Sicaron

Sicaron is the English-derived national language of the fictitious Socialist Republic of Sicaro, in Hank Delisle's novel in progress One America, which takes place in a future North America. Sicaro is a nation located in the northwestern former United States, with Krasnograd (formerly Olympia, Washington) as its national capital, and is named for its three major mountain ranges: the Sierra Nevadas, the Cascade Ranges and the Rocky Mountains. Sicarons are a peace-loving and self-reliant lot who work hard to maintain not only a sustainable lifestyle for themselves but also to keep other nations from getting in the way of those aims.

Phonology
Sicaron is written in the Latin script. The Sicaron alphabet lacks the letters q and x and adds three non-English letters š, ž and ø. There are 27 letters, named and pronounced as follows: In addition to the letters are five vowel diphthongs, which are treated as vowel-glide pairs rather than as phonemes in their own right: Every vowel in Sicaron (a e i o u y ø) forms the core of its own syllable, and stress is always on the first syllable of a word. Vowel length is, like in American English, phonemically insignificant in Sicaron, meaning that the duration for which a vowel is spoken doesn’t change the meaning. The following consonant clusters are permitted at the beginning of a syllable before the vowel:
 * A a — alva [a] as in taco
 * B b – bekar [b] as in birch
 * C c – icvar [ŋ] like ng in lung
 * D d – dilta [d] as in dark
 * E e – ekor [ɛ] as in smell, must be followed by i or a consonant other than w
 * F f – fawst [f] as in finch
 * G g – gølf [ɡ] as in green
 * H h – hotal [h] like sh in short
 * I i – indor [i] as in liter, never adjacent to j in a word, and any w that follows it must belong to the next syllable
 * J j – jowd [j] like y in yellow, never adjacent to i in a word
 * K k – kilor [k] as in kitsch, aspirated [kʰ] before j, l, r, w or a vowel except after s or š
 * L l – limar [l] as in lemon, more like the British dialect sound
 * M m – marit [m] as in mine
 * N n – nojar [n] as in north
 * O o – ostor [ɔ] like aw in British raw but short, must be followed by i, u or a consonant
 * P p – papri [p] as in pinch, aspirated [pʰ] before j, l, r, w or a vowel except after s or š
 * R r – rowi [ɻ] as in American English rose
 * S s – siger [s] as in south
 * Š š – šarli [ʃ] like sh in short
 * T t – tanor [t] as in torch, aspirated [tʰ] before r, w or a vowel except after s or š
 * U u – unvar [u] as in truth, never adjacent to w in a word
 * V v – vikor [v] as in vile
 * W w – weski [w] as in weed, never adjacent to u in a word
 * Y y – ypsil [y] like u in French tu, and any j or w that follows it must belong to the next syllable
 * Z z – zejd [z] as in zone
 * Ž ž – žuld [ʒ] like si in lesion
 * Ø ø – øskel [œ] like ö in German löffel, must be followed by a consonant other than j or w
 * aj – [aj] like i in kind
 * aw – [aw] like ou in loud
 * ej – [ɛj] like ay in Slayer
 * oj – [ɔj] like oi in void
 * ow – [ɔw] as in blow

b bj bl br bw d dr dw f fj fl fr fw g gj gl gr gw h k kj kl kr kw l m mj n p pj pl pr pw r s sk skj skl skr skw sl sm smj sn sp spj spl spr sr st str sw š šl šm šn šr šw t tr ts tš tw v vj vl w z ž

The following consonant clusters are permitted at the end of a syllable after the vowel:

b c ck cs cst ct d f fs fsk fst ft g j jb jc jck jcs jct jd jf jfs jft jg jk jks jkt jm jn jnd jns jnt jnz jp jps jpt js jsk jst jš jšt jt jts jtst jtš jtšt jv jz jž k ks kst kt l lb ld lf lfs lft lg lk lks lkt lm ln lp lps lpt ls lsk lst lš lšt lt lts ltsk ltst ltš ltšt lv lz lž m mp ms msk mst mt n nd ns nsk nst nš nšt nt nz nž p ps psk pst pt r rb rd rf rfs rft rg rk rks rkt rm rn rnd rns rnt rnz rp rps rpt rs rsk rst rš ršt rt rts rtsk rtst rtš rtšt rv rz rž s sk sp st š št t ts tsk tst tš tšt v w wb wd wf wfs wft wg wk wks wkt wm wn wnd wnz wns wnt wp wps wpt ws wsk wst wš wšt wt wts wtst wtš wtšt wv wz wž z ž

