Old Shataranjan

Old Shataranjan is the earliest form of the Shataranjan language family.

Shataranjan (unknown)
Type
Agglutinative
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Final
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

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal		Dorsal	Radical
			plain	sibilant
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Occlusive	aspirated	p	t	ts	k	ʔ
	ejective	pʼ	tʼ	tsʼ	kʼ
	voiced	b	d	dz	g
Fricative				s	x	h
Sonorant		w	l	r	j

There is a moderate amount of allophony present:

• /r/ is phonetically [ɾ~ɽ].
• /x/ is post-velar and varies between [x] and [χ].
• Sibilants /ts, tsʼ, dz, s/ are palatalized to [tɕʰ, tɕʼ, dʑ, ɕ] before /j/.
• "Plain" stops /p, t, ts, k/ are aspirated [pʰ, tʰ, tsʰ, kʰ].
• Ejective stops are realized as plain stops unless word-initial.
• /ʔ/ is only pronounced at word boundaries, if at all.
• /l/ velarizes to [ɫ] in syllable coda.

Vowels

	Central
High	ɨ
Mid	ə
Low	a

The small vowel inventory and vertical vowel system, combined with a sonority hierarchy, allows for a wide variety of allophones.

• Before /j/, /a/ and /ɨ/ are realized as [ɛ] and [ɪ].
• Before /w/, /a/ and /ɨ/ are realized as [ɔ] and [ʊ].
• /a, ə, ɨ/ get an r-coloring to [ɑ, ɐ, ɤ] before /r/.
• /a/ can become [æ] afte /j/ and [ɒ] after /w/.

Phonotactics

Each root follows a (C)(R)V(R)(C) structure, where C is any occlusive, nasal or fricative, R is any sonorant (w, l, r, j) and V is one of the three vowels.

Grammar

Old Shataranjan is an agglutinative, verb-subject-object language, notable for having classifiers (measure words) and no number marking on nouns, while having case marking.

Verbs

Old Shataranjan verbs conjugate for mood, voice, tense-aspect, person and number in that order.

Verb structure template

Negation	Reduplicated root	Root	Voice	Mood	Tense-Aspect	Person	Number
sɨw-	-rat-	-rat-	-jars-	-kəh-	-jəwn-	-k-	-jəl
NEG	(IMP) give	give	CAUS	COND	PST.PRF	2SG	PL

"You (all) could have not been making (them) give (it)"

Negation

To negate a verb in Old Shataranjan, a prefix sɨw- is placed before the verb.

Voice

There are three grammatical voices in Old Shataranjan: passive, active and causative.

Affix	Function	Example	Literal meaning
-awn	Passive	wawŋawn	To be seen
-∅-	Active	wawŋ	To see
-jars-	Causative	wawŋjars	To make (one) see

Reflexive

Reflexives are formed with the addition of the suffix -dzə-.

Mood

Old Shataranjan makes use of reduplication on a verb stem to convey the imperative mood. Combined with other mood affixes, it creates different meanings.

Mood	Affix(es)	Example	Meaning
Indicative	-∅-	ratnɨ	I give
Indicative negative	sɨw-	sɨwratnɨ	I do not give
Imperative	reduplicate root	ratratək	(you) Give!
Prohibitive	reduplicate root, sɨw-	sɨwratratək	(you) Do not give!
Conditional	-kəh-	ratkəhnɨ	I would give
Presumptive	reduplicate root, -kəh-	ratratkəhk	You must be giving
Dubitative	reduplicate root, sɨw-, -kəh-	sɨwratratkəhk	You could be not giving
Potential	-pɨs-	ratpɨsnɨ	I might give
Necessitive	reduplicate root, -pɨs-	ratratpɨsnɨ	I must give
Potential negative	sɨw-, -pɨs-	sɨwratpɨsnɨ	I might not give
Necessitive negative	reduplicate root, sɨw-, -pɨs-	sɨwratratpɨsnɨ	I must not give
Interrogative	-tsʼjɨt-	rattsʼjɨtək	Did you give?

Tense and Aspect

The markers for both tense and aspect are encoded in one affix.

