Kasike

Kâsike
Type	Agglutinative
Alignment	Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
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
Meta-information
Progress	0%
Statistics Nouns 0% Verbs 0% Adjectives 0% Syntax 0% Words of 1500
Creator	Person16384

Kâsike, natively written as    , and simply transcribed as Kasike, is a constructed language made by Person #16384.

Classification and Dialects

Kâsike has many dialects. The two major dialects of Kâsike are Kâsikenena and Kâsikesēsium.

Kâsikenena

Kâsikenena has many pronunciation differences from standard Kâsike, such as:

• /ʍ/ moving to /xʷ/ in all circumstances.
• /ku/ and /kxu/ shifting to /kʷ/ and /kxʷ/ when before another vowel.
• /k/ and /kx/ sometimes shifting to /kʷ/ and /kxʷ/, especially if the word rhymes with a word that contains /xʷ/.

Kâsikesēsium

Kâsikesēsium also has some differences from standard Kâsike, such as:

• /ʔ/ shifting to /d/ when before a vowel or semivowel.
• /b/ and /d/ being pronounced in loanwords.
• /v/ and /z/ in loanwords not being assimilated to /f/ or /s/ when before a center or back vowel.
• /i/ rarely shifting to /j/ when before another vowel.

Sound shifts present in both dialects

• /ow/ being lowered to /ɔ/.
• /bv/ being shifted to /ʋ/ or sometimes /v/.
• /ts/ and /s/ shifting to /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ in some cases, especially before /o/ or /u/ or between two short vowels.
• /tʃ/ and /ʃ/ being present in most loanwords.
• /pf/ and /kx/ shifting to /pʰ/ and /kʰ/ respectively.
• /ts/ shifting to /tʰ/ in some words.
• /g/ in loanwords being nativized to /kʷ/ instead of /k/.
• The usage of /l/ and /ɬ/ fluctuate based on different dialects, with /l/ and /ɬ/ being allophones in all cases.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar/Palatal	Velar	Labial-Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Plosive	Unvoiced	p	t		k	(kʷ)	ʔ
	Voiced	(b)	(d)
Fricative	Unvoiced	f	s	(ʃ)	x	xʷ	h
	Voiced	v	z
Affricate	Unvoiced	p̪f ~ pʰ	ts ~ tʰ	(tʃ)	kx ~ kʰ	(kxʷ ~ kʷʰ)
	Voiced	b̪v ~ ʋ	dz
	Lateral	pl ~ pɬ	tɬ ~ tl		kl ~ kɬ
Approximant			l ~ ɬ <l>	j		w

NOTE: Consonants in parentheses are only used either in loanwords or as allophones.

Vowels

Short Vowels				Long Vowels				Nasal Vowels
	Front	Central	Back		Front	Central	Back		Front	Central	Back
High	i		u	High	iː <ī/ii>		uː <ū/uu>	High	ĩˑ <i(N)>		ũˑ <u(N)>
Mid	e	ə <ə/y>	o	Mid	eː <ē/ee>	əː <ə̄/yy>	oː <ō/oo>	Mid	ẽˑ <e(N)>	ə̃ˑ <ə(N)/y(N)>	õˑ <o(N)>
Low		a		Low		aː <ā/aa>		Low		ãˑ <a(N)>

Diphthongs

Kâsike features 10 different diphthongs, all ending with the high vowels /i/ or /u/.

	-i̯	-u̯
i	-	iu̯ <iw>
e	ei̯ <ej>	eu̯ <ew>
a	ai̯ <aj>	au̯ <aw>
ə	əi̯ <əj>	əu̯ <əw>
o	oi̯ <oj>	ou̯ <ow>
u	ui̯ <uj>	-

Phonotactics

The syllable structure is either (G)(C)V(N)(G) or (G)N(G).

• G = Glottal Stop
• C = Any Consonant or Permitted Consonant Cluster (including nasal consonants)
• V = Any Vowel or Diphthong
• N = Any Nasal Consonant

Stress

In regular nouns, adjectives, and adverbs, the stress always falls on the first syllable.

In regular verbs and prepositions, the stress always falls on the last syllable.

Conjunctions and articles are always unstressed.

In compound nouns, the first syllable of every part of the word is usually stressed.

Irregular Stress Patterns

Stress patterns can be irregular in multiple ways, including:

• Long Vowels - While this is not always the case, long vowels are more likely to be stressed than short vowels. Long vowels can also rarely take the stress away from the initial syllable.
• Loanwords - The stress patterns in loanwords are sometimes maintained. Additionally, weak vowels are usually added to break consonant clusters in loanwords, meaning many nouns that are loanwords are unstressed.

Tone

While Kâsike is not considered a tonal language, many homophones are distinguished from another using tone, with one version of the homophone (usually the word deemed more important) getting the high tone. In Romanization, the word with the high tone is given a circumflex. (ex: kâsi (life, land, world) vs kasi (vegetation, harvest, earth, soil))

Consonant Clusters

In Kâsike, there are 9 consonant clusters (excluding nasal consonants or glottal stops) that are permitted. Those are:

• /p̪f/
• /b̪v/
• /ts/
• /dz/
• /kx/
• /tɬ/
• /pl/
• /kl/

Out of those 9, only 2 (/pl/ and /kl/) are not affricates, making Kâsike relatively restrictive on consonant clusters.

