Rencadian

Rencadian
dhünanε Rεngcadnεr
Pronunciation	[/ˈðyːnanɛ rɛŋˈkadnɛr/]
Created by	Praimhín
Setting	Zul
Language family	Pulchric Rencadic P-Rencadic Rencadian

Phonology

Orthography

Rencadian uses its own native alphabet.

The phonetic value of any consonant letter is the first consonant in its name - so that <ʕ> for example sounds like 'ts' (i.e. /ts/) and <ɧ> sounds like 'λ' (i.e. /ɮ/)

The letters themselves are derived from pictograms.

• pεsj = bear = ɤ
• tεnwəf = mushroom = ɷ
• tsopəl = hook = ʕ
• sεn = head = ɵ
• tσīch = vine = ɖ
• σvεra = clock = ɸ
• tjiwəσ = cloud = ɯ
• sjwεt = rose = ɘ
• cmath = jaw = ʟ
• banr = hill = ʌ
• driλ = river = ʭ
• dzitra = fence = ʜ
• zawəth = ant = ɶ
• dλərsja = plough = ʄ
• λa = human being = ɧ
• djarva = seesaw = ʎ
• zji = hair = ɪ
• gεnu = foot = ʊ
• minth = arm = ʏ
• nəσa = rope = n
• ngψlεr = boat = ʁ
• rəλεth = tree = ʔ
• rhoadzət = pineapple = ð
• lif = moon = c
• wuthma = whale = ɚ
• yachta = navel = ʘ
• lenition sign = ː

The phonetic value of a vowel letter is the first vowel in its name.

• a: ʱ (called λa εrə, 'small human being')
• ε: ˠ (pεsj εrə 'small bear')
• ə: ˀ (rəλεth εrə 'small tree')
• i: ʷ (tjiweσ εrə 'small cloud')
• o: ˣ (tsordh εrə 'small hourglass')
• ψ: ʶ (ngψlεr εrə 'small boat')
• u: ˞ (wuthma εrə 'small whale')

Punctuation is as follows:

• [ ] = quotation marks
• . = space/word boundary marker
• ɭ = period
• ɭɭ = comma
• ʕ̰ = semicolon
• ʕ = colon
• The punctuation mark ˈ is placed before sentences and clauses, and ˌ before proper names.

ˈɤˠ.ɧʱnˠ.ʏˀnɤːʱʡnʱɯːɭɭ.[ˈʟˣ.ˀɤːɵʱ.ʭːˀ.ɘɚˠɷ.ʏˀʋːˠnʱʞˠʡɭ]

Pε λanε mənfarnasj, "Co əfsa dhə sjwεt məσεbanεr."

The person said, "There's water and a rose in the goblet."

Consonants

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Voiceless Stop/Affricate	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	ts /ts/	tσ /tɬ/	tj /tʃ/		c /kʰ/
Voiced Stop/Affricate	b /p~b/	d /t~d/	dz /dz/	dλ /dɮ/	dj /dʒ/		g /k~g/
Voiceless Fricative	f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	σ /ɬ/	sj /ʃ/		ch /x/	h /h/
Voiced Fricative	v /v/	dh /ð/	z /z/	λ /ɮ/	zj /ʒ/		gh /ɣ/
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/					ng /ŋ/
Approximant				l /ɫ/		y /j/	w /w/
Voiceless Trill			rh /r̥/
Voiced Trill			r /r/

Vowels

Vowel	IPA
a	/a/
ā	/ɑː/
ε	/ɛ/
ə	/ə/
ə̄	/əː/
i	/ɪ/
ī	/iː/
o	/ɔ/
oa	/ɔɑ ~ ɒɑ ~ ɒː/
ψ	/ɨ/
u	/ʊ/
ū	/uː/
ü	/yː/

Lenition

Normal

p

t

ts

s

tσ

σ

tj

sj

c

b

d

dz

z

dλ

λ

dj

zj

g

Lenited

f

th

s

h

σ

h

sj

h

ch

v

dh

z

0

λ

0

zj

0

gh

Normal	m	n	ng	w	l	r	y
Lenited	w	n	w	w	w	r	y

Prosody

Stress

In native words stress is on the first syllable, not counting prefixes. In loans (e.g. from Vrushka) stress falls on the same syllable as in the source language.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns have 2 genders (masculine and feminine) and 4 cases (nominative, genitive, comparative, and vocative).