Tense-Aspect	Affix	Example	Meaning
Present imperfect	-(ə)w-	narxəwnɨ	I am walking
Past imperfect	-nəj-	narxnəjnɨ	I was walking
Past perfect	-jəwn-	narxjəwnnɨ	I walk
Future perfect	-dah-	narxdahnɨ	I will walk

Subject agreement

Without any marking, a verb is assumed to refer to the third person singular. Additional suffixes are added to specify the pronominal agent.

1st person		2nd person		3rd person
SG	PL	SG	PL	SG	PL
-nɨ-	-nɨjəl-	-(ə)k-	-kjəl-	-∅-	-jəl-

Nominals

Nouns

Nouns are inflected by case. There are a total of 10 grammatical cases. Interestingly, nouns do not have any number marking, this function being provided by classifiers.

Case	Affix	Example	Meaning
Nominative	-∅	haj	(SUBJ) Shataranjan
Accusative	-a	haja	(OBJ) Shataranjan
Partitive	-ɨj	dzaw nəjŋ majdɨj	one (COUNTER) rock
Genitive	-ən	dzrəjgən	of the queen
Dative	-əjg	gawdəjg	to the animal
Locative	-ər	tsjədər	in the smoke
Instrumental	-təjn	hlɨjtwəstəjn	with a liitwos
Ablative	-mlaw	kʼjəwmlaw	from the hole
Allative	-kʼɨwn	tlaxkʼɨwn	into the water
Inessive	-tsʼaj	rantsʼaj	inside the land

Adjectives

Adjectives, just like nouns, decline by case but not number. When used as an attribute, an adjective precedes its noun.

Classifiers

Old Shataranjan makes use of classifiers when referring to its nouns. Classifiers are placed after the numeral denoting the amount of the noun and before the noun itself, which is declined in the partitive case, denoted by the suffix -ɨj. The following is a list of commonly used classifiers, along with nouns they can be referred to and examples of usage. Notably, classifiers also decline for oblique cases.

Classifier	Usage	Example
nəjŋ	Generic classifier	dzəw nəjŋ majdɨj (one rock)
sɨl	Person (Shataranjan) classifier	xajn sɨl hajɨj (four Shataranjans)
nawn	Large bodies classifier	laj nawn ranɨj (two countries)
rɨjs	Small animals classifier	dzəw rɨjs hrɨjtsɨj (one rits)
mɨl	Group classifier	dzəw mɨl tsʼɨwɨj (a bunch of sand)
pʼəwp	Gas classifier	tsʼəjm pʼəwp tsjədɨj (three puffs of smoke)
hwərt	Plant/tree classifier	dzəw hwərt hjərɨj (one jaer)
tsʼrar	Weapon/tool classifier	laj tsʼrar jəjtwəsɨj (two jitwos)
mjajb	Container-based classifier	dzəw mjajb tlaxɨj (one bucket of water)
kəjm	Artificial structure classifier	ŋɨw kəjm tsʼawsɨj (five fireplaces)
kʼɨjts	Piece (of something) classifier	xajn kʼɨjts njadzɨj (three bodyparts of njadz)
pʼrɨts	Food classifier	tsʼəjm pʼrɨts bratsmɨwɨj (three bits of bratsmuu)

Derivational morphology

Old Shataranjan uses several affixes for word derivation morphology.

Verb > verb

Function	Affix	Example	Root	Meaning
Reverse VERB	-gə-	gəhləjəwnnɨ	-hləj- (carve)	I smoothen

Verb > noun

Function	Affix	Example	Root	Meaning
Agent suffix (someone who does VERB)	-rɨh	xjədrɨh	xjəd- (to scream)	hjadje (an animal known for screaming loudly)
Patient suffix (something that undergoes VERB)	-twəs	jəjtwəs	jəj(t)- (to throw)	jitwos (a spear-like weapon designed for being thrown)
Place suffix (place where VERB is done)	-dɨŋ	dzajndɨŋ	dzajn- (to burn)	incinerator
Action suffix (act of doing VERB)	-tsʼjəwk	dajtsʼjəwk	daj- (to dissect)	dissection (of an animal)

Noun > noun

Function	Affix	Example	Root	Meaning
Place suffix (place where NOUN is found)	-dɨŋ	gwɨŋdɨŋ	gwɨŋ- (mountain)	mountainous lands

