Verse talk:Danterlokhan/Even when issues arise
Background
The National Simphonian is the official language of Stellean Republic of Simphonia. It is based on Northern Shifer Language, but for centuries has evolved to not resemble its original language. It is given the status of sole official language of High Commission of Simphonia, and is included as subject in schools up to secondary education, alongside a native language.
Phonology
Consonant charts
Pulmonic consonants
Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Retroflex | Alveolo-palatal | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Epiglottal | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | ɱ | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||||||
Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ||||||||||
Affricate | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | ||||||||||||
Fricative | f v | θ | s z |
ʃ ʒ | h | ||||||||
Approximant | j | ||||||||||||
Trill | r | ||||||||||||
Flap or tap | ɾ | ||||||||||||
Lateral fric. | |||||||||||||
Lateral app. | l | ||||||||||||
Lateral flap |
Vowel chart
Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | |
Close | |||||
Near‑close | |||||
Close‑mid | |||||
Mid | |||||
Open‑mid | |||||
Near‑open | |||||
Open |
Phonotactics
While the original vocabulary of National Simphonian comes from Shifer, centuries of use allowed it to borrow words from other languages, thereby ensuring diverse forms of syllables.
Orthography
Аа | Бб | Вв | Гг | Dd | Ее | Ĕĕ | Жж | Ӡӡ | Θθ | Ии | Йй | DZʤ | Кк | Лл | |
a | b | v | g | d | e | yo | zh | z | th | h | i | y | j | k | l |
Мм | Нн | Оо | Пп | Рр | Сс | Тт | Уу | Хх | Фф | Чч | Шʃ | Ыы | Яя | Ээ | Юю |
m | n | o | p | r | s | t | u | kh | ph | ch | sh | y | ya | ye | yu |
The table above shows the National Simphonian Alphabet together with the transliteration scheme commonly used. Up until now, there is no official romanization scheme set by the Simphonian Language Body. The letter /y/ is used to stand for both [ɨ] and [j]. In general, which is represented can easily be determined: 1. /y/ represents [ɨ] if it is between two consonants. If [ɨ] is preceded or followed by a vowel, a hyphen is used to separate it from the vowel. 2. /y/ represents [j] if it precedes or follows a vowel.
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns are generally not declined, except for marking possession, which varies among dialects of National Simphonian.
Possession
Possession is indicated by the particle /du/, which is used to connect the possessor to the possessum. The possessum precedes /du/ and the possessor follows /du/.
Articles and Numbers
Nouns are not declined for number, so the noun forms are the same for both singular and plural number. However, there is a set of articles which are used to indicate number. These articles precede the noun. National Simphonian has a definite article /zom/. This does not only indicate definiteness but also the topic of the sentence. /zom/ has only standard form, but it is also common to see it declined according to number for certain dialects, so it is also used to indicate the number of the noun.
Case
Nouns are not declined by case. A set of particles is used instead to indicate case. See the syntax for more details.
Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Long form | Short form | Value |
---|---|---|
gome гоме | me ме | 1st person singular |
baten батен | ba ба | 2nd person singular |
neiru неиру | ne не | 3rd person general, inanimate |
shashin ʃаʃин | she ʃе | 3rd person animate |
souka соука | ska ска | 1st person singular and 2nd person singular |
sono соно | no но | 1st person plural inclusive |
soltha соλθа | the θе | 1st person plural exclusive |
rove рове | ve ве | 2nd person plural |
ronche ронче | che че | 3rd person plural |
The short form is used as subject of intransitive verb and object of transitive verb. The particle /e/ is added to follow the short form to indicate the actor of transitive verb. It is also common to use the long form form as actor of transitive verb, but this is confined to dialects. The long form takes special uses, which shall be discussed in the sections below.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Long form | Short form | Value |
---|---|---|
kohyra коqыра | hra qра | proximal |
musyra мусыра | sra сра | medial |
dashyta dаʃыта | sta ста | distal |
Demonstrative pronouns are also used to indicate 3rd, 4th, and 5th person in the discourse, thus replacing the 3rd person singular inanimate pronoun /ne/ in several cases.
Possessive Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Long form | Short form | Value |
---|---|---|
miyan миян | myan мян | 1st person singular |
bayey баэй | bay бай | 2nd person singular |
neyey неэй | ney ней | 3rd person general, inanimate |
sheyey ʃеэй | shey ʃей | 3rd person animate |
skayey скаэй | skey скей | 1st person singular and 2nd person singular |
noyey ноэй | noy ной | 1st person plural inclusive |
theyey θеэй | they θей | 1st person plural exclusive |
veyey веэй | vey вей | 2nd person plural |
cheyey чеэй | chey чей | 3rd person plural |
Unlike in personal pronouns, the difference in usage of long and short forms are purely stylistic in nature; the standard use in literature is the long form; in poetry and music, it is common to repeatedly switch between long and short forms.
Adjectives
Adjectives are either in native form or derived. In the case of latter, the suffix /-la/ is used to derive an adjective from a noun. Adjectives either precede or follow the noun. If the adjective has /-la/ suffix, it must precede the noun; otherwise it must follow the noun.
Numerals
Verbs
The verb generally takes this form:
root | /ra/ | tense | transitivity |
Verbs are either transitive (marked by /-o/)or intransitive (marked by /-a/). The tenses are perfect, aorist, present, future I and future II. Future I marks a future action that will happen regardless of the situation. Future II is used to mark a future action that the actor decided to do because of current situation.
Tense | English | National Simphonian |
---|---|---|
Perfect | I ate. | Yearada. |
Aorist | I was eating. | Yearaga. |
Present | I am eating. | Yearasa. |
Future I | I will eat. | Yearala. |
Future II | I will eat. | Yearaya. |
Adverbs
Adverbs follow the verb and use the suffix /-lne/. The same marker is used in describing other aspect of verbs.
Particles
Affirmation and Negation: Yes is /jana/ while no is /nega/. They immediately follow the word they describe. In certain situations, they are used to replace other words that would usually be used instead.
Derivational morphology
Syntax
National Simphonian is an ergative-absolutive language.
Particles, Transitivity, Intransitivity
Intransitive verbs are marked with /a/ suffix. These verbs take only one subject, and there is no particle needed to mark the subject.
Эараса. Yearasa. I am eating.
Transitive verbs are marked with /o/. These verbs take an actor and object. The object is unmarked while the subject is followed by the particle /da/.
Кара dа эанqа эарасо. Kara da yeanha yearaso. 'Kara is eating food.