Askanil

Askanil language (Eastern Askanil: officially Saċwelgë in Kyliun [sɐˈxʍɜʟɢɘ]; Western Askanil: Saċwelge in Hevera [saˈxʍɛɭgɪ]; meaning "language of the hills") is a minor language spoken in the region of the Silver Vales, on the border between Kyliun and Hevera, including the provinces of Sulya and Thal in Hevera and the westernmost part of Vaara shire in Kyliun.

Classification and Dialects
Askanil is a Nil language (or human language) which belongs to the Aulsavric languages group. These languages are spoken in a large area that includes territories from Hevera to the Galver, contrasting with the Vànthom and Kahaym languages, which are originally from North-Kahaymah. Askanil is considered a northern Aulsavric language.

In spite of the continuous attempts of Heveranish government to replace Askanil with Ovarnil language and despite the spread of important international languages like Kahaym, the Silver Vales have always been a stronghold of this language and the native speakers have kept it as their tongue. But since the region is divided by the Silver Mountains the language has been slightly modified and divided into two main dialects: the Eastern, spoken in Kyliun, and the Western spoken in Hevera. In addition to this, the official languages of these countries has helped creating two dialects.

Phonology
These are the consonants and vowels' sounds used in eastern Askanil dialect, considered by many the "less contaminated" of the two ones.

Writing System
Askanil is formerly based on an oral history and tradition so no evidence showing the original Askanil writing system (if ever existed) has been discovered, and since we have no proofs we can just suppose what it could be like.

According to many scholars, the original writing system should look like the Aulsavric alphabet: more or less 30 letters, made of basic letters and diacritics, written from right to left. Perhaps it could be the alphabet which the Mehayllerdrkon and later the Ovarnilic alphabet came from, even though this supposition is not supported by many scholars.

The need of a writing system for this language failed as soon as the Kingdom of the Silverlands (lasted circa until year 4980, First Era) collapsed. Since then, the nation has never been unified again, divided politically and geographically. Slowly, almost everything of the original culture of Askanils got lost and so did the alphabet. The language was getting less and less important and endured in the small, apart villages of the Silver Vales, where a writing system was useless.

After the First Great Revolution and the proclamation of the Confederated Republic of Kahaymah, the minor languages have been reconsidered locally and there started a plan to reintroduce Askanil language. The first problem was to invent a writing system, considering the difference between Eastern and Western dialects, which needed different letters for different sounds.

However, here is shown the alphabet for the Eastern dialect, considered the official koine.


 * *These consonants are voiceless when followed by another consonant.

Long and short vowels
In Askanil language, vowels are distinguished in long and short vowels. The different quantity of a vowel is typical of Aulsavric languages.


 * The vowels ï, ö and y are always short.

Gender
There are three genders in Askanil language: Masculine, Feminine and Neuter (like in many other Nil languages). It is possible to recognize the gender by looking at the last letter of the noun, even though the same letter may identify more than one gender:
 * Masculine nouns:
 * possible consonant-ending: c - ċ - d - f - g - ġ - h - l - m - n - r - s - ş - t - ŧ
 * possible vowel-ending: a - i - ï - u - y


 * Feminine nouns:
 * possible consonant-ending: b - d - đ - f - g - ġ - h - l - n - r - s - v - w
 * possible vowel-ending: a - e - i - ï


 * Neuter nouns:
 * possible consonant-ending: ċ - d - đ - h - m - n - p - s - ṣ - ş - t - ŧ - v - w
 * possible vowel-ending: ë - i - o - ö - y

There is no noun which ends with letters ç, ģ and ł

Cases
There are 7 cases in Askanil language: Nominative, Accusative, Vocative, Genitive, Dative, Instrumental, Prepositive. The cases are divided into groups, called declensions, according to the gender and the ending letter.

Prepositive case supports all the prepositions, but usually these ones can be found together with a noun declined in another case. The most important prepositions are:
 * a(n)*, to express possession (genitive)
 * cy(n)*, locative meaning, "in"
 * ma(d)*, allative and dative meaning, "to, for" (dative, instrumental if expresses an advantage)
 * med, ablative meaning, "from, by" (instrumental)
 * nau(d)*, perlative meaning, "through" (accusative)
 * ty(n)*, delative meaning, "from (a place)" (genitive [rarely], instrumental)
 * i(n)*, traslative meaning, "becoming"
 * laeg, comitative meaning, "with" (instrumental)
 * ģyn, to express position, "between/among" (genitive)
 * o(d)*, "under/below" (accusative)
 * lâs, "on/over" (accusative)
 * wyn, to express a topic "about" (genitive)

* - the consonants are added only if the first letter of the following word is a vowel

I declension
It includes regular nouns ending with strong vowels (a - o - ö - u)

Example: cewla, part (m)

II declension
It includes regular nouns ending with soft vowels (e - ë - i - ï - y). These nouns lose the soft vowel in indirect cases, while it is kept in direct cases (nominative, accusative, vocative).

