Vikti

Vikti (ciol Vikti /ciɑl vikti/) is an agglutinative personal loglang of an unspecified language family.

Consonants
The full phonetic inventory of Vikti is the result of Proto-Vikti's original consonant inventory having been shaped overtime by strong allophonic influences of succeeding vowels within a syllable. Proto-Vikti possesses a markedly small inventory of consonants.

Standard Vikti Consonant Inventory

 * 1) /p/ becomes /pʷ/ before back vowels /ʊ, ɔ/
 * 2) /v/ becomes /vʷ/ before back vowels /ʊ, ɔ/
 * 3) /n/ becomes /ɳ/ before retroflex consonants
 * 4) /n/ becomes /ɲ/ before palatal consonants
 * 5) /n/ becomes /ŋ/ before velar /k/
 * 6) /t/ becomes /ʈ/ before back vowels /ɯ, ɑ/
 * 7) /s/ becomes /ʂ/ before retroflex consonants
 * 8) /z/ becomes /d͡z/ before back vowels /ɯ, ɑ/
 * 9) /z/ becomes /d͡ʑ/ before /i/
 * 10) /ɾ/ becomes /ɽ/ before back vowels /ɯ, ɑ/
 * 11) /l/ becomes /ɭ/ before retroflex consonants
 * 12) /k/ becomes /c/ before /i/
 * 13) /h/ becomes /s/ before /ɯ/
 * 14) /h/ becomes /ɕ/ before /i/

Vowels

 * 1) /ɯ/ is rounded to /ʊ/ following labial /pʷ, vʷ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/
 * 2) /ɑ/ is rounded to /ɔ/ following labial /pʷ, vʷ/ and glottal stop /ʔ/

Sound Changes from Proto-Vikti
Vikti underwent numerous sound changes from Proto-Vikti (wiqta ya kior /w̃iʔta j̃a kiɒr/) based on syllabic boundaries and vocalic influence.
 * /w̃/ => /v/
 * /j̃/ => /z/
 * /r/ => /ɾ/
 * /r/ => /s~ɕ-h/ in initial positions
 * /r/ => /l/ in final positions
 * /ʔ/ => /s~ɕ~h/ in initial positions
 * /ʔ/ => /k/ in final positions
 * /h/ => /s/ in final positions

Other notable sound changes occured that had their own impact on not only the phonological aspects of the language, but the morphological and syntactic structure as well.
 * In many cases, instances of /n~j̃/ were lenited to /i/, often affecting surrounding consonants and vowels
 * hiw aya h /hiw̃aj̃ah/ "horse" => xiv ai s /ɕivæis/
 * k uyi ruyu /kuj̃iruj̃u/ "to break" => c oi rru /kɑiɽɯ/
 *  w an h a ya  /w̃anhɒ j̃a/ "perfect" => v ixi  /viɕi/
 * Similarly, /m~w̃/ became lenited to /u/
 * p om poq /pɒmpɒʔ/ "bush" => p u pok /pʷʊpʷɔk/
 * k iwiy u /kiw̃ij̃u/ "to dry" => c iuí u /ciɯʔiɯ/
 *  owi rioh ya /ɒw̃iriɒh j̃a/ "lethargic" =>  uo rroxi /ɯɑɽɑɕi/
 * Cluster /pt/ sometimes experienced lenition to /mz/.
 * hia pt a /hiapta/ "leaf" => xi mz a /ɕimzæ/
 * hu pt or /huptɒr/ "axel" => su mdz ol /sɯmd͡zɑl/
 * qu pt a ya /ʔupta j̃a/ "strong" => su mj i /sɯmd͡ʑi/
 * Instances of /r/ sometimes caused fronting of preceding back vowels /u, ɑ/.
 * q or  /ʔɒr/ "arm" => h al  /hæl/
 *  w ur ot /w̃urɒt/ "moose" => v irr ot /viɽɑt/
 * yi orw ia /j̃uɒrw̃ia/ "snake" => Ji arr uva /d͡ʑiæɽɯvæ/ "serpent god Jiarruva"
 * Clusters /rp, rk, rʔ/ sometimes underwent alveolar assimilation to /lt/
 * pa rpa  /parpa/ "fish" => pa lt a /pæltæ/
 * wa rk oyo /w̃arkɒɒ/ "carriage" => va lt io /væltiɑ/ "vehicle"
 * po rq uo /pɒrʔuɒ/ "trail" => pa ltt o /pæɭʈɑ/

Stress
Primary lexical stress depends largely on the part of speech and the role of a word in a sentence. Possible stress patterns in Vikti words are null, initial, penultimate, ultimate stress.

