Sarot

Sarot, or Sharodh (/ʃɑro̞hd/) by its native speakers, is language spoken by a people in the western parts of southern continent in Essia. It is one of the oldest languages spoken in Essia and has retained its state as the one and only language to be used in many religious texts. Its alphabets have influenced many alphabets to south, north and west alike. Traders and merchants by nature, Sharodh people have spred their wealth and influence around the southern continent and their language is well spoken all around western parts of Essia. Sharodh is also known as Sarot, Sarotti, Sarod, Shaaro and Sartto around Essia.

I'd like to note that as an author, whose native language is Finnish, I have added at some points not only English (Eng) to Sarot (Srt) translation but also to Finnish (Fin) translation. I believe this does not make anyone's day worse than it was, even if Finnish isn't really "wide spoken" language. Thank you for your understanding.

Phonotactics
Core of every word is formed as displayed below:


 * (S[V{C}])(C)V(C[VT])(T)


 * C - z, g, b, p, d, h, n and r
 * S - z, ʃ and ʒ
 * T - d and n
 * V - a, e and o

Alphabet
On the left are displayed Sarot alphabets. Invented around the Sarot people's golden age in 4th and 5th centuries of the Age of Moons, they are used for cursive writing with a brush. Even if the people more north prefer ink and quill, Sarot must not be written with them. Another way to write Sarot is the alphabets on the left below the first image. These alphabets are used for inscribing text into stone. These "runes" of sort were adopted by the northern tradespeople who frequently visited Sharodh lands during 7th to 9th centuries before they too were introduced under the Empire of Oragon in 10th century. After that their runes have developed into their own direction, but are still clearly of Sarot runes origins.

When written in Sarot alphabets, one symbol represents one phone, similar to latin alphabets. When Sarot language is written in latin alphabets, it is practise to replace letters "ʃ" with "sh" and "ʒ" with "zh". Otherwise these two writing systems are quite interchangebly.

In cursive Sarot it is also possible to replace "rh" and "ng" into their own letters, but this can be seen only in the most recent texts and is not used in traditional writing system.

When writing in Sarot alphabets, no hyphens are ever used. When writing in latin alphabets, hyphens are commonly added before or after attached word parts, such as "hoda" (I eat) would be written in "hod-a", they are however pronounced without any additional pauses and are used solely for the sake of clarity. Professional writers, diplomats and professors may write Sarot in latin alphabets without hyphens, as is more proper anyway.

Grammar
There are 3 cases in Sarot language. These are
 * Nominative
 * Accusative (which resembles genetive)
 * Genetive

Pronouns
Pronouns, like nouns, decline according to case and number. Pronouns, in general, are the most important pieces to form Sarot language, as they affect both nouns (except numerals) and verbs. The usage of pronouns by themselves is not neccessary and not even customary, because it could alter the meaning of a sentence completely.

Sarot language does not recognize "he" vs. "she" (or even "it"!) so all translations with "he/him/his" should be treated as gender neutral. Another feat of Sarot is the fourth person "some", which acts only as singular. As all verbs require person who undergoes the doing in question, fourth person serves as null-person (which is by all means regarded here as "some other") form for verbs. Same for inanimate nouns, which require "owner" when they act as object. For example "I write a book" needs that the book belongs to someone, if it is written for public usage (for example) or for sale, it can be said "I write a book(-which_belongs_to_someone)". It might seem easy enough, but turns out really troublesome when the sentences become more elaborate. For example:
 * Eng - I write my customer 's book ("customer-my book-his write-I")
 * Srt - shoberon-an zoro-ar zorodn-a
 * Fin - asiakkaani kirjaansa kirjoitan

Animate things, when acting as object, do not need owner. However, do note that separation between animate-inanimate things is not always sensible. To note few, a dead animal (or human) is inanimate as are slaves, trees and basically anything that could belong to someone. Then again, sea, wind, sun or fire are animate objects that can not be owned. Wild animals are animate but then again a dog, as a domestic animal, is not.

