Isxuor

General information
Isorian (natively known as ‹Isxuor› /i ʃːuoːɾ/) is a Romance language spoken in the country of Isora, a region locked between surrounding nations Fráun̂saia and Itellia to the west and east and the Mar Imisterranna to the south. It is descended from Lasxina, although it was very noticeably been influenced by Fráun̂siei and Itellienno. The language is very verb-centric and will prefer to forgo the subject where possible.

Alphabet
The alphabet of Isorian is derived from the Latin alphabet. It follows as such:

Consonants
To note:
 * The consonant cluster sx represents a geminate /ʃ/—cf. ‹nisx› "night" /niʃː/ and ‹lux› /luʃ/.
 * The consonant q always appears followed by a u, and together they represent the sound /kw/—e.g., ‹quor› "who?" /kwoːɾ/.
 * The letter n represents two possible phonemes depending on its location: before c/q, g and h (/k/, /g/ and /h/), it takes on the sound /ŋ/—e.g., ‹anhaire› "to despise" /ɑŋ.hɑː.ˈiː.ɾeː/, ‹quince› "five" /ˈkwiːŋ.keː/; and in all other places, it takes on the values of /n/—e.g., ‹annu› "year" /ɑn.ˈnuː/, ‹invers› "contrarily, inversely" /in.ˈvɛɾs/.
 * The consonant cluster gn represents the sound /ŋn/—for instance, ‹regna› "ruler" would in IPA be /ɾeŋ.ˈnɑː/. Word-final gn clusters, however, denote only a /ŋ/ sound—e.g., ‹legn› "lengthwise" /l ɛ ŋ/. Conversely, ng represents /ŋg/, not /ŋ/: e.g., sáung /sɒŋg/.
 * n̂ and m̂ are special versions of the nasal consonants n and m that both signify a nasalisation of the preceding vowel: / ˜/; e.g., ‹siéñ› /si.ˈæ̃/. However, when followed by a vowel, usually the vowel that begins the next word, n̂ is pronounced as n and m̂ as m (although nasalisation of the previous vowel still occurs); e.g., «sti sién̂ arvia» "they are trees" /sti si.ˈæ̃ nɑɾ.ˈvi.ɑ/, «num̂ yr» "I (shall) go now" /nũː myr/.
 * i and u may occasionally at the end of a syllable take /j/ and /w/ respectively, but this is quite rare and archaic; if at all these values do appear, they do so at the ends of names. Other inflections or derivatives of nouns or verbs that end in i or u end in /i/ and /u/ respectively.
 * Other consonants all denote the same sounds as shown in the table above and will not take on any other sounds, even in clusters of consonants.

Vowels
To note:
 * Vowel letters can represent either a short or a long vowel sound; e.g., a /ɑ/ or /ɑː/. The distinction is marked in speech but not in writing, and so the vowel lengths per word are best learnt by heart.
 * All vowels do take the sounds as shown above, and only the sounds shown above, and the specific combinations in which they take different sounds—such as áe and áu—are also shown above.
 * The one exceptions are e and o, which can respectively take /ɛ/ or /ɔ/ instead of their usual values of /e/ and /o/, depending on ease of speech; but /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ are always short: /ɛː/ and /ɔː/ do not exist in Isxuor.
 * The combinations áe, áu and œ̀ only appear if the first vowel of a word would be /æ/, /ɒ/ and /ə/ respectively. At all other instances of those sounds are represented by é, ó and è respectively. Cf. ‹áurón̂› "they have" /ɒ.'ɾɒ̃/, where both áu and ó represent /ɒ/, but their locations determine which form is used.

Phonotactics
Isorian takes any small cluster of consonants and vowels as a syllable, the smallest possible syllable being (V) or (C–V). For instance. ‹o› "at" forms a syllable, being a whole word in and of itself; ‹zu› "you" is also a whole syllable and a word, with a (C–V) breakdown.

