Karsaal

Karsaal language (correctly transliterated Karsaarh or better Karsaar'h, language of the people of Kar) is spoken exclusively in Haakhiir and Hmiir, although in this last country it is more often used a kind of dialect called Hmiir'm Karsaal, Karsaal of Hmiir. Actually the language is originally spoken only in the territory of Vahajk’tka, corresponding to the region of the city of Jharii.

Classification and Dialects
There are quite a lot dialects of Karsaal since there is a multitude of peoples that speak it. That's especially because it is recognized as lingua franca in all the territories inhabited by the Kars, a typology of humanoid beasts who, because of their peculiar physiognomy, can pronounce unique sounds and can not articulate others. Karsaal is a language set up among Halkars, humanoid cats living in the desert of Vahajk’tka, but sounds which are easy to be pronounced are not so simple for others, such as for humans, elves or other races. The most spoken dialect is what is called Hmiir'm Karsaal, or Karsal of Hmiir, which is very similar to the original Karsaal but is grammatically simpler but it is more difficult to be understood and spoken.

Karsaal belongs to the Karji languages, which are mainly spoken in the center-southern lands of Kahaymah, especially in Hakhiir. It is classified as a Southern language and since it comes from the Gajarn language it is part of the Southern-Gajarn languages, distinguished from the Western-Gajarn languages.

Phonology
These are the sounds used only in the original Karsaal language. Addicted letters and other variations are not included.

Writing System
Karsaal's writing system could be simple as to each symbol corresponds a sound (more or less like in latin alphabet), but what makes it difficult is the large number of letters, which are 92 and a few of them may be easily confused with others.

The symbols were designed to be reproducible using a claw. That's because according to a legend, the gods of Halkars, which are similar to their creatures, wanted the mortals to be able to write down their thoughts and words. So the gods decided to invent symbols using their claws and show them to the people of Halkars. For each symbol they saw, they articulated a sound or stayed silent, so the gods invented at last 84 symbols and gave them to their creatures.

These 85 symbols are all found in Karsaal, but the remaining seven were added in early times by the elves (the people of Efathli, conquered by the Halkars at the end of the First Era) to be able to write the letters F, L, P, U, Ū, W and X, which are not present in the original alphabet.

The original alphabet is composed of 17 basic letters, called tzakōna (from tza, "symbol", and kōna, "beginning"). These letters are joined to other sounds (nakazjir), which can change the pronunciation of a basic letter and consequently its look.


 * In this table, there aren't shown all the sounds of each letter, but only the basic pronunciation when this is found alone (as the pronunciation may change according to other letters).


 * These sounds are an approximation: some speakers use slightly different sounds.
 * Sometimes some letters are pronounced in different ways, according to the others symbols in the word. For example, the word akka, "piece", which is made of two symbols in Karsaal language (AK and KA), should be pronounced [akːa] or [aqːa], but when there are two "k" sounds together, even if they belong to different letters, they are both pronounced like the symbol KK, which means it is pronounced [akʼa] or [aqʼa]. The same happens when there are nearby sounds (and not symbols) like "j" and "h" (vaj'hara [vaʐaɾa], "beautiful bird"), "k" and "h" (akhazi [akxazi], written AK-HA-ZI, "first name") and "r" and "h" (karsaar'h [karsaːɹ], Karsaal).

There are two more marks in Karsaal's writing system, transliterated with " ' " (apostrophe) and " - " (hyphen), which are put between a word and another (NOTE: these ones are not always used).
 * Apostrophe (tzaraje, from tza, "symbol", and raje, "composition"): in Karsaal, it is written by replicating the "tzakōna" of the following word's first letter and putting it in a high position. Most of the times, it indicates a composition of nouns (saaj'ktar is made of "freedom" and "war"), a negation (th'zgo, "I don't know") or sometimes a union between subject and predicate (jak'teka, "I come") or an abbreviation. It is also used in some declensions.
 * Hyphen (tzajhā, from tza, "symbol", and jhā, "connection"): in Karsaal, it is written like the "apostrophe", but in low position. Most of the times, it indicates a relation between name and adjective, verb and adverb or subject and noun phrase (jak-ka-ni, "I am free") or a conjunction. It is also used in some declensions.