Subject Pronouns
Still, the pronouns do exist as words on their own. Below is given the chart of pronouns. They are displayed in a form -x/x where -x is the core of each pronoun which is added after verb, and /x which is the end of pronoun itself. For example:
 * I read (something)
 * Shre-a (here "shre" → "to read" in present tense, with "-a" → "I (do)")

Possessive Pronouns
As with all nouns in Sarot, pronouns' accusative form resembles that of genetive. Because of it, pronouns here are presented in a way -x/x where -x is the accusative-noun ending, and /x the end of possessive pronoun itself. Also, because this is the case, Sarot does not recognize invidual possessive-pronoun, but treats it as accusative. For example:
 * My book
 * Zoro-an (here "zoro" → "book", with "-an" → "my")

and
 * I kiss him
 * Aren sharon-a (here "aren" → "him" (literally his), "sharon" → "to kiss", "-a" → I (do))

Meaning you can't use possessive pronoun by itself, except when it is the object of the sentence. See also:
 * I kiss his lips
 * Zab-ar sharon-a (here literally; "lips-of_his kiss-I)

Nouns
Nouns decline in case and number.

When noun acts as an objective, it is in accusative and receives "-gez", if it ends in a vocal, or "-ez", if it ends in consonant, ending.
 * Eng - I eat a man (man-accusative eat-I)
 * Srt - shara-ges hod-a
 * Fin - miestä syön

but when it turns into inanimate object, such as dead man, it follows rules as laid down in pronouns-section, see:
 * Eng - I eat a (dead) man (man-someone's eat-I)
 * Srt - shara-zen hod-a
 * Fin - (kuollutta) miestä syön

To put this clear. In Sarot, all nouns divide into two categories; animate and inanimate. All inanimate things are considered to be owned by someone and all animate ones are not. As said, the fact if object is animate or inanimate is not always sensible and many of those less sensible things delve into Sharodh culture. Here are some rules to ease non-native Sarot speaker to find out if object is animate or inanimate:

Animate
 * Abstract concepts, such as
 * sea, sun and wind
 * wilderness
 * Human (and other races)
 * Wild animals

Inanimate
 * Tools, clutter and such
 * Domestic animals
 * Dead things
 * Dead human is "someone's" (god's)
 * Abstract concepts, such as
 * forest, farmland

Though. Some animate things may belong to someone in some particular case. For example a river would be animate and may not belong to anyone. However, if someone happens to own all lands around the river from its source to sea, that man may indeed say "my river". Then again, when speaking in state level, all things may belong to someone; "as a king, all things on my lands are mine", but that is well explained and reasonable. If you make a fire for yourself only, you may indeed say "my fire warms me". Then again, if the fire was made for the whole camp, it would be more appropriate to depict as "neutral" property and use -ez/-gez ending. To use 4th person is not considered as "neutral" but more like someone you are not aware of.

Pluralization
In Sarot, words may be depicted in plural as well as in singular. Plural is formed by adding "-z" behind the word. In some cases this can make the word pretty much in-pronouncable. In such cases it is more common to use adverbs such as "many", "lots of" or like. Usually nouns happen to end into vocal, so this should not be a real problem.

Compounds
In Sarot it is possible to form new words by the means of compounds. This rather common practise and utilized especially with foreign words. "Common rabble" may also use compounds of old words instead of new, odd, loan word to describe some things.

Compounds are formed of two parts. First part (the first word of compound) is "core word" and the second part "defining word".
 * bookdog (book about dogs)
 * zororah

Defining part may also be a verb in personless present tense. This is preferred if the noun that could be used instead of the verb seems to be derivation of the verb. Like in the example; "shao" → "shop" or "shaora" → "merchant" (likely a man) against "shaod" → "to sell". See below:
 * bookseller (merchant who deals with books)
 * zoroshaod

In some rare cases it is also possible that compound is formed of two words of which neither seems to be core or defining one. This is considered appropriate if the compound formed this way explains itself, see:
 * world
 * ezzea (here ez → earth and zea → air/sky)

In addition, it is also possible to form triple-compound words. These tend to be quite rare.
 * sock-pair
 * bernshnopenresharoz (here bern → clothe and shnopen → foot attached to resharoz → pair)

Numerals

 * Note that author does not understand octal system.

Sharodh people use the octal numeral system rather than decimal system. This originates itself into the beginning of the Second Age (which is also known as the Age of Moons) when year was divided into eight months (of the third moon). There are 8 months in a year, a man may have 8 wives, world has 8 corners, there are 4+4 elements, 8 zodiac signs, 8 persons... list can go on forever as Sharodh culture has adopted the 8 as their holy and lucky number.

