Vexilian

Vexilian
Załojąļčæɂ/Заԓоӽъԡчӕь/زِلشےَحٛلژچٰا/זַלשֹכֲּלשׁצ׳ָא
Pronunciation	[zäɬo̞ˈq͡χɐɮʧæʔ]
Created by	QaiZar
Date	2024
Writing system	Latin Cyrillic Arabic Hebrew Vexilian Abugida
Language codes
CLCR	none

Introduction

THIS IS STILL A WIP, I'LL WRITE MORE LATER -QAIZAR Vexilian is a constructed language designed to be the vernacular language for vexilians. A highly militarized alien culture based on a hierarchical and nationalistic system. The language features a complex phonology, a polysynthetic morphology inspired by languages ​​such as Chilean Spanish, German, Nahuatl, Abkhaz, Navajo, Klingon, indigenous languages ​​of Chile, and Tungusic, Berber, Mongolian, and Chukotko-Kamchatka/Luorawetlan languages, and a unique writing system with adaptations to the Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic, and Hebrew alphabets. Its linguistic structure reflects the cultural values ​​of the Vexilians, where militarism, nationalism, and hierarchical order play a fundamental role.

Phonology

Consonants

Vexilian has 45 consonants and 13 vowels. At the left of each cell in the table below is the phoneme, and at the left its transliterated representation if it is not written the same in IPA as in written vexilian. The consonants are as follows:

Bilabial

Labiodental

Dental

Alveolar

Palatoalveolar

Retroflex

palatal

Velar

Uvular

Pharyngeal

Epiglottal

Glotal

Nasal

m

n [n̪]

ñ [ɲ]

ŋ

Oclusive

p b

t [t̪] d [d̪]

k g

q

q̇ [ʡ]

ɂ [ʔ]

Implosive

ɓ

Africate

c [t͡s] ç [d͡z]

č [t͡ʃ] ĵ [d͡ʒ]

ꝗ [q͡χ]

Fricative

f

ŧ [θ] ð

s [s] z [z]

š [ʃ] ž [ʒ]

(ʝ)

j [x] ƣ [ɣ]

(χ) ř [ʁ]

ƹ [ʕ]

h

Aprox.

w ƕ [ʍ]

v [ʋ]

ŕ [ɻ]

y [j] ÿ[ɥ]

trill

ḅ [ʙ] ṗ [ʙ̥]

r (r̪)

ŗ (r̝)

(ʀ)

Lateral Afr.

tł [t͡ɬ] dļ [d͡ɮ]

Lateral Fr.

ł [ɬ] ļ [ɮ]

Lateral Aprox.

l

Click

kl [ǁ]

kly [ǂ]

Vowels

The 12 vowels of vexilian are as follows:

	Front	Near-Front	Central	Near-Back	Back
Closed	i		ɨ (ü)		u
Near-Closed		ɪ (į)		ʊ (ų)
Mid	e̞ (e) ø̞ (ø)		ə (ę)		o̞ (o) ɤ̞ (ǫ)
Near-Open	æ		ɐ (ą)
Open			ä (a)

Phonotactics

Vexilian present a very ample phonetic inventory The vocalic system distinguishes short and long vowels with nasal and long nasal variants

Syllabic structure

• The maximum syllabic structure is C(C)V(C)
• Most syllables start with a consonant.
• A 2 element consonant group is allowed, where the second is always an approximant (/j w ɥ/) or a liquid consonant (/l r/).
• Affricates and ejectives count as a single segment in the syllabic structure.
• Nucleus:
• It can contain a long, short, nasal, or long nasal vowel.
• Dipthongs are exclusively decrescent (ej. [ei̯], [au̯]).

Coda:

Nasalized coda assimilates its articulation point to the next consonant.