Null Stress
Single-syllable words, pronouns, and conjunctions receive no primary stress on a syllable.

Initial Stress
Subjects and direct objects receive inital primary stress a syllable.

Penultimate Stress
Adjectives, adverbs, and any nouns with two-syllable case suffixes receive penultimate primary stress on a syllable.

Ultimate Stress
Verb stems and any nouns with single-syllable case suffixes receive ultimate primary stress on a syllable.

Phonotactics
Vikti syllables follow a (C)V(C) syllable structure, where: Loan words, for example have trouble retaining phonetic integrity when translated into Vikti. Take the following words and names for example, which may maintain this integrity following strictly the phonetic inventory of Vikti, but when confronted with Vikti phonotactics become incorrect constructions.
 * Onset (C) includes any consonants besides nasals /m, n/ or lateral approximate /l/
 * V is any vowel
 * Coda (C) includes any consonants besides voiced fricatives /v, z/, approximate /r/, or glottal sounds /ʔ, h/

Possible (C)V(C) syllable constituents are presented below:

Additionally, a given word in Vikti cannot begin in /ɾ/-initial or /ʔ/-initial syllables. While these restrictions did not exist in Proto-Vikti, Standard Vikti affricated initial instances of both phonemes to /s~ɕ~h/. Therefore, Proto-Vikti productions like rawu /raw̃u/ "to love" and qiwarta /ʔiw̃arta/ "structure" became havu /hævʷʊ/ and xivalta /ɕivæltæ/, respectively.

Lastly, doubling of a given consonant cannot occur in medial positions. This is especially salient when suffixes are employed. For voiceless stops and /s~ɕ~h/, the preceding coda remains and the following initial becomes /ʔ/. For nasals and their corresponding voiced fricative/affricates, the coda remains and the initial becomes /ɾ~ɽ/. For liquids, the coda is deleted and the following initial remains.

Orthography
Standarization of the Romanized Vikti alphabet (alhavita Hovatinjivit Vikti /ælhævitæ hɑvætiɲd͡ʑivit vikti/) took into consideration the allophonic influence of vowels on consonants, resulting is the following alphabet. Standard Latin letters B, E, F, G, Q, W, and Y are not used in the Romanizated Vikti alphabet. The letter D is used only in the digraph dz.

Nouns
Vikti nouns are declined according to number, person, and case. Aside from unmarked singular number, nominative case, and accusative case, all nouns receive declensions by suffixing. In instances where multiple suffixes are applied, the morpheme heirarchy is stem>number>person>case. For any suffix, phonotactic rules are subsequently applied.

Plural suffixes employ a reduplication system of the last two sounds. If an unmarked noun ends in a vowel and it's suffix begins with a vowel, the glottal stop is placed in between. Personal markers employ the addition of respective suffixes to the end of a noun. For singular personal suffixes, nouns that already end in a consonant reduplicate the preceding vowel. Vikti has 14 marked cases. In addition to standard suffixing, the vocative case implements a preceding particle ho as well as capitalization of the noun. Both nominative and accusative nouns are unmarked by case suffixes, however, they are differentiated by word order.

Personal Pronouns
See /Personal Pronouns

Verbs
Vikti verbs can be conjugated according to voice aspect, mood, tense, and person & number. Unmarked verbs represent the simple, active infinitive and are easily recognizable from their -u syllable endings. Bound verbal morphemes include both prefixes and suffixes. In instances where multiple morphemes are applied to the stem, the hierarchy is polarity>mood>aspect>voice>postbase>stem>tense>person+number.

Negative verbs in Vikti are marked with the prefix vo-, while affirmative ones are unmarked.

There are three marked verbal moods in Vikti: conditional, optative, and imperative. They are marked by the following prefixes:

Unmarked verbs in Vikti take a simple aspect that can be interpreted broadly by speakers and listeners alike, or with specificity given other contextual words. More specific verbal aspects can be marked and include perfect and continuous forms.

