Sallia

Phonology
Sallia uses an alphabet of 16 letters: A [ɑ, a] K [k] D [d] E [e, ɛ] F [f] H [h] I [i, ɪ] L [l] M [m] N [n] O [ɔ, o] P [p] R [r] S [s] T [t] U [u, ʊ].

Overall, the letters sound the way you would expect them to be, regardless of their placement. When it is not stressed, the letter "i" tends to form diphthongs [aɪ], [eɪ], [oɪ] and [uɪ], as well as [ɪa], [ɪe], [ɪo] and [ɪu] when it comes in contact with another vowel. Other vowels are pronounced separately from each other.

Phonotactics
The Sallia syllables have one of the following structures: V, VC, CV, CVC and, more rarely, VCC and CVCC. Out of all consonants, only L, M, N, R, S and T can be syllable-final.

Stress
The stress usually falls on the last syllable of the root. For example

suofó river

deahúodéni (deahu + o + de + ni) on the top of the tower

tía (ti + a) arrives

méniot (men + i + ot) about people

e tíasi (ti + a + si) if he comes

Basic Grammar
Sallia is an agglutinating language. It has a lot of cases and compound words.

Verbs
Sallia verbs and adjectives always have the final -a (sometimes substituted by -l, see below):

Nunamen duna - The boy plays.

Punase deattia - The tree grows.

Nunaei dunsdana - The children laugh.

The verbs do not change according to tense, but can be put in three different aspects: prospective, imperfective and perfective. The perfective aspect is marked by the sufix -s-, which is introduced before the -a ending. Similarly, the prospective aspect is marked by -t-. Thus,

Miadasofo tia - The train comes/The train arrives

Miadasofo tilsa - The train has arrived

Miadasofo tilta - The train is going to arrive

(The rules for inserting the letter -l- before the suffix are discussed in the next dection)

Verbs can be put inot passive voice by adding the suffix -er. E.g.

Me sia miadasofou - I see the train

Miadasofo siera mede - The train is seen by me.

To negate a verb, the prefix s- (se- before "s") is used:

Me smilta -- I am not going

Me du skia siat -- I can't see you.

Rules for adding suffixes and endings
When a suffix or and ending is added to a Sallia root that ends with a vowel, special rules may apply. The reason for it is that such roots used to end with the letter -l- that is dropped in modern speech but makes a reappearance in certian situations. Namely,

- when the root ends with a vowel, and the suffix starts with a consonant, -l- is added before the suffix

- when the root ends with a vowel, and the suffix/ending starts with the same vowel, the second vowel is dropped and replaced by -l.

For example:

ti + a --> tia (no change)

pa + a --> pal (final -a is dropped and replaced by -l)

pa + s + a --> palsa (-l- is introduced after the root)

Nouns
Sallia nouns can be put in many different cases by adding different endings to the root word.

Nominative/Absolutive (with passive verbs) - (zero ending)

Accusative -u

Ergative ("by", with passive) -de

Genitive/Posessive ("of") -o

Instrumental/Instructive ("with"/"using", "by") -ul

Dative ("to") -ti

Benefactive ("for", also indicates purpose) -t

Causal ("because of") -s

Conditional ("if") -si

Comitative ("with") -ule

Abessive ("without") -ume

Semblative ("like") -se

Equative/Essive ("same as") -le

Partitive ("of" with amounts) -lo

Topical ("about") -ot

Allative ("to") -tin

Locative ("in") -ni

Ablative ("from") -sin

Perlative ("through") -enti

The four cases that deal with location can also be used to indicate time.

To further specify location, nouns can be augmented with the following suffixes:

inside -one

top -ode

front -oso

bottom -oder

back -osor

neighborhood -oke

away - oker

surface -oten

place outside, around -oner

These suffixes are placed before the case marker, and are stressed.

The following suffixes transform other words into location or time indicators

place of -ona, -ana (with verbs)

time of -oto, -ato (with verbs)

To form the plural, the suffix -i- is added after the root and before the case markers:

kolhon - a bird

kolhoni - birds

kolhonti - to the bird

kolhoniti - to the birds

and so on.

Adverbs
Adverbs usually end in -i or have no ending. Typically they follow the verb they modify, but may precede it as well.

Copula
The copula ia (root i-) is usually followed by an object in Essive case.

Ka ia mo hulle - This is my house.

Since Sallia adjectives are morphologically so close to verb, no copula is required before an adjective.

Do hu loisia - Your house is beutiful.

Gerund
A verb, with its -a ending, can be treated as a gerund. In this capacity, it can have a subject, objects and adverbs modifying it, and, at the same time, it can accept case markers and be treated as if it was a noun (nomen actionis). An adjective can be treated in the same way.

Here are some examples:

Sia ia kensiale - Seeing is believing

Me ria de miat mule - I want you to go with me.