Yesega



Yesega (ზესეგა yesega, [ʐʲeˈsegə], [ʝʲeˈsegə]) is a posteriori language, being mainly Indo-European. This language's culture, however, evolved to be fairly isolated. This resulted in its obscure phoneme inventory and unusual syntax and grammar. It uses 15 characters from the Georgian alphabet, as well as 〈'〉 to represent the glottal stop. Its closest linguistic relatives are Ancient Greek, Latin, and Romanian with small influences from Slavic and alleged relation to the Japonic language family.

=Alphabet= The alphabet in Yesega is called ალეჰაპა alehafa. The Georgian scipt in which it is written is called უმგეტზი umgetyi, a single letter is called a გეტზი getyi, and the romanized alphabet is called რეუმგეტზი reumgetyi. *Georgian QWERTY Input =Etymology=

The history of the word Yesega comes from the Middle Yesegan word for language, ზეზეგა zezeka, which originates from Proto-Yesegan ეზე' ezeq meaning "tongue". This comes from the Late Proto-Slavic *ęzỳkъ.

Several etymological roots can be seen from Latin sources, however some words have been highly distorded due to isolation. An example of this includes the word for "eye" which is ჰუ'უმ hu'um, coming from oculus→oqu→hoqum→hu'um. =Phonology=

History
The consonants and vowels in Yesega became somewhat skewed over time, leading to a phonological shift between Proto-Yesega, Middle Yesega, and the modern Communal Yesega. The basic "shift" went as follows:


 * Ø→h→x
 * p→f→ɸ/f/ɱ
 * z→j→ʐʲ/ʝʲ
 * t͡ʃ→ʃ→ʂ
 * k→k→g
 * k→k→ʔ
 * Ø/h→ɣ→ʁ/r


 * many vowels shifted seemingly randomly, losing [o] after Middle Yesega.

Consonants
1[n] becomes [ŋ] when used as〈ნგ, ng〉.

2[ɸ] becomes [p] after [m] and sometimes when beginning a phrase or after a pause.

Dialects
The standard dialect of Yesega is fomally called ზესეგა გუმუნ yesega gumun, meaning "Communal Yesega". Pronunciation, however, can have subtle differences. 〈y〉 can be pronounced [ʝ] rather than standard [ʐ], and 〈f〉 can be pronounced [f] and sometimes [ɱ] between vowels rather than [ɸ]. Standard [ʁ] is aternately trilled [r], usually when sung.

Vowels
1[i] sometimes becomes [ ɪ ] when unstressed.

2[u] sometimes becomes [ʊ] when unstressed.

3[a] becomes [ə] when unstressed.

Phonotactics
Syllables in Yesega can have quite complex and unique consonant and vowel clusters such as პტენეეუპე fteneeufe [ɸteˈneʊ̯ɸe] and ტშზრიმატშუ txyrimatxu [ʈʂʲʁɪˈmaʈʂu], however there are some restrictions:

N= Nasal   P= Plosive   F= Fricative   L= Liquid


 * LN-  NL-  -NL  -PL  -FL  NP-  PN-  -PN  NF-  -FN  NN  PP

The following also cannot exist:


 * rP-  -Pr  -mt  -mg  -nf  -ngf  -ngt  rN-  -Nr  rF-  -Fr  rL-  -Lr

Stress
The stress on a syllable of a word depends of the final phoneme.

Ending in a Vowel or Nasal
Words ending in any vowel, M, or N places stress on the second to last syllable.


 * ემნე emne; გაუნ gaun; მეუმ meum

Ending in a Consonant and Ng
Words that end in a consonant other than M or N has stress on the final syllable.


 * ეტერ eter; ატაშ atas; ნარანგ narang

Ending with Stressed Vowel (+M/N)
The final vowel is doubled when stressed in a syllable ending with a vowel, M, or N.
 * ჰეუსეე heusee

Stressed Syllable Elsewhere
The consonant following a stressed vowel of a syllable that does not abide by the rules mentioned before is doubled. If the syllable does not end in a consonant, the vowel is doubled.
 * სტუმმაგე stummage
 * ლეეუმ leeum

=Grammar=

Personal
1Xe/xyr refers to any gender non-binary pronoun. This includes the singular they/them, zie/zir, etc.

Reflexive

 * In standard Yesega, a speaker will usually put ეტ et linking the personal pronoun to its reflexive.

Demonstrative
1These pronouns can also be used as adjectives.

Indefinite
*These words do not follow the normal rules of affixing.

Verb Conjugation
Verbs in Yesega are conjugated according to verb tense.

THE FOLLOWING TABLE IS UNDER REVISIONS

Duality
Duality in Yesega is used when there are two of any noun. While it is uncommon in formal speech, duality of a noun is suffixed to a word -იტან -itan in most cases. If the singular version ends in ჰ h or რ r, -ეტან -etan is added. If a singular word already ends in ი i, -შტან -xtan is added.

Plurality
Plurality is used in Yesega to express when there are many of a noun. The suffix -იმ -im is added to the word. If a word ends in ჰ h or რ r, -ემ -em is used instead. It is common in formal speech and writings to express duality by stating the number and adding the general -იმ -im or -ემ -em suffix instead. If a singular word already ends in ი i, -მ -m is added.

Syntax
Word order in Yesega is usually SOV. Adjectives and adverbs follow the word they are modifying. If there are more than one modifying words, each is followed by a comma, with the final one followed by a semicolon. Numbers and pronouns are the only adjectives to go before the word it modifies.

=Links= Swadesh List: http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Yesega/Swadesh_List

Numbers: http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Yesega/Numbers

Colors: http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Yesega/Colors

Calendar: http://conlang.wikia.com/wiki/Yesega/Calendar