Gender and Number
In Karsaal language there are two genders: animated and inanimate. Actually, gender is important only for pronouns. It is quite simple to tell them apart: if the noun refers to a living creature (even a plant) it is animated, whereas the rest is inanimate. But according to Kar culture, some things that we would consider inanimate are actually animated: celestial bodies, rivers, lakes, seas and volcanos are considered animated things. That is because Kars believe they contain spirits that are able to move them, like living creatures.

There are four numbers in Karsaal: singular, dual, paucal and plural. In a sentence, the noun is inflected according to the number, but all the other parts of speech don't change (excepting pronouns). In fact, nouns and pronouns are the only parts that change in number.


 * Karsaal speakers consider the last sound to tell apart consonant-ending and vowel-ending words. It means that when there is a "tzakōna" without any "nakazjir" at the end of the word, it always falls, whereas when there is a "nakazjir" at the end there are two possibilities: if it is a vowel (A, E, I, O, Y) the only thing that is removed is the "nakazjir", but if it is a consonant the whole symbol (both "tzakōna" and "nakazjir") falls down. There is an exeption when the "tzakōna" is a vocalic sound: in this case, the "nakazjir" is the last one that is removed (whether or not it is a vocalic or consonantic sound).

Cases
In Karsaal, cases are made of regular particles put at the end of the noun (or pronoun). They are tied to the noun by using three different tipes of connections: the tzaraje, the tzajhā or simply by putting it at the end. It never inflects the noun, so the symbols used to write the word are always separated by the termination.

Personal Pronouns
Pronouns in Karsaal language act like nouns. That means they do not have any flection and they have the same suffixes of nouns. What is different is that pronouns change according to the number in a different way (and they do not preserve the same root).


 * Note that the paucal number is made of the plural of the pronoun plus ga (e.g.: ni, "we"; niga, "we two").

Verbs
Verbs in Karsaal are conjugated according to mood, tense and person, but not to number. There are two different conjugations, identified by the final vowel in infinitive form (no matter if it is a tzakōna or a nakazjir, a basic letter or an added letter) which can be only a or o. In fact, all the verbs in Karsaal language end with these two vowels.

Infinitive / Imperative
Infinitive and imperative moods are considered the same, but translation changes according to the context.

Indicative
Indicative mood is made of three tenses: present, past and future. It is the only one mood where the time is expressed (with others, the time of action must be deduced by the context). Present tense is used for actions in progress now or for habits. Past tense includes all the actions of the past, and the same for future.

Conditional
It is mostly used in subordinate sentences (when talking about conditional periods). When found in a main sentence it has a meaning similar to the imperative mood, but more polite.

Passive
Passive mood corresponds to the passive voice of verbs, but as there is only one tense, translation must be deduced according to the context.

Potential
Potential mood is used to describe possible actions that the subject is (not) able to do.

Causative
Causative mood indicates that a subject causes someone or something else to do or be something or causes a change. In a causative sentence, the "object" is expressed in dative case.

Interrogative
Interrogative mood is used to make questions. Interrogative sentences do not change the normal position of words in a phrase.


 * Negative sentences are made of the verb and th' put at the end (e.g.: th'zgo, "I don't know; nokitzor th'tekavoj, "I don't let you come").

Syntax
The basic structure of a sentence in Karsaal language is SOV. In a normal sentence, the subject can be only preceded by an adverb, while the object can not be followed by anything but the verb. All the other complements are put between the subject and the object without a clear order.

Noun phrase
With the verb ka (to be), the sentence has a different structure: in this situation, there is a subject (sometimes omitted) followed and bound to the verb by the "hyphen" and a noun or adjective after the verb (and bound to it). All the other complements are put before the construct. For example:
 * Jak-ka-ni or Ka-ni (the subject is omitted): jak is the subject (I), ka is the verb (to be), followed by the adjective ni (free). Translated: I am free.
 * Jak'me zje-th'kaktā-raha: it can't be my house (lit.: my[jak'me] it[zje] not[th' ] can be[kaktā] house[raha]).

The verb ka has three different meanings: "to be", "to exist, to be in a place", and "to be made of". When it has these two last meanings, it does not follow the rules of the noun phrase, but it is not different from another verb.

Honorific suffixes
In Karsaal language, there are some honorific suffixes that are put after a name (or a pronoun when it refers to a person) and are bound to it by the "apostrophe". They are used to underline the respect or the relationship towards a person.