Keltsvian

Keltsvian is a language isolate which has an uncommon grammar and Indo-European influence in vocabulary. The autoglotonym is keltsvan [keld.svan].

General information
Keltsvian is a language spoken in Keltsvia -a fictional country in Eastern Europe-, the word stems are mainly taken from Proto Indo European. The grammar has the following characteristics: non noticeable stressed syllables, no grammatical genders, singular and plural numbers only affect to nouns, verbs and personal pronouns, simple patterned grammatical cases and it has some degree of vowel harmony.

Consonants

 * The phoneme /m/ is always represented by the grapheme m.
 * The phoneme /ɲ/ is always represented by the grapheme ň.
 * The phoneme /s/ is always represented by the grapheme s.
 * The phoneme /z/ is always represented by the grapheme z.
 * The phoneme /ʃ/ is always represented by the grapheme š.
 * The phoneme /ʒ/ is always represented by the grapheme ž.
 * The phoneme /l/ is always represented by the grapheme l.
 * The phoneme /ʎ/ is always represented by the grapheme ł.


 * The phonemes /ɱ/ and /n/ are always represented by the grapheme n. The phoneme /ɱ/ is pronounced when n is written before another labio-dental consonant. The phoneme /ŋ/ is represented by the digraph ng at the end of the word or by the grapheme n when it is written before a velar consonant. In the rest of cases where the grapheme n appears, /n/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /p/ is pronounced when the grapheme p is written and when b is written at the end of a word.
 * The phoneme /t/ is pronounced when the grapheme t is written and when d is written at the end of a word.
 * The phoneme /k/ is pronounced when the grapheme k is written and when g is written at the end of a word.
 * The phoneme /b/ is only pronounced when the grapheme b is written at the beginning of a word, after a nasal consonant or when the grapheme p is written at the end of a syllable that it is not the last syllable of the word. When b is not written at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word or after a nasal consonant, the phoneme /β/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /d/ is only pronounced when the grapheme d is written at the beginning of a word, after a nasal consonant or when the grapheme t is written at the end of a syllable that it is not the last syllable of the word. When d is not written at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word or after a nasal consonant, the phoneme /ð/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /g/ is only pronounced when the grapheme g is written at the beginning of a word, after a nasal consonant or when the grapheme k is written at the end of a syllable that it is not the last syllable of the word. When g is not written at the beginning of a word, at the end of a word or after a nasal consonant, the phoneme /ɣ/ is pronounced.
 * The phoneme /ts/ is always represented by the grapheme c, but when this grapheme appears at the end of the syllable the phoneme /dz/ is pronounced instead. In some loandwords, the dygraph dz can appear and it is represented by its IPA value.
 * The phoneme /tʃ/ is always represented by the grapheme č, but when this grapheme appears at the end of the syllable the phoneme /dʒ/ is pronounced instead. In some loandwords, the dygraph dž can appear and it is represented by the phoneme /dʒ/.
 * The phoneme /f/ is pronounced when the grapheme f is written and when v is written at the end of a word and the phoneme /v/ is always represented by the grapheme v.
 * The phoneme /x/ is pronounced when the grapheme x is written and when h is written at the end of a word and the phoneme /h/ is always represented by the grapheme h.
 * The phonemes /r/ and /ɾ/ are always represented by the grapheme r. The first phoneme is pronounced when r is written at the beginning or at the end of a word, in the rest of cases, the second phoneme is pronounced.
 * The phonemes /j/ and /w/ are always part of diphtongs or triphtongs, they always appear after or before a vowel. Keltsvian linguists consider these phonemes as weak vowels because they are always accompained by strong vowels.
 * /j/ is represented by the grapheme j and it is part of the diphtongic graphemes á [ja], é [je], ó [jo], and ú [ju]. Its strong vowel counterpart is i /i/.
 * /w/ is always represented by the grapheme w. Its strong vowel counterpart is u /u/.