Typically, syllables take on the form ([C]–[L]–V–[L]–[C]), where Note that when multiple long vowels are in succession, all the vowels after the first form independent syllables. e.g., ‹haoes› "chaos", /hɑː.ˈoː.ɛs/ ([CV́]–[V́]–[VC])
 * C denotes any consonant;
 * L denotes the liquid consonants r and l;
 * V denotes: a short vowel, or a long vowel (V́), or a diphthong—a cluster of two combined (short) vowels (V̋); and
 * [square brackets] denote that the contents are optional to the syllable.

Syllables are classified this way:
 * Short Syllables are composed of either a single vowel (V), or a single (C–V) cluster, both cases in which the vowel V is a short vowel sound.
 * Medium Syllables are clusters of multiple consonants with a single short vowel sound: (C–V–C) is a common medium syllable.
 * All other syllables are considered Long Syllables: to wit, ones with diphthongs or long vowels.

To take more complex example, ‹corafractitau› /ˈkoː.ɾɑ.ˈfɾɑk.t̪i.ˈt̪ɑu/ "heartbreak", "heartbrokenness", can be broken into syllables as such, with the lengths of the syllables also given.

Stress
The rules for stress on Isxuor words are somewhat hybrids of those that govern Latin words and those hat govern English words. There are a few key rules–of–thumb:


 * If the word has only two syllables, stress falls on the first syllable, if long; or the second syllable, if the first is not long: e.g., ‹arvi› /ˈɑːɾ.vi/; ‹sién̂› /si.ˈæ̃/.
 * If the second–to–last syllable of the word is long, then stress falls on that syllable: e.g., ‹amare› /ɑ.ˈmɑː.ɾeː/.
 * If the last vowel is long, and the vowel before is short, then stress falls on the last vowel: e.g. ‹ypnere› /yp.nɛ.ˈɾeː/.
 * If there are no long syllables, the above rules apply to medium syllables.
 * Words that are composed of multiple words can have multiple points of stress: e.g., ‹corafractitau› /ˈkoː.ɾɑ.ˈfɾɑk.t̪i.ˈt̪ɑu/ (‹cora› /ˈkoː.ɾɑ/ + fract- /ˈfɾɑkt̪/ + -i- /i/ + -tau /ˈt̪ɑu/).

Verbs
Like most of its sister languages, Isorian is quite heavily verb-centric and ideas can, most of the time, be conveyed in sentences that comprise solely of one verb and its modifying adverbs. This is expressed moreso in Isorian than its sister languages in that Isorian has developed a more complex (although slightly more compact) system of verbs and verb functions.

Verb infinitives always end in -re, and the letter right before this syllable is used as a basis for classification of verbs. As such there are five conjugations of verbs, excluding exceptions, and they are as follows: The conjugations also match up to some extent, and the major differences are found only in how the vowels interact with other vowels and consonants.

Timeframe and Aspect
One can consider there to be three basic timeframes: the past (‹sta passata›), the present (‹sto presónni›) and the future (‹sta fuitura›). This is in accordance with many other languages that create similar distinctions in time.

There are again, like most other languages, a two-fold distinction in aspect: the aorist (‹sta bassuisca› "the basic") and the perfect (‹sta parfacta›).

Tenses
Together, the timeframes and aspects contribute to six total tenses:


