Spheri

General information
Spheri is a reformed version of "Spheronese," spoken by Spherons on the planet Žaǰori 1a (formed from waǰož "boulder" and zori "wind," and then žara "fire.") Its spoken form is known as Ižkwa, and its written form is known as Ižkwe.

There are four main dialects of Ižkwa, specified as fire, water, air, and earth (žara, roǰi, zori, and jaža) as well as countless other variants and dialects of the language. The main dialects are colloquially named Ižara, Ižoǰi, Ižori, and Ižaža, and natively known as Isara (voiceless/voiced chance not applied, but in a few words still does, such as loan words), Ižoǰi (main dialect), Ižori (usage of q and v), and Iz'az'a (different writing system and spelling to represent voicing).

History
Spheronese was rejected as the language of Spherons due to the fact that it had no system or rules for it to function, as well as a lack of pattern in the words. A language came up, however, that was known as "Isqve" that had a complex system that ended up being easy to use. It was used from 1420 (1980 E.y.) to 1436 (1996 E.y.) until a voiced/voiceless change took place in the language, presenting four new letters (ž, z, j, and ǰ), and the removal of s. The letter "z" represented a voiceless alveolar sibilant (or fricative), and the letter "ž" represented a voiced alveolar sibilant, the caron representing voicing, instead of "s" representing a voiceless alveolar sibilant. "J" represents a voiceless palato-alveolar fricative, and " ǰ" represents a voiced palato-alveolar fricative. Also, the language started to be used in speech more often, which is why this change took place. From 1442 (2002 E.y) to 1468 (2028 E.y), changes to the writing system took place as well, changing the "q," representing a voiceless velar stop, to a "k," and changing the "v" to a "w." It also presented the relatively unused letter, "u," representing a close-mid front rounded vowel, which was formed from the letter "v."

Alphabet
Spheri's alphabet contains 12 letters, 5 of which are vowels, and 7 of which are consonants.

Phonotactics
Typically, consonants will not occur next to another, and vowels will not occur next to another vowel, unless that vowel is the same, in which case it is pronounced as a long vowel.

That being the case, the markers that form new nouns out of verbs or other nouns will take over the vowel endings of the original words, such as the following:

žara (fire) -> žaraiž ([diminutive] fire) - > žariž ([diminutive] fire)

However, the case and number markers will not do this (even if some will cause two consonants to be close together), as it is not part of the word in the first place.

žaǰe (plant) -> žaǰeiǰ ([plural] plant) -> žaǰeiǰžew (from the [plural] plant)

If two similar consonants, or in the case of case and number markers, vowels, occur together, a pause may occur between them. In other variants of pronunciation, the sound is geminated. Note: the following example includes an Extended IPA symbol.

žaǰeiǰǰe (plant's) [zæʒɛɪʒ ʒɛ] or [zæʒɛɪʒːɛ]

Nouns
Nouns are specified without articles, therefore the word žara can mean "fire," "the fire," and "a fire." However, in early Ižkiwa, these articles existed as "ri-" and "kar-". Therefore, sara ("fire" in early Ižkiwa, before the voiced/voiceless change) would be declensed as risara "a fire," and karsara "the fire."

Markers
Nouns are created or declensed using markers, to specify properties such as number, gender, size (diminutive/augmentative), and person. Only the size markers can be repeated ad infinitum, as long as they are the same marker, intensifying or weakening a noun further and further. Unlike case markers, these markers will "assimilate" over a vowel ending, such as with the following case:

žara (fire) +  -ož ->  žar ož (conflagration)

However in some dialects, this rule is not applied to words at all.

In the case of the grammatical person marker, it only applies to specific words [specify].

Cases
In this language, there are five cases, specified with a case marker each: nominative (-aǰ), accusative (-ež), dative (-eža), ablative (-žew), and genitive (-ǰe). They can be described as the subject, the direct object, the indirect object, from the object, and of the object, respectively. These are used only to specify the case of nouns, not adjectives, verbs, or other word classes.

This table is using the word žara "fire" to demonstrate the case markers in the language. The case markers do not usually assimilate with the vowels in the word, as they are not "word-creating" markers. However, in some dialects, it can assimilate with the vowels, as they are understood in the context. Therefore, žaraǰ, žarež, and žareža, in this instance, are possible in those dialects.

Vocabulary
Since my language will have a long list of words, I shall post them on this side page on my website. (Note: the page is a work in progress.)

/Basic phrasebook/