Example: nhaelgë, language (n)

I group
It includes regular masculine and neuter nouns ending with long vowels followed by consonants ċ, đ, f, ġ, h, ṣ, ŧ. In indirect cases, the long vowel becomes a short vowel, while the final consonant is always replaced by a specific consonant (ċ -> c; đ -> d; f -> v; ġ -> g; h -> c; ṣ -> s; ŧ -> t).

Example: draenâċ, wyvern (m)

II group
It includes regular feminine nouns ending with a long vowel followed by a consonant and masculine and neuter nouns ending with a long vowel and the remaining consonants (c - d - g - h - l - m - n - p - r - s - ş - t - v - w). The consonant doesn't change like in III declension, but in the indirect cases the long vowel becomes a short vowel.

Example: laerîn, pleasure (f)

I group
It includes masculine and feminine regular nouns ending with a short vowel and a consonant.

Example: nělgaċ, shadow (m)

II group
It includes neuter regular nouns ending with a short vowel and a consonant.

Example: maeŧ, plant (n)

V declension
It includes masculine and feminine irregular nouns ending with a short vowel and a consonant. This nouns change part of the root (usually a vowel or a group of vowels) in vocative, genitive, dative and instrumental cases. In fact, in dictionaries the nouns of this declension are written in two cases: nominative and vocative

Example: cyleg, law (f); in dictionaries: cyleg, cylaig

VI declension
It includes regular nouns ending with a group of consonants.

Example: parn, lesson (n)

VII declension
It includes irregular nouns ending with a group of consonants. The nouns that belong to this declension have a different root in vocative, genitive, dative and instrumental cases, like in V declension. They are also written in two cases in dictionaries: nominative and vocative.

Example: ylâfn, breath (f); in dictionaries: ylâfn, ylewf

Alteration of the first letter
This characteristic of Askanil language comes from the "lenition" process, very common among many other languages, and especially among the Aulsavric languages, where lenition became in time almost a strict grammatical rule. Nowadays, some of the words in Askanil still conserve that phonetic change, even though it is mostly considered as a convention in written language (in fact, some people might speak a slightly more conservative dialect, where the lenition is still used; on the other hand, some people might never use it anymore in spoken language).

The words having some derived consonants (ċ - đ - ġ - ł - ṣ - ŧ) or the pure consonants f and h as first letter change it in case they are forerun by a preposition or an adjective, in a specific way: If a noun is forerun by an adjective which last letter is a consonant and it is the same as the first letter of the noun, this last one falls and can replaced by an apostrophe (even though it is not necessary). If it is a vowel, it is the opposite (the adjective loses the last letter and can be replaced by an apostrophe). For example: daeg ganilôċ, "deep hole", becomes daeg 'anilôċ or daeg anilôċ; cylenai iryui, "to the turquoise flower", becomes cylena' iryui or cylena iryui.
 * ċ -> c
 * đ -> d
 * f -> v
 * ġ -> g
 * h -> c
 * ł -> l
 * ṣ -> s
 * ŧ -> t.

In case we have something like bledac cyleg, "strict law", it will not become bledac yleg because the sound of the first c and the second one is not the same. In bledac it is pronounced /k/, while in cyleg it is pronounced /s/. So it will keep the "original writing".

Determinative articles
In Askanil language, determinative articles vary according to the case of the noun it is referred to. Usually it is bound to the preposition (if there is one) just by putting it before the preposition. In this case, if the article contains a long vowel, this becomes a short vowel.

Personal pronouns and pronominal particles
In Askanil language, the personal pronouns are not declined into all seven cases, but only into nominative (which includes vocative), accusative, genitive and prepositive. In fact, they are usually preceded by a preposition to express indirect complements. Each personal pronoun owns a particle, called pronominal particle, which is used in verbs' construction.

Adjectives
The declension of adjectives follows the terminations of the V declension if the noun it refers to is masculine or feminine, while follows the II group of the IV declension if the noun is neuter. Some adjectives are irregular and in dictionaries are written in two cases: nominative and vocative (like the nouns).

Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives are declined like the other adjectives: it means that they follow V declension for masculine and feminine and the II group of IV declension for neuter gender. The gender of the adjective depends on the gender of the object that is owned and not on the gender of the owner (like in English). In fact, the possessive adjectives are declined according to the gender and the number of the object owned.

Verbs
Verbs' conjugation in Askanil language is quite complicated. The verb is not only composed of the verb itself, but of two parts: the verb form and the pronominal particle. This part is necessary to distinguish the purpose of a sentence: in fact, a sentence can be positive, negative, interrogative or optative.

The verbs of positive and negative sentences (declarative) are made of a pronominal particle followed by the verb: the negative form is formed by adding nd- before the particle (except for 1st and 3rd plural persons, which are respectively forerun by e- and n-). For example: wy y lwnan, "I dine"; wy ndy lwnan, "I don't dine".

Interrogative and optative sentences' verbs are made of the verb followed by a pronominal particle bound to the verb (the opposite of declarative sentences). The difference is just that the second one is actually a positive sentence, but the particle is put after the verb. For example: lwnany wy?, "do I dine?"; wy lwnany, "I want to dine".

There is also a construction called negative optative, that is the negative form of optative: the structure is like the negative one, but a second particle is put at the end of the verb. For example: wy ndy lwnany, "I don't want to dine". Anyway, in this case it would be more correct to use a periphrastic sentence, made of the verb ilwynaiŧ, ilwadan, fhilaitin, fileunin, ilwyfâd, "to like" or "want". For example: lwnaiŧ wy ndy ilwynan, "I don't want to dine".

Verbs in Askanil are sorted in three groups or classes: the I class includes verbs which present infinitive form ends with -aŧ or -aiŧ; the II class includes verbs which present infinitive form ends with -eŧ or -eiŧ; the III class includes verbs which present infinitive form ends with -iŧ or -iuŧ.

Each verb is represented with its paradigm, which consists of present infinitive, 1st person singular from indicative imperfect, 1st person singular from indicative preterit, 1st person singular from indicative perfect and supine. Present infinitive's root is used for present and future tenses, indicative imperfect's for imperfective tenses, preterit's for preterit indicative, perfect for perfective tenses (perfect infinitive included) and supine for the other undefined tenses.

As examples, here will be used the regular verbs lwnaiŧ, lwnadan, lwnaitin, lwnacin, lwnâd, "to eat/to dine" (I class), nganeŧ, nganedan, nganeitan, nganiṣin, nganêd, "to send" (II class), mauniŧ, mauneudin, mauniutan, maunicin, maunîd, "to love" (III class).

Indicative mood
Indicative mood supports both the declarative and interrogative (including optative) constructions. It has seven tenses: present, imperfect, preterit, perfect, pluperfect, future and future perfect.

Present indicative corresponds with the present simple and continuous in English. The root of the verb in present tense refers to the root of the present infinitive form.
 * Present indicative

It is a past tense combined with imperfective aspect (it means it refers to continuing or repeated actions). The root is based on the root of imperfective tenses: in regular verbs it is signified by -ad- in I class, -ed- in II class and -eud- in III class.
 * Imperfect indicative

Preterit is a past tense used to describe momentary and punctual aspect in an action or state. Preterit can be found only in indicative mood. Its root refers to the preterit form of the verb (third entry of the paradigm): in regular verbs it is signified by -ait- (I class), -eit- (II class) and -iut- (III class).
 * Preterit indicative

Perfect is a past tense that describes a perfective aspect: it means that the action (or state) is "perfectly" completed. The terminations are almost the same as preterit's, but the root of the verb is different and, except for most of the regular verbs of I and II class, there is not a particle that signifies it. For a large number of I and II class' verbs the particle is respectively -ac- and -iṣ-.
 * Perfect indicative

It is a past tense used to describe an antecedence with another past tense. It is made of the same root of perfect indicative, and almost the same terminations: the only one difference is that before the terminations of the perfect tense is forerun by -aen- in all classes.
 * Pluperfect indicative

It is used to describe any future action or state. It is made of the present infinitive root, while the terminations are similar to the preterit's.
 * Future indicative

It is used to describe an antecedence with a verb tense located in the future. It is made of the root of the present infinitive tense and the terminations are the same of the present indicative; anyway, it is signified by the particles -abh- for I class, -ën- for II class and -inh- for III class.
 * Future perfect indicative

Subjunctive mood
Subjunctive mood supports only the declarative construction and not the interrogative/optative construction (which is used alone in the optative mood, instead). In addition, this mood can be found only in subordinate clauses. It has six tenses: present, perfect, future (which are used in connection with present and future tenses), imperfect, pluperfect and future perfect (used in connection with past tenses).