 * Simple Present (‹Sto Presónni Bassuisco› "the basic/simple present")
 * This tense denotes actions, simple and continuous, as well as habits: ‹amar› ("I love", "I do love", "I am loving"); ‹derarón̂› ("they give", "they do give", "they are giving"); ‹yttè› ("you (pl.) go", "you (pl.) do go", "you (pl.) are going").
 * Simple Past (‹Sta Passata Bassuisca› "the simple past")
 * This denotes basic past actions and occurences: ‹volute› ("he/she/it wanted to"); ‹derat› ("I gave"); ‹dominesto› ("you (pl.) ruled").
 * Simple Future (‹Sta Fuitura Bassuisca› "the simple future")
 * This tense is used when describing intended future actions, and functions as an optative tense of sorts: ‹seri› ("I shall be", "I plan on being", "I would be"); ‹ypnerai› ("he/she/it shall sleep", "he/she/it plans on sleeping", "he/she/it would sleep").
 * Present Perfect (‹Sto Presónni Parfacto› "the perfect present")
 * When an action is being described that has just reached completed or currently being completed, this tense is used: ‹comtebux› ("you (sing.) have eaten", "you (sing.) just ate"); ‹{nœ̀i} facore› ("we have done/finished/made", "we just did/finished/made").
 * Pluperfect (‹Sta Pius-qua-Parfacta› ("the more-than-perfect (tense)") or ‹Sta Passata Parfacta› "the perfect past")
 * This tense either can denote an action that was finished before the current period of time, or it can denote as well an anterior action: ‹fuhibe› ("he/she/it had flown"); ‹avora du resiare, comptebi o restoranzo› ("before—to return—(I) eat —at restaurant" = "before returning, I ate/had eaten at the restaurant").
 * Future Perfect (‹Sta Fuitura Parfacta› "the perfect future" or ‹Sta Comisseteve› "the commissive")
 * This tense regularly denotes a certainty in the future, an action one knows will get completed. It can also be used in a commissive sense (to make a promise or a threat), in the sense of "I will have ____ done": ‹buveri› ("I will drink", "I will have drunk"); ‹vieneroi› ("I will come", "I will have come").

Moods
Just as important to speech as tense-forms are the various moods, which allow expression of attitudes, such as commands and desires. While there are several moods that can be expressed by means of auxiliary verbs such as ‹valore› ("to want") and ‹povore› ("to be able"), there are two moods expressed in the form of verbal inflections: the conditionalubjunctive mood and the imperative/volitional mood.


 * Conditional (‹Sta Condisonna› ("the condition (mood)") or ‹Ste Suviegniteve› "the subjunctive")
 * This mood operates irreally: meaning that it indicates emotions or opinions or possibilities moreso than hard facts. This mood is also used to indicate conditionals: what could have happened, as opposed to what exactly happened:
 * Imperative (‹Ste Imperisteve› "the imperative")
 * This mood is can actually be split into two moods.
 * If the verb is in the second or third person and in the imperative mood, then it signifies a command made to the subject, telling them to execute the action.
 * If however the verb is in the first person and imperative mood, then it signifies volition, in the sense of "let me ____!" or "let us ____!": ‹cantomè!› ("let us sing!"); ‹ie› ("let's (let me) go"). Note that the sense of "let me" isn't asking for permission or commanding someone to let one do something; it is in the sense of talking to oneself, and making plans.

Other Verb Constructions
Other verb forms, moods, aspects or constructions expressed by Isorian verbs do not manifest as inflections or conjugations, but as modifications of the entire verb. They may also be expressed periphrastically, with typically one auxiliary verb denoting the additional meaning coming alongside the verb in question.

The other forms include:
 * Passive (‹Sta Passeva› "the passive")
 * The use of the passive is generally discouraged in Isxuor. Still, there are two passive constructions available in Isxuor.
 * The first is to use the relevant conjugation of ‹sere› "to be" along with the past passive participial form (ending it -(s)ta), along with ‹par› "by, through" plus the ablative of a noun to denote the agent: E.g., «Este la fracta par zi?» "Was this broken by you?" (or actively, "Did you break this?"). This is not very widely used, even less so in formal texts, but has gained considerable popularity in more recent times to convey passive voice, especially where an agent requires to be mentioned.
 * The more common and more widely accepted second construction involved using the reflexive pronouns ‹mo› "myself", ‹zo› "yourself", ‹no› "ourselves, ‹vo› "yourselves", and ‹so› "him/her/it/theirself or theirselves" with what would in an active construction be the object. E.g., «So fracai la?» "Is this broken?". The agent, even if it exists, is not of importance if such a construction is used; it is omitted.
 * Three "truly" passive verbs exist, however. They are ‹valsere› "to want to be"; ‹possere› "to be able to be"; and ‹dossere› "to need to be". These are formed as combinations and contractions of ‹valore› "to want", ‹povore› "to be able" and ‹devore› "to need (to do something)", respectively, with ‹sere›, and are used with the adjectives (including participles) and nouns. E.g., «Valsom uno regno.» "I want to be a king."; «Possix o st' escole duem una hora?» "Can you be at the school in an hour?"; and «Le dossién̂ on ecatre.» "There needs to be four."
 * Imperfect (‹Sta Insparfacta› "the imperfect")
 * There is a lack of a tense to show a continuous or incomplete nature of an action. This is made up for by the imperfect construction—the present participle (it is adjectival—it still should match the subject in case, number and gender) is taken and used with the verb ‹stare› "to stand": e.g., ‹iunzo stam› ("I (m. sing.) was going"); ‹resianze starax› ("you (f. sing.) will be returning"); ‹somnenze starón̂› ("they (n. pl.) are dreaming").
 * Frequentative (‹Ste Itereteve› "the iterative")
 * The frequentative indicates habitual, repeated or emphasised actions. The frequentative formed by taking the the first person subjunctive of the verb, attaching a -r- (or if the last consonant of the verb root is -r, then -g- is added instead), and finally attaching the verb ending of the original verb (in the case of -ore verbs, add -ire instead): ‹amorare› ("to love fervently"); ‹cœ̀uroger› ("I usually run"); ‹volerimo› ("we badly wanted"); ‹quoresto› ("you (pl.) have repeatedly asked"); ‹odioribi› "I had kept listening (carefully)".

