Qafesona

Qafesona
ӄафесона тил ყაჶესონა ტილ քաֆեսօնա թիլ قــاـفـِـسـُـنــا تـِـل
Pronunciation	[[w:Help:IPA|ˈqafɛˌsonǝ ˈсil]]
Created by	–
Native to	Georgia, Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan
Native speakers	~70,000 (2009)
Language family	Indo-European Balto-Slavic Slavic Qafesona
Language codes
ISO 639-1	qf
ISO 639-2	qaf
ISO 639-3	qaf

The Qafesona language (Qafesona: Cyrillic: ӄафесона тил, Latin: qafesona til, IPA: [ˈqafɛˌsonǝ ˈсil]) is a small language isolate within the Slavic language. It is spoken on both sides of Georgia's borders with Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia (specifically Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia and North Ossetia-Alania) and the vast majority of the language's vocabulary is of Slavic origin. However, there is also a substantial amount of words which are of clear Armenian and Georgian origin. In addition to this there are a few words that have come from Arabic and the Turkic languages. For example, "ӄаўа" ("qawa", "coffee") is from Arabic and "тил" ("til", "language") comes from Old Turkic.

Approximate linguistic area for Qafesona in the Caucasus region shown on Google Maps.

Phonology and orthography

See also: IPA for Qafesona and Georgian and Armenian alphabets for Qafesona

Alphabet

• Qafesona Cyrillic alphabet; Ӄафесона кирилличски алфавит; Qafesona kirilličski alfavit; ყაჶესონა კირილლიჭსკი ალჶავიტ; Քաֆեսօնա կիռիլիճսկի ալֆավիթ; [ˈqafɛˌsonǝ kiˈriʎit͡ɕˌski ˌɐɫfǝˈvit]

The Qafesona Cyrillic alphabet is the writing system that is usually used to write Qafesona, however both Georgian and Armenian may also be used. The Cyrillic alphabet shown below was codified in 1955, prior to which Qafesona had no official writing system.

Cyrillic	А а	Б б	В в	Г г	Д д	Е е	Ж ж	З з
Latin	A a	B b	V v	G g	D d	E e	Ž ž	Z z
IPA values	[a], [ɐ], [ǝ]	[b]	[v]	[g]	[d]	[e], [ɛ], [ə]	[ʐ]	[z]

Cyrillic	Ѕ ѕ	И и	И й	К к	Ӄ ӄ	Л л	М м	Н н
Latin	DZ dz	I i	J j	K k	Q q	L l	M m	N n
IPA values	[d͡z]	[i], [ɪ]	[j]	[k]	[q]	[l], [ɫ]	[m]	[n]

Cyrillic	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т	У у	Ў ў	Ф ф
Latin	O o	P p	R r	S s	T t	U u	W w	F f
IPA values	[ɔ], [o], [ǝ]	[p]	[r]	[s]	[t]	[u], [ʊ]	[w]	[f]

Cyrillic	Х х	Ӽ ӽ	Ц ц	Ч ч	Џ џ	Ш ш	Ы ы	Ь ь
Latin	Ȟ ȟ	H h	C c	Č č	DŽ dž	Š š	Y y	Ǐ ǐ
IPA values	[x]	[h~ɦ]	[t͡s]	[ʈ͡ʂ]	[ɖ͡ʐ]	[ʂ]	[ɨ]	[◌ʲ]

Diphthongs

There are seven diphthongs in Qafesona.

Cyrillic	АЙ ай	АУ ау	ЕЙ ей	ЕУ еу	ОЙ ой	ОУ оу	УЙ уй
Latin	AJ aj	AU au	EJ ej	EU eu	OJ oj	OU ou	UJ uj
IPA values	[aɪ̯]	[aʊ̯]	[eɪ̯]	[eʊ̯]	[oɪ̯]	[oʊ̯]	[uɪ̯]

Digraphs

The digraphs below alter the pronunciation of the constituent letters.