Vowels

 * The phonemes /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ and /u/ are represented by the graphemes a, e, i, o and u respectively. The phonemes /a/, /e/, /o/ and /u/ are also pronounced as a part of the dyphtongic graphemes á [ja], é [je], ó [jo] and ú [ju] respectively.
 * The weak vowel counterpart of /i/ is j /j/ and the weak vowel counterpart of /u/ is w /w/.
 * /a/, /e/ and /o/ are considered pure strong vowels because they do not have weak vowel counterparts.

Hierarchy of vowels
Within each syllable in Keltsvian language, it exists a hierarchy of vowels in 5 levels:
 * 1st level or pure strong vowels: /a/, /e/ and /o/.
 * 2nd level or unpure strong vowel: /u/.
 * 3rd level or bastard strong vowel: /i/.
 * 4th level or royal weak vowel: /w/.
 * 5th level or bastard weak vowel: /j/.

There are also 3 rules regarding the hierarchy:
 * 1) In all syllables there is only one strong vowel of any kind.
 * 2) When a pure strong vowel is accompained by another vowel, this one can be only pronounced with any kind of weak vowel.
 * 3) The unpure weak vowel can only be pronounced with the bastard weak vowel.
 * 4) The bastard strong vowel can be only pronounced just right after the royal weak vowel.

Diphtongs and triphtongs
Applying the rules of the hierarchy of vowels, in Keltsvian there is the following diphtongs: /aj/, /aw/, /ej/, /ew/, /oj/, /ow/, /uj/, /wi/ and /wo/ always represented by the graphemes aj, aw, ej, ew, oj, ow, uj, wi and wo respectively.

As explained above, the diphtongs /ja/, /je/, /jo/ and /ju/ are represented by the four diphtongic graphemes á, é, ó and ú respectively.

According to the rules of the hierarchy of vowels we cannot find the following diphtongs in Keltsvian language: /ij/, /iw/, /ji/, /uw/ or /wu/ as diphtongs.

Triphtongs are always formed by the same structure W-PS-W, where W is any weak vowel and PS is any pure strong vowel. The unpure and the bastard weak vowels have no use in triphtongs. So all the possible triphtongs are: /jaj/, /jej/, /joj/, /waw/, /wew/ and /wow/ represented respectively by áj, éj, ój, waw, wew and wow.

Phonotactics
The possible syllables in Keltsvian one of this two structures (C)(C)(V)V(V)(C) or (C)(V)V(V)(C)(C). The nucleus is always a strong vowel (/a/, /e/, /i/, /o/ or /u/). The optional vowels are always weak vowels and they are present in diphtongs and triphtongs, always applying the vowels hierarchy rule as we saw above. The onset, when present, is formed by one or two consonants, as well as the codas. When the onset is formed by two phonemes, the coda only has one phoneme and vice versa, so in one syllable there is never more than three consonants and never more than two consonants pronounced together.
 * No consonant phoneme is duplicated in the same onset or coda.
 * Consonant phonemes that never allow clusters and can be found as onset or coda: /l/, /m/, /n/, /r/, /z/ and /ʒ/.
 * Consonant phonemes that never allow clusters but can be found only as onset: /h/, /ʎ/, /ɲ/, /ts/ and /tʃ/.
 * Consonant phonemes that never allow clusters but can be found only as coda: /ɱ/.
 * Consonant phonemes that may allow clusters and can be found as onset or coda: /b/, /d/, /f/, /g/, /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/, /t/, /v/ and /x/.
 * Consonant phonemes that may allow clusters, can be found only as onset and never appear in the first syllable of a word: /β/, /ð/, /ɣ/ and /ɾ/.
 * Consonant phonemes only present in clusters: /dz/ and /dʒ/. Both only appear as onset in loanwords.
 * Consonant phonemes that follow the hierarchy of vowels rules: /j/ and /w/. If those appear, they are always part of the nucleus, they cannot be part of the onset or the coda.
 * Clusters allowed both as onset or coda: dz and dž.
 * Clusters allowed only as onset: bl, br, dr, fl, fr, gl, gr, kl, kr, pl, pr, sl, sm, sn, st, št, tr, vr and xr.
 * Clusters allowed only as coda: mt, ng, nk, rg and sg.
 * Any other kind of cluster not appearing in this list is not found.
 * The only digraphs are: dz, dž and ng.