Octal system has numbers from 0-7, number 8 is "one whole". Cardinal and ordinal numbers in Sarot are:

Number 0 literally means "no-be-someone" or a bit more comprehensibly "is not", which is reasonable as it isn't used in mathematics. To say something is "seven parts of eight" (7/8) would be said "one under everything". This is also counted backwards, so 1/8 would be "seven under everything". To say "one of eight" correctly you do not need to use any auxiliary verbs, possessives or anything. Plain "seven under everything" is enough. If one wishes to tell the amount in more precise way, one can say "five under two everything-s". Here are examples:


 * 1/8 - di agd zrorn (seven under everything)
 * 5/8 - ne agd zrorn (three under everything)


 * 11/16 - zo agd re zrorn (five under two everything(s))
 * 6/16 - zha zherro re agd re zrorn (whole and two under two everything(s))

To express larger numbers than 8 one needs some imagination to the point it becomes painful. Number 9 is said "one over whole". Here are some examples:


 * 12 - ne edn zra (three over whole)
 * 16 - re zraz (two wholes)


 * 20 - ba edn re zraz (four over two wholes)
 * 60 - ba edn di zraz (four over seven wholes)

Numerals can be used in plural form too. Though this is quite rare it may happen, for example "seven pairs" would be "diz resharoz" (literally: "sevens pairs"). If the describing word already has indicator (as in the example in left), numeral does not gain plural form. See these:


 * Eng - I own seven pairs of socks
 * Srt - di bernshnopenz resharoz rag-a (literally: seven socks pairs own-I)
 * Fin - minä omistan seitsemän paria sukkia


 * Eng - I own seven sock-pairs
 * Srt - diz bernshnopenresharoz rag-a (literally: sevens sock-pairs own-I)
 * Fin - minä omistan seitsemät sukkaparit

This can also be streched very far, see:
 * Eng - of sevenths
 * Srt - dinz rag-abe (literally: "sevenths own-they")
 * Fin - seitsemänsien

Adjectives
Adjectives, or descriptive words, appear as verbs in Sarot language. They work and act exactly like they would be actual verbs and therefore require subject. Here:
 * Eng - I have red hair (literally: "hair-my reds-it")
 * Srt - shanebo-an pohad-ab
 * Fin - minulla on punaiset hiukset

Comparative
Comparative tells that something is "more" than it was or something else is. Here:


 * Eng - my chicken is bigger (than) (literally: "chicken-my more bigs-it than")
 * Srt - bangiva-an shepon shepoded-ab rob...
 * Fin - kanani on suurempi kuin


 * Eng - my chicken is smaller (than) (literally: "chicken-my more smalls-it than")
 * Srt - bangiva-an shepon zapohand-ab rob...
 * Fin - kanani on pienempi kuin

Do note that this can be said as negative too:


 * Eng - my chicken is less big (than) (literally: "chicken-my less bigs-it than")
 * Srt - bangiva-an sheponz shepoded-ab rob...
 * Fin - kanani on vähemmän suuri kuin


 * Eng - my chicken is less small (than) (literally: "chicken-my less smalls-it than")
 * Srt - bangiva-an sheponz zapohand-ab rob...
 * Fin - kanani on vähemmän pieni kuin

So comparative is always formed with words: more/less + adjective-verb + than. It breaks word order by placing a second clause behind the first one.

Superlative
Superlative tells that something is "most" or "least" than anything else. Here:


 * Eng - my chicken is the biggest chicken (there is/exists) (literally: "chicken-my more bigs-it than chickens-someone's")
 * Srt - bangiva-an shepon sepoded-ab rob bangivaz-zen
 * Fin - kanani on suurin kana


 * Eng - my chicken is the smallest chicken (there is/exists) (literally: "")
 * Srt - bangiva-an sheponz zapohand-ab rob bangivaz-zen
 * Fin - kanani on pienin kana

So in practice, superlative does not have its own form but it is implied by pointing that none else has/is as much as the object.

Verbs
Sarot verbs conjugate according to mood and tense. They also always get pronoun-ending for actor, but the body of verb itself does not change, therefore Sarot verbs don't exactly conjugate with person (or number that is).

Tense
In Sarot language there are 5 tenses.


 * Present Tense

Present tense divides into two separate forms. First one is "currently ongoing act" such as:
 * Eng - I am eating
 * Srt - hod-a
 * Fin - syön

As you can see, only way to see if the act is ongoing, is from the context. The second purpose is for an act which has not yet concluded but is not neccessarily ongoing at the particular moment, such as:
 * Eng - I only eat chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-zen zha hod-a
 * Fin - syön vain kanaa

It would sound a bit funny to say "I am eating only chicken (at this particular moment)" so one can easily understand the actual meaning of this. However, even if present tense is said to divide into two forms, ongoing and undergoing, it in fact does not. To separate "I walk there" and "I am walking there" is purely a question of context.