Cyrillic	ДИ ди	ДЬ дь	ЖЖ жж	ЖИ жи	ЖЬ жь	ЛИ ли	ЛЬ ль	НИ ни	НЬ нь
Latin	DI di	DǏ dǐ	ŽŽ žž	ŽI ži	ŽǏ žǐ	LI li	LǏ lǐ	NI ni	NǏ nǐ
IPA values	[ɟi]	[ɟ]	[ʑː]	[ʑi]	[ʑ]	[ʎi]	[ʎ]	[ɲi]	[ɲ]

Cyrillic	ТИ ти	ТЬ ть	ЧИ чи	ЧЬ чь	ЏИ џи	ЏЬ џь	ШШ шш	ШИ ши	ШЬ шь
Latin	TI ti	TǏ tǐ	ČI či	ČǏ čǐ	DŽI dži	DŽǏ džǐ	ŠŠ šš	ŠI ši	ŠǏ šǐ
IPA values	[ci]	[c]	[t͡ɕi]	[t͡ɕ]	[d͡ʑi]	[d͡ʑ]	[ɕː]	[ɕi]	[ɕ]

Vowel reduction

Stress point →	Primary stress	Secondary stress	Next to primary stress	Next to secondary or no stress
А а	[a]	[ɐ]		[ə]
Е е	[e]	[ɛ]		[ə]
И и	[i]	[ɪ]	[i]	[ɪ]
О о	[ɔ]	[o]		[ə]
У у	[u]	[ʊ]
Ы ы	[ɨ]

Palatalisation rules

Palatalisation of consonant or consonant clusters in Qafesona may change the phoneme in both spoken and written language when producing new grammatical forms (such as comparatives and vocatives), a list of such mutations is give below:

• г, д, з → ж
• ѕ → џ
• к, т, ц → ч
• с, х → ш
• ск, ст → шш
• б, п, в, ф, м → бл, пл, вл, фл, мл

E.g.:

• бог [ˈbɔl] ("god" nom.) → боже [ˈbɔʐɛ] ("god" voc.)
• лыксы [ˈlɨksɨ] ("bald") → лыкше [ˈlɨkʂɛ] ("balder")
• демократичски [ˌdɛməkrɐˈtiʈ͡ʂski] ("democratic") → найдемократичшши [ˌnaɪ̯dəməkrɐˈtit͡ɕːi] ("most democratic")

Nota bene

• Qafesona has a spelling rule which states that ы may not be preceded by г, ж, к, ӄ, х, ч, џ or ш, instead the letter и is used.
• There is also a spelling rule stating that ь may not precede ы, the letter и is used here instead too.
• Nor may ь precede й, the letter й is simply used here (rather than ьй).
• The uvular consonant /q/ often lowers neighbouring close vowels (/i/ and /u/) to close-mid vowels ([e] and [o]).

Grammar

Cases

The Qafesona language has seven cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, locative and vocative.

In Qafesona animacy is relevant for declensions of nouns and adjectives. The accusative form of adjectives has two possible forms depending on the animacy of the noun. For animate nouns (i.e. people and animals), the accusative is identical to the genitive form. For inanimate nouns, the accusative is identical to the nominative.

Nouns

Native nouns do not end in и, у or ы (in the nominative singular).

First declension

First declension nouns end in a consonant (except ь, й, ў or ӽ).

Translation →	forest
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	лес	леса	лесы
Accusative	лес	леса	лесы
Genitive	леса	лесу	лесов
Dative	лесу	лесома	лесам
Instrumental	лесом	лесома	лесами
Locative	лесе	лесу	лесех
Vocative	леш	леша	леши

Second declension

Second declension nouns end in а.

Translation →	foot
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	стопа	стопе	стопы
Accusative	стопо	стопе	стопы
Genitive	стопы	стопу	стоп
Dative	стопе	стопама	стопам
Instrumental	стопой	стопама	стопами
Locative	стопе	стопу	стопех
Vocative	стопо	стопе	стопи

Third declension

Third declension nouns end in е or о.

Translation →	meat
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	мисо	мисе	миса
Accusative	мисо	мисе	миса
Genitive	миса	мису	мис
Dative	мису	мисома	мисом
Instrumental	мисом	мисома	мисоми
Locative	мисе	мису	мисех
Vocative	мише	миша	миши

Fourth declension

Fourth declension nouns end in ь.

