Modern Kasavian language

1: The basics

1.1: Phonology

A a	/ɑ/	J j	/d͡ʒ/	S s	/s/
B b	/b/	K k	/k/	Ṣ ṣ	/ʃ/
C c	/t͡ʃ/	L l	/ɾ/	T t	/t/
D d	/d/	Ɫ ɫ	/l/	U u	/ʊ/
E e	/e/	M m	/m/	V v	/v/
F f	/f/	N n	/n/	W w	/β/
G g	/g/	Ṇ ṇ	/ŋ/	X x	/ɣ/
H h	/ɦ/	O o	/o/	Y y*	/ɛə/
Ḥ ḥ	/ʕ/	P p	/p/	Z z	/z/
I i	/i/	R r	/r/	Ẓ ẓ	/ʒ/

*Also pronounced /ĩ/ in certain dialects and regions.

There are twelve consonant clusters – those which are followed with an asterisk appear at the start of a syllable only: 

/tɾ/	/tl/	/tr/	/dr/*
/bd/	/pt/	/dβ/*	/tf/
/st/	/ʃt/	/zd/*	/ʒd/*

In a few instances, such as “iai” (“one”), /i/ is pronounced as /j/.

1.2: Syntax

The standard sentence structure is Subject-Verb-Object, as in English, although variations on this are possible – for example, VSO and SOV – which tend to mark a change in definiteness. The only rule is that the subject must precede the object, as it does in most languages.

In colloquial speech, whenever the meaning can be inferred otherwise, often small but important information can be missing. For example:

-          (I will) give you three cows = Golo pak nij smac = three give cow with you

It is important to look out for this in most speech.

2: Nouns

2.1: Noun cases & possessions

There are ten noun cases, explained below:

-          Nominative: Serves both the subject and direct object

-          Lative: “towards” the noun

-          Perlative: “across” or “around” the noun

-          Adessive: “near”, “by” or “at” the noun

-          Ablative: “far from” the noun

-          Instrumental: “with” or “by using” the noun

-          Benefactive: “for” the noun

-          Superessive: “on” the noun

-          Inessive: “in” the noun

-          Subessive: “below” or “behind” (depending on context) the noun

Each case also has two forms – the personal, denoting possession or belonging to the first person (singular or plural, “my”/”our”) and the impersonal, denoting possession by another (“your, his, her, its, their”). Plurals are not shown through declension, but instead through adjectives (discussed below).

Some nouns, such as “ɫauẓ” (“sea, open water”), only have an impersonal form.

2.2: Vowel-changing noun patterns

There are three main patterns for consonant-ending nouns and two for vowel-endings, but there are also a few variants on this. Firstly, the declension is partly determined by the final (or in the case of vowel-endings, penultimate) vowel, which changes to a diphthong (double vowel) in certain places, depending on the main pattern - for example: 

-          “xyn” (“my/our house”) becomes “xuin” (“your/its house”)

-          “nij” (“my/our cow”) becomes “nauj” (“with your/its cow”)

This vowel is also reflected in the lative and instrumental impersonal – for example, with “xyn”, these are “xynyr” and “xynyc”, with “nij” this is “nijit” and “nijil”, and so forth.

The vowel-diphthong change patterns are as follows:

-          “a” = “oi”

-          “o” = “ai”

-          “e” = “ue”

-          “u” = “oi”

-          “i” = “au”

-          “y” = “ui”

2.3: Consonant and vowel ending patterns

Consonant ending nouns can be further divided into classes:

-          Group 1: Nasal: “m”, “n” and “ṇ”

-          Group 2: Hard: voiced consonants – “d”, “g”, “x”, “w”, “v”, “z”, “ẓ”, “b”, “h”, “ḥ”, “j”, “bd”, “dw”, “zd”, “ẓd”, “r”, “ɫ”

-          Group 3: Soft: unvoiced consonants – the remainder of the consonants in the phonological chart

Vowels can be split into two classes:

-          Group 1: “a, o, u”

-          Group 2: “i, e, y”

2.4: Consonant-ending Groups 1-3

Group 1: Xyn (house, home, hut)

	Personal	Impersonal
Nom	Xyn	Xuin
Lat	Xydi	Xynyr
Per	Xuida	Xuidu
Ade	Xyna	Xynko
Abl	Xynu	Xuinko
Ins	Xynuɫ	Xynyc
Ben	Xynis	Xydaṣ
Sup	Xyda	Xyde
Ine	Xynat	Xynit
Sub	Xynen	Xynai

Group 2: Nij (cow)

	Personal	Impersonal
Nom	Nij	Nijek
Lat	Nije	Nijit
Per	Nauj	Nauji
Ade	Nija	Nijai
Abl	Niju	Nauju
Ins	Niji	Nijil
Ben	Nauja	Nijaw
Sup	Nijem	Nijo
Ine	Nijɫa	Nauj
Sub	Nijan	Nijau

Group 3: Patkol (village)

	Personal	Impersonal
Nom	Patkol	Patkolin
Lat	Patkola	Patkolok
Per	Patkoli	Patkolak
Ade	Patkolen	Patkolil
Abl	Patkolai	Patkolar
Ins	Patkail	Patkolow
Ben	Patkaila	Patkailas
Sup	Patkolim	Patkaili
Ine	Patkolit	Patkolis
Sub	Patkolem	Patkolu

2.5: Vowel ending noun declensions

Group 1: Iɫa (tree)

	Personal	Impersonal
Nom	Iɫa	Iɫar
Lat	Iɫat	Iɫi
Per	Iɫai	Iɫap
Ade	Iɫan	Iɫal
Abl	Iɫau	Iɫam
Ins	Iɫoi	Iɫin
Ben	Iɫaṣ	Iɫaw
Sup	Iɫoik	Iɫoim
Ine	Iɫoit	Iɫoiṣ
Sub	Iɫax	Iɫaka

Group 2: Hawori = laugh

	Personal	Impersonal
Nom	Hawori	Haworik
Lat	Haworir	Haworos
Per	Haworil	Haworin
Ade	Haworim	Haworida
Abl	Haworiu	Haworiɫu
Ins	Haworix	Haworok
Ben	Haworizd	Haworiz
Sup	Hawairi	Hawairiɫ
Ine	Haworis	Haworima
Sub	Hawairin	Hawairiw

3: Verbs

3.1: Basics of verb conjugation

There are three tenses for most verbs (only imperatives and perfectives are exceptions) – these being the present, past and future. Conditionals and moods are shown with adjectival declension – this adjective applies to the object noun so it precedes the verb. Verbs are conjugated also depending on whether they are positive or negative.

All verbs must start in a consonant and end in an unvoiced stop consonant – “k”, “p”, “t”, “c”.

3.2: Negatives and opposites

What is interesting about all verbs is that they correspond with an opposite – for example, “pak”, depending on position or conjugation, can mean “give” or “take”, “ɫot” can mean “pass by” or “leave” (both with an adessive noun as the object), and “rilak” can mean “tie” or “untie” in a similar manner.

These rules depend on whether the verb is in the negative form or the sentence order – for example, in Subject-Verb-Object and Verb-Subject-Object sentences, the positive form of “pak” means “give” and the negative means “not give”. However, in Subject-Object-Verb, the positive means “not take” and the negative means “take”.

If the verb is intransitive (lacking a direct or indirect object), the indeclinable article “om” (usually meaning “it is” or “they are”) becomes the object.

3.3 Conjugation pattern 1 and variations

Here is the conjugation pattern for the majority of verb forms, shown with the above example of “pak”:

	Positive	Negative
Present	Pak	Plik
Past	Padak	Paṇka
Future	Paku	Pledek

In the past positive and future negative forms, a syllable is added before the final vowel and consonant of the verb, whose nature is dependent on the initial consonant. The vowel in this syllable is determined by the vowel preceding it, while the consonant is determined by these rules:

·         If “f” or “p” = “d”

·         If “l”, “r”, “ɫ”, “s”, “ṣ”, “w”, “v”, “b” = “t”

·         If “g”, “k”, “d”, “t”, “j” = “c”

·         If “m”, “n”, “ṇ”, “x” = “j”

In the present negative, “l” always follows the initial consonant. If a consonant cluster starts the word, then this becomes “-el”.

In the past negative, the corresponding nasal precedes the final consonant – for “k”, this is “ṇ”, for “p” this is “m” and for “t”/”c” this is “n”.

In the future positive, the final vowel is “u” following “k”, “o” following “t” and “c” and “a” following “p”.

3.4: Conjugation pattern 2

This is for the verbs which relate to motion, or which have an object incorporated into them (of which there are very few).

Miklac = to walk home

	Positive	Negative
Present	Miklac	Mikloc
Past	Miklajoc	Miklajac
Future	Miklaco	Mikla

As we can see, the vowel and consonant rules listed above apply here, but in a different order and with a different pattern of formation – for example, the future negative has the final consonant removed.

3.5: Imperative & perfective variants

Some verbs have an imperative form, entirely separate from their main forms. Here, there is a future tense, but this only signifies an order for the future, while the present has a more immediate sense. They are conjugated the same, except for the past which is not used. For example, the verb “wak” means “give/take” in the imperative form, as an order.

A small number of verbs retain a perfective form, and so the present takes the place of the past in this form – for example, the verb “luk”, meaning “to go”, “to be” or “to begin” (or “to end” in the negative) , only occurs as a perfective verb. With the exception of the past tense, these are conjugated like normal.

3.6: Use of prepositions

By changing the preposition a verb is paired with, the meaning can be completely altered – for example, “pak”, with the instrumental as the main object, means “to give”, but with the benefactive, it instead means “to want”.

4: Adjectives

4.1: Adjective syntax

Adjectives have an irregular position – when they are the adjective of a single object, whether direct or indirect, they precede the verb and, if present, the subject. However, if there are multiple objects, the adjective of the first object precedes the subject and the adjective for the second object follows that object.

The adjective for the subject follows the subject, as with the second object.

4.2: Adjective inflection patterns

	Hard/Voiced	Unvoiced	Vowel
Imperfect	-∅	-∅	-∅
Perfect**	-o	-u	-n
Conditional	-y/e*	-e	-k
Necessitative***	-ai	-oi	-ẓa
Optative****	-aw	-ot	-t
Example:	Goɫ (three)	Iek (five)	Iai (one)

*”e” is only for voiced adjective endings.

**The perfect comes with sentences involving perfective verbs, but can come with certain perfective forms when referring to a possible, but not definite, future action, or the subjunctive

***”Need” or “must”

****”Can” or “may”

4.3: Use of interrogatives

The interrogative for “who/what” – “oi” – is treated as an adjective, but its meaning changes irregularly depending on sentence position. For example:

-          Who is behind us? = Oi kaxai? (who us.SUB)

-          Who are we behind? = Kaxai oi? (us.SUB who)

5: Vocabulary

-           Kax – we (inclusive)

-          Nimtɫa – winning, success

-          Nimat – win, succeed (opp. lose, fail)

-          Woc = boat

-          Boc = to sail a boat

-          Oi = who/what

-          Ba = where

-          Iai = one

-          Pon = two

-          Goɫ = three

-          Nei = four

-          Iek = five

-          Os = six

-          Odi = seven

-          Mi = eight

-          Bi = nine

-          Lin = ten

-          Iali = eleven

-          Poli = twelve

-          Gali = thirteen

-          Neli = fourteen

-          Ieleki = fifteen

-          Osli = sixteen

-          Ponlin = twenty

-          Iai ponlin = twenty-one