Ibjekofhun

Ibjekofhun Riksu Ìbǵäkohfjeve
Type
Fusional
Alignment
Accusative
Head direction
right
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect

General Information

Ibjekofhun, also called Imperial (natively Riksu Ìbǵäkohfjeve "Speech Imperial" or Redau iktät "Citizens' voices") was the official and national language of the White Coast Empire, a thalassocracy dominating the subcontinent of Edalith on the planet Patrona. It was the language of commerce, diplomacy, religion, and science for centuries, and borrowings from it link many Edalith languages.

Classification

Ibjekofhun is an Edalith language (see Proto-Edalith) of the White Coast subbranch. During the time of the empire there were several White Coast languages, but standardization and then the fall of the empire reduced this to two: the Ibjekofhun described here and modern White Coast language, which is technically a descendant of a closely related ancient White Coast language, though its direct Ibjekofhun influence is obvious. Other Edalith languages include Alemarese, Barejine, Egnizhuzh, Garla, and Zegrezhu.

Phonology

Consonants

	bilabial	dental	alveolar	palatal	velar
nasal	m	n		ɲ
stop	p b	t d	ts dz	tɕ dʑ	k g
fricative	ɸ β	θ ð	s z	ɕ ʑ	x
approximant		l		j ɥ	w
flap			ɾ

• The glides /j ɥ w/ alternate with short vowels /i y u/.
• /l/ was barely a separate phoneme in Old Ibjekofhun, as it mainly arises from a process of liquid dissimilation, described below, though it emerged as its own phoneme due to loanwords in later speech.

The Sibilant Shift

In the older texts, as the writing system was being refined, we find evidence of a shift in the sibilants, as shown in the table below.

	vls	vcd	vls	vcd	vls	vcd	vls	vcd
old	*s	*z	*c	*ɟ	*ɕ	*ʑ	*ç	*ʝ
new	/ts/	/dz/	/tɕ/	/dʑ/	/s/	/z/	/ɕ/	/ʑ/

Vowels

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
High	i	y		u
Mid	e	ø		o
Low	æ		a

• Every vowel contrasts two lengths: short and long, and two phonations: modal and breathy. Phonation is only distinguished in stressed syllables.
• In late Ibjekofhun, the /æ/ vowels merged into their corresponding /e/ vowels.

Stress

Stress is always on the final vowel of roots.

Phonotactics

Syllable structure

The core of a syllable is always a vowel, though consonant clusters are common. Some phonotactic rules are as follows:

Voicing assimilation

Clusters are only formed with consonants of the same voicing in native and nativized words, with the exception of /ɸ ɕ x/ plus /ɾ~l/, where the obstruents originate from voiceless sonorants in Proto-White Coast.

Adjacent to breathy vowels and as a part of cluster assimilation, voiced consonants can devoice. Sonorants protect adjacent obstruents from devoicing. While the stops and fricatives devoice in a straightforward manner, the sonorants do not.

voiced	//m//	//n//	//ɲ//	//ɾ//	//j//	//ɥ//	//w//
devoiced	/ɸ/	/θ/	/ɕ/	0	/ɕ/	/ɸ/	/ɸ/

Epenthesis

An epenthetic echo vowel appears to break word-peripheral clusters of sonorants and to separate a word-internal non-vowel-adjacent sonorant.

Liquid dissimilation

/ɾ/ dissimilates to /l/ if another /ɾ/ is present in the following coda or syllable. This is especially noticeable in the nominative singular of animate nouns, which have the ending -ar.

• 3s animate pronoun *kor-ar > kolar

What happens if three /ɾ/ occur? The first becomes /n/, the second /l/.

• grirg-ar > gnilgar "surprise, rapt attention, restlessness"

Palatalization rules

Some morphological environments cause palatalization of a preceding segment. Some consonants change their place of articulation to palatal: /n t d k g ɸ β θ ð x w/, Some send their palatalization to the preceding vowel: /m p b ɸ ɾ/. /ts dz/ deaffricate. Other consonants and some /ɸ/ don't change. Back vowels front, /e/ raises, /i/ lengthens (if the palatalization directly follows), and the fronted vowels /y ø æ/ gain a following /iː/.

