily from nouns...

Numerals

Decimal base was adopted due to commerce, but traces of the former octal base remain

Syntax

Word order

• VAO usually, SV(O) in antipassive
• adjectives precede nouns while possessives follow

Lexicon

• éla day
• iwa light
• pof feather
• doth man
• vakuh hand
• keslan blood
• dhóku
• su it/he?
• batop language
• tip stick
• mél water

• tel see
• bous go down
• zait go up