Nouns
Having lost several nuances in how nouns are declined as it evolved, Isxuor has developed its own set of noun declensions, much as it has developed conjugations for verbs. It does retain noun cases; however, the dative case has been deprecated, and the vocative case eliminated altogether. As such, the only remaining cases are the nominative (subject), genitive (possessive), accusative (object) and ablative (adverbial/prepositional). Nouns are declined based on the final letter of the "bare" form, and are classified as such: The labels "primary" and "secondary" for each of the declensions of each gender serve little more than denoting commonness of the nouns—primary declensions are the more common bare roots and secondary declensions are less common bare roots. However, the secondary declensions are especially common when nominalising verbs or deriving meanings (such as comparative forms for adverbs, or abstract forms for nouns).

The declensions for each categor are exemplified here:

Of importance is the "stressing" of the ultimate syllable in the consonant–ending nouns, in this case manifesting as the duplication of the final consonant. Different consonants undergo different types of stress, and final-consonant clusters tend to undergo stress as if they were a single consonant. As such when dealing with such nouns, it is good to learn both the nominative singular and one other inflected form—usually the genitive singular—in order to have a fingertip feel of how the noun is declined.

There is a general rule, however (examples are given in the nominative and genitive cases):
 * x and sx → sx (‹lux›, ‹lusxè› "light"; ‹nisx›, ‹nisxè› "night")
 * r → rr, (in rare cases) tr (‹somor›, ‹somorrè› "dream"; ‹iener›, ‹ienetrè› "gender")
 * nt → nd (‹vent›, ‹vendè› "sale")
 * ns → nz (‹mens›, ‹menzè› "month")
 * t → ss (‹muot›, ‹muossè› "death")
 * v → pp (‹av›, ‹appè› "bird")
 * g → cc (‹volug›, ‹voluccè› "wolf")
 * d → sx (‹d›, ‹grisxè› "grey" (noun))
 * Other single consonants undergo duplication: e.g., l → ll; n → nn; p → pp. Certain consonants such as b and z do not appear as final–consonants.
 * Other combined consonants maintain their forms: e.g., ‹xapt›, ‹xaptè› "head"; ‹sáung›, ‹sáungè› "blood".

Personal Pronouns
As required of all languages, there exist the minimum three persons: the first person, indicating the entity or entities speaking; the second person, indicating the entity or entities being spoken to; and the thried person, an entity or entities not participating in the conversation. There are personal pronouns for each of these persons that have the meanings of "you", "I", "they", et cetera. They are as follows, and are often completely irregular.

There are a few things of note here.
 * Note the irregular pronunciation of ‹io›: this is the only word that is pronounced irregularly, and the spelling has been influenced by Italian, as the phones /ʏ w/ and the syllable /ʏːw/ occur only in ‹io›.
 * In formal and respectful situations, ‹zu› and the singular inflections are dropped in favour of ‹vœ̀i› and the plural inflections, even when the second person is singular. This replacement occurs when conversing person who is perceived as older, or as holding a greater rank than the speaker, or of greater power.
 * When the gender of an object or person is known and defined, then ‹il› or ‹el› must be used. When the gender is either known but does not fit ‹il› or ‹el›, or if the gender is unknown altogether, or when speaking about people in general, then ‹ul› must be used. ‹il‹, ‹el› or ‹ul› must be used when the object being spoken of is living. ‹lui› is used for groups of mixed genders. ‹is› is used only when the gender of the word describing the object being spoken about is neuter–gendered and the wobject is non–living.
 * The "reflexive case" of the pronoun is used as the reflexive pronoun.
 * Although ‹missè›, ‹nosse›, ‹zussè› and ‹vosse› are preferred in use, ‹mea›, ‹zoa›, ‹nova› and ‹voza› do see use as possessive adjectives (and are declined as such).
 * ‹mem› and ‹zum› are the preferred accusative singular forms of the first and second person pronouns. ‹me› and ‹ze› are only seen (albeit commonly) in literary works.

Adjectives
Adjectives are declined identically to nouns, except in that they're limited to the primary declensions only—e.g., "good child" can be translated as such: As shown, the adjective ‹bona› "good" takes on different endings per gender depending on the modified word. Note, however, that bona will never take on the secondary forms *bon, *boni or *bonu.

The definite articles ‹sta› "the", "that" and ‹la› "the", "this" both are declined and treated as adjectives. As such, ‹sta› can also form masculine and feminine forms ‹sto› and ‹ste› respectively; ‹la› likewise will also form ‹lo› and ‹le›.

To take the example of ‹bone file› "good girl", the pair are declined as such: Adjectives always match every aspect of the noun they modify. If one wanted to say "the good girl's book", one would say «stessè bonessè filessè (sto) livro». Note that the adjectival definite article is optional when the noun it might modify is modified in another way; one might translate «stessè bonessè filessè sto livro» as "the book of the good girl" as well, if one cared to keep word-for-word consistency between Isxuor and English.

To further stress the fact that adjectives are only ever declined in the primary forms yet without fail match the modified noun exactly, the example of ‹sto inferanzo soli› "the shining sun" is taken:

Comparatives
The comparative form of an adjective can easily be formed by tajing the neuter form, and replacing the final -a with -ur. The respective gender endings of -a, -o and -e can be attached to obtain the whole words. E.g., ‹helirura› "quicker" (from ‹cœlirura› "quick, fast"); ‹meganura› "bigger" (from ‹megana› "big"); ‹vifura› "sharper" (from ‹vifa› "sharp"); and ‹vœ̀rtura› "greener" (from ‹vœ̀rta› "green").

The comparative forms of four adjectives are irregular—‹bona› "good" becomes ‹meiora› "better"; ‹mala› "bad" becomes ‹peiora› "worse"; ‹megana› "big" becomes ‹mahœra› "bigger"; and ‹minida› "small" becomes ‹minœra› "smaller".

Comparatives are generally used with the particle ‹qua› "then", along with the ablative case of the object being compares to. E.g., «El ev forsure qua mi.» "She is faster than me."; or «Allan, quor ev cœlirura qua Petrui, zi venyte primir.» "Allan, who is faster than Peter, came here first."; and so on.

However, the equivalent of the English construction " of the two" (e.g., "the sharper of the two knives") would not use the comparative in Isxuor; it would use the superlative.

Superlatives
Superlatives are formed very similarly to comparatives. The -a ending of the adjective is replaced with -ism- and the gender endings of -a, -e or -o can then be attached and the word inflected per need. However, is the last consonant cluster in the adjective is s, x or sx, then these clusters turn into h. E.g., ‹irristisma› "angriest" (from ‹irrista› "angry, angered"); ‹frihisma› "coldest" (from ‹frisxa› "cold"); ‹lattisma› "widest" (from ‹latta› "wide"); and ‹minidisma› "smallest" (from ‹minida› "small").