Translation →	day
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	динь	дни	дни
Accusative	динь	дньа	дни
Genitive	дни	дньу	дньах
Dative	дни	дньам	дньами
Instrumental	дньом	дньам	дньами
Locative	днье	дньу	дньех
Vocative	дни	дни	дни

• N.B.: динь has fleeting vowel which disappears when the word is declined.

Fifth declension

Fifth declension nouns end in й, ў or ӽ.

Translation →	tea
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	чай	чайа	чайи
Accusative	чай	чайа	чайи
Genitive	чайа	чайи	чайах
Dative	чайу	чайама	чайам
Instrumental	чайом	чайама	чайами
Locative	чайе	чайу	чайех
Vocative	чайо	чайа	чайи

Sixth declension

Sixth declension nouns end in и, у or ы.

Translation →	taxi
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	такси	таксийа	таксийи
Accusative	такси	таксийа	таксийи
Genitive	таксийа	таксийу	таксийев
Dative	таксийу	таксийама	таксийам
Instrumental	таксийем	таксийама	таксийами
Locative	таксийе	таксийу	таксийех
Vocative	такши	такши	такши

Adjectives

Hard declension

Translation →	new
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	новы	нова	нове
Accusative	новы	нова	нове
Genitive	новов	нова	новых
Dative	нову	новему	новым
Instrumental	новом	новым	новыми
Locative	нове	новем	новех
Vocative	ново	нова	нови

Soft declension

Translation →	dark blue
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	сини	синьа	синье
Accusative	сини	синьа	синье
Genitive	синьов	синьа	синих
Dative	синьу	синьему	синим
Instrumental	синьом	синим	синими
Locative	синье	синьем	синьех
Vocative	синьо	синьа	сини

"А" declension

Translation →	Qafesona
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	ӄафесона	ӄафесоны	ӄафесоне
Accusative	ӄафесону	ӄафесоны	ӄафесоне
Genitive	ӄафесонов	ӄафесоной	ӄафесоных
Dative	ӄафесону	ӄафесоному	ӄафесоным
Instrumental	ӄафесоной	ӄафесоным	ӄафесоными
Locative	ӄафесоне	ӄафесонем	ӄафесонех
Vocative	ӄафесоно	ӄафесона	ӄафесони

Personal pronouns

Number →	Singular				Plural
Case ↓	1st p	2nd p	3rd p (m, n)	3rd p (f)	1st p	2nd p	3rd p
Nominative	йа	ты	он	она	мы	вы	оны
Accusative	мнье	тье	йеӽо, ньеӽо	йи, ни	нас	вас	йих, них
Genitive	мнье	тье	йеӽо, ньеӽо	йи, ни	нас	вас	йих, них
Dative	мни	ти	йему, ньему	йей, ньей	нам	вам	йам, ньам
Instrumental	мну	тобу	йом, ньом	йей, ньей	нами	вами	йами, ньами
Locative	мни	тобе	йе, нье	йей, ньей	нас	вас	йих, них
Vocative	-	ти	онь	оно	ми	ви	они

• "Он" is used as a masculine personal pronoun for people and occasionally animals, likewise "она" is used as a feminine personal pronoun for people and animals.
• "Он" is also used as a personal pronoun for non-animate objects, in which case the accusative case resemble the nominative rather than the genitive (this also applies to "оны").
• The secondary variants of third person pronouns are used after prepositions.

Possessive pronouns

Singular

Person →	1st			2nd			3rd
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	мой	мойа	мойи	твой	твойа	твойи	йейи	йейа	йейе
Accusative	мой	мойа	мойи	твой	твойа	твойи	йейи	йейа	йейе
Genitive	мойа	мойи	мойах	твойа	твойи	твойах	йейов	йейа	йейих
Dative	мойу	мойама	мойам	твойу	твойама	твойам	йейу	йейему	йейим
Instrumental	мойом	мойама	мойами	твойом	твойама	твойами	йейом	йейим	йейими
Locative	мойе	мойу	мойех	твойе	твойу	твойех	йейе	йейем	йейех
Vocative	мойо	мойа	мойи	твойо	твойа	твойи	йейо	йейа	йейи