Stress
Stress in Keltsvian is not clearly marked when pronounced. There is no dominant stress syllables in any word.

Alphabet
The Keltsvian language is written using the Keltsvian alphabet, which is the Latin script with 9 additional letters and without q and y, for a total of 33 letters. The additional letters are: á, č, é, ł, ň, ó, š, ú and ž. The native names for the letters is simple: the vowel are named the same way they are pronounced and the consonants follow this pattern: consonant + e. So the letters é and j have the same name, to distiguish them, Keltsvians say: é Ésu (é of Jesus) and j en áj (j in yes).

Orthography
Keltsvian orthography is such that the pronunciation of most words is unambiguous given their written form, with very few exceptions explained above.

Conventions
Apart from the rule of the hierarchy of vowels, Keltsvian has also ortographic rules.
 * No double letters, with exceptions in foreign words like picca (pizza) or ázz (jazz).
 * mf is never allowed between syllables, m has to be replaced by n.
 * ts will always become c unless each letter is located in a different syllable, that happens when c is not in compliance with the phonotactics rules. A very good example of this is the homonym of this language: keltsvan, here it is allowed because ts is not acting as a digraphs and it is splitting the word in two syllables. In that example t and s are not part of the same syllable.
 * j will never be written after or before i.
 * j cannot be written before a, e, o and u. á, é, ó and u are used instead.
 * j cannot be written between c, l, n, s, z and the vowels a, e, o and u. In that case, c, l, n, s, z and j will merge becoming č, ł, ň, š and ž. When this consonants are present á, é, ó and ú are not allowed but they have to be used when the rest of consonants are involved.
 * w will never be writter after or before u.
 * When the same vowel is repeated due to the addition of preffixes or suffixes, h is added in between. For example: kohoperaci (cooperation). This rule is applied in all plural forms of nouns ending with a vowel. See below Number section.
 * The use of apostrophe (') only applies in the genitive case of some personal pronouns (see below).

Capitalization
Capitalization in Keltsvian occurs at the beginning of every sentence, after a question mark, exclamation marks and in given names, including people, pet names, days of the week, months, planets, moons, stars, constellations, toponyms (cities, countries, mounts, rivers), the first word in the title of a book, song or movie and acronyms.

Foreign words
Keltsvian is generally a conservative language, rarely adopts foreign words and usually they are adapted ortographically and phonetically to the language. Even the other languages' given names are often adapted, like Džordž Buš for George Bush or Hari Poter for Harry Potter. More examples include vudbal (football), vebsajt (website), poranagav (airport, from pora + nagav, meaning air + port), picca (pizza), krwasan (croissant), telefon (telephone), taksi (taxi), údo (judo), óga (yoga), páno (piano), džins (jeans)...

Grammar
Keltsvian is a grammatically inflected language and it lacks articles. Verbs are marked for tense, aspect, mood, person and number. There is no grammatical gender and the numbers are singular and plural. Personal pronouns are inflected for person, number and case. Nouns are inflected only according to case and number and the inflections only vary depending on the last letter of the noun. All nouns have the same final letter in their respective singular and plural form, that makes inflections simpler. Adjectives are only inflected according to case. In Keltsvian also exists a hint of vowel harmony only affecting to plural form of nouns and adjectives.

Basic word order
The basic word order of Keltsvian language is SVO (subject, verb, object). The inflections in this language allow a little bit more of flexibility in the order, but this flexibility is not used in daily speech, only for poetry or literary uses.

Nouns
In Keltsvian, nouns do not have a grammatical gender of any kind and they ar inflected according to number and case.

Number
To obtain the plural form of a noun the general rule is to repeat the word from the last vowel. For example:
 * brotar becomes brotarar, meaning brother and brothers respectively.