 * Future tense

Future tense describe an action which will be done. Then again, in Sarot one cannot just say that something is going to be done, the action always needs actor. For this the fourth person is utilised. For example:


 * Eng - I will eat a chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an naz- hod-a


 * Eng - chicken will be eaten (by someone)
 * Srt - bangiva-zen naz- hod-ze

So future tense is formed with "naz-" body that is attached in front of the verb. It resembles in a meaning more that of "going to" than "will/shall". For English speaker it is worth of mention that "naz-" is not auxiliary verb, and ever appears when attached to another verb.


 * Imperfect

Imperfect tense works as simple past tense and cannot by its own tell if the action what one did ended or not. To correctly tell if the past action was progressive or not, one needs defining particle. Imperfect is formed by adding "-o-" behind the verb but before the attached pronoun. See:


 * Eng - I ate
 * Srt - hod-o-a


 * Eng - I was eating
 * Srt - ro hod-o-a (here "ro" → "then")

Simply put. In English "I was eating" turns into Sarot "I ate then". By its own the sentence does not make much sense so it is usually followed by another phrase which explains when "then" was or what happened during it / what made one stop eating.


 * Perfect

Perfect tense tells if something is wholly done or not. "I have eaten" turns into "I am done eating" and the action has ended. For native Sarot speaker "I have eaten" would sound odd, if no further detail is given. As perfect tense forms with auxiliary verb "to be", I have eaten would look like "I am eat" or maybe "I be eat". Simply put, you add auxiliary verb "sharod" in front of the verb in present tense "hod-a" and you have a perfect tense.
 * Eng - I have eaten
 * Srt - sharod-a hod-a
 * Fin - olen syönyt

Perfect tense can't tell if the action was absolutely complete, for example; it can't tell if I have eaten everything I have or not. For such, particles are needed. They are added before the auxiliary and actual verb, see:
 * Eng - I have eaten all
 * Srt - zrarn sharod-a hod-a
 * Fin - kaiken olen syönyt

Auxiliary verb takes here the person of the actual verb.


 * Pluperfect

Pluperfect tense denotes that something was already done when something else occured. See "I have red" and "I had red". In Sarot it is not in common usage and is thought to be archaic, or dialectal. Pluperfect is nowadays usually replaced by using imperfect. Pluperfect is formed as perfect, except that the auxiliary verb turns into imperfect. See:


 * Eng - I had eaten (part of/in general) (my) chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an sharod-o-a hod-a
 * Fin - olin syönyt kanaa


 * Eng - (my) chicken was eaten (partially)
 * Srt - bangiva-an sharod-o-ze hod-ze
 * Fin - kanaa(ni) oli syöty

Mood
All verbs are generally used in their indicative mood, which is the basic mood. It indicates "current" actions and is in all ways similar to present tense. Other moods include imperative (eat it!) and conditional.


 * Imperative

Imperative expresses command. In Sarot, however, it may also express wish in some cases.


 * Eng - eat (someone's/in general) chicken!
 * Srt - bangiva-zen hod-o
 * Fin - syö (jonkun/yleisesti) kanaa!


 * Eng - eat chicken, please
 * Srt - bangiva-zen hod-za
 * Fin - syö kanaa, ole hyvä

Expression of wish is solely excluded when talking directly to another and using formal second person. To do so is considered over-polite, if formality is not required because of status quo for example. As is the case with 2nd person, one rarely describes one's acts to that particular person, for example:
 * You write a book. You eat. You talk to me.

That is why second person can be used on its own ("-o" ending) to work as imperative. If formal second person is used, the order always turns into suggestion:
 * Eat! → Eat, please.
 * Hod-o! → Hod-za.


 * Conditional

Conditional expresses if something is going to happen. It can be used more as a wish "I would like to have a dog" (in Finnish; "haluaisin koiran") and something that is more likely not to happen. Conditional is always in the future or pluperfect tense. See:


 * Eng - I would eat the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-hod-a
 * Fin - söisin koko kanani


 * Eng - I would have eaten the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-sharod-o-a hod-a
 * Fin - olisin syönyt koko kanani

Above is for "would". It is formed with "az-" attached to main verb (in future tense) or "az-sharod" in pluperfect tense.