It is used to describe contemporaneity with present or future tenses. It is made of the present infinitive root.
 * Present subjunctive

It describes contemporaneity with past tenses. It is made of the root of imperfective tenses.
 * Imperfect subjunctive

It describes antecedence with present or future tenses. It is made of the root of perfective tenses, while the terminations are the same of the present subjunctive.
 * Perfect subjunctive

It describes antecedence with past tenses. The terminations are the same of imperfect subjunctive, but the root is based on the perfective tenses' root.
 * Pluperfect subjunctive

It describes a following action or state with present and future tenses. It is made of the present infinitive root.
 * Future subjunctive

It describes a following action or state with past tenses. It is made of the present infinitive root and the terminations of the future subjunctive tense, but it is signified by the particles -abh- for I class, -ën- for II class and -inh- for III class, like future perfect indicative.
 * Future perfect subjunctive

Optative mood
Optative mood supports only the interrogative/optative construction and not the declarative. It is considered a separate mood, but actually it is the optative form of subjunctive as tenses and terminations are the same. The difference is that it can not be found in subordinate clauses, but only in main clauses.

It may have three functions: I nîrlainar gâr mađwynaisi; "May you become rich" Şirnaina; "Let it go" Tanhâd nwy lwnacimynin; "Maybe they have already eaten" Tanhâd nti nwy lwnacimynin; "They shouldn't have eaten yet"
 * Desiderative: accompanied by gâr or gâ if followed by "r", it expresses a desire.
 * Concessive: it expresses a concession.
 * Potential: accompanied by nwy, it expresses something that may happen or maybe happened.

Imperative mood
Imperative mood supports only the declarative construction. It has two tenses, present and future, which have not all the persons, but only the 2nd and 3rd singular and plural (except for present, that has also a termination for 1st plural). In imperative mood the pronominal particle is sometimes omitted, even though it would be more correct to keep it.


 * Present imperative


 * Future imperative

Undefined moods
Undefined moods don't support any structure, neither declarative nor interrogative/optative, as verbs are not conjugated according to a subject (except for number and case in some moods, like participle).

In Askanil language, infinitive mood behaves more or less like in English language. It is usually used as nominal form of a verb, with modal verbs and in infinitive sentences as well. It has three tenses: present, perfect and future.
 * Infinitive


 * Fwylein is the future infinitive form of the irregular verb nheiniŧ ([nein, heis], sëdan, fhytein, fhwysin, cynnhêd), "to be".

It "participates" both in the functions of the verb and of the noun. It also behaves like an adjective, even though it is not declined in the same way: in fact, the declination of participle follows the II group of the III declension (nouns ending with a long vowel followed by a consonant). It has three tenses: present, perfect and future. The participle root comes from the supine root: the only difference is that the long vowel becomes a short vowel, if adding the terminations.
 * Participle

The supine is the less used among the moods in Askanil language. It is used to express a purpose and it is made of the full last entry of the verb paradigm.
 * Supine

For example:

Nhanwyn srimeinâd wy y şirnen, "I go out to buy something"

Dreinam damģyn enfhiron laeṣîd ân cïriaiŧ as bheirdainhais, "The road was built to connect the two cities"

It has two tenses: present and perfect. The first one usually describes contemporary with the verb of the main clause, while the perfect gerund usually describes a cause, in antecedence with the main clause verb. It is based on the supine root, without the long vowel.
 * Gerund

It describes the duty or the necessity of doing something. It is based on the supine root and is simply made by putting -wyd at the end of the supine form. It is declined to the noun it refers according to number and case, following the I group of the IV declension.
 * Gerundive

For example:

Damwyn vhailnoim rynhdêdwydam ny laişârnat, "Let's discuss about the decision we have to take"

Gailgenaċ dwynhlainâdwyd, symhailîdwydas fheirelsâwyd, "A war that must be undertaken, families that must be divided" (Askanil proverb)

Passive and reflexive verbs
In Askanil language, the formation of passive voice is quite simple: the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive, while a particle is put before the verb and bound to it. This particle is bheir-, or bhei- if the first letter of the verb is "r". It is typical of Aulsavric languages putting particles to express the verbs' voice.
 * Passive verbs

For example:

Łairnë wy y lwnadan, "I was eating an apple"

becomes:

Med em łairnë as bheirlwnadait, "The apple was being eaten by me"

In Askanil language reflexive verbs are divided into direct reflexive, reciprocal reflexive and passive-reflexive.
 * Reflexive verbs

Direct reflexive is used if the verb has the same semantic agent and patient. It is made by putting the accusative form of the subject's pronoun before the pronominal particle: Maiċail wnim as plairnaed, "Michael washes himself".