Noun stems often get lenited. Lenition works as follows:

• When the noun begins with a lenitable consonant (any consonant besides f, v, th, dh, ch and gh), the first consonant gets lenited. If the first consonant is z, λ or zj and there's a prefix before the lenited stem, an epenthetic -n- is inserted between the prefix and the stem.
• When the noun begins with a vowel, an n- is inserted before the stem.
• When the noun begins with a nonlenitable consonant (f, v, th, dh, ch or gh), an n- is inserted before the stem if there's a prefix before the stem that ends in a vowel. Otherwise, nə- is inserted before the stem.

For example:

1. bεr 'leaf' → vεr
2. rasj 'spouse' → rasj
3. zawəth 'ant' → awəth
4. zawəsj 'ant' (genitive) → awəsj, ʙᴜᴛ:
5. λψ + lenited form of zawəth 'like an ant' → λψ nawəth
6. ənsε 'fruit' → nənsε
7. farnaj 'speech' (genitive) → nəfarnasj, ʙᴜᴛ:
8. mə + lenited form of farnasj 'speaking' → mənfarnasj
9. ow + lenited form of farnasj 'not speaking' → ownəfarnasj

Feminine nouns

Most nouns are feminine and decline as follows:

Case	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	[nom stem]	[nom stem]+mə	[nom stem]+nε	[nom stem]+nψ
Genitive	[gen stem]	[nom stem]+mən	[nom stem]+nεr	[nom stem]+nψr
Comparative	[acc stem]	[nom stem]+məth	[nom stem]+nεth	[nom stem]+nψth
Vocative	[lenited nom stem]	[lenited nom stem]+mə	[lenited nom stem]+nε	[lenited nom stem]+nψ

• [nom stem] is the dictionary form of a noun.
• [gen stem] is the genitive stem, formed by adding -ə if the noun ends in a consonant and -n if the noun ends in a vowel.
• [acc stem] is the accusative stem, formed by adding -əth if the noun ends in a consonant and -th if the noun ends in a vowel.

Here are two examples:

ərim 'tail'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	ərim	ərimmə	ərimnε	ərimnψ
Genitive	ərimə	ərimmən	ərimnεr	ərimnψr
Comparative	əriməth	ərimməth	ərimnεth	ərimnψth
Vocative	nərim	nərimmə	nərimnε	nərimnψ

nəσa 'rope'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	nəσa	nəσamə	nəσanε	nəσanψ
Genitive	nəσan	nəσamən	nəσanεr	nəσanψr
Comparative	nəσath	nəσaməth	nəσanεth	nəσanψth
Vocative	nəσa	nəσamə	nəσanε	nəσanψ

Masculine nouns

First declension

First declension masculine nouns end in consonants and the genitive stem is identical to the nominative stem, unless the final consonant is th, dh, s or z, in which case this final consonant is replaced with sj, zj, sj or zj respectively. The accusative stem is formed from the nominative stem as follows:

• If the final consonant is th or dh, it's replaced with t or d respectively.
• If the final consonant is a voiced fricative that is not dh, -dh is suffixed.
• Otherwise, -th is suffixed.

The paradigm is:

Case	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	[nom stem]	[nom stem]+mə	[nom stem]+ε	[nom stem]+ψ
Genitive	[gen stem]	[nom stem]+mən	[nom stem]+εr	[nom stem]+ψr
Comparative	[acc stem]	[nom stem]+məth	[nom stem]+εth	[nom stem]+ψth
Vocative	[lenited nom stem]	[lenited nom stem]+mə	[lenited nom stem]+ε	[lenited nom stem]+ψ

Here's an example:

nəwεth 'root'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	nəwεth	nəwεthmə	nəwεthε	nəwεthψ
Genitive	nəwεsj	nəwεthmən	nəwεthεr	nəwεthψr
Comparative	nəwεt	nəwεthməth	nəwεthεth	nəwεthψth
Vocative	nəwεth	nəwεthmə	nəwεthε	nəwεthψ

Second declension

Second declension masculine nouns end in vowels. The genitive stem is formed by:

• suffixing -r if the last vowel is preceded immediately by a consonant cluster ending in a consonant that's not p, t, c, b, d, g, f, th, ch, v, dh or gh;
• otherwise, replacing the last vowel with -r.