Passive voice in Vikti verbs are marked by the prefix vai-.

Postbases are attached to verbs to add verbal semantic value. In Vikti, the most common postbases include ​​​ipa- "to appear", hal- "to want", hai- "to like", and oca- "to avoid". Each postbase has a standalone verb equivalent, but these have become shortened to morphemes for communicative ease. Other important postbases—sup- "to be reccomended/to behoove" and tik- "to be able"—are not based on an existing root verb (infinitives vacilú "to behoove" and ttudzu "to be able"), and are often transated into English as "should" and "can", respectively. Additionally, multiple postbases can be applied to a single stem.* Postbases are optional to convey semantic information, as it is up to the speaker to decide whether or not they chose to employ multiple, separate verbs or bound morphemes.

​​​​​Tense is marked by the use of a suffix. Present verb forms are unmarked, but past and future are marked as follows:

Person and number are marked according to the subject of the sentence and operate in the same way as personal suffix markers in nouns. Plural suffixes -dzon, -rrol, and -hos, however, are raised to -dzun, -rrul, and -sus.

Thus, while it is typical to include subject pronouns in sentences, entirely meaningful and complex utterances can be communicated with the use of one verb; for example, the single word sentence "''Vovaltasvaihalticiairruvan." ''translates to "If only I hadn't wanted to be able to be licked."

Interrogative Particle
For questions that do not use interrogative pronouns like zaío or zaca, the interrogative particle za is used at the end of a sentence.

Pragmatic Particles
To express surprise or hightened emotion, the particle a is used at the end of a sentence or emphasized word.

The particle ha is typically used at the beginning of a phrase and is usually translated as "so..." or "well...".

The particle ho is used to express emphasis at the beginning of a sentence, as well as the vocative case preceding the noun it modifies.

To express happiness or excitement, iai is used at the end of a sentence.

Lexicon
See /Vocabulary

The lexical inventory of Vikti has not been directly tied to any existing langage family, but there are proposed ties to many languages coming from Uralic, Turkic, and even Austronesian language families. Most numbers, for example, show close relation to Finnish and Estonian. Whether or not these similar words have always existed in Vikti or were borrowed and adapted over time is disputed. Recent loanwords primarily to come from both Greek and Latin, such as scientific words (e.g. anttorroporrokia "antropology" from Greek ἄνθρωπος ánthrōpos, “man, mankind, human, humanity”+ λογία logía).

Numbers
Numbers in Vikti are base ten. When used as modifiers, numbers go in front of the word they modify. Complex numbers retain a restricted order. For example: When used as an adjectival number, complex numbers mark only the final number in the construction: The same construction applies to ordinal numbers:
 * 10,456
 * 10+1000+4+100+50+6
 * suon ttuvata zahan jiusata vusán cuos
 * 99 red balloons
 * 90+9+balloons+red
 * uscahan usri parrovom cirixi
 * 44th president
 * 40+4+president
 * zahan zalti paraixitanta

Syntax
Sentences are typically subject-object-verb (SOV). The placements of the subject and object of a sentence are the most crucial to its meaning, as the nouns go unmarked by true case suffixes. A verb, however, can be moved to the front of a sentence for emphasis without changing the meaning of a sentence. Adjectives almost always follow the noun(s) that they modify. Declined nouns aside from the nominative and accusative depend on their relation to the other words in the sentence.

Example Text
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.

[ilkɑi 'iskækæ tiŋ'kæd͡ʑi d͡ʑi pɑl'zæi væɭʈɑkæ'it d͡ʑi d͡ʑiɑikɑkɑ'it væisɯiɕi'ɯsɯs. ɕiʔiɾæ sɯpik'pɯm d͡ʑi kæʔælcitæm'pɯm væiɑnsɯtkæi'ɯsɯs, d͡ʑi vilvi'ɾæ hæhæ'vit tispiʔiltæ'cin væɾæ'sɯsɯs.]

Ilcoi iscaca tincaji ji polzai valttocait ji jioicocoit vaisuixiusus. Xiíra supikpum ji caálcitampum vaionsutcaiusus, ji vilvira hahavit tispiíltacin varasusus.