When the last letter is already a vowel, h is added in between following the orthography rules. For example:
 * mata becomes mataha, meaning mother and mothers respectively.

Plurals are affected by the vowel harmony, but this is only visible when the last vowel of the singular form of a noun is a weak vowel (j or w), in this case the weak vowel is not repeated, the used vowel is the weak vowel counterpart (for j is i and for w is u). This also happens when the last vowel is a diphtongic vowel (á, é, ó or ú). Examples: It is important to know that vowel harmony works in a different way in adjectives (see below).
 * fewt becomes fewtut, meaning country and countries respectively.
 * údeóm becomes údeómom, meaning command and commands respectively.

When a number appears clarifying the quantity of objects the noun is, the plural is not used because is not necessary. For example:
 * ojn kat, du kat; meaning one cat and two cats respectively.

A plural is used to explain that there is no specific amount of this noun but there is more than one.

Case
Grammatical cases are in decline regarding the evolution of this language, there are 13 different cases and some of them are merged as well as 6 declensions.

The Keltsvian grammatical cases are:
 * 1) Nominative (nominativ): representing the main subject of the sentence and consisting in the bare form of the word.
 * 2) Accusative (akusativ): indicating the direct object of the verb.
 * 3) Dative (dativ): indicating the indirect object of the verb.
 * 4) Ablative (apotiv): the movement from a place to another or change from one situation from another.
 * 5) Genitive (luritiv): indicating possession.
 * 6) Causative (ókitiv): indicating the reason, the because of the sentence. Being merged with the temative case.
 * 7) Comitative (komitiv): indicating the company, the with of the sentence. Being merged with the instrumental case.
 * 8) Instrumental (gagitiv): indicating the way something is done, the by of the sentence. Being merged with the comitative case.
 * 9) Lative (anativ): indicating the arrival from a place to another or a change to a new situation from another.
 * 10) Locative (enitiv): indicating an specific place or localization in space. Being merged with the temporary case.
 * 11) Privative (ňewtiv): indicating the absence of some element, it is the opposite of the comitative case, the without of the sentence. The use of this case is also the Keltsvian equivalent to the suffix -less.
 * 12) Temative (peritiv): indicating the topic, the about of the sentence. Being merged with the causative case.
 * 13) Temporary (ómitiv): indicating an specific localization in time. Being merged with the locative case.

The plural and the singular forms of each noun are inflected using the same declension because they finish with the same letter. Some inflections do not modify the noun due to the evolution of this language on the way to lose the grammatical cases, for those cases it is mandatory to use prepositions -when existing- (in these tables, the prepositions will appear between brackets). The Keltsvian declesions are:
 * 1st declension, consonant or 0 declension: applied to nouns ending with consonant. The adjectives only use this declension because all of them end with -k (see below).
 * 2nd declension or A declension: applied to nouns ending with a or á.
 * 3rd declension or E declension: applied to nouns ending with e or é.
 * 4th declension or I declension: applied to nouns ending with i or j.
 * 5th declension or O declension: applied to nouns ending with o or ó.
 * 6th declension or U declension: applied to nouns ending with u, ú or w.

Consonant declension
It is the most common declension because the majority of Keltsvian words end with consonant. In the example the used word is kat (cat).

A declension
In this example, the used word is mata (mother).

E declension
This declension is not very common, very few words end with -e. In this example, the used word is dage (dagger).

I declension
In this example, the used word is diri (tree).

O declension
In this example, the used word is oko (eye).

U declension
In this example, the used word is vatu (father).

Adjectives
In this language, adjectives are used like a prefix of the noun. The noun gives us information about gender and number so the adjective does not have any of these suffixes when is added to a noun. For example: The adjective dropped its neutral gender suffix when merged with the noun. We can add more than one adjective to the same noun and the order between adjectives is very important, it could change the meaning. For example: Adjectives can be written without a noun. Then, we have to use the gender and the plural suffixes (the last one only in necessary cases).
 * busbuseke (deep) + freje (sea) = busbusekfreje (deep sea).
 * higal (blue) + busbuseke (deep) + freje (sea) = higalbusbusekfreje (blue deep sea). That means that the color of the deep sea is blue.
 * busbuseke + higal + freje = busbusekhigalfreje (deep blue sea). That means that the blue sea is deep.

