Ris

πρανάσση, ἄι ουαθά πανἂννη!

pranássē, hai ouathá panā́nnē!

Remember: You walk with your feet!

Ris
Rhánzi ris
Pronunciation	[/ˈr̥ʰand͡z͎ɪ rɪs͎/]
Created by	–
Native to	Italy, Cyprus; Sicily
Native speakers	301,486 (2012)
Language family	Menmer languages Ris
Early form	Proto-Men
Language codes
ISO 639-1	ri
ISO 639-2	ri
ISO 639-3	qri

Ris is my attempt to unite the sketchy constructed languages of mine; those lost forever in incomprehensible grammar, unsatisfying aesthetics and cumbersome phonologies. They stand united by the one shared feature - their relationship to the Greek language; my greatest influence no matter the language.

The Ris language, ῤάνζι ρις /r̥ʰand͡z͎ɪ rɪs͎/, is a language isolate, and is thus not known to be related to any extant language. Ris has a normal-sized inventory of consonants and a fair amount of allophony. It is a fusional language and is morphosyntactically active-stative and with a fluid subject. The morphology is evenly split between nominal and verbal inflections.

Background

The Ris language, ῤάνζι ρις /r̥ʰand͡z͎ɪ rɪs͎/, is a constructed language, but does have a fictional background set in the real world. It is spoken on Sicily and on Cyprus and has about 300,000 native speakers. Or 1. Depends on how you count.

Phonology

Consonants

The following is the inventory of consonants in the Ris language. There are 18 contrastive consonants.

Ris consonants

Consonants
		Bilabial	Denti-alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			plain	whispered
Nasals	plain	m /m/	n /n/			[ŋ]
Plosives	aspirated	ph /pʰ/	th /tʰ/			kh /kʰ/	[ʔ]
	unvoiced	p /p/	t /t/			k /k/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/			g /g/
Fricatives	unvoiced			s /s͎/	h /ç ~ x ~ h/
	voiced		z /d͡z ~ d͡z͎ ~ z ~ z͎/		[ʝ]
Trills	aspirated			r /r̥ʰ/
	voiced			r /r/
Approximants		ou /w/
Laterals				l /l ~ ʎ/

Consonant allophony

Allophony is common to many consonants, and sandhi forces them to be realised different in different environments.

The glottal fricative

The phoneme /h/, the so called glottal fricative, is in free variation with the unvoiced palatal fricative /ç/ as well as the unvoiced velar fricative /x/.

ἒτροι
hétroi
/ˈhɛtrɔɪ̯/	=	/ˈxɛtrɔɪ̯/	=	/ˈçɛtrɔɪ̯/
normal, okay

The velar fricative is the most common one, but the phones are all affected by palatalisation from front vowels, producing the palatal fricative [ç].

ὒο				ἢστιμι
hýo				hḗstimi
/ˈhʉ̩.ɔ/	=	[ˈhʉ̩.ɔ]		/ˈheːs͎tɪmɪ/	→	[ˈçeːs͎tɪmɪ]
to leave .ind.m.				pride .f

Palatalisation

Palatalisation occurs due to two main factors:

• Internally: Front vowels tend to palatalise preceding consonants if the syllable is stressed.
  • C[-pal, -rhotic, -appr] → C[+pal, -rhotic, -appr] /_V[+front, +stress]_
• Externally: A final near-close near-front vowel, /ɪ/, palatalises the initial consonant of the following word.

All consonants but the rhotic trills and the labio-velar semivowel are affected.

Plain	/m/	/n/	/p	/t/	/k/	/b/	/d/	/g/	/pʰ/	/tʰ/	/kʰ/	/s/	/z/	/h/	/l/
Palatalised	[mɲ]	[ɲ]	[pj]	[t͡ʃ]	[c]	[bj]	[ɟ]	[ʝ]	[p]	[t]	[k]	[ʃ]	[ʒ]	[ç]	[ʎ]

ρἂκι				τή				ἢστιμι				τί κατεράσχοι
rā́ki				tḗ				hḗstimi?				tí kateráskhoi?
/ˈrakɪ/	→	[ˈracɪ]		/ˈteː/	→	[ˈt͡ʃeː]		/ˈheːs͎tɪmɪ/	→	[ˈçeːs͎tɪmɪ]		/ˈtɪ katɛˈraskʰɔɪ̯/	→	[ˈt͡ʃɪ catɛˈraskʰɔɪ̯]
root .in.gen				how				pride. .f.pat				Where did I write it?

Vowels

	Ptḗgna i rháki? Tān ptḗgi i khrísti! —Common Ris saying, Idioms and phrases in Ris: An analysis. pg. 34
	The saying The hollow triangle? Rather the Christmas tree! is a nationalist idiom which represents the Ris people's belief that their language is superior to that of their neighbours. This is due to their vowel inventory creating an image of either an hollow triangle, or a pine tree.

There are 7 vowel phonemes in the Ris language. In Ris, the system of vowels are known as ptḗgna i rháki - 'the hollow triangle', due to their symmetrical places of articulation.

