Archaic Kerguelenese (Vošuk) language

Archaic Kerguelenese (Vošuk)

1: Introduction

1.1: Pre-Imperial Kerguelen history and culture

The Kerguelen (Vošuk) archipelago was first settled by Austronesian sailors around 1000 BC. At first, populations were low, due to the cold climate and unfamiliar fauna – however, around a century after the first settlements were founded, farming began, and due to the presence of oskots (a relative of the penguin, except with thicker fur and stocky legs), domestication of animals soon began.

 Over the next millennium, Kerguelen evolved into a sophisticated alliance of city-states. Here, metalwork, writing and engineering were pioneered. Archaeological evidence from this period suggests that their civilisation was centred around knowledge – the spiritual leader of most cities was a “Library Keeper”, who presided over records kept in giant temples and partially ran public government. They also practiced a direct democracy, where common workers could voice their opinions and propose laws, and a system of trade guilds. Vošuk art and culture flourished, all the while separate from the outside world.

1.2: Imperial Vošuk

Around 350 AD, population pressures and overuse of land forced many sailors and farmers to explore abroad, resulting in the founding of many colonies around the Southern Ocean – Patagonia, southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand and even the warmer parts of Antarctica. They became a trading empire, ruling over the less advanced civilisations of the southern hemisphere (spreading their agricultural and technological techniques), but still trading sporadically with Arab and Mughal merchants. Their empire peaked at around 1100 – 1400 AD.

1.3: European contact

 The first recorded European contact with the Kerguelenese Empire was with Bartolomeu Dias in 1488, as he attempted to traverse the Cape of Good Hope. He was sheltered by them and traded with them, and his expedition was followed by more trading parties. However, around the 1530s, as imperialism began, the Spanish attempted to conquer Patagonia, but was pushed back by the Kerguelenese navy. A tense stalemate began, where Portugal temporarily allied with them, which erupted into a war in 1559. Here, the Portuguese failed to ally with them, and the Kerguelenese Empire was all but destroyed by 1600, 80% of its population dead from war, famine, disease and slavery. The last Library-Keeper surrendered his city in 1614, and the Kerguelenese Empire was lost. However, around their former colonies, their technology and language lived on, much like after the fall of the Roman Empire.

2: Orthography

2.1: Syllabics

CV, CVC (consonant vowel consonant) and VC are the only possible syllable structures.

2.2: Modern orthography

A a	/a/	I i	/i/	R r	/r/
B b	/b/	J j	/ʑ/	S s	/ts/
Ƀ ƀ	/b̪/	K k	/k/	Š š	/tʃ/
B̌ b̌	/β/	M m	/m/	T t	/t/
C c	/ɕ/	N n	/n/	U u	/u/
D d	/d/	O o	/ɔ/	V v	/v/
F f	/f/	P p	/p/	X x	/x/
G g	/g/	Ᵽ ᵽ	/p̪/	Y y	/j/
Ǧ ǧ	/ɣ/	P̌ p̌	/ɸ/	Z z	/dz/
H h	/h*/	Q q	/q/	Ž ž	/dʒ/

*This letter is treated as a vowel.

By doubling a stop consonant at the end of a word, it becomes implosive.

3: Nouns

3.1: Noun classes

Nouns belong to four classes:

-          Large object: A large physical object of any kind.

-          Small object: A small physical object of any kind.

-          Idea: A concept or thought.

-          Location: A place or time that cannot be expressed otherwise.

The large and small object classes can be subdivided into the classes of “personal” and “impersonal” – a personal noun is one that pertains to humans or has enough humanlike qualities, while an impersonal noun covers the rest.

3.2: Possessive declension

Datt = large island	Gen.	Pred.
1st person	Datay	Dattna
2nd person	Datax	Dattnaǧ
3rd person	Datad	Dattni

The genitive form shows who possesses the object, the predicative shows who is the object. Note that in this, and all following tables, the conjugation is only the standard for impersonal large object nouns.

3.3: Temporal accusative declension

These are applied only if the noun is the direct object (accusative) of the sentence. This serves to show tense change on the verb.

