Sigentani

The Sigentani language is a language spoken by the Sigentani in the planet Oktaiselii (Octaisel). It was first attested in 30 OKY (approx. 12 Earth CE) and it is still spoken to this day.

Being a very old language, it has many dialects. Some dialects even became completely different languages. However, most older dialects have died out.

When Sigentani was first attested, it was a completely different language that was tonal. The language lost its tones around 1698 OKY (approx. 1518 Earth CE), however some dialects of Sigentani are still tonal even to this day, most notably the standard north dialect.

Classification and Dialects
Since Sigentani is a very old language, it has its own language family.

Surviving Dialects

 * Standard south dialect: The standard dialect of Sigentani.
 * Standard north dialect: A dialect of Sigentani that partially retains the tones that older forms of Sigentani had.

Consonants
All consonants in Sigentani are also in English, with the exception of /x/ and /r/. Older forms of Sigentani used to have other consonants like /ç/, /ʝ/, /ŋ/, /θ/, and /ð/.

Vowels
Sigentani has the 5 vowel system, in addition to the vowel /ɪ/. Earlier forms of Sigentani did not have this vowel.

Phonotactics
Syllables in Sigentani can be quite complex, with both initial and final consonant clusters of up to four consecutive sounds. The nucleus of the syllable must have one vowel, however, it can have two vowels. The syllable structure of Sigentani is (C)(C)(C)(C)V(V)(C)(C)(C)(C), with V being vowels and C being consonants.

Clusters of four consonants are not common. Some examples of clusters of four are ivogrst "concern", skrjaise "slam", and vgrjaelkst "trash can".

Writing System
Sigentani's writing system is very similar to the Latin, Cyrillic, and Greek writing systems. Older forms of Sigentani used an abugida as a writing system. The official name for Sigentani's writing system is Сɴгeнтᴀнскрʏпти (transliterated as Sigentanskryptii). For study purposes, the transliteration is used instead of Sigentani's writing system.

Nouns
Nouns in Sigentani have 5 cases: Nouns also have 3 genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Nouns have 6 declination patterns that depends on the noun's ending letter and gender. Nouns do not decline for definiteness. Usually, nouns are declined by adding a suffix and sometimes changing a vowel.
 * Nominative: the doer of the verb (he went to the store)
 * Accusative: what was affected by actions of a verb (she ate an apple)
 * Dative: the recipient of something (it gave me some paper)
 * Genitive: the possessor of something (his money was stolen)
 * Locative: the location of something (he goes to the library)

First Declination
First declination nouns always end with a consonant. Most first declination nouns are masculine, but a few are feminine nouns. The chart uses the first declination noun sitan "boat" as an example. This chart also shows all the suffixes and vowel changes that could be applied.

Second Declination
Second declination nouns always end in a vowel or n, i.e. , and they are always masculine. There are no feminine or neuter nouns that are second declination nouns. The chart uses the first declination noun isero "language" as an example.

Third Declination
Third declination nouns always end in a consonant, and they are almost always feminine. There are some third declination nouns that are masculine or neuter. The chart uses the first declination noun rybynn "fish" as an example.

Fourth Declination
Fourth declination nouns always end in a vowel, and they are almost always feminine. There are some fourth declination nouns that are masculine, but fourth declination nouns are never neuter. The chart uses the first declination noun isu "chair" as an example.