Kuslafian (natively "kuslafi" is a language that was widely spoken in a very small part of the Nizhegorodskaja oblast' in Russia, however it has since died out and is now only used in written form. It is thought to have been a language isolate influenced by Indo-European languages.
| Kuslafian Kuslafi | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | |||
| Analytic | |||
| Alignment | |||
| Nominative-Accusative | |||
| Head direction | |||
| Head-initial | |||
| Tonal | |||
| No | |||
| Declensions | |||
| No | |||
| Conjugations | |||
| No | |||
| Genders | |||
| Yes | |||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||
| Case | Number | ||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||
| Voice | Mood | ||
| Person | Number | ||
| Tense | Aspect | ||
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Plosive | voiced | b | d | g |
| aspirated | pʰ | tʰ | kʰ | |
| ejective | pʼ | tʼ | kʼ | |
| Affricate | voiced | d͡z | ||
| aspirated | t͡sʰ | |||
| ejective | t͡sʼ | |||
| Fricative | f | s | x | |
| Approximant | w | l~ɭ | j | |
| Trill | rː | |||
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| Low | a |
Phonotactics
The syllable structure is usually CV(C)(A), where A is any approximant.
- Words cannot start with a vowel.
- A vowel cannot be found in between two trills.
- /r/ cannot follow an ejective.
- A nasal followed by a plosive cannot start a word.
Writing System
The writing system of Kuslafian is a rune-based abjad. It is usually carved in trees and written top to bottom. It is believed that ancient Germanic tribes have had a contact with old Kuslafian speakers, and the latter seeing the rune-writing system decided to create their own runes in a similar fashion.
Transliteration
| d | t͡sʰ | tʰ | s | pʼ | f | tʼ | |
| D | C | T | S | P' | F | T' | |
| d͡z | kʼ | pʰ | g | kʰ | t͡sʼ | l~ɭ | |
| Z | K | P | G | K | C' | L | |
| b | x | n | rː | m | j | w | |
| B | H | N | R | M | Y | W |
Order
d c t s p' f t' z k' p g k c' l b h n r m y w
Orthography
As the writing system is an abjad, is does not have glyphs for vowels, instead it uses inference. The following is a chart which facilitates vowel inference.
| P | N | A | F | T | None | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | i | a | ∅ | u | ∅ | u |
| Nasal | ∅ | u | i | i | a | ∅ |
| Approximant | i | i | a | a | u | ∅ |
| Fricative | a | u | ∅ | u | a | i |
| Trill | u | ∅ | a | i | ∅ |
Affricates behave like plosives when after a vowel, while act like fricatives when before one. Example: in the word /xut͡sʰi/ HC, ts follows u because t is a plosive and h is a fricative, but ts is followed by i (and not u) because s is a fricative and i ends the word.
When an approximant follows an obstruent and is at the end of a word, it is followed by a vowel according to the following rules: w is followed by u, y is followed by i and l is followed by a. Example: /kji/ (PRS, present tense particle) is written as KY.
Grammar
Kuslafian is an analytic language. As such, it lacks inflection whatsoever and often uses particles instead of affixes to convey grammatical meaning. Some of those, however, are considered affixes in certain cases.
Affixes
- -LM = PL (plural, after obstruents)
- -M = PL (plural, after sonorants)
- -T' = DEF (definite)
- -KY = PRS (present tense of verbs)
- -C'M = PST (past tense of verbs)
- -WS = FUT (future tense of verbs)
- NN- = OPP (opposite meaning)
Particles
- NN = NEG (negation of a verb)
- P' = of
- F = TO
Pronouns
Pronouns, unlike nouns and adjectives, do not get particles, instead having a different word for each.
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| masc | fem | |||
| Singular | YH | DY | HC | SC |
| Plural | NM | FM | HM | SM |
Syntax
The language follows a SVO word order and is nominative-accusative. Adjectives follow the head, as the language is head-initial.
Lexicon
See Kuslafian/Vocabulary.
Example text
NN GL KY; YH GL KY FR DY P'
NEG COP PRS 1SG be PRS father 2SG of
"No, I am your father"