When a consonant may exist at the end of one syllable and at the beginning of the following syllable, it’s considered part of both syllables but written only once. Thus, the syllables of water, meaning water, are considered to be wat and ter, but only one t is written. In addition, when a vowel diphthong ending in j is followed by i, or one ending in w is followed by u, the consonant must be elided in accordance with the i-j and u-w adjacency rules.

Sicaron has four tones, used to mark sentences as yes/no questions, demarcate the ends of sentences and emphasize words. An emphasized word starts with a high tone, while any other word starts with a high-mid tone. A word at the end of a yes/no question ends with a high tone, while a word at the end of any other sentence ends with a low tone. Any other word ends in a low-mid tone. Within each word, the tone makes a smooth transition from its starting level to its ending level.

Noun Phrases
A noun phrase is an entity in which all the elements within — nouns, pronouns, adjectives, relative clauses and genitive noun phrases — point to the same something in the real world. The most famous elements in a noun phrase are, of course, nouns. Nouns are declined agglutinatively by number, definiteness and case in that order. The plural number is marked by adding -n to a noun stem of more than one syllable ending in a, l or r and -en to any other noun stem. Definiteness, which is marked by using the definite article “the” in English, is marked by adding -t to a singular noun stem of more than one syllable ending in a, l, n or r or to the plural marker and -et to any other singular noun. The lack of this last marker indicates indefiniteness, which English marks with the indefinite article “a” or “an” with singular count nouns and no article otherwise. Sicaron has no articles. Finally, the genitive case, which like in English indicates the possessor of whatever follows and is marked in English with -’s, is marked by adding -s to an indefinite singular noun of more than one syllable ending in a, l, n or r or to the plural marker of an indefinite plural noun and -es to any other indefinite singular noun or to any definite marker. The lack of this genitive marker indicates either the nominative or accusative case, and only certain pronouns differ between these two cases.


 * ryr a river, ryren rivers, ryret the river, ryrent the rivers, ryres a river’s, ryrens rivers’, ryretes the river’s, ryrentes the rivers’

When multiple nouns appear adjacent in a sentence, all of these nouns are considered to belong to a single noun phrase and point to the same something in the real world, thus the nouns fru woman and enhelzera doctor combine to mean fru enhelzera, which means not a gynecologist but rather a doctor who is a woman. Whenever nouns are strung along in this way, only the last noun in the noun phrase receives declensional endings, thus the women doctors is fru enhelzerant, not *fruent enhelzerant.

Adjectives are common travelling companions to nouns within a noun phrase. Like English, Sicaron rejects noun-adjective agreement as superfluous. Adjectives generally go before the nouns they modify. There are no comparative or superlative suffixes, the comparative being formed by preceding the adjective with the adverb mor and the superlative with the adverb must. Sometimes, a noun phrase may have adjectives but no nouns. In this case, noun declensional endings may be transferred to the very last adjective of the noun phrase. However, if the noun phrase refers to a person, the very last adjective must receive an epicene gender marker -a if no noun follows it. If the noun phrase refers to a thing, no such gender marker is added. Thus sikaroskan means Sicaron people, while sikarosken means Sicaron things.

Included in the category of adjectives are numbers, both cardinal and ordinal. The numbers up to three digits are named, cardinal and ordinal, as follows:

Note that the word for 11 is literally “ten one” in the same way that 21 is “twenty one.” The word for “thousand” (10³) is zawst, which follows the above numbers, and its ordinal form is zawtsk. 10⁶ is mion, 10⁹ is bion, and 10¹² is trion, with -sk added to form the ordinal versions of these. Sicarons use periods as thousands separators and a comma as a decimal point (1.234,56) as continental Europeans do.