Plural

Person →	1st			2nd			3rd
Case ↓	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	наш	наша	наши	ваш	ваша	ваши	йихи	йиха	йихе
Accusative	наш	наша	наши	ваш	ваша	ваши	йихи	йиха	йихе
Genitive	наша	нашу	нашов	ваша	вашу	вашов	йихов	йиха	йихих
Dative	нашу	нашома	нашам	вашу	вашома	вашам	йиху	йихему	йихим
Instrumental	нашом	нашома	нашами	вашом	вашома	вашами	йихом	йихим	йихими
Locative	наше	нашу	нашех	ваше	вашу	вашех	йихе	йихем	йихех
Vocative	нашь	наша	наши	вашь	ваша	ваши	йихо	йиха	йихи

Vocabulary

Colour terms

Qafesona has 14 basic colour terms (though opinion is divided on whether the two terms for different shades of purples are different basic colour terms).

Colour terms
English	Qafesona
black	чирны
white	белы
grey	серы
dark red	кирмизи
light red	чирмины
light blue	ӽолуби
dark blue	сини
green	зелены
orange	наринџы/оранжовы
yellow	жилты
brown	ӄависпери
dark purple	филовы
light purple	сиреновы
pink	розовы

Colour spectrum
File:Qafesona spectrum.png

Contionary

Qafesona:

• adjectives
• nouns

Fruit and veg

Fruit and veg
Source	Qafesona	English
پرتقال (Persian) > ფორთოხალი (Georgian)	портохале	orange
*jablъko (Proto-Slavic)	йаблуко	apple (generic), red apple
تُفَّاحَة (Arabic, "apple")	туфаха	green apple
البرقوق (Arabic)	албаӄуӄ	plum
ծիրան (Old Armenian) from Hurrian-Urartian, whence also ჭერამი and ҷарам (Abkhaz)	циран	apricot
გარგარი (Georgian)	гаргаре	peach
بادنجان (Persian) > ბადრიჯანი (Georgian)	бадриџане	aubergine
pomidori (Italian) > პამიდორი (Georgian)	памидоре	tomato
լոլիկ (Armenian)	лолик	cherry tomato
κέρασος (Ancient Greek) > կեռաս (Armenian)	керас	sweet cherry
بالو (Persian) > բալ (Middle Armenian)	бал	sour cherry
ალუბალი (Georgian)	алубале	cherry (generic)
tīʾu (Akkadian) > τῦκον (Boeotian) > թուզ (Armenian)	туз	fig
*jüŕüm (Proto-Turkic) > üzüm (Old Turkic) > üzüm (Azeri)	узум	grape
لیمو (Persian) > لیمون (Ottoman)	лимун	lemon
лимета (Macedonia)	лимета	lime
дыня (Russian)	дыньа	(small) melon(s)
кавын (Tatar)	кавын	(larger) melon(s)
garpyz (Turkmen)	гарпуз	watermelon
*loiu̯om (PIE) > ἐλαία (Ancient Greek) > olīva (Latin)	олива	olive
ananas (Tupian or Guaraní) > ananás (Portuguese) > ananas (French) > أناناس‎ (Arabic, ’anānās)	ӽананас	pineapple
Κυδωνία (Ancient Greek) > cydōnia (Latin) > *kъdunja (Proto-Slavic)	кудуньа	quince
çilek (Turkish)	чилек	strawberry

Lessons

Qafesona lessons:

1. Introduction
2. Reading practice
3. My name is...

Writing systems

• Abjad: "абџад" ("ábdžad") [ˈabˌɖ͡ʐɐt]
• Abugida: "абугида" ("abugída") [ˌɐbʊˈgidə]
• Alphabet (generic): "алфавит" ("alfavít") [ˌɐɫfǝˈvit]
• Arabic script: "арабица" ("arábica") [ˌɐˈrabit͡sə]
• Armenian alphabet: "айбубен" ("ajbubén") [ˌaɪ̯bʊˈben]
• Georgian alphabet: "анбане" ("anbáne") [ˌɐnˈbanɛ]
• Latin alphabet: "абецеда" ("abecéda") [ˌɐbɛˈt͡sedə]