Reciprocal reflexive is used if each of the participants occupies both the role of agent and patient with respect to the other. It is made by putting together both the pronoun and the pronominal particle of interrogative/optative verbs: Ân vwynainas tylanyt ti ġaersynhed, "The friends greet each other".

Passive-reflexive (rarely used) is used like a reflexive verb with passive aspect. It is made like the direct reflexive, in addition to the passive particle, and it can be used only with third person singular and plural: Pârnas tylan ti bheirnamlaicynhud, "Hats are being sold" or "Selling hats".

Syntax
The basic structure of a sentence in Askanil language is OSV. What is weird about this is that it is the only Nil language having this kind of structure (as other human languages have structures SOV or SVO). Since the structure limits the position of a verb to the end of the sentence and Askanil has basically a final head-directionality, the main clause is always put at the end of the period, forerun by the subordinate clauses.

For example:
 * Cilwanedenwyn nhama dranhamai gailranadwynhâr łairnë wy y lwnadan, "I was eating an apple while I was walking to get back home"

If we analyze the sentence we find:
 * Cilwanedenwyn: "while I was walking" (lit: "walking")
 * nhama dranhamai gailranadwynhâr: "to get back home" (lit: "the-to home being-about-to-get-back"; it is a future participle in Askanil)
 * łairnë wy y lwnadan: "I was eating an apple" (lit: "apple I was-eating")

Possessive-genitive construction
Usually, the possession is not expressed with the verb "to have", but with a periphrastic construct. For example, considering the sentence "I have a dog", in Askanil it will be: A nai mâđar as heit

Literally translated, it would be: "of me (a nai) dog (mâđar) is (as heit)".

In the possessive-genitive construct, the subject of the English sentence ("I") becomes an indirect complement (a nai), made of the preposition "a(n)" followed by the noun of the owner in genitive case. The object of the English sentence ("a dog") becomes the subject in Askanil construct (mâđar), while the verb used is the verb nheiniŧ, "to be".

Conditional sentence
In Askanil language there are five categories of conditional sentences, based on the factor of possibility. The conjunction "if/whether" in Askanil language is mhir or ir.

For example: Ir bealgan i slinainas, nhae as lwyldinaid; "If you heat up the water, it boils".
 * Reality [structure: mhir/ir + present indicative and present indicative]

For example: Mhir ṣearlaisynid lyn i fewlinis, ân lainheman dama vhyrinam i fewlinwyl; "If you listen carefully, you may hear the sound of the nature".
 * Possible reality [structure: mhir/ir + present indicative and future subjunctive]

For example: Mhir mbârd as bealnyucinaid, ndanhaid as şirneit; "If it rains tomorrow, no one will go out".
 * Future possibility [structure: mhir/ir + present indicative and future indicative]

For example: Ir gaerdaċ ân cïriaiŧ ndas seiderh, wnim y ċlainwyl; "If the road weren't damaged, I would use it".
 * Impossibility [structure: mhir/ir + imperfect subjunctive and future subjunctive]

For example: Ir lyn cynörân y fileunirh, y rynhgailinhwyl; "If I had wanted for your help, I would have asked for it".
 * Unreality [structure: mhir/ir + pluperfect subjunctive and future perfect subjunctive]

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 1
''Fâr curdairnim ais něcylaigam slair niłarnaincae anhaid nîlar ti đairnynhad. Slî onherainaċ ais ṣearymwynaes daigynnhêtar, laeg bhairrsaċ anhylewfaċ tanhâd tylanyt ti nirhainâŧairh.''


 * Translation: 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.


 * Interlinear gloss: in dignity(GEN.SG) and right(GEN.SG) free equal-and all human(NOM.PL) (3PL.POS) be.born(IND.PRES.3PL). The(INSTR) reason(INSTR.SG) and conscience(INSTR.SG) endow(PART.PERF.NOM.PL), with fraternal(INST.SG) spirit(INST.SG) they(NOM) they(ACC)-(3PL.REFLX) (3PL.POS) act(IMP.FUT.3PL).