A genitive noun phrase is always packaged within another noun phrase and indicates the possessor of whatever the other noun phrase points to, and it can be packaged inside another genitive noun phrase, as in maj browes kipera my brother’s keeper. The genitive noun phrase must always precede all other elements in the noun phrase indicating the possession, thus in blek rowsetes zorn the black rose’s thorn, the rose, not the thorn, is black. Another limitation is that a genitive noun phrase isn’t allowed to have a relative clause. Sometimes a noun phrase may consist only of a genitive noun phrase, whereïn you’ll see a genitive noun followed by a verb or in some other implausible spot. In this situation, the adjectival epicene marker -a, when the possession is a person, and noun declensional endings may be added on top of the genitive marker. Genitive noun phrases are often used with verb infinitives, which we’ll get to later.

Finally, no discussion of noun phrases would be complete without pronouns, which usually sit alone in their own noun phrases, except in such rare instances as We the People or I Claudius. Only pronouns have unique forms for the nominative case, the case used to indicate the subject of the sentence, with the accusative case covering all other uses not mentioned for the nominative or genitive. The personal, reflexive and interrogative pronouns are declined irregularly as follows: Sicaron restores the Old English singular/plural distinction in the second person you, using za for the singular and ja for the plural. Another distinction English doesn’t make is for they, using zem in reference to people and ent in reference to things. Sicaron lacks the English sex distinction in zon, which can equally mean she or he and thus makes it a lot easier to describe the title character of Ranma ½ in Sicaron. The first and second person personal pronouns function as their own reflexives, with e.g. mi meaning myself as well as me. The third person has a designated reflexive pronoun, which has the accusative form seg, meaning oneself, itself, herself, himself or themselves. The genitive form un can mean one’s own, its own, her own, his own or their own.

Verb Phrases
A verb phrase is an entity in which all the elements point to an action or state of existence. The heart of every verb phrase is, of course, the verb. All verbs are conjugated regularly, including the copula ar be. Verbs have two tenses, present and past. The present tense is the unmarked form of the verb and indicates a present action or state regardless of continuity. Thus Ej rit telaten may mean I write stories or I’m writing stories. This form is also used for the imperative, which is used to express commands, differing only in that the imperative has no stated subject. The past tense indicates an action or state no longer existing, again regardless of continuity, and is marked by adding -t to a verb stem of more than one syllable ending in l, n or r and -et to any other verb stem. Thus Ej ritet telaten may mean I wrote stories, I used to write stories or I was writing stories.

Another important form of the verb is the infinitive, the form shown in dictionaries. The infinitive is formed by adding -a to the verb stem. Like the indicative, it also has a present and past tense, the past tense formed by adding -a to the past tense indicative. Thus, slipa means to sleep, and slipeta means to have slept. The infinitive is always used after a modal verb. These are the Sicaron modals: Unlike English modals, Sicaron modals have tenses and infinitives. Because they have infinitives, modals are “stackable,” such as in the “ungrammatical” English sentence I might can do that (Ej majd kena dua zet in Sicaron), which would “correctly” be I might be able  to do that in English. Modals also have past tenses. Ej ul et ita zet. I was g onna eat that.
 * ken – can, be able to
 * kud – can, may, be allowed to (Be careful of this one!)
 * majd – might, may
 * most – must, have to
 * šud – should, ought to, be advised to
 * ud – would, be prone to
 * ul – will, be going to

The main function of the infinitive form is to “package” a verb phrase into a noun phrase to epress an action as a thing. Ar a ded ar alwen ar a .  To be dead is to always be. Sicaron inifnitives, functioning as noun phrases, can take prepositions. Soman nat ken walka y z tšu a gom. Some people can’t walk while chew in g gum. Wi it en howm for sejv a geld. We eat at home to save money. Wi sejv geld med it a en howm. We save money by eat in g at home. Used with its logical subject in a genitive noun phrase right before it, the infinitive form can also “package” an entire sentence into a noun phrase. Wi now za j lov a trybeln. We know that y ou love tribbles. Zem nat ken mejk za j høf a medik eksaminom. They can’t make y ou take a physical. An alternative to this structure, preferred among speakers closer to the Rocky Mountains, is to use the subordinating conjuction zøt, meaning that. Wi now zøt za lov trybeln. We know that you love tribbles.