Bovonian

=The language= One of the most spoken languages in the North continent of Drion, Bovonian is the religious, cultural, literary and legal language of nothing less than ten countries. Historically, several nations have used Bovonian either as a special language or as their national language.

Considered by their speakers as the most beautiful language in the world, Bovonian literature is one of the most prolific in Drion, rivalizing with Dahur, Tláymyts and Ravumi in this field. Bovonian poetry is, indeed, the strongest and most influent in all Drion. In many countries (even in those which, in other aspects, are not influenced by Bovonian culture at all) it is considered the language of poetry par excellence. One of the reasons for that is the extremely rich vocabulary with which the language is endowed.

The name "Bovon" is actually a Prondaset word. The native name of the language is Bubhauna, whose origin and meaning are obscure.

=Morphology=

Characteristics
Modern Bovonian is a development of Classical Bovonian. Although the lexicon and the phonology remain practically the same, the morphology has been somewhat simplified and some innovations have arised.

Consonants
In the traditional transcription these consonants are represented as follows:

The bilabial, alveolar and velar stops can be aspirated, thus adding ph, th, kh, bh, dh and gh to Bovonian consonantal inventory.

The consonant r is pronounced either as a trill or as a tap.

The old semivowels y [j] and w [w] have been fully vocalized in most dialects, and are now regular vowels i and u. Diphthongs ay/ai and aw/au have been simplified to vowels e and o.

Vowels
Vowels are:

Diphthongs ay and ai have turned to e (pronounced or ), while aw and au have turned to o (pronounced  or ).

This pronunciation is used by some speakers when reading Classical Bovonian as well, although it does not correspond to the correct pronunciation of the old language.

Nouns
There are three gender of nouns: masculine, feminine and neuter. Nouns are declined according to three numbers: singular, dual and plural, and to seven cases, viz.:
 * 1) Nominative (subject)
 * 2) Accusative (direct object)
 * 3) Dative (indirect object)
 * 4) Ablative
 * 5) Genitive (possessive)
 * 6) Instrumental (takes the place of Locative and Commitative as well)
 * 7) Ergative (agent for passive voice)

Noun declension is extremely regular, with no exceptions.

Short and Long Vowels
The declension shown below presents only short vowels. Words ending in a long vowel keep the ending vowel long through the declension. E.g.: nahâ "mother", accus. nahâw, gen. nahîtsh, dat. nahâk, abl. nahûm, nom. pl. nahê &c.

Adjectives
Adjectives are declined exactly the same way as nouns. Each adjective inflects for gender, number and case.

Superiority
The suffix -âval- is added to the stem of the adjective, resulting in a new adjective. Ex.:
 * kalamt "large", kalamtâval "larger"
 * mupph "new", mupphâval "newer"
 * pun "good", punnâval "better"

Superlative
The suffix -âdhân- is added to the stem of the adjective, resulting in a new adjective. Ex.:
 * kalamt "large", kalamtâdhân "the largest"
 * mupph "new", mupphâdhân "the newest"
 * punn "good", punnâdhân "the best"

Pronouns
Pronouns follow the same declension system used for nouns and adjectives, with little differences in some forms.

Personal
Although there are dual forms for all pronouns, they were not always used, plural forms being preferred. Dual forms are used mostly when the speaker wanted to emphasize the fact that the elements are exactly two, whenever this information is absolutely necessary.

There are reduced forms in some cases.

Possessive
Possessive pronouns are declined like any other adjective.

Examples:
 * nâm jasa "my house"
 * dî bâl "your father"
 * muii bhâri "our children"
 * dhîa lanama "her (two) sisters"

Demonstrative

 * hish "this"
 * ar "that"
 * hu, ha, hi "this", "that" and also "the"

These follow the regular nominal declension. E.g.:
 * hish jasa "this house"
 * ar luphul "that tree"
 * ari tshalludi "those boys"

Hu
The form hu, ha, hi is used in expressions like hi dhâtat "the (capital) city", hi pâr "the beautiful (things)" = "beauty", hu bhalad "the strong one", hi tâsit "that (what was) said".

Another special use of hu, ha, hi is with nouns and pronouns, as a suffix.

When it is suffixed to nouns, it indicates a special individual of that class. E.g.: dhûr "sun", "a sun", "the sun (which we are talking about)"; but: dhûrhu "THE sun", "our sun". It is used in jokes, e.g. using irony to criticize the performance or the skills of someone; ex.: jîr ish ûnanuhu lit.: "he is THE man", intended meaning: "he is an idiot".