All vowels may be long, but the phonemes /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ change their quality when long; they are then pronounced /eː/ and /oː/ respectively.

Ris vowels

		Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	short			y /ʉ/
	long			ȳ /ʉː/
Near-close	short		i /ɪ/		ou /ʊ/
	long		ī /ɪː/		ou /ʊː/
Close-mid		ē /eː/				ō /oː/
Mid
Open-mid		e /ɛ/				o /ɔ/
Near-open
Open	short			a /ä/
	long			ā /äː/

Other than that, my vowels are rather simple. No mystics quirks at all. Well, that's if you choose to ignore the vowel harmony and umlaut process in the Nassi dialect. Makes it a tad more interesting, in my opinion.

Orthography

Ris is primarily written in the Latin alphabet, but the original alphabet was in fact Greek. In its classical and modern form, the alphabet has 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega; or ai mḗ otḗma in Ris. The below table shows the two alphabets and the Ris names for the letters, as well as the pronunciation in Standard Ris and the colloquial Ouis dialect.

Orthography
Greek		Latin		Pronunciation
				Ris	Ouis
Α α	άλπα	A a	ai	/a/
Β β	βήτα	B b	bou	/b/	/β/
Γ γ	γάμμα	G g	gou	/g/	/ɣ/
Δ δ	δέλτα	D d	da	/d/	/ð/
Ε ε	έψιλαν	E e	egnás	/ɛ/
Ζ ζ	ζήτα	Z z	za	/d͡z ~ d͡z͎ ~ z ~ z͎/
Η η	ήτα	Ē ē	etḗma	/eː/	/eɪ̯/
Θ θ	θήτα	Th th	tha	/tʰ/	/θ/
Ι ι	ιότα	I i	iou	/ɪ/
Κ κ	κάππα	K k	kau	/k/
Λ λ	λάπτα	L l	la	/l/
Μ μ	μύα	M m	ḗma	/m/
Ν ν	νύα	N n	ḗna	/n/
Ξ ξ	ξία	X x	ḗxa	/ks͎ ~ gz͎/
Ο ο	ομίκραν	O o	ognás	/ɔ/
Π π	πία	P p	pau	/p/
Ρ ρ	ρό	R r	ría	/r/	/ɹ/
'Ρ ῤ	ῤαυ	Rh rh	rhau	/r̥ʰ/	/r/
Σ σ ς	σίγμα	S s	sa	/s͎/
Τ τ	τάυ	T t	tau	/t/
Υ υ	ύψιλαν	Y y	hytḗma	/ʉ/	/ʏ/
Φ φ	φία	Ph ph	pha	/pʰ/	/f/
Χ χ	χία	Kh kh	kha	/kʰ/	/x/
Ψ ψ	ψία	Ps ps	ḗpsa	/ps͎/
Ω ω	ώμεγα	Ō ō	otḗma	/oː/	/oɪ̯/

Diacritics

The Ris alphabets, both the Latin and Greek one, use a few different diacritics to modify the pronunciation. There are five diacritics that mark the following:

• A stressed vowel in a syllable.
• A long vowel in a syllable.
• An aspirated vowel; preceded by /h/. Can also mark the phoneme /r̥ʰ/.
• A stressed, aspirated vowel.
• A long, aspirated vowel.

The use of aspiration here does not refer to the co-articulating process, but rather that the vowel is preceded by an /h/, a "glottal fricative".

Stressed vowels

Stressed vowels are marked with an acute accent, <´>, in the Latin script. In the Greek alphabet, the diacritic is the acute accent as well, only slightly different; <΄>. These mark that the syllable with the vowel is to be stressed, and thus articulated stronger, than other syllables.

File:Greek acute.png	File:Greek grave.png	File:Latin eta.png
Acute	Grave	Eta
File:Greek asper.png	File:Greek asper acute.png	File:Latin eta acute.png
Spiritus asper	Asper acute	Eta acute

Long vowels

Long vowels are vowels pronounced vowels articulated for a longer period of time. These get a grave accent in the Greek alphabet, <`>, and a macron in the Latin script, <¯>. Long vowels grave accent in the Greek script when stressed. In the Latin alphabet, however, the stressed long vowels get a second acute accent above the macron, <' ̄́'>.

As previously mentioned, all vowels can be long vowels, but there are two vowels that change their quality when elongated; the /ɛ/ and /ɔ/. These are raised to /eː/ and /oː/ respectively. In the Latin script these are marked as expected, <ē> and <ō>. However, in the Greek script, they are replaced by the letters eta <η> and omega <ω> respectively.

Aspiration

Aspiration, when a vowel is preceded by /h/, is marked by a so-called dasia in the Greek script, <῾>. In the Latin manner of style though, the letter <h> precedes the vowel, as it does phonetically.

In the Greek script, the dasia can be combined with the acute and grave accent, producing <῞> and <῝>.

The dasia can also be placed on the Greek ro sign, <ρ>. The pronunciation of <ῤ> becomes /r̥ʰ/, an aspirated voiceless alveolo-dental trill.

Grammar

The grammar of Ris is split into nouns, verbs, adforms and syntax.

