Iraniya

Iraniya (Persian: اِیرَنِیَ (romanized: iraneya)), also known as Iraniyan, is a zonal auxlang designed to be the lingua franca of all people who speak Iranian languages e.g. Persian, Tajik, Pashto etc.

Like many Iranian languages, Iraniya has SOV word order and a complex verbal morphology, but there are only 2 noun numbers (singular, plural).

Consonants
These are the consonants that are used for transcribing the sounds of Iraniya (using IPA notation).

Vowels
Vowels may vary between dialect. This vowel chart below shows those of the northern 'standard' variety.

Phonotactics
Syllables are mainly structured as (C)(S)V(S)(C(C)).

A typical Iraniya syllable is composed of an optional onset, consisting of only one consonant, a mandatory vowel nucleus preceded and succeeded by an optional semivowel, and an optional coda, containing 1 or 2 consonants. The following constraints apply:
 * Onset
 * Consonant (C): Can be any consonant (Onset is only composed of 1 consonant, clusters are only found in loanwords; typically from English or Sanskrit; sometimes an epenthetic /æ/ is inserted between 2 consonants.).
 * Nucleus
 * Semivowel (S)
 * Vowel (V)
 * Semivowel (S)
 * Coda
 * Consonant (C): Can be any consonant.
 * Consonant (C): Can be any consonant (mostly /d, k, s, z, t, ʃ/).

Elision

 * /n/ is omitted after /h/.
 * /h/ is omitted before fricatives.

Sandhi
Phonological changes occur at morpheme boundaries (sandhi) for specific grammatical morphemes.


 * /pb/, /td/, and /kɡ/ become geminated [pː], [t̪ː] and [kː] respectively.
 * The cluster /dl/ becomes a geminated [lː].

Stress
Stress usually falls from the first to the second syllables. Stress tends to:


 * be always on the first syllable
 * avoid /ɨ/'s
 * avoid being on the negative affix nǝ-.


 * obtain their original stress on loanwords e.g. Obama /oˈbɑːmɑ́ː/.

Pitch
Iraniya has a 'pitch' accent (called a sahad). The sahad of Iraniya can be described as a rising tone e.g. /ǽ/. Sahad tends to be:


 * on the last-stem syllable of most words
 * on the first syllable on interjections, conjunctions and vocatives
 * never on:
 * personal suffixes of verbs
 * clitics
 * always on:
 * negative suffix nə-
 * non negative verb suffixes, or prefix noun on compound verbs.

Orthography
Iraniya has no standardized writing system, though the Arabic alphabet is the most used, but still not verified by the government. Linguists usually use the Aytuği romanization.

Aytuği romanization
The Aytuği romanization is a version of the Latin alphabet based on the 1990s versions of the Latin Udi alphabet and the Uniform Turkic Alphabet.

Arabic alphabet
The Arabic alphabet is mostly used by Arabs, the Libyans and the Algerians. Some linguists may use that.

Cyrillic alphabet
The Cyrillic alphabet is mostly used in Russia, southern Mongolia and northern Bulgaria.

Gender
Iraniya has 4 genders; masculine, feminine and neuter. Neuter is unmarked. If a noun is preceded by the suffix -o, it is masculine. If a noun is preceded by the suffix -i, it is feminine.

Cases
There are 2 cases in Iraniya: nominative and accusative. The nominative is unmarked, but when it's followed by the particle jak or suffix -a, it is accusative. The oblique cases are marked by postpositions.


 * Nominative: şuh mūda xor 'the dog ate the man'
 * Accusative: mūd şuha zu ' the man pats the dog'

An additional case, possessive is formed with ezāfe.


 * Possessive using ezāfe: kiteb-e Sam 'Sam's book'

Number
All nouns can be made plural with the suffix -he. Such examples of this are:


 * kiteb (book)
 * kitebhe (books)

Sometimes, the suffix -iz is used, mainly in words that end in the phoneme /h/ or /x/.


 * pagoh (base, foundation)
 * pagohiz (bases, foundations)

Subject pronouns
Pronouns share 3 persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd), and 2 numbers (plural, singular). This table below shows the list of pronouns, with their correspondences.

Object pronouns
The most common object pronouns of Iraniya are:a are:

Possessives
Possessives are shown by adding the ezafe construct to the pronoun. s            p

1p       maje          moje

2p       tuje          şume

3p.      ūje/vaje      onhoje

Determiners & demonstratives
These tables below show the use of determiners and demonstratives by the word 'sib' (apple). The most common demonstrative pronouns in Iraniya are:

Verbs
Verbs in Iraniya are very complex by their morphology. The stem order of a verb is:

Infinitives
Iraniya infinitives end in -dan or -tan. Some examples:


 * xordan (to eat)
 * nocūdan (to drink)
 * rabtan (to go)
 * bazadan (to play)

Gerund
The gerund is formed with the infinitive.


 * xordan (eating (noun))
 * Xordan bijaşaƣma (I love eating.)

Participles
Participles in Iraniya usually distinguish between two types: present and perfect.


 * The perfect participle is marked with the suffix -te. It is active in transitive verbs but passive in intransitive verbs.
 * xorte (eaten)
 * nocūte (drank)
 * The present participle is marked with the suffix -dar.
 * xordar (is eating)
 * nocūdar (is drinking).

