Scellan/Sketchbook
Scellan/Sketchbook is a southern Talmic language descended from Thensarian; more so than other Talmic languages, it has been influenced heavily by Classical Netagin and Clofabic languages in vocabulary and grammar. The phonology is inspired by Ashkenazi Hebrew and Portuguese.
Historical phonology
- p t c > b d g (like Spanish)
- -φ- > -v- while initial φ vanishes
- b d often lenites to v z
- Stress shift
- 1: cêƞ /kɛ̃/
- 2: têθôr /tɪˈsøl/
- nis = not
- -ācos > -âgos /ˈ-ɔgəʃ/ (verbal noun; ~ Bhadhagha -ach, Roshterian -iac?)
- Verbs: -ƞ, -r, -0, -s, -ƞs, -sc, -đ
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | n [ŋ] | ||||
| Plosive | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | ŧ /t͡ʃ/ | c /k/ | (ȝ /ʔ/)1 | |
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | đ /d͡ʒ/ | g /g/ | |||
| Fricative | voiceless | f /f/ | θ, ss /s/ | s /ʃ/ | ch /x/ | ||
| voiced | v /v/ | z /z/ | l, ħ /ʁ~h/ | ||||
| Approximant | r /r~l/ | j /j/ | |||||
- 1 Silent in everyday speech.
Vowels
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Vowel reduction
Vowels are reduced in unstressed syllables.
| Phoneme | Reduced |
|---|---|
| /i/ | [ɪ] |
| /y/ | [ʏ] |
| /u/ | [ʊ] |
| /e/ | [ɪ] |
| /ø/ | [ʏ] |
| /a/ | [ə] |
| /ɔ/ | [ə] |
| /ɐ̃/, /œ̃/ | [ə̃] |
Stress
Stress is marked with an acute accent.
Orthography
Scellan/Sketchbook orthography is fairly conservative compared to its pronunciation.
Morphology
Nouns
The masculine, feminine and neuter genders in Thensarian collapsed to common and neuter genders.
A common noun:
| mâro 'tree' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Plurative | ||
| Absolute | mâro | mâriη | |
| Construct | mâroz | mấrous | |
A neuter noun:
| stus 'fire' | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singulative | Plurative | ||
| Absolute | stus | stur | |
| Construct | stuz | stuus | |
Common: mâro, mâriη = trees
Neuter: tiηs, tiηr = hand
Neuter: stus, stur = fire
Neuter: teŧys, teŧyr = child
Verbs
Bênôcian verbs are significantly simpler than Thensarian verbs, though the multiple infinitives of Thensarian have servived.
Present indicative
| Person | tôssaη "I pray" (a-stem) |
torenis "I bloom, flourish" (e-stem) |
eliη "I love" (i-stem/C-stem) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | tôssaη | toreη | eliη |
| 2SG | tôssar | torer | elir |
| 3SG | tôssa | tore | el |
| 1PL | tôssáηs | toréηs | elíηs |
| 2PL | tôssás | torés | elís |
| 3PL | tôssa | tore | el |
Past indicative
Present subjunctive
Past subjunctive
Syntax
Bênôcian syntax is VSO.