Phonologic processes:

• Nasal assimilation: /n/ adopts the articulation point of the previous consonant (/n/ → [ŋ] on velar/uvular consonants, /n/ → [ɲ] on palatal consonants).
• Vowel reduction: On a atone syllable, short vowels often get reduced to /ə/, except for /i/, which reduces to [ɪ].
• Glotal epenthesis: Between 2 identical vowels in sequence, /ʔ/ gets inserted to avoid hiatus.
• Lenition: Voiced stops get turned into fricatives between vowels (/b/ → [β], /d/ → [ð], /ɡ/ → [ɣ]).
• Emphatic glottalization: In poetic or ritual contexts, certain words are pronounced with an additional glottal stop, even if they're not graphically represented.

Distribution of /t͡s/, /t͡sʼ/ and /d͡z/:

/t͡s/, /t͡sʼ/ y /d͡z/ behave like coronal consonants. They're frequent on initial and middle pose, but they rarely appear in coda.

Neutralized eyectives in coda

Ejective stops lose their audible release at the end of a word:

/pʼ/ → [p̚]

/tʼ/ → [t̚]

/kʼ/ → [k̚]

/qʼ/ → [q̚]

Morphology

The verb structure is as follows:

Evidentiality prefix + time/mode prefixes + Verbal root + object incorporation + Derivative sufixes + Subject marks

Evidentiality prefixes

• Direct: Ƹa- (I saw with my own eyes).
• Indirect/Audible: Ƹe- (I heard someone saw).
• Doubtful/Imaginary: Ƹę- (I Assume it happened).

Time/Mode prefixes

• Present: ta-
• Past: ka-
• Future: sa-
• Hypothetical: za-
• Perfective (completed action): q̇ę-
• Imperfective (action in process): nę-

Derivative sufixes

• Causative: -łę (make someone do something).
• Passive: -tłę
• Reflexive: -řę

Subject marks

• 1st person: -ɂ
• 2nd person: -kę
• 3rd person: -sę

Quantity sufixes

• Plural: -tł
• Dual: -dļ
• Paucal: -jł
• Nular: -q̇oq

Syntax

Constituent order

Vexilian uses a Verb-Object-Subject order, like the algonquian languages or malagasy.

Noun phrase

Basic order: (Determinant) + (Nucleus) + (Adjectives) + (Postpositions) + (Clitics/Modifiers)

Ejemplo: Zat ghoti-kho

That big fish (Determinant + Sustantive + Adjective)

Verb phrase

Time/Aspect/Modality + Verbal Prefixes (theme, cause, applications, incorporations) + Verbal Root + Sufixes (plural, directional, etc.)

Example: Kapikožukçekę Ka-piko-žuk-çe-kę

¿Did you see me? (Ka = past, piko = interrogative, žuk = see, çe = object "me", kę = 2nd person indicator)

Sentence phrase

Evidentiality prefix + time/mode prefixes + Verbal root + object incorporation + Derivative sufixes + Subject marks

Ƹasašaŋghotiłęɂ

Ӏасашаңгһотиԓэь

عَسَشَڭگھۆتِڷها

עַסַשַנּגהֹתִלְּא

/ʕäsäʃäŋɡʰo̞t̪iɬəʔ/

Ƹa-sa-šaŋ-ghoti-łę-ɂ

= "[I] will make [myself] eat a fish (and i see it)."

• Ƹa-: Direct evidential (i see it).
• sa-: Future.
• šaŋ: Root "eat".
• ghoti: incorporated object ("fish").
• łę: Causative.
• ɂ: First person.

Numbers

Unlike most languages, vexilian uses a septenary numeral system since they have 5 fingers on each hand and 2 toes on each foot. The numbers are as follows.

• 0: Xa
• 1₇: Yx
• 2₇: Hosf
• 3₇: Łañ
• 4₇: Nęn̈ꝗi
• 5₇: Qeq̇
• 6₇: Kǫǫs
• 10₇: Xłereq̇
• 100₇: Yuz
• 1000₇: Čæn
• -illion₇: -nonok'

Examples of more complex numbers

• 13₇: Xłereq̇-ha-Łañ (ten and three)
• 41₇: Nęn̈ꝗi-Xłereq̇-ha-Yx (Four tens and one)
• 123₇: Yuz-Hosf-Xłereq̇-ha-Łañ (Hundred two tens and three)