Svojan

Svojan
Švojln
Pronunciation	[ʃvɔjl̩n]
Created by	user:Aenil2
Date	2024
Writing system	Latin

Svojan (autoglossonym: Švojln; Svojan : [ʃvɔjl̩n]) is a personal language I started working on in late 2024, as an attempt to use a Slavic-like phonology, while maintaining an unique grammar and vocabulary, unalike to the phonology's source languages.

Phonology

Consonants

Svojan has 27 consonants, which are quite similar to the ones of Slovak

Consonants

	Labials	Alveolars	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m /m/	n /n/		ň/n /ɲ/
Plosive	p /p/, b /b/	t /t/, d /d/		ť/t /c/, ď/d /ɟ/	k /k/, g /g/
Fricative	f /f/, v /v/	s /s/, z /z/	š /ʂ/, ž /ʐ/		ch /x/, h /ɣ~ɦ/
Affricate		ts /ts/, dz /dz/	č /tʂ/, dž /dʐ/
Approximants				j /j/	v /w/
Rhotics		r /r/,l /l/		ľ/l /ʎ/

Notes :

• Palatal sounds /ɲ/, /c/, /ɟ/ and /ʎ/ are written without carons if they are followed by a front vowel
• /w/ is either the labio-velar approximant /w/, the labio-dental approximant /ʋ/, the voiced labio-dental fricative /v/ or the voiced bilabial fricative /β/
• Retroflex sounds /tʂ/, /dʐ/, /ʂ/ and /ʐ/ can also be pronounced as palato-alveolar /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/

Vowels

Svojan has 6 oral vowels and 3 nasal vowels. Oral vowels have length distinction.

Oral vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/	y /ɨ/	u /u/
Mid	e /e/		o /o/
Open	a /a~ɑ/

Nasal vowels

	Front	Back
Mid	ę /ɛ̃/	ǫ /ɔ̃/
Open	ą /ɑ̃~ã/

Notes :

• To mark length, the acute accent is used over the vowel. It sometimes can change the vowel :
  • /e/ becomes /ɛ/ when long
  • /o/ becomes /ɔ/ when long

Grammar

Nouns

Svojan nouns are gendered, and can inflect for case, number and definiteness

Noun genders

Nouns can take 1 of 3 genders : Masculine, Feminine and Neuter

The gender of a noun is highly predictable, and can be deducted from the following criterias:

Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nouns ending in a "hard" consonant Nouns ending in a nasal vowel	Nouns ending in a "soft" consonant Nouns ending in a front vowel (e, i and y)	Nouns ending in another consonant Nouns ending in a back vowel (a, o and u)
leden → lead (metal) savę → male child	kataď → competition koný → meal	silaž → stone avu → bird

Notes :

• Hard consonants are /n/, /t/, /d/ and /l/
• Soft consonants are /ɲ/, /c/, /ɟ/ and /ʎ/

Noun cases

Nouns in Svojan can take one of 12 cases (4 "alignment cases"/"mažilikaru dáikný" and 8 "preposition cases"/"džiteruktę dáikný") :

Alignment cases

Nominative

The nominative case is used to indicate the subject of a sentence, and the object of a predicate

Accusative

The accusative is used to indicate the direct object of a sentence. It is also used to indicate the complement of some adpositions, related to time

Genitive

The genitive case is used to indicate alienable possession

Dative

The dative case is used to indicate alienable possession, and the indirect object of a sentence

Preposition cases

Lative

The lative case is used to indicate movement to a location

Locative

The locative case is used to indicate position in space, and to indicate the complement of adposition related to position

Ablative

The ablative case is used to indicate movement from a location

Instrumental

The instrumental case is used to indicate instruments of an action, and to indicate the complement of adpositions related to accompaniment

Privative

The privative case is used to indicate an absence

Causal

The causal case is used to indicate the reason of an action, and to indicate the complement of adpositions related to cause

Causal-final

The causal-final case is used to indicate the purpose of an action

Adpositional

The adpositional case is used to indicate the complement of adpositions not related to time, position, accompaniment nor cause