Shalvì

The Shalvì skearté, or just Shalvì, a dialect of the Skearté language, is spoken by around five million people scattered around the vast forests of the central plain (Félibat) of the Dhälkfé, the Empire. It enjoys official status in its region and because of the cultural influence of the Shalvì people it is the one dialect of the Skearté language that is learned by foreigners. It is used as the literary language in the other provinces of the empire and especially in the capital, in spite of it having its own dialect.

Classification and Dialects
The language is the literarily most prominent dialect of the Skearté language, which is one of the two main branches (the other being the Khizardir language family) into which the ancient Jhikan split. While Jhikanian was complex and heavily inflected, most dialects of the Skearté are losing or already have lost great part of their nominal cases and some verbal morphology. In this context, also as a consequence of its unofficial status of literary language, Shalvì remains the most conservative of dialects, maintaining six cases and a fairly complex system of participles, while it completely lost any case distinction in adjectives. The other dailects of the Skearté are mutually intelligible and mainly differ in their phonology and the degree of complexity of their grammar, and so cannot be considered as separate languages.

Classification:

(Unknown)


 * Glazlotevian


 * Jhikanian 


 * Khizardir


 * Skearté


 * Shalvì Skearté


 * Fyldiskì Skearté


 * Palàskur Skearté


 * Skearté Thavisk



Consonants
Consonants do not geminate, but some of them may be "lenghthened" as explained below.

Clusters of up to three consonants are allowed, but of only two word-initially and one word-finally.

Sound /z/ is written s when it does not separate two vowels. Sound /s/ between two vowels is written ss.

Vowels
Vowels æ, ø and y can only follow, and not precede, vowels a, o, u, in the same word. If a suffix containing a, o, u is added to a word containing æ, ø or y, these are reduced to ə, and are written, respectively, ì, é, à. For instance, paskyk /pa'sky:k/ + -ur = paskàskur /paskə'sku:r/. Allowed diphthongs are: /ai/, /au/, /ei/, /eu/, /oi/, /ui/

Though usually stressed vowels are long(er), e, i, and u can be long elsewhere. Thus, /e:/, /i:/, and /u:/ are written ay, ey, éy.

Phonotactics
The main stress in every word falls on the last syllable if the word ends with consonant, ö, or with accented a, e, i (à, é, ì), or on the penultimate syllable if the word ends with unstressed a, i or u. Hiatus in a stressed word is signalled with an accent, but only to distinguish it from a diphthong: for example in eyfléan /i:fle'a:n/ the a is not accented because ea is not a diphthong, while in eyfléìn /i:fle'i:n/ the i has an accent.

Words can start with up to two consonants, the possibilities beign b/d/dh/f/g/k/p/t/th/v + r, b/f/g/k/p/s + l, s + b/f/k/p/t/v, th + t, dh + v. They can end with a vowel or one consonant (with the exception of pronouns), the consonants being d, f, k, l, n, r, s, t. When a suffix (beginning with vowel) is attached these become, respectively, dr, ft, sk, lt, nd, rd, sk, tk (leghthening). Inside a word, clusters of up to three consonants are allowed.

Nouns
Nouns are declined according to number (singular, plural), and case (there are six of them: nominative, genitive, dative, locative, accusative and comitative).

(1) Nouns ending with consonant

(Rassik, fire)

Suffixes are added after lenghthening the consonant: d, f, k, l, n, r, s, t, become, respectively, dr, ft, sk, lt, nd, rd, sk, tk. Nouns in -s and -k may maintain the old suffix -sk (Rassisk) in the genitive and accusative singular.

(2) Nouns ending with -é

(Eyflé, water)

(3) Nouns ending with -ì

(Raftì, sea)

(4) Nouns with stress on the penultimate syllable

(Dhiva, heart)

Prepositions
The principal prepositions are the following. They are used followed by the noun declined in the case indicated. (nominative = 1, genitive = 2 and so on). Some, like ai (of), when they have the same function as a case (here, genitive), can be omitted or used for emphasis.

ai (of) + 2

dés (with) + 6

ivés (without) + 6

tad (in/at/to) + 3/4 (dative if going to or locative if in/at some place)

léyk (out of, from) + 3

fayr (by, in passives) + 3

oak/lak/doné (inside) + 4 (3 if going inside)

okat (below); akas (above) + 3/4 (it depends, as in tad above, and the same is for the prepositions below)

nomià (in front of); fulià (behind) + 3/4

ikon (next to); plas (far from) + 3/4

erì (for) + 5

erì/dukén (during) + 4

gazéyd (against) + 3/5



Articles

The determinate article.

It is declined like nouns and it precedes them. Any of the alternative forms can be used at any time, but there are regional variations.



The indeterminate article.



The personal pronouns

Personal pronouns distinguish case, three persons and two numbers. Third-person personal pronuons distinguish three genders: male, female, inanimate.

Where it does not generate confusion, personal pronouns can be omitted before the verb, since the information regarding person and number is conveyed by the verb.

As can be seen, the genitive and the accusative are almost identical. Anyway, the accusative pronoun is always used before the verb (Ka aysk tafthak, I love her) while the pronoun in the genitive is always used right after the nouns it refers to, having the same function as a possessive adjective (Jok noma kansk, Our house).

Eyn is used for groups of males and groups of males and females, ayn for groups of only females.