If you want to express the absolute neccessary, it would be done with "should". If you want to express propability, it would be done with "could". Could and should are formed a bit differently from would, you need to use their auxiliary verbs (should → az-zarod, could → az-zharod) first with "az-", then use the main verb normally (verb + pronoun). For pluperfect tenses, the auxiliary verb gets "-o-" as normally. See:


 * Eng - I should eat the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-zarod-a hod-a
 * Fin - minun pitäisi syödä koko kana(ni)


 * Eng - I could eat the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-zharod-a hod-a
 * Fin - voisin syödä koko kana(ni)

and


 * Eng - I should have eaten the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-zarod-o-a hod-a
 * Fin - minun olisi pitänyt syödä koko kana(ni)


 * Eng - I could have eaten the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-zharod-o-a hod-a
 * Fin - olisin voinut syödä koko kana(ni)

Syntax
osv (it looks like ovs because subject is added behind the verb) (tpa osp)

no is ne+word, when I will not eat → not-will-eat-I

noun pluralization → -z

Vocabulary
Now don't lose your wits because of following formatting. I'll change it when I find it topical.

Nouns
 * Bern - clothe
 * Bernshnopen - foot-cloth (a sock)
 * Bangiva - chicken [loan from south, "v" is commonly jumped over]
 * Ez - earth
 * Ezzea - world
 * Pohadn - fire
 * Rah - dog
 * Shaha - woman
 * Shanebo - hair
 * Shara - man
 * Shao - shop
 * Shaora - merchant / seller
 * Sharohd - people/language of Sharodh
 * Shoberon - customer
 * Zab - lips [only in plural form]
 * Zagza - sun
 * Zea - air (sky)
 * Zoro - book

Adjectives
 * Pohad - to red
 * Shepoded - to big
 * Zapohand - to small


 * Shepon - more
 * Zapon - most
 * Sheponz - less
 * Zaponz - least

Verbs
 * Hod - to eat (something)
 * Rag - to own
 * Resharo - pair (couple)
 * Shabebad - to speak
 * Shabedad - to make noices (utter)
 * Shahann - (to be) born
 * Shahadn - to give birth
 * Shaod - to sell
 * Sharon - to kiss (someone/something)
 * Shep - give
 * Shoberod - to buy
 * Shre - to read (something)
 * Zeod - to act [take action]
 * Zorodn - to write (something)
 * Zagzad - to warm (something)
 * Zagzan - to shine


 * Sharod - to be
 * Zarod - can

Particles
 * Zrarn - all/everything (abstract) [all water]
 * Zrorn - all/everything (comprehensible) [whole water (bottle/dish)]


 * Agd - under
 * Edn - over
 * Ro - then
 * Rob - than
 * Zha - only
 * Zherro - and

Example text

 * Eng -
 * Srt -
 * Fin -


 * Eng - dog eats (my) chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an rah hod-ab
 * Fin - koira syö kanaani (here really hard put → kanani koira syö-se)


 * Eng - your dog eats (my) chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an rah-on hod-ab (here: chicken-my dog-your eat-it)
 * Fin - koirasi syö kanaani (here similarly → kanani koirasi syö-se)


 * Eng - your dog will eat (my) chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an rah-on naz-hod-ab
 * Fin - koirasi syö kanani


 * Eng - your dog ate my chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an rah-on hod-o-ab
 * Fin - koirasi söi kanani


 * Eng - I have eaten all
 * Srt - zrarn sharod-a hod-a
 * Fin - kaiken olen syönyt


 * Eng - I have eaten the whole chicken
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn sharod-a hod-a
 * Fin - olen syönyt koko kanan


 * Eng - I had eaten everything
 * Srt - zrarn sharod-o-a hod-a
 * Fin - olin syönyt kaiken


 * Eng - I would eat the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-hod-a
 * Fin - söisin koko kanani


 * Eng - I would have eaten the whole chicken (of mine)
 * Srt - bangiva-an zrorn az-sharod-o-a hod-a
 * Fin - olisin syönyt koko kanani


 * Eng - he is mine (literally: him own -I)
 * Srt - aren rag -a
 * Fin - hän on minun (kirjaimellisesti: hänet omistaa -minä)


 * Eng - is chicken yours (literally: "own-you chicken-ACC no", so it is more like "you own (this) chicken, no?")
 * Srt - rag-o bangiva-ges ne
 * Fin - onko kana sinun (kirjaimellisesti: omistaa-sinä kana-ACC ei, eli enemmänkin "omistat (tämän) kanan, etkö omistakin)


 * Eng - no it is not (literally: no-own-I)
 * Srt - ne-rag-a
 * Fin - ei ole (kirjaimellisesti: en-omistaa-minä)


 * Eng - we were not the bests (literally: first-s then not-be-we)
 * Srt - donz ro ne-sharod-o-arah
 * Fin - emme olleet parhaita