Orthography

Basics

The Late imperial writing system was an alphabet based on the acrophonic principle: a letter representing a sound is derived from a picture of a word beginning with the sound, except for <H>, which comes from words beginning in breathy vowels. Many letters have multiple forms, though by the late Imperial period the glyphs were standardized. Many religious groups kept alternate sets, however. The voicing contrast was originally unwritten, later an overline developed to distinguish voiced consonants. Breathy vowels were written with a following <H>, and long breathy vowels repeat the vowel after it. Length on non-breathy vowels was never indicated in writing except in poetry and music.

This evolved from the early imperial writing system, which had graphemes that represented morphemes. The rebus principle extended this into a system where each grapheme could represent a sequence of up to five phonemes, with many choices in how to write individual words. This old script preserves some ancient phonemes: the old sibilant set, a singular liquid consonant, and a diphthongal /e/. The late religious script gained even more complexity in form and function while the late popular script became the alphabet known today.

Romanization

a	à	ä	ä̀	b	ć	d	dz	ð	e	è	f	g	ǵ
/a/	/aː/	/æ/	/æː/	/b/	/tɕ/	/d/	/dz/	/ð/	/e/	/eː/	/ɸ/	/g/	/dʑ/
h	i	ì	j	k	l	m	n	ń	o	ò	ö	ö̀	p
01	/i/	/iː/	/x/	/k/	/l/	/m/	/n/	/ɲ/	/o/	/oː/	/ø/	/øː/	/p/
r	s	ś	t	ts	u	ù	ü	ǜ	v	z	ź	þ	-
/ɾ/	/s/	/ɕ/	/t/	/ts/	/u/	/uː/	/y/	/yː/	/β/	/z/	/ʑ/	/θ/

1. signals a preceding vowel is breathy

Nouns

Overview

Nouns decline according to gender, number, and case, via fusional suffixes.

Gender

There are three genders in Ibjekofhun, which adjectives and some verb forms must agree with:

• Animate (Kimodevät): people, animals, and body parts
• Lustrous (Gàtseźìt): metals and plants
• Dull (Uögevüt): objects, locations, and abstractions

These categorizations are generalizations however, as there are many exceptions. For example, mizih “snake” is a lustrous noun, though obviously an animal, which are normally animate.

Declension table

First declensions

	AN		LST		DUL
	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
NOM	-ar	-ät	-	-ìt	-u	-üt/üd4
VOC	-à
ACC	-as	-äs	-ts/dz1	-ìs	-us/uz4	-üs/üz4
GEN	-ä	-au	-ì	-ou	-ü	-uou2
ABL	-äio			-eu		-ueu2
INSTR	-ame	-äme	-me2	-ìme	-ume	-üme
LOC	-fj3		-j3	-fj3	-j3

1. Takes the second form after voiced sonorants. Devoices preceding voiced obstruents.
2. Voices preceding consonants.
3. Devoices preceding consonants.
4. Takes the second form after stem-final vowels

Second (breathy) declensions

These endings are used when the stem ends in a breathy vowel (or a breathy vowel followed by /ɸ/ for some dull nouns).

	AN		LST		DUL
	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
NOM	-	-t1	-	-t1	-	-t1
VOC
ACC	-ts	-ts1	-ts	-ts1	-ts	-ts1
GEN	-1	-f	-1	-f	-1	-fou
ABL	-śo1					-feu
INSTR	-fe	-fe1	-fe	-fe1	-fe	-fe1
LOC	-fj	-fj1	-j	-fj1	-j1

1. Palatalizes preceding segment.

Example nouns

	rudz- "arm"		pür- "tree"		uǵin- "pot"
	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
NOM	rudzar	rudzät	pür	pürìt	uǵinu	uǵinüt
VOC	rudzà
ACC	rudzas	rudzäs	pürdz	pürìs	uǵinus	uǵinüs
GEN	rudzä	rudzau	pürì	pürou	uǵinü	uǵinuou
ABL	rudzäio			püreu		uǵinueu
INSTR	rudzame	rudzäme	pürme	pürìme	uǵinume	uǵinüme
LOC	rutsfj		püj	püfj	uǵiþj

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

		NOM		ACC
		SG	PL	SG	PL
1		go	äpt	tsärdz	àpts
2		dar	ǵurohf	tä̀hts	ǵurohfts
3	AN	kolar	korät	koras	koräs
	LST	ǵilar	ǵirät	ǵiras	ǵiräs
	DUL	ì	ìt	ìs
	OBV	u	üt	us	üs

