Yacavestu

Yacavestub/Lexicon

Yacavestub is a head-final ("Altaic") agglutinative language spoken in Eastern Talma and Northern Etalocin, and is the official language of Quelocin (!werotunu in Yacavestub, from the !Zoom name !we). It's inspired aesthetically by drug names (cf. Clofabosin), Zulu, Estonian and Lushootseed. It also has clicks, from !Zoom.

Yəl eŋcuvil dəgifam hərazu vestəmad. = Methavir nalaminyl mekerylide ester axoram.

Todo

• redup at the beginning of verbs?
• -mad (e.g. ololirmad)
• -vab
• -mob
• -əl
• -am
• -xab
• -mob
• -ub
• -ode
• rotunu = 'world'
• elir = 'one'
• pelog (after pegol)

Phonology

Consonants

m n ŋ p t k b d g f s h v z l ɬ r j ⟨m n ŋ p t c b d g f s h v z l hl r y⟩

(/ks/ is written ⟨x⟩.)

Vowels

Yacavestu vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i, y /i/		u /u/
Mid	e /e/	ə /ə/	o /o/
Open		a /a/

Morphology

Nouns

Case suffixes

• -ub: (definite)
• -uvab: definite accusative suffix
• -am: genitive
• -zode:
• -une:
• -vil

Definiteness and possession

Nouns take a suffix for definiteness. Possessive suffixes are added directly to the noun for inalienable possession, and to the classifier for alienable possession.

vestu - 'language'
Number→ State↓	Singular	Plural
Indefinite	vestu	vestəl
Definite	vestub	vestələb
1sg possessor	vestel	vestəlel
2sg possessor	vestux	vestəlux
3sg possessor	vestun	vestəlun
1pl possessor	vestelod	vestəlelod
2pl possessor	vestuxod	vestəluxod
3pl possessor	vestunod	vestəlunod

Verbs

Present tense: -mad