Personal endings
Personal forms of verbs are usually formed with simple prefixes. The personal suffixes for the non-past are:


 * -am first person singular 'I'
 * -i second person singular 'you'
 * -et third person singular 'he/she/it'
 * -em first person plural 'we'
 * -uza second person plural 'thou'
 * -tu third person plural 'they'

The 2nd and 3rd persons plural may refer to singular persons for added respect or honorific. One major exception is God, for whom plural forms are never used.

The past tenses have very similar endings, except that the 3rd person singular is unmarked:


 * -am first person singular 'I'
 * -i second person singular 'you'
 * - third person singular 'he/she/it'
 * -em first person plural 'we'
 * -uza second person plural 'thou'
 * -tu third person plural 'they'

Tense-Aspect-Mood
Iraniya verbs can be conjugated into 2 simple tenses (present, past), 3 grammatical moods (indicative, subjunctive, imperative) and 2 aspects (perfective, imperfective).

Present
The present tense talks about the present time. It is formed by the prefix bi-, then the personal ending.


 * bixor (eat)
 * ma bixoram (I eat)

Past
The past tense talks about the past time. It is formed by removing the infinitive suffix.


 * xor (he/she/it ate)

Preterite
The preterite, or past imperfective, talks about the events that were completed in the past time, or for present ongoing events. It is formed by removing the infinitive suffix and adding the suffix -e.


 * xore (was eating/is eating)

Present perfect
The present perfect is used to express a past event that has present consequences. It is formed by removing the infinitive suffix, adding the present, and adding the perfect participle. The personal marker is finally added.


 * Ma bixoramte (I had eaten)

Pluperfect
The pluperfect, or past perfect, is used to refer to an action at a time earlier than a time in the past already referred to. It is formed by the perfect participle, and the personal marker.


 * xorte (had ate)

Present
The present subjunctive is formed from the present stem with personal endings.

Present
The imperative mood is a mood that urges someone to do something. It is formed with the prefix bo.


 * boxor! (Eat!)

Copula
The verb bodan 'to be', can be put into a copula using Iraniya's verb conjugation. This table shows the Iraniya copula.

Causatives
Causatives are valency-increasing operations that causes a predicate to do or be something e.g. I made him cry. The causative in Iraniya is formed with the suffix -ən to the normal or past stem.


 * -xor- (eating), -xor-ən (making to eat), xoramən (made me eat)

Passive voice
The passive voice is a valence-decreasing voice where the object is done by the subject. It is done by placing the conjugation of the verb şudan 'to want' before the verb, and adding the personal ending.


 * şu xor (is eaten)

Negation
Negation is formed by the prefix nǝ-.


 * nəxordan (not to eat)
 * nəxorc (did not ate)
 * nəxore (was not eating)

Adjectives
Adjectives typically follow the nouns they modify, using the ezafe construct. However, adjectives can precede nouns by derivational morphology e.g. xob-başt (lit. good luck) (lucky). Adjectives can come in many different orders after a noun and in this case an adjective at the end of a word, is use to generate more emphasis or suspense.

The comparative is marked with the suffix -tьr, and the superlative with the suffix -nitьr. The word 'than' is formed with the preposition əz.


 * Gorvi-e ma ost bəzorgtьr əz şuh-e i. (My cat is bigger than your dog.)

Syntax
Iraniya has a canonical word order of SOV. Modifiers usually follow the noun they modify.

Lexicon

 * a, an (indef. article) - jak (lit. one)
 * abacus - cartaƣ
 * ability - ƣodr
 * above, over - ferez, alel
 * absolute - kəmalaxar (lit. completeness)
 * after - gəz
 * again - baz
 * against - moxlef
 * air - şijo (m.)
 * (to) align - ǝxattan
 * all - təmam
 * alone, lone, only - təha
 * also - hem
 * altar - çamaca (f.)
 * America - Amerika
 * ancient, antique - qadam
 * anger, wrath - ƣǝzve
 * angry, wrathful - ƣǝzvena
 * answer - sadij
 * (to) answer - sadijdedan (lit. answer to)
 * antique - antik
 * (to) appear, seem - xǝsmadan
 * apple - sib
 * arch - taq
 * to argue, dispute - baz kartan
 * around - perav
 * astronaut - astronot
 * author - navs
 * authority - qattal
 * away - dour
 * back (to a previous state) - paşt
 * balance - tədal
 * banana - kil
 * band - band
 * base, foundation - pagoh
 * to base, found - xəvardan
 * based - asas
 * bare - baraxnə
 * to be - bodan (for forms, see Copula )
 * beak - manqar
 * bear - xors
 * to beat - zandan
 * to become - şodan
 * to believe - bavar kәdan
 * big - bәzorg
 * bird - pәrәnd
 * to blow - vәzidan
 * to boast, brag - laf zadan
 * boat - keşti (f.)
 * body, torso - betin
 * book - kiteb
 * cat - gorvi
 * daughter - doxter
 * day - roz
 * to drink - noşidan
 * dog - şuh
 * goat - bez
 * good - xub
 * horse - asb
 * house - xon
 * north - şam
 * paper - kaƣaz
 * store - dukon
 * sun - xarş
 * table - miz
 * water - əv
 * will - hoxət
 * wind - bad

Example text

 * Sentence: Asb əva noşi.
 * IPA transcription: /ˈɑːsb ˌævɑː ˈnoʃi/
 * Gloss: horse- NOM water- ACC drink- PST
 * Translation: The horse drank water.