Demonstrative Pronouns

	PROX	MED	DIST
AN	alar	soàr	drèar
LST	är	soä	drì
DUL	aru	soau	drèu

Adjectives

Declension table

First declension

	AN		LST/DUL
	SG	PL	SG	PL
NOM	-er	-ät1	-e	-it
VOC	-è
ACC	-es	-äs1	-es	-is
GEN	-ä1	-au1	-i	-ou1
ABL	-io			-eu1
INSTR	-eme	-äme1	-eme	-ìme
LOC	-fj2	-fj1,2	-fj2

1. Palatalizes preceding consonants in the early period. In later times this palatalization extended to all plural forms, and was lost from the animate genitive singular.
2. Devoices preceding consonants.
3. Vowel-final stems drop initial short vowels from the endings, any /s/ becomes /ts/, and palatalize in the usual places. Here the locative endings cause the vowel to become breathy.

Second (breathy) declension

These endings are used when the stem ends in a breathy vowel (or a breathy vowel followed by /ɸ/ for some dull nouns).

	AN		LST/DUL
	SG	PL	SG	PL
NOM	-	-t1	-	-t
VOC
ACC	-ts	-ts1	-ts
GEN	-1	-f1	-	-f1
ABL	-śo
INSTR	-fe	-fe1	-fe
LOC	-fj	-fj1	-fj

1. Palatalizes preceding consonants in the early period. In later times this palatalization extended to all plural forms, and was lost from the animate genitive singular.

Third (nominal) declension

Third declension adjectives decline with the same endings as the nominal first declension. In the lustrous gender the stem palatalizes.

Comparative forms

Adjectives also have a comparative and excessive form, formed with suffixes on the root which then take first declension adjective endings.

	COMP	EXC
1st/3rd	-its-2	-ud-
2nd	-ts-2	-ft-

1. Palatalizes preceding segments

Determiners

Demonstratives

Ibjekofhun has three levels of deixis: proximal are, medial soae, and distal drèe.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers include the universal quantifier ìbǵe.

Verbs

Overview

Finite verbs conjugate for tense, mood, and evidentiality, as well as person, number, and sometimes gender of the subject. In addition, there are several nonfinite forms: active and passive nominal and adjectival participles, as well as three adverbial participles and a conauxiliary form, which functions as the dictionary form. There are five regular conjugation classes: A, E, O, U, and H.

Definite tenses

Present

	A		E		O		U		H
	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
1	-ä	-äm	-i	-im	-ö	-öm	-ü	-üm	-1	-f1
2	-ak	-arut	-ek	-erut	-ok	-orut	-uk	-urut	-k	-rut
3	-as	-ts2	-es	-ts2	-os	-ts2	-us	-ts2	-ts

1. Palatalizes preceding segment.
2. Devoices preceding segment.

Past

		A		E		O		U		H
		SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
1		-aś	-azam	-eś	-ezem	-oś	-ozom	-uś	-uzum	-ś	-sVm1
2		-atsk	-adzrut	-etsk	-edzrut	-otsk	-odzrut	-utsk	-udzrut	-tsk	-tsrut
3	AN	-atsar	-atsä	-etsar	-etsä	-otsar	-otsä	-utsar	-utsä	-tsar	-tsä
	LST	-a	-aś	-e	-eś	-o	-oś	-u	-uś	-	-ś
	DUL	-atsu	-ats	-etsu	-ets	-otsu	-ots	-utsu	-uts	-tsu	-ts

1. ⟨V⟩ represents a short, modal-voiced copy of the preceding vowel.

Evidential infixes

Definite verbs in the 2nd and 3rd person are marked for evidentiality. The unmarked form denotes events which are directly observed. The other evidentials, the reportative and inferential, are marked by altering the stem before the verbal endings.

	infix	example
SENS	-	buras
REP	-ts/dz-1,3	bürdzas
INFR	-p/b-2,3	bürbas

1. Takes the second form after voiced sonorants. Devoices preceding voiced obstruents.
2. Takes the second form after all voiced consonants.
3. Palatalizes preceding segment.

Some common verbs have suppletive non-palatalizing stems in the marked evidential forms.

		SENS	REP	INFR
emo	"be"	emos	gdotsus	gdopus

Remote tenses

• Present: 1s.pres + rg (k in the H-conjugation) + A-conjugation present endings. ex. emörgas "it may be"
• Past: 2s.pst + A-conjugation present endings. ex. emotskas "it may have been"

Imperative

	A		E		O		U		H
	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
2	-à	-àrut	-a	-arut	-oa	-oarut	-ua1	-uarut1	-j	-rut

1. Voices preceding consonants.

Non-finite forms

Conauxiliary

The conauxiliary is used with auxiliary verbs. In form it is identical to the 3s.pst.lstr, that is, it ends in the conjugation's vowel.