Nouns

Number

Ris has three numbers, all of which are equally common in the language. The Ris numbers are different to those of English, instead using a so-called collective-singulative distinction.

The distinction infers that the basic form of a noun is the collective, which is indifferent to the number and unmarked. However, in Ris, the collective form has an additional meaning, and can also signify duals. It is thus the singulative that most often goes unmarked.

Singulative

The singulative (sg) denotes one, single noun, and roughly corresponds to the English equivalent of singular. A singulative noun is a single item, either of a collective noun or even a mass noun.

thýo trḗma					mnío klī́ta mna					íntrai pákima ḗs?
/ˈtʰʉ̩ɔ ˈtreːma/					/ˈmnɪ̩ːɔ ˈklɪːta mna/					/ˈɪntraɪ̯ ˈpakɪma eːs/
thý	-o	trḗ	-ma		mní	-o	klī́ta	mna		ín-	-trai	paki-	-ma	ḗs
to want	-ind.prfv.1.sg.m	wheat.unm.inan	-pat.sg		to see	-ind.prfv.1.sg.m	wolf.ma.an.pat.sg	one		to be	-subj.prfv.1.sg.m	time.unm.inan	-pat.sg	you.2.dat.sg.an.
I want a grain of wheat.					I see a wolf.					Do you have a minute?

Dual-collective

The dual-collective number (dc) is a special number to the Hrasic language. The dual-collective primarily marks the collective sense, whereas English uses the plural. It does however also signify two nouns, a pair, in certain contexts.

Plurative

The plurative (pl) marks when there are multiple nouns, but more than two. It does not have the collective sense that the English equivalent does.

Gender

There are two genders in the Ris language, the animate (an) and inanimate (inan). The animate gender includes only living animals and insects, as well as supernaturals like spirits and deities. The inanimate gender mainly denotes non-living objects, abstractions as well as flowers and microorganisms.

In the 3 person singular personal pronouns as well as verbs, the animate splits into a feminine (f.an) and masculine (m.an) animate gender. These mark only natural gender.

Case

There are 7 grammatical cases in Ris. Most of these are rather common to the Indo-European languages.

Ris cases

Cases and usage
Case		Usage		Example
Nominative		The independent form of nouns; the lemma.		The dog
		Subject of high-control intransitive verbs; without a patient.		The dog bites.
		Subject of high-control intransitive verbs; without a patient.		The man fell.
		Subject of a transitive verb; with a patient.		The dog bit the man.
Accusative		Object or patient of a transitive verb.		The dog bit the man
		Indicates a duration of time.		I did it for many years
		In indirect statements.		He said I was ugly.
		To mark location.		I am at home.
		After certain prepositions.		Between one and ten; near you.
Dative		Indirect object of a ditransitive verb.		He gave the man a pen
		Dativus finalis; dative of purpose.		I fight for the king! Call for help!
		Dativus commodi; dative of benefit or malefic.		Open the door for him; this one is not for children.
		Dativus lativus; dative of movement.		I'm going to Siberia; I come from home.
		Dativus modi; dative of manner and cause.		He died from a disease.
		Dativus possessivus; dative of possession.		There is a book to me; I have a book.
		After certain prepositions.		Get away from me.
Instrumental		Instrumentalis instrumenti; the means of the action.		He writes with a pen.
		Instrumentalis auctoris; the performer of actions.		Opened by the mayor; caught by a net.
		Instrumentalis modi; the manner of means of an action.		Go by the short cut.
Genitive		Symbolises ownership		The dog's bone
		Marks objects related to the subject in composition		The group member
		Symbolises lacking		Go without me
		Marks origin of nouns.		I moved from the house
		Marks origin of nouns		It is from France
		Marks concerned, associated nouns		On the Origin of Species.
		Marks concerned, discussed nouns.		Talking about films.
		Indicates cause		It's because of the snow.
		Marks abstract cause		Thanks to/despite him.
Semblative		For comparations, and semblatives.		It is like a fish.
		For comparative adverbials.		I dance like a god; I dance godly.
Vocative		Direct address.		Hey, John!
		Disjoint address.		You are right, Mary.
		Exclamation.		Poor me! Wretched life!

Classes

There are a multitude of declensional classes in the Hrasic languages, below are the four most common ones. These decline with either a marked dual-collective or a marked singulative number.

Morphology

Nominal

Declension

Declension of gýtē

Animate marked collective
ma.an	gýtē - fish
	singulative	dual-collective	plurative
Patientive	gýtē	gytḗn	gytḗr
Agentive	gytḗr	gytḗrne	gytḗra
Dative	gytḗs	gytḗnse	gytḗi
Instrumental	gytḗn	gytḗnne	gytḗs
Genitive	gýtēa	gýtēan	gytēái
Locative	gýtēia	gýtēian	gýtēiar
Vocative	gýta	gýtan	gytár

Samples

• thýo hā́ katḗrrazas
• tḗ rhánzatha
• gytḗra ouārathí ērikí
• inḗ gýtē mna.
• Atḗ, inḗ gytḗn ~ Atḗ, inḗ gýtē ne!