Dat/Datt = small/large island	Singular	Dual	Triple	Quadruple (and above)
Accusative (normal)	Dat	Dat	Datik	Dath
Instrumental (using a noun)	Dati	Datin	Dath	Datir
Prosecutive (passage of time)	Datu	Datis	Datak	Datip
Terminative (beyond a time)	Datut	Datit	Datan	Datib
Proximal (around a time)	Datutt	Datitt	Datatt	Datipp
Future	Datur	Datir	Datar	Dati

 3.4: Locative declension

This applies to subject or indirect object nouns.

Inessive/illative (in)	Datay
Superessive (on)	Datam
Subessive (under, behind)	Datob̌
Possesive (duty of)	Daxatt
Adessive (near, at, to)	Idatt
Ablative (far, away)	Udatt

3.5: Quantitative declension

This is used to show the number or amount of a noun. This does not differ for the small object and large object noun, and also has a common form for both idea and location nouns.

Half/incomplete	Dattnh	11	Dathy	26-30	Odatyo	201-400	Taidatya
1	Datt	12	Datqh	31-35	Udatyo	401-600	Taodatya
2	Dattni	13	Datqa	36-40	Adatyo	601-800	Taudatya
3	Dattniv	14	Datqo	41-60	Idatya	801-1000	Tadatya
4	Dato	15	Datqay	61-80	Odatyo	1001-1200	Tahdatya
5	Datiy	16	Datquy	81-100	Udatyo	1201-1400	Tanadatyo
6	Datuy	17	Datro	101-120	Adatyo	1401-1600	Tanodatyo
7	Datanay	18	Datruy	121-140	Hdatyo	1601-1800	Tanudatyo
8	Datiniy	19	Datrun	141-160	Nadatyo	1801-2000	Tanhdatyo
9	Datonoy	20	Datrh	161-180	Nodatyo	2001-4000	Tasdatyo
10	Datoy	21-25	Idatyo	181-200	Nudatyo	4001-+	Kadatyo

Any noun above this quantity takes a fully separate number.

4: Verbs, verb forms, and pronouns

4:1 Type 1 verb conjugation

There are six forms of each verb – here is a chart for the first class of verb:

Piqta = to appoint, to call for	Conjugated	Meaning
Standard	Piqta on	I call myself
Necessitative/imperative	Piqtak on	I must call myself/Call me!
Interrogative	Piqtay on	Will I call myself?
Indirect	Piqtas on	I call myself (to …)
Subject plural	Piqth on	We call me
Object plural	Piqtuk on	I call us

4:2. Type 2

Some verbs belong to the second class, such as “Dani”, (“to throw, to pass quickly”)

S.	Dani
N.	Danag
Int.	Danar
Ind.	Danaz
S. P.	Danaq
O. P.	Danun

4:3. Verb-like forms

Verb-like forms take the place of certain intransitive and reflexive/reciprocal verbs. They consist of various articles and suffixes, added throughout the sentence, and are dependent on random changes in structure. For example:

Me and her cleaned each other = 1ST.3RD-RECIP 3RD.1ST-CLEAN = Usth itay

I cleaned myself = 1ST.1ST-CLEAN = Unay 

I have/hold three mangoes = Mango-QUANT.3 1ST.1ST = Badiriv un. 

I keep three mangoes = Mango-QUANT.3 1ST.3RD = Badiriv us.

4:4. Pronouns

Pronouns can be either positive or negative. Pronouns inccorporate the subject and object into the same word:

(Note that the 3rd person also refers to plural or formal versions of the 1st and 2nd person)

Subject	Positive object			Negative
	1st obj.	2nd obj.	3rd obj.	1st obj.	2nd obj.	3rd obj.
1st	Un	Um	Us	An	Am	As
2nd	Htt	Ti	Ht	Utt	Tu	At
3rd	It	Tit	Titt	Ad	Dat	Datt

5: Adjectives

5:1. Adjective classes

Adjectives are grouped into the same six classes as the nouns – certain adjectives can only be applied to certain nouns and so on. For example:

-          “Janu” means “big” in reference to large objects

-          “Kat” means “big” in reference to small objects

-          “Angu” means “big” in reference to locations