Prepositions

Prepositions have comparative and excessive forms, similar to adjectives though more irregular. The meaning of a preposition is also dependent on the case of its object. All simple prepositions are as follows:

	COMP	EXC	case	translation
ats	asis	atsut	ACC	"by way of, through"
			GEN	"amid, among, between"
dzaþ	dzaźis	dzaðut	GEN	"(along) with"
eðe1	eðźis	eðut	ACC	"to under"
			GEN	"below, under, after, less than"
			ABL	"out from under"
ia	iäts	iaut	GEN	"made of/from"
ik2	ićis	ikut	ACC	"into"
			GEN	"in(side)"
			ABL	"out of/from"
ip2	ibis	ibut	ACC	"for, per, to"
ńegat	ńegaǵis	ńegadut	GEN	"versus, (leaning) against"
pèhþ2	pèhśis	pèhþut	ACC	"(up) to"
			GEN	"near, next to"
ro	röts	rout	ACC	"onto"
			GEN	"on, over, before"
			ABL	"off of/from"
tsàm	tsämdz	tsamut	GEN	"without"
utsu	utsüts	utsùt	GEN	"as, like"
tsfeht2	tsfehćis	tsfehtut	GEN	"circling, around"

1. irregular stress on first syllable
2. have reduced forms: k, p, pþ, tsft. comparative and excessive forms do not reduce.

Prepositions can be negated with the prefix tsa-. The comparative and excessive can be negated as well. The following have irregular negative forms:

• ats > tsàts
• eðe > tsaðe
• ia > tsäia
• ik > tsäk
• ip > tsäp
• utsu > tsaudzu

Syntax

Case usage

Nominative

subjects, causers of causative verbs, citation form

Vocative

exhortations or attention-getting

Accusative

definite primary objects, objects of dative prepositions

Genitive

indefinite primary objects, possessors, objects of locative prepositions

Ablative

origins, secondary objects, non-argument topics, objects of ablative prepositions

Instrumental

instruments, subjects of causative verbs

Locative

locations in space and time

Word order

Sentences

The basic, unmarked word order in Ibjekofhun is VSO. This is not typical, however.

Topic marking

Usually the person-marked verb is placed in second position, with the topic immediately preceding, though it is usually dropped. The sentence ends with the focus.

Noun phrases

Genitive-Noun-Adjectives-Determiner-Relative clauses-Prepositional phrases

Pronoun dropping

Subject and topical pronouns tend to be dropped.

Periphrasis

Passivization

Passivization is accomplished with an auxiliary verb tehja, which ordinarily means "suffer, endure, bear". The passive isn't used with non-finite, imperative, or intransitive verbs.

• Soaüz buräm äpt tsamàj. "We make those up north." > Soaüz tehjts bura tsamàj. "Those are made up north."

Negation

Verbal negation also uses an auxiliary verb, ìtsa.

• Soaüz buräm äpt tsamàj. "We make those up north." > Soaüz ìtsäm bura äpt tsamàj. "We don't make those up north."

Instead of stacking the negative with other auxiliary verbs, the auxiliary verb takes the negative prefix tsa-.

• Soaüz tehjts bura tsamàj. "Those are made up north." > Soaüz tsatehjts bura tsamàj. "Those aren't made up north."

Vocabulary

Numbers

Ibjekofhun has a base-8 number system, like most Edalith languages. Numbers are nouns, with the referent put into the singular genitive case. Numbers stay singular unless referring to multiple groups of the same number.

	#	#+8	#*8
1	kenu	kenonu	onu
2	źitsu	(źi)tsonu	dećuh
3	loru	loronu	lorǵuh
4	miru	möronu	mürǵuh
5	ðordzar	ðordzonu	ðorǵuh
6	bektsar	bektsonu	bekćuh
7	ðalar	ðoronu	ðerećuh
8	onu	dećuh	ćeru

Directions

There are two terms for each intercardinal direction.

tsamàrüðeku~ksùtjtsamàru	tsamàru	tsamàrüǵotu~orütsamàru
ðeku		ǵotu
ignüðeku~ksùtjignu	ignu	ignüǵotu~orüignu