Adverbs
The way to create an adverb is to drop the gender and plural suffixes from an adjective and to add the adverb prefix vot-. For example: bujstre (quick) becomes votbujstr (quickly).

Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are the only existing pronouns in Keltsvian language and they have a simple pattern: the first person starts with sov-, the second person with det- and the third person with kup-. And then we add the gender suffix and the plural suffix, the last one only if it is necessary.

Singular

 * 1st person: sovu (I, masculine), sova (I, feminine) and sove (I, neutral).
 * 2nd person: detu (you, masculine), deta (you, feminine) and dete (you, neutral).
 * 3rd person: kupu (he), kupa (she) and kupe (it).

Plural
Neutral plural pronouns are used also for mixed groups (male and female) and it does not matter their proportion.
 * 1st person: sovux (we, masculine), sovax (we, feminine) and sovex (we, neutral).
 * 2nd person: detux (you, masculine plural), detax (you, feminine plural) and detex (you, neutral plural).
 * 3rd person: kupux (they, masculine), kupax (they, feminine) and kupex (they, neutral).

Grammatical cases
The declension of this language consists in fourteen grammatical cases and only nouns, adjectives and pronouns can be declined.

Nominative
This case indicates the subject of the verb and consists in the bare form of the word. Example: Kwariz-sovex butikxe (We went to the store).

Accusative
This case indicates the direct object of the verb. We just add the morpheme -c- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word televizje (television): Sivez-sovex televizice (We watch the television).

Dative
This case indicates the indirect object of the verb. We just drop the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word kupa (she): Kwadaz-kupu padarokce kup (He gave her a present).

Ablative case
This case indicates the movement from a place to another or change from a situation from another. We just add the morpheme -tak- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word tome (home): Kwariz-kupu tomtake butixke (He went from home to the store).

Genitive
This case indicates the owner of the following word. We just add the suffix -lur at the end of the word. In this example, we can read this case in the given name Joanu (John): Joanulur brole (John's book).

Causative
This case indicates the cause of the sentence, is the Keltsvian counterpart of the English word because. We just add the morpheme -kas- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word samaljote (airplane): Riz-sovex taret samaljotkase (We are late because of the airplane).

Comitative
This case is equivalent to the English word with. we just add the morpheme -zat- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word tarbe (brother): Kjeriz-sove plajxe tarbzate (I will go the the beach with brother; this is a literal translation).

Instrumental
This case is equivalent to the English word by and it can be also used to explain a method used at the sentence's action, for example, the use of a tool or a language... We just add the morpheme -vaj- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word pajezde (train): Riz-sovex tomxe pajezdvaje (We go to home by train).

Lative
This case indicates the arrival from a place to another or change to a new situation from another. We just add the morpheme -x- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word butike (store): Kwariz-kupu tomtake butixke (He went from home to the store).

Locative
This case indicates an specific place or localization. We just add the morpheme -h- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the toponym Kitaj (China): Vudez-kupex Kitajh (They live in China; remember that most of the toponyms have no gender, so there is no gender suffix in that word).

Privative
This case is equivalent to the English word without. We just add the morpheme -bez- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word dete (you, in singular): Njok pwez-sove vudez detbeze (I cannot live without you).

Temative
This case is equivalent to the English word about. We just add the morpheme -rep- before the gender suffix. In this example, we can read this case in the word detu (you, in singular): Labweziz-sove detrepu (I'm talking about you).

Temporary
This case is similar to locative case but it is used for indicate a specific time instead of a specific space. We just add the suffix -t at the end of the word. In this example, we can read this case in the word janwarje (January): Kjesivez-sove sovx janwarjet (We will see each other in January).