With pronouns, it emphasizes the notion expressed by the root. Ex.:
 * ehu abhasom ji "I did it myself", "It is I who did it" (comp.: abhasom ji "I did it")
 * hishhu "really this one", "the same one"
 * jîrhu "the same one"
 * dîhu "really your"
 * ghânhu "the same one who"

In all these cases, the suffix agrees fully with the noun or pronoun. In the nominative the optional vowel must be used as a link: ûnan(u) -> ûnanuhu.

Interrogative

 * ghî "what"
 * ghân "who"
 * jâr "which"
 * jûng "how"
 * hamtshar "where"
 * jamar "when"

Relative

 * ghî "that"
 * ghân "who"

Indefinite

 * shan "some", "any"
 * mân "no", "none"
 * dutt "all", "every"
 * ghatt "each", "every"

Cardinal Numbers

 * 0 matt
 * 1 han
 * 2 to
 * 3 dalla
 * 4 jahal
 * 5 dhanj
 * 6 sihâd
 * 7 dhâd
 * 8 uhâd
 * 9 mûph
 * 10 tâdd
 * 11 hantâd
 * 12 todda
 * 13 daltâd
 * 14 jahalâd
 * 15 dhanjâd
 * 16 sihdâd
 * 17 dhâdâd
 * 18 uhdâd
 * 19 mûphâd
 * 20 'phamj
 * 21 phamj han
 * 30 dalmud
 * 40 jahlud
 * 50 dhânjud
 * 60 sihmud
 * 70 dhâdud
 * 80 uhmud
 * 90 mûphud
 * 100 dhân

Ordinal Numbers
Ordinal numbers are regular adjectives.
 * 1 ballihal
 * 2 dhîtshal
 * 3 daldhal
 * 4 jahal
 * 5 dhamjal
 * 6 sihdal
 * 7 dhâdal
 * 8 uhdapphal
 * 9 mûphmal
 * 10 tâddhal

Coordinating

 * ghe "for"
 * hî, jay "and"
 * man "nor"
 * dhât, na, bûn "but"
 * uha "or"
 * imtad "yet"
 * addhân "so"

Correlative

 * hanpuh … hi …  "both … and … "
 * uha … uha …  "either … or … "
 * man … man …  "neither … nor … "
 * am … dhat …  "not … but … "
 * maddhu … danpan …  "not only … but also … "

Subordinating

 * tibuhâd "after"
 * jamdat "although"
 * dhî "if"
 * iddhâd "unless"
 * ghîutsh "so that"
 * balamda "therefore"
 * bîhal "in spite of", "despite"
 * ghe "because"

Concepts
Bovonian keeps most of the old Nekturian verbal system. Although some tenses are not frequently used in speech, all of them are alive in the written (mostly in the literary) and in the more formal versions of the language and must be learnt by all native speakers.

Innovations are the use of prefixes for past tenses and the settling of a fixed thematic vowel for subjunctive and conditional moods, as well as the reduction of some tenses by the dropping of the thematic vowel.

Sample Conjugation: Phâtia "see"
Here is the full conjugation of the verb phât-i-a "see". For other verbs, just change the root (in this case, phât-) and, in the indicative mood, also the thematic vowel (-i-, -a- or -â-). In the other moods the thematic vowel is fixed: e in the subjunctive and o in the conditional.

Animic adjectives and nouns
A typical feature of Bovon are the so-called "animic" adjectives. These are adjectives derived from the names of animals, representing distinctive characteristics - actual or assumed - of these animals. The most common qualities are represented by animic adjectives.

These adjectives produce abstract nouns representing the attribute in question. Some examples are given in the following table.

Alternative Numbers
The cardinal numbers given above are the standard numeral forms used in Bovonian. However, there is another series of words carrying the notion of number. Although not used for counting (e.g., for saying "two days" or "five eggs"), they are used primarily in lists or in situations in which the number has some special meaning. The most common forms are as follows (there are more than one form for some numbers):

Some examples:
 * E hamajâm "I am number one", "I am the first" (in a competition; in a queue; the first son in a family)
 * Irtâhi hamajâm "Today is the first (day of the month)"
 * Jilim balbhîd "I want three" (units of something)
 * Dumdassanda balbhîd "We tried three (times)"
 * Jabâdar astili "Chapter seven"
 * Dhisah apphud "Section four"

Literary language has alternative forms for numbers up to the thousands. These are freely used mainly in poetry. Common spoken language keeps alternative forms only for the first ten numbers, although alternatives for larger numbers are not rare, in the case of numbers with some special use (e.g. 20, which is a common counting unit, or 50, which Bovonians considered a special age in the life of a person).

Lists

 * Swadesh List

Sample

 * "Dutti ûnani maddhinge râphli, tâkmâtatum hî tâlihâdun. Jîragh laso hî gamsasâha, ghe tiphinga ashâ hann hâluk ishpâlâdum hulnamtatitsh."
 * ("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.")