Being formal:

To express detachment/formality people are addressed with the use of pronouns Shä and Ra. They can be used both when speaking to someone (as second person formal personal pronouns) and about someone (as third person pronouns). They are not declined (there's the need for prepositions) and are followed by the third person singular of the verb: Jak réyikandan ai Shä odan eriviaskidän, Your (formal) words are very wise; Ra oda fukur, You (formal) are right. Shä is used when speaking to (or about) a very important and influencial person, while Ra is more common but still gives the idea of respect and/or detachment.

Verbs


The infinitive

There are three forms: -aì, -eì, -öì, corresponding to three different declensions.

(falblaì, jhaveì, faröì) (go, eat, live)

The infinitive can also be used as a noun and declined. The use of the article is in this case compulsory.

Verb oivaì (to be, irregular) will be presented in brackets before all tables, as here: (oivaì, jéyk oivaì, kur oivus, kas oivas, kor oivaì, dés oivés) Eys poked skur jhavlad léyk kur jhaveyus, lit. He gets much pleasure from eating

The personal infinitive.

Apart from the case, the infinitive can also indicate the person and number. A speaker can decide each time whether to provide the information about person and number in an infinitive phrase by using the personal infinitive or leave it indefinite as above. The personal infinitive may be useful to specify the person or to omit using personal pronouns, and is declined like the normal infinitive.

 Participles

Shalvì has a quite developed system of participles that are used very often. Some of them express very compactly some complex concepts in just a couple of words. Often, for this reason, participial phrases may be quite indefinite and open to interpretation, which is one of the reasons why the Shalvì, who like to remain mysterious and unfathomable, use them so much in their daily speech.

The majority of the following participles may also be used as adjectives, further altering their possible meaning and thus adding to their indefiniteness and interpretability (see later). As adjectives, they also have comparative and superlative grades.

All participles distinguish number (singular or plural). Singular participles contain vowel o or  ö  in their suffixes, while in their plural form they contain vowel a or  ä.

(1) Present participle/gerundive. (Verb-ing)

<p class="Standard">Falblarok, jhaverok, farérok,   (ovarok/orok),  singular

<p class="Standard">Falblarak, jhaverak, farérak,  (ovarak/orak),  plural

<p class="Standard">

<p class="Standard"> (2) Past participle. (Verb-ed)

<p class="Standard">Falblarö, jhaverö, farörö (ovarö/orö), singular Falblaräé, jhaveräé, faröräé (ovaräé/oräé), plural

<p class="Standard"> (3) Past gerundive. It is formed with the present gerundive of oivaì (orok, orak) plus the past participle of the verb. (Having Verb-ed)

<p class="Standard">orok/ovarok +  falbl arö, jhav erö , far örö  (ovarö/orö) s

<p class="Standard"> orak/ovarak +  falbl aräé, jhav eräé , far öräé  (ovaräé/oräé) pl.

<p class="Standard">Orak jhaveräé, eyn falblaräéd (go, simple past, 3rd plural) kur zalfreyus (sleep, infinitive, dative case), Having eaten, they went to sleep.

<p class="Standard">

<p class="Standard">

<p class="Standard">(4) Passive participle.

<p class="Standard">If the verb is transitive, the passive participle is used to indicate that the subject is (was, etc.) being Verb-ed. In both transitive and intransitive verbs, it may express the fact that the subject is (was, etc.) made/obliged to Verb or has (had) to Verb. Verb oivaì expresses tense, person and number.

<p class="Standard">The agent is expressed by preposition fayr (by), followed by the agent in the dative case.

<p class="Standard">Falblaton, jhaveton, faréton (eton), singular

<p class="Standard">Falblatan, jhavetan, farétan (etan), plural

<p class="Standard">Eys éyd (be, past simple, 3rd singular) jhaveton, He was eaten OR He was made to eat; Eys éyd jhaveton kor lur (all) jos eyr, He was made to eat it all.

Éyskan (be, simple past, 1st plural) falblatan aidaed (there) fayr kur zabaiur (king, dative) eynsk, We were made to go there by their king.

Éyk eysk potéyréton, (lit. I was him save-passive-participle), I had to save him; while, Éyk potéyréton fayr eyskus, I was saved by him; but still, Éyk potéyréton jos idhaf (the boy, accusative) fayr eyskus, I was obliged by him to save the boy.

<p class="Standard">

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Example text
Jak thtaskà vi mavirì oladran ai Irving olaziretidrì jos Hädver kés spaidhatondìrkrak thragindés dak eyt oidrì palköräé dhalsì.

Hädver tretid kor avethreì jos alkalak jéyk obak, fanfrustak vi marturaton, jus trevalur, eylfarérok akas kur eyskus, mavires vi atkés dukluridän broskés.

Ati félibat ai potkaskaton vi skapserok dhuan odì okat kan halétkas eynsk. Atin aftus jok shikanì féltriad, fövillì kén thtaskà spräkliskén ai eys dak adukì éyd jok glodhärin eytsk, odì jok atì daita plaskarok eyskun.

“Va, viskräé aidak.” Irving arköröd, dés egleyés luktomarok léyk jun potkaskarak dukluskus jéyk dhuan. Iduké dak patirì stiflatkan oidrì elthoraräé, jhakì iduké dak Irving odì elthoratyn jos spaidhatondìrkrak thraskrin dask eys odì avethrerö, sayd kur potéyréyus jos eysk léyk atkun hulked volthadu, kor thvartaì jos gìntaded idhaf jos eysk, dak iduké odì nomià eyskas vi dask eys odì orö haldhraton kor eysk potéyröì iva klérok; rapé, iduké dak jok shiverérok vrök eylfarérok jakan svitriada eyziaskà odì spaidharö jos kléftus eysk erì kor mazarat, Irving eklasthötid jos lithés.