Vocative
This case indicates who is the receiver of the sentence's message. Is used for greet or in the imperative verbal mood. We just add the suffix -f at the end of the word. In this example, we can read this case in the given name Joanu (John): Ej, Joanuf! (Hi, John!).

Prepositions
There are six prepositions and they help to build understandable sentences. With prepositions this prepositions is not necessary to decline the affected words. Here is a list with examples:
 * bus: Getuz-sovu bus frekihe (I'm under the sea).
 * kwakje: Kjegetuz-kupe mikrisce kwakje detu e sovu (It will be a secret between you and me).
 * mest: Getuz-sovex-fsa gelecex mest Mrwe (We are all the same in front of the Law).
 * redjuk: Getuz-frekje higalc redjuk sovulur vatu (The sea is blue according to my father).
 * semt: Getuz-sovu semt deta (I'm behind you).
 * tas: Tyson tas Holyfield (Tyson against/versus Holyfield).

Coordinating conjunctions
There are five:
 * ale: Pibiz-kupex ale njok kuriz-kupex (They drink but they do not smoke).
 * e: Pibiz-kupex e kuriz-kupex (They drink and they smoke).
 * njoke: Njok pibiz-kupex njoke kuriz-kupex (They do not drink nor do they smoke).
 * so: Njok kwapibiz-kupex so getuz-kupu siteku (He did not drink so he is thirsty).
 * ut: Kasuj dine, pibiz-kupex ut kuriz-kupex (Every day they drink or they smoke).

Subordinating conjunctions
There are three:
 * fi: Kjegetuz-kupa rada fi ritiz-detu tomxe (She will be happy if you come back to home).
 * kje: Kjeritiz-sovu kje rabote (I will come back after working).
 * kwa: Kwa, ritiz-detu kwagetuz-sovex radex (Before you were back, we were happy).

Verbs
Keltsvian verbs are only conjugated according to the mood and the tense and combining both you can obtain any conjugation. It does not matter the person, the number, the gender...

Moods
There are five grammatical moods:
 * Indicative: uses the suffix -z, as in laz (to sing).
 * Gerund (but in Keltsvian is called "active"): uses the suffix -ziz, as in laziz (singing).
 * Conditional: uses the suffix -sz, as in lasz (would sing).
 * Imperative: shares the same suffix than indicative, is used with the vocative grammatical case and when is written is necessary to use an exclamation mark; for example: Laz-Albertu! (Sing Albert!).
 * Interrogative: uses any of the previous suffixes, but only changes the word order from VSO to OSV.

Tenses
There are three tenses:
 * Present: used in all moods and it does not add any prefix.
 * Past: used in all moods unless imperative and it adds to the verb the prefix kwa-.
 * Future: used in all moods unless imperative and it adds to the verb the prefix kje-.

From 0 to 9
0 (nule), 1 (i), 2 (ihi), 3 (ihihi), 4 (ive), 5 (ve), 6 (vej), 7 (vejhi), 8 (vejhihi) and 9 (ihe).

From 10 to 100
10 (diks), 11 (diks i), 12 (diks ihi), 20 (ihi-diks), 30 (ihihi-diks), 50 (ve-diks) and 100 (sent).

More numbers
1,000 (mil), 5,000 (ve-mil), 10,000 (diks-mil), 100,000 (sent-mil), 1,000,000 (miljon), 1,000,000,000 (miljart) and 1,000,000,000,000 (biljon).

Ordinal numbers
Ordinal numbers can be declined and they work adding the gender suffix and the plural suffix to the cardinal number. For example:
 * Ju/ja/je (first), ihju/ihja/ihje (second), ihihju/ihihja/ihihje (third), vew/vea/vehe (fifth), diks ju/diks ja/diks je (eleventh)...
 * Jex minutex (the first minutes).

Example text
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 1):

''Xroz-baropex-fsa rifekex e geletex prjotekihe e mrwalhex. Aviz-kupex drjace e notrce e oblez trez-kupex nizatex tarbjelur dusihe''(All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood).