Rikutsaren/Rιkučwâb

Rιkučwâb (IPA: ) is a member of the Asermian language family.

Vowels

 * /ɑ/ lengthens when unstressed after sibilants in syllable coda. Does not nasalise or rhotacise.
 * [ɒ] does not lengthen. Nasalises normally. Allophone of /ɑ/ when lateralised. (Note: also occurs as a result of /r/ loss from Late Rikučreb)
 * [ɑ̈] is always long. Does not nasalise. Allophone of /ɑ/ word-finally.
 * [a] does not lengthen or nasalise. Allophone of /ɑ/ when unstressed before plosives and stressed after semivowel.
 * [æ] does not lengthen. Nasalises normally. Allophone of /ɑ/ when stressed before plosives (unless after semivowel).
 * [ʌ] does not lengthen. Does not nasalise. Allophone of /ɑ/ in diphthong /ʌɪ/.
 * Does not occur alone in any word in Rιkučwâb and is extremely rare in the Asermian language family, occuring in just 3 words out of all members combined.
 * /ɑɪ/ occurs word-finally.
 * /ʌɪ/ occurs as an allophone of /ɑɪ/ when word-medial.
 * /ɑu/ occurs anywhere.
 * /ɛ/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
 * [e] lengthens when word-final (unless in monosyllabic word). Does not nasalise. Allophone of /ɛ/ when stressed or when before post-alveolar approximants. Rhotacises before /r/.
 * /eɪ/ occurs only in conjugated verbs. Variant of [e].
 * /ə/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
 * /ø/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
 * /ɪ/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
 * /i/ lengthens when stressed or word-final. Nasalises before /ŋ/.
 * /o/ does not lengthen. Nasalises normally.
 * [ɔ] does not lengthen. Nasalises normally. Allophone of /o/ when stressed before plosives.
 * /oɪ/ occurs anywhere.
 * /u/ is always long. Does not nasalise.
 * /uɪ/ occurs word-finally as a grammatical affix denoting an inanimate agent noun or in conjugated verbs.
 * /ju/ occurs word-finally.

Stress
Rιkučwâb stress relies heavily on acoustic vowel height. The list below lists the vowels from high to low in the order officially used:

i, u(ju,ɑu), o, ɪ(ɑɪ,ʌɪ,oɪ,uɪ), ø, e/ɛ, æ/a, ɔ, ɒ, ɑ/ɑ̈

The following rules determine where stress occurs:
 * 1) The higher vowel is stressed, unless:
 * 2) word-final /i/ is the highest vowel, in which case the next highest is stressed.
 * 3) Diphthongs that move towards the highest vowel in the word are stressed.
 * 4) When a vowel occurs twice consecutively, the following rules apply:
 * 5) the first syllable is stressed (if in disyllable word), even if not the highest.
 * 6) the second syllable is stressed (if in polysyllable word), even if not the highest.
 * 7) In a word with 5 or more syllables, the third syllable is ALWAYS stressed.

Writing System
Rιkučwâb is written by its native speakers using the Modern Asermian Alphabet. However, Latin alphabet transcriptions are usually made using the Standardised Orthography for Asermian (SOA).

Definite Article
The singular definite article in Rιkučwâb is e. It occurs before the word it affects. If the word is dual, the dual definite article ø is used. If the word is plural, it is merged with the plural particle ku to create the plural definite article ek.

Indefinite Article
The indefinite article in Rιkučwâb is šte. It occurs before the word it affects. It is not affected by other particles, and always precedes any particle.

Nouns
Nouns are the base unit of Rιkučwâb grammar. Various suffixes and prefixes are added onto the noun to form various different words. When forming count nouns, -s or -sə is added to the end of the root morpheme. Nouns are not declined in Rιkučwâb and concepts such as number are represented by particles (see Particles).

Pronouns
Rιkučwâb has standalone pronouns. Similar to Rιkučwâb verbs, pronouns exhibit clusivity.

Possessive
In the Rιkučwâb language, the possessive contains two types of words: determiners and pronouns. Determiners are expressed by the particle "en", which is attached to the end of the subject via a dash "-" (ex. "Net's car" > "Net-en (rese)skotwu"). Pronouns are expressed as a particle that comes before the word it affects. These particles are listed below. In cases regarding the possessive form of a personal pronoun (such as "my" or "your"), the possessive pronoun is also used (ex. "That is my car" > "Edu oιt ša (rese)skotwu"; whereas "That car is mine" > "Edu (rese)skotwu oιt ša".)


 * The exclusive 1st person plural, mu, is used to refer to "each one of our/ours" as opposed to "all of our/ours collectively".
 * The exclusive 2nd person plural, fe, is used to refer to "each one of your/yours" as opposed to "all of your/yours collectively".

Personal Pronouns
As Rιkučwâb has a romance-based verbal conjugation system, there are no subject pronouns. However, there are object pronouns, which also serve as reflexive pronouns. The personal pronouns used in Rιkučwâb are listed below.


 * The exclusive 1st person plural, mua, is used to refer to "each one of us" as opposed to "all of us collectively".
 * The exclusive 2nd person plural, feš, is used to refer to "each one of you" as opposed to "all of you collectively".

Exhortative
The Exhortative particles signal the speaker's avid encouragement toward the addressee's bringing about the proposition of an utterance. Exhortative constructions can only be used in second person singular and plural utterances. It is represented by -ga .... ga! (ex. "You should drink this, it's so good!" "Očoktī-ga eto, otk-ga esu jasunav ga!".)

Plural
As stated earlier, Rιkučwâb nouns do not decline. As a result, grammatical number is represented by the dual partical "u" and the plural particle ku. It occurs before the word it affects. These are derived from the Late Rikučreb word "uz" (meaning "two") and the Late Rakwaιetrâb plural affix -k, respectively.

Causative
The causative form of a verb is represented by the particle kwe (although this may better be described as a clitic). It occurs before the word it affects, and is attached to the word via a dash "-". It is derived from the Rakwaιetrâb verb "kredurī", meaning "to cause".

Juiscal
The juiscal particle, go, is a concept unique to the Asermian languages, specifically Rιkučwâb, its parent language Rikučreb, and its sister language Rowiktob, as well as the Asermo-Khronic language Karbash. It is used to imply or invoke sexual arousal, and is usually used in familiar conversation. When in formal conversation, one will often use the non-juiscal definition of a word or an entirely different word that cannot be made juiscal. The juiscal particle occurs before the word it affects, and is attached to the word via a dash "-". It is derived from the Karbash juiscal particle гo, which is in turn derived from the Old Rikučreb singular 3rd person juiscal additive ga.

Adjectives
Adjectives are formed by adding the suffix -nav to the end of a noun. When conjugating into the degrees of comparison, the adjectival suffix is shortened to -n, thus forming the adjectival root. The comparative suffix is then placed onto the end of the adjectival root.

Adverbs
Adverbs are formed by adding the suffix -gev to the end of a noun. When conjugating into the degrees of comparison, the adverbial suffix is shortened to -g, thus forming the adverbial root. The comparative suffix is then placed onto the end of the adverbial root.

Degrees of Comparison
The Rιkučwâb language uses 6 Degrees of Comparison, as opposed to the 2 used in English. The prefixes that are added onto the adjectival or adverbial root when using the Degrees of Comparison are listed in the chart below. Comparatives and Contraries do not use "e" before them unless the subject uses it anyways (ex. "The better man" > "E jasuneslu kιn"). All other degrees of comparison do use "e" unless they are referring to a possessive (ex. "My best friend" > "Še jasuneslug čιtwebu".)

The comparative degrees that are unique to Rιkučwâb are described in detail below.


 * 1) The Contrary is the opposite of the Comparative, and is used to represent the shortage of something or the lack of a certain quality.
 * 2) The Proclivitive is the opposite of the Superlative, and is used to represent the complete absence of a thing or quality.
 * 3) The Hyperlative and the Inferlative refer to the absolute most or least amount of something possible, respectively (ex. "The best possible thing" "E jasuneslugø eþbī"). These forms can also be used in exaggerations (ex. "The best day ever!" E jasuneslugø nav!").

Adverbs of Comparison
The Adverbs of Comparison correspond to "so" and "not so [much]" or "very" and "not as" in the English language. They are, respectively, esun and esonen.

Quantity
When referring to an amount of something, the adjective Enav and its comparisons are used. (ex. "I have more." "Dwefot eneslu").

Verbs
Verbs are formed by adding the infinitive -rī to the end of a mass noun, if there is a corresponding mass noun. In the Rιkučwâb language, all dual and plural persons, as well as the singular 3rd person, exhibit clusivity. Verbs are conjugated into the following conjugation table.
 * The exclusive third person can also be used in any tense when relaying a message to a 3rd party that is absent at the time but will be present at a time that you and your group are absent. In this case, the absent 3rd party is referred to in the direct plural 2nd person. (ex. "We are sorry that we were not able to attend, but we have brought to you this gift." "Osko kalanav nedas ba ôg ebēnav rektâkerī, ose dosko ojâtbabιwk es feš edo ιčιjιeges.")

Future Tense
The future tense is created by adding -o to the end of the present tense.

Perfect Aspect
The perfect aspect is created by conjugating Dorī and adding that before the past participle of the verb in question. Dorî is conjugated into the Past Indicative to form the Present Perfect, Present Indicative to form the Pluperfect, Future Indicative to form the Future Perfect, and the Conditional to form the Conditional Perfect.

Continuous Aspect
The continuous aspect is created by conjugating Orī and adding that before the gerund of the verb in question. Orī follows the same conjugation procedure as Dorī follows when conjugated into the Perfect. However, Orī is only conjugated into the Indicative, and therefore the Continuous only has 3 tenses.

Example text
This is the entry for constructedlanguages's Conlang Challenge on deviantART, which was to translate the preamble of the United States Declaration of Independence into one's conlang.

Rιkučwâb
Nιdu taba e pιsιkus su ečikιnenav ku apιsιs, natemtet bupuktenav časi abu ečikιn uburī e habečebnav ku jasbus netâk dobed čebedesbek þes neþ âbsedči, ñ natemtrī tâbneþ ek lâpnul su e Ečī, e regēonav ñ česegιnav kιgeghesâb es nedā ek Gwen su Ečιât e su Ečιâten Gôd jιebebed þes, šte nupukenav ιčιklāpadesbek es ek altâbsə su ečikιn čatιt nedos egebet nupaιsrī ek kwedus netâk taklugιbed þes es e regēo.

English
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.