The paradigm is as follows:

Case	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	[nom stem]	[gen stem]+əm	[gen stem]+ε	[gen stem]+ψ
Genitive	[gen stem]+ə	[gen stem]+əmən	[gen stem]+εr	[gen stem]+ψr
Comparative	[gen stem]+th	[gen stem]+əməth	[gen stem]+εth	[gen stem]+ψth
Vocative	[lenited nom stem]	[lenited gen stem]+əm	[lenited gen stem]+ε	[lenited gen stem]+ψ

An example:

mελnψ 'love'	Indefinite Singular	Indefinite Plural	Definite Singular	Definite Plural
Nominative	mελnψ	mελnψrəm	mελnψrε	mελnψrψ
Genitive	mελnψrə	mελnψrəmən	mελnψrεr	mελnψrψr
Comparative	mελnψrth	mελnψrəməth	mελnψrεth	mελnψrψth
Vocative	wελnψ	wελnψrəm	wελnψrε	wελnψrψ

Verbal nouns ending in -ψ are always second declension masculine.

• deλψ 'to rest', genitive stem deλr-
• ithψ 'to eat', genitive stem ithr-
• mεrthψ 'to sit', genitive stem mεrthr-

Syntax

Constituent order

The Rencadian word order is TSVO (tense-subject-verb-object) or TSOV (tense-subject-object-verb). The tense is indicated by a particle:

co = present progressive pε = past sjin = future cψvo = simple present pεnwε = past habitual (the equivalent of "used to" in English)

Tense particles, like prepositions, may fuse with pronouns.

(yet to create tables)

Noun phrase

Noun phrases are consistently head-initial.

There are no adjectives per se in Rencadian, only abstract nouns whose genitives can function as adjectives:

zjεr = 'smallness' (genitive zjεrə) doasc εrə = small number zawəth zjεrə = small ant

Adjectives lenite after feminine nouns but not after masculine nouns.

Relative clauses are marked with the words 'rə' or 'tjə' (both meaning 'of', but 'rə' is used when the complement is definite). Rencadian uses resumptive pronouns a lot -- so "the man who the wolf ate" literally translates as "the man of the wolf eating him"

the man who the wolf ate: λanε tje porəw mənithrə cεwth (insert gloss)

the man from Frichorsj (a place) = λanε rə nFrichorsjnε

the man in Frichorsj = λanε tjə menFrichorsjnεr (there's polyagglutination)

Numerals

Number	Rencadian symbol	Word
0	Ψ	dira
1	I	εth
2	V	slonw
3	N	dεnr
4	M	stjiw
5	E	dhasjtur
6	IΨ	mεch
7	II	εthach
8	IV	slonwach
9	IN	dεnrach
10	IM	stjiwach
11	IE	dhasjturach
12	VΨ	slonwεσ
13	VI	slonwεσ a nεth
14	VV	slonwεσ a hlonw
15	VN	slonwεσ a dhεnr
16	VM	slonwεσ a htjiw
17	VE	slonwεσ a ndhasjtur
18	NΨ	dεnrεσ
35	EE	dhasjturεσ a ndhasjtur
36	IΨΨ	rεgh
1295	EEEE	dhasjturεσ a ndhasjtur rεgh a dhasjturεσ a ndhasjtur
1296	IʼΨΨΨΨ	dmozj
2592	VʼΨΨΨΨ	slonw dmozj
3888	NʼΨΨΨΨ	dεnr dmozj
5184	MʼΨΨΨΨ	stjiw dmozj
6480	EʼΨΨΨΨ	dhasjtur dmozj
7776	IΨʼΨΨΨΨ	mεch dhmozj
9072	IIʼΨΨΨΨ	εthach dhmozj
1679616	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	dmozjir
2176782336	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	tsifəd
2821109907456	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	tsifədir
3656158440062976	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	vərσiw
4738381338321616896	IʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨʼΨΨΨΨ	vərσiwir

Other resources

Rencadian/Lexicon