Gemination

Due to the permitted syllables in Kâsike, gemination is quite rare, and only occurs in plosives and affricates. Gemination occurs whenever the glottal stop /ʔ/ precedes a plosive or affricate and assimilates. (for example, instead of [ʔta] or [ʔpe], Kasike would transform these syllables to [tːa] and [pːe] respectively.

Whenever the glottal stop precedes a fricative, the glottal stop also assimilates. However, unlike with plosives and affricates, the glottal stop phoneme remains as a plosive, making the glottal stop and fricative acting like an affricate. (for example, instead of [ʔfu] or [ʔze], Kasike would transform these syllables to [p̪fu] and [dze] respectively.

Writing System

Kâsike features two main writing systems, the first being a writing system that is somewhat similar to both an alphabet and a syllabary, while not too dissimilar from the Latin writing script, is mainly adapted for Kâsike. The second writing system is a logogram that is relatively similar to how the Chinese writing script works. (I have not finished the logogram as of now)

Kâsike Alphabet

The Kâsike alphabet consists of 31 characters, including 6 vowels, 24 consonants, and 1 auxiliary symbol. The alphabet is mainly used for proper nouns, names, and words pertaining to complex topics.

Letter
Sound	/i/	/e/	/a/	/ə/	/o/	/u/	/m/	/p/	/f/	/v/	/pf/
Letter
Sound	/bv/	/w/	/ʍ/	/n/	/t/	/s/	/z/	/ts/	/dz/	/l/	/tɬ/
Letter
Sound	/ŋ/	/k/	/x/	/kx/	/h/	/pl/	/kl/	/ʔ/	silent (reverses syllable stressings)

The Kâsike script with all syllables can be found here.

Kâsike Logogram

The Kâsike logogram is a script with numerous characters, and with new characters being added to the Kâsike logogram overtime. The most notable recent example of this is with the genesis of emojis, with many emojis being adapted to Kâsike. The Kâsike logogram is mainly used for common words.

Phonetic (Latin) Writing Script

For phonetic writing, the Latin alphabet is used due to it being relatively recognizable for most speakers worldwide.

Letter	Aa	Bv bv	Dz dz	Ee	Ff	Hh	Ii	Jj	Kk	Kx kx	Ll
Sound	/a/	/bv/	/dz/	/e/	/f/	/h/	/i/	/j/	/k/	/kx/	/l/
Letter	Mm	Nn	Ng ng	Oo	Pp	Pf pf	Ss	Tt	Tl tl	Ts ts	Uu
Sound	/m/	/n/	/ŋ/	/o/	/p/	/pf/	/s/	/t/	/tɬ/	/ts/	/u/
Letter	Vv	Ww	Wh wh	Xx	Əə	Yy	Zz	'		(Sh sh)	(Tsh tsh)
Sound	/v/	/w/	/ʍ/	/x/	/ə/	/ə/	/z/	/ʔ/		/ʃ/	/tʃ/

Diacritics used in Phonetic Kâsike

Macron (ā): Used to indicate long vowels. Macrons can only appear on vowels.

Acute Stress Accent (á): Used to indicate syllables that are stressed, but normally would not be stressed. Acute accents can only appear on vowels.

Grave Stress Accent (à): Used to indicate syllables that are unstressed, but normally would be stressed. Grave accents can only appear on vowels.

Circumflex (â): Used to indicate a high tone. Circumflexes can only appear on vowels, and only appear on the first syllable in a word.

Dot Below (ṃ): Used to indicate a syllabic nasal consonant. Dots below a letter can only appear on nasal consonants.

If for whatever reason, one is only able to used the basic 26-letter Latin script, diacritics are not required for phonetic Kâsike.

Grammar

Pronouns

While verbs do not conjugate based on person, Kâsike does still have pronouns for different persons. (such as how English has I, he, you, it, etc.)

Additionally, like nouns, pronouns also conjugate based on case.

The pronouns are listed here.

	1st Person Singular (informal)	1st Person Singular (formal)	1st Person Plural	2nd Person (informal)	2nd Person (formal)	3rd Person (animate)	3rd Person (inanimate)
Nominative	Lej	Mi	Le'i	Loj	Sina	Xe	Xə
Accusative	Lew	Mu	Leju	Low	Sinau	Xeu	Xəw
Genitive	Lej'i	Mi'i	Lei'i	Loj'i	Sina'a	Xe'e	Xə'ə
Dative	Leo	Mio	Lejo	Lojo	Sinao	Xeo	Xəo
Instrumental	Leji	Mī	Le'ī	Loji	Sinaj	Xei	Xəj

Additionally, Kâsike does not have second or third person plural pronouns, meaning if one wants to specifically specify a group of people in the third person, one has to add a suffix to the end of the word.

Nouns

Nouns in Kâsike are marked for both case and number.

Number

In Kâsike, nouns become plural by replicating the last syllable. For example, "paĭ" (hand) becomes "paĭpaĭ" (hands) when plural.

Additionally, while this is not required, Kâsike has a greater plural, which is achieved by replicating the last syllable twice. For example, while "suṇwha" means "dog" in Kâsike, "suṇwhawha" would mean "a few dogs" and "suṇwhawhawha" would mean "many dogs."

Case

Kâsike has five noun cases; nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental.

The noun conjugations are listed here.

Nominative	∅
Accusative	-u/-'u
Genitive	-'(V)
Dative	-o/-'o
Instrumental	-i/-'i

(V) represents the last vowel in a word.

Lexicon

As is the case with the English lexicon, the Kâsike lexicon has origins from numerous sources, including Proto-Kâsike and Toki Pona.