Again, the adjectives with irregular comparatives have aberrant superlatives: ‹bona› becomes ‹optisma› "best"; ‹mala› becomes ‹pessisma› "worst"; ‹megana› "big" becomes ‹masxisma› "biggest"; ‹minida› "small" becomes ‹minisma› "smallest". (Note: ‹minida› was backformed from ‹minisma›.)

Superlatives do not use ‹qua› "than", but instead ‹du› "of" to establish a comparison, or omit the compared objects altogether if they have already been mentioned: e.g., «Sto griuzisso livro (du stisse totisse livrisse) este defasilom o levere.» "The heaviest book (of all the books) was difficult to carry."; or «Buvi du la meganissa giuca du zuesse.» "Drink from the larger of the two glasses."; and so on.

Adverbs
Much as adjectives modify nouns, adverbs formed from adjectives (or nouns themselves!) modify verbs (and occasionally adjectives too). There are two ways to form adverbs from adjectives.

Note that adverbs, unlike adjectives, do not inflect or change in any aspect: «ste file feliamotte cœ̀urei» ("the girl runs happily"), but also «stai filai feliamotte cœ̀urerón̂» ("the girls run happily").
 * Take the neuter (primary, of course!) declension of the adjective and eliminate the -a ending. This gives you an adverbial form that's typically used to signify sensory adverbs, although it can be used for any adjective, and it can only be used for adjectives. E.g., ‹strut› "closely, near" (from ‹struta› "near, close"); ‹sœ̀il› "solely, only" (from ‹sœ̀ila› "alone, sole, only"); or ‹fors› "strongly, firmly" (from ‹forsa› "strong, firm, hard").
 * Take the neuter declension of the adjective, inflect it to the ablative form, and attach -motte to the end. This can also be done with nouns, to signify "in the fashion of [noun]", and is popularly used with proper nouns as "just as [name] would do", or "in a very [name] way/manner". Note that since primary declension words (marked by their nominatives) and their ablatives are identical, adjectival adverbs of this form are simply the word followed by -motte. E.g., ‹hivamotte› "coldly" (from ‹hiva› "cold"); ‹feliamotte› "happily" (from ‹felia› "happy"); ‹Alrunamotte› "just like Alruna" (from ‹Alruna› a name); or ‹Siesxuimotte› "in a Sied fashion" (from ‹Sied› a name).

Example Texts

 * The North Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger, when a traveler came along wrapped in a warm cloak. They agreed that the one who first succeeded in making the traveler take his cloak off should be considered stronger than the other. Then the North Wind blew as hard as he could, but the more he blew the more closely did the traveler fold his cloak around him; and at last the North Wind gave up the attempt. Then the Sun shined out warmly, and immediately the traveler took off his cloak. And so the North Wind was obliged to confess that the Sun was the stronger of the two.
 * Sto Venzi Norsi e Sto Soli dispostanze stavén̂ que quor este forsuro, quanda ia vœ̀yrenza venyte vuer lor, sconxesta com une halte mande. Loi comdicuvén̂ que il quor povute primir facore vœ̀yrenzam o mandem allevere, serai conosco forsuro. Ton̂ sto Venzi Norsi tanquo povute illuo duramotte suifluite, mai tanquo fors suifluite, illuo pius sta vœ̀yrenza strut tráeete ussè mandem ; e finalt sto Venzi Norsi cittate issè attentam. Ton̂ sto Soli inferate halt, e missuis sta vœ̀yrenza allevete lem mandem. Afon̂, sto Venzi Norsi devute du appovere que sto Soli este sto forsismo du stara zuara.


 * Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind.
 * Siei quor six e di quoi váux parquossè ste unindatre ni requaverón̂ e ste requavetre ni unindarón̂.


 * 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.
 * Ste tote senze homane sién̂ nate libre e parre com dignitaui e com idrextira. Lui posserón̂ rœ̀cassem e contónditusxum e lui devorón̂ facore vuer una allesse com uno espirui du frieritaui.