Kiywolo

General Information
Kian (natively Kiywolo /kijɛwolo/) is the language spoken by the Kiywola people of the country of Kiy (anglicized: Ki). It is associated with the Menit'p/Menit language as well as the Tigfe language (mixed/creole language of Menit and Kian).

Classification/Dialects
Dialects include 'Old' Kian (Kisha Kiywolo) of the Kiy region within the country, Zakhian Kian (Zakha Kiywolo) of the Zakhiy region, Shikan Kian (Shika Kiywolo) of the Lashikiy region with heavy influence from the nearby country of Romburh, and 'Vulgar' Kian (Kisaha Kiwolo) of the Ziy region. Old Kian, as the name suggests, is the oldest dialect among the four, and is what is traditionally taught, and is the standard, while Zakhian Kian and Vulgar Kian are more fluid with slang, losses, and foreign influences affecting the language. Most information on Kiywolo on this page is based on Old Kian.

In the mainstream, Zakhian Kian seems to be the most popular through its influence in the entertainment as well as education. Its more 'exotic' use of sounds in contrast to Old Kian has its appeal as well. However, Old Kian is still seen as much more 'proper' and is encouraged, due to its associations with the upper class and royalty in contrast to Zakhian Kian, which rather takes influence from Vulgar Kian and has loan words from Shika Kian's Romburhian influence.

However, Zakhian Kian is still seen as trendy, modern, and the many backgrounds that comprise this dialect leads to the association of an educated background, while Old Kian may be seen as outdated, cold, and stilted.

Shikan Kian, on the other hand, is heavily influenced in accent from Romburh to a point that Shikans with this accent may be treated as foreigners and hard to understand.

Vulgar Kian is said to be the dialect of the Kishaha, the 'unsuccessful people', in Kian society. More specifically, it is a language spoken by commoners and the uneducated within Kian society, so it carries the strongest stigma of all Kian dialects. Though, Vulgar Kian simplifies Old Kian by losing some of its complexities, and therefore is the easiest, or rather, simplest, variation of Kian to learn.

Though some argue that these dialects be seen as individual languages, they are too close together and developed enough to be classified as so. Further detailing on the Dialects may be seen here: Link

One instance of a variation of Kian becoming a language in isolation occurred with the Tigfe language, when Kian and Menitian peoples were exiled in a separate continent.

Therefore, Kian is associated with the Menit'p language spoken by the Menit'p people, as well as the Tigfe language spoken by the Tigfe people (the mixed language result of the former two languages).

Contributors
The 'savior' and namesake of the Kian Empire, Ki, is said to have been the one who united the many vernaculars of the region into one, and is the one who developed the Kian writing system.

His son, Gishaza, is said to have been the one who officially standardized the language and writing system across the empire.

Writing System


The writing system of Kian is the syllabic abugida, with sentences written left to right, with the use of spaces. Sentences can also be written top down, right to left as well. There is no capitalization system. Its geometric shape is attributed to it being historically used in stone carving rather than in softer material like wood or leaves.

As for the 'pronunciations' (romanizations) written on the chart, consonants are pronounced similar to how it is pronounced in English:


 * k's are pronounced /k/
 * g's are pronounced /g/
 * kh's are pronounced /x/
 * h's are pronounced /h/
 * s's are pronounced /s/
 * z's are pronounced /z/
 * sh's are pronounced /ʃ/
 * w's are pronounced /w/
 * l's are pronounced /l/ and /ʟ/
 * y's are pronounced /jɛ/

Like Japanese vowels,


 * i's are pronounced /i/
 * a's are pronounced /a/
 * e's are pronounced /ɛ/
 * o's are pronounced /o/
 * u's are pronounced /ɯ/

Nouns
Typically, nouns end with -i. Locations [places] and names of those locations end in -iy, like Kishagiy [mountain] and Kiy [the country]. When nouns are plural, if they start with a 'k' or 's' sound, the beginning sound is replaced with 'g' and 'z' respectively.

Personal Pronouns There are no distinct object pronouns. Instead, 'subject' pronouns are used in place.

Possessive states are indicated by the addition of -ze at the end.

Ex.: Bobze [Bob's]; Weze [My/mine], Wasaze [Theirs].

Like in Hindi and Japanese, Kian also tends to be Pro-Drop, dropping the subject pronouns depending on the context.

Adjectives
Adjectives in Kiywola are complicated.

Verbs
Verbs end in -o, though not all Kian words that end in -o are necessarily verbs, with some commonly used irregulars being "Kiywolo" [Kian], "Wo" [You], and "Woso" [You all]. Subject is indicated by the addition of a personal subject pronoun before the verb.

Verbs in Kian do not conjugate, so there are no verb conjugations in the way that many Romance languages may do. Furthermore, Kian, like in Afrikaans, presents changes in tense through the addition of certain sounds to the verb, either before or between the 'default' verb.

Because the addition of affixes include prefixes and infixes, the words Default, VBS [Verb Beginning Syllable(s)], and VES [Verb Ending Syllable] will be used in the below list and chart. "Default" simply means the verb in its 'original' format [ex. kishalo, to age], "VES" describes the final syllable at the end of the verb ending in -o [ex. 'lo'], and "VBS" describes the initial syllables preceding the VES [ex. 'kisha'].

INDICATIVE MOOD

 Simple Aspect 


 * Past: i+Default
 * Present: Default
 * Future: a+Default

 Perfect Aspect 


 * Past: i+VBS+si+VES
 * Present: VBS+si+VES
 * Future: a+VBS+si+VES

 Progressive Aspect 


 * Past: i+VBS+si+VES
 * Present: VBS+si+VES
 * Future: a+VBS+si+VES

Example:

Like in 'standardized' English, there is no imperfective aspect, other than the past progressive being used for the progressive subcategory of Imperfective, and for the habitual subcategory, just past tense is used.

Other
Kian lacks articles, like Russian, as definiteness is not a part of the language.

Old Kian (Kisha Kiywolo)
Old Kian is what is typically and traditionally taught as the standard, default Kian.

Zakhian Kian (Zakha Kiywolo)
Zakhian Kian uses /z/ and /x/ sounds much more often than in Old Kian, as indicated by its title.

Shikan Kian (Shika Kiywolo)
Shikan Kian,

Vulgar Kian (Kisaha Kiwolo)
In Vulgar Kian, the /x/ and /ʃ/ rule is omitted, and those sounds as a whole are also omitted in favor of /k/ and /s/ sounds. The word kisha means success in adjective form (the successful one), and so kishaha means the unsuccessful one, a label given to those living in Ziy by the outsiders. In Vulgar Kian, this is turned to kisaha, and the word, outside of obvious connotations, is made anew.

Outside of pluralizing purposes, /g/ sounds are also omitted from names and verbs and so on.

While one may expect /z/ to also fall out of use, it seems to remain, possibly due to its relevance in the name of its region, Ziy, and prominence of Zakhian Kian's common z sounds as well. Another purpose could be to retain some differentiating features within the vocabulary. However, the -iy rule is also neglected, which also removes the /je/ sounds from words like Ziy and Kiywolo.

                   

The Zian people also prefer to add -wola to any ethnicity rather than discriminating between a derivative ethnic name or an original ethnic name. In Old Kian, Zakhiy being an original word with no parent makes it possible for those from that location to be called ' Zakha' , while ' Kiy' , deriving from the word  'Ki' , warrants a -wolaaddition to get ' Kiywola'. Similarly, those from Ikaiy are called ' Ikaiywola' , due to Ika being the parent word, while those from Lashikiy are just ' Lashika' . Vulgar Kian throws that rule out of the window by calling the Zakhian people  'Zakiwola' , and those from Lashikiy ' Lasikiwola'. While this may appear to only make the words longer and therefore more complex, Vulgar Kian simplifies the process of contemplating the origins of certain words.

Vulgar Kian also shortens many words and phrases, its most notable contribution to the Kian language being the shortening of the greeting phrase: "We lako wo akisho", to "Welawaki", and then to "Wela".

Ex:

Kiy >> Ki

Ziy >> Zi

Kiywolo >> Kiwolo

Kishagiy >> Kisagi

Zakhiy >> Zaki

Zakha >> Zakiwola

Gishaza Royal Family >> Kisaza Royal Family

Hashiwa Family >> Hasiwa Family