Noun > adjective

Function	Affix	Example	Root	Meaning
ADJECTIVE pertaining to NOUN	-ban	tlaxban	tlax- (water)	aquatic
something that lacks NOUN	dzag-	dzagmrats	-mrats- (head)	headless, decapitated
something made of NOUN	tʼɨm- -təjn	tɨmmajdtəjn	-majd- (stone)	stone, made of stone

Adjective > adjective

Function	Affix	Example	Root	Meaning
Opposite	sɨw-	sɨwdzlɨl	-dzlɨl (far)	near

Adjective > adverb

Function	Affix	Example	Root	Meaning
doing verb ADJECTIVEly	-həlt

Syntax

Old Shataranjan has a default verb-subject-object word order, however because of heavy inflection the word order is rather free. It is often changed to emphasize the subject or the object.

Comparative and superlative clauses

The word pʼam, meaning "many, more", is used to create comparative clauses. To do so, the adjective (used as a predicate) or the adverb is placed after the noun it refers to and before the comparative word, which is in turn followed by the noun to which the subject is compared, inflected to the ablative case.

tʼəw	dzajn	tʼəhəlt	pʼam	tsjədmlaw
shine-PRS.PRF	fire	bright-ADV	more	smoke-ABL
"Fire shines brighter than smoke" (a proverb)

To form a superlative adjective, one reduplicates its root. Superlative adverbs are formed the same way. If it is a deadjectival adverb, the adverb suffix is only applied once.

Vocabulary

Old Shataranjan used a few loanwords from neighbouring languages, such as the word kʼəwmtʼjəwsək ("spacewise sundial", a type of map) from the language of the culture that they learned to use it from, where it was called [kumtʲusəkʰ]. In some other instances, however, Old Shataranjan prefers to calque a term.

Numerals

Shataranjan uses a base-8 number system.

Base 10 value	Number
1	dzəw
2	laj
3	tsʼəjm
4	xajn
5	ŋɨw
6	brəjn
7	tsʼraw
8	tsər

Writing system

Old Shataranjan made use of a highly pictographic logography.

Descendants

Old Shataranjan has two major descendants: Urasranamah (the "Language of the Empire", used as a literary language) and Shataranjan (spoken mostly by the commoners).

Example text

TITLE	Avatar: The Last Airbender extended intro
TEXT	tlax. majd. dzajn. wəwg. ŋwakjarsjəwn dzraŋmam nən pʼam bəja ŋɨjbmahɨj dzraŋən ŋɨjbən nəjg: dzaw pwag ŋɨjbɨj dzrəjktɨmən lawmŋɨjb ratjəwn awatʼər tantʼɨmtsʼjəwka tlaxkəjmranəjg, majddzrəjgranəjg, dzajnranəjg həl wəwgnraxrɨhəjg. tʼjawp bɨhawnjəwn tanlawm lawmŋɨjb mratsjəwdjəwn dzajnran. awatʼər dzawhəlt, xəldnəj lawmhaj xajntan nəjŋa santsʼjəwkɨj; lawmhaj dzəwhəlt məwnjarspɨsjəwn dzajnŋawgrɨh dzagtʼɨmtwəs. tʼjawp tswawawnjəwn lawmŋɨb sətawnjəwn lawmhaj tanranəjg. bɨhawnjəwn pʼam ŋɨjb, həl maj dzajnran sɨwdzlɨl ranxalmkʼɨwn jəwdər. laj pwagmlaw jɨjrɨj tathaj nən həl kəjmranmlaw nən haj tlaxsanjəwnjəl majddzrəjgrankʼɨwn gəws raldəg jəwdər dzajnranən xrəjt, sətjəwnjəl nɨha həl təjnaja nən djadjapɨsnɨjəl kəjmrana nɨjələn. njəpjəl nawkhaj sɨwkwɨjpawn nawkŋɨjb awatʼər wəwgnraxrɨtsʼaj həl sanawnjəwn məwntwəs, tʼjawp nɨprajm sɨwpʼwərnjəwnnɨ dəlga njəpa nən. ŋjəpəwnɨ nawktəjn tsʼjəwktəjn prajmməwnməwnawnkəhdah awatʼər tanranən dəlgəjg.
Gloss	water | rock | fire | wind hear-CAUS-PST.P old-mother 1SG-GEN many CT.(documents) time-say-PART old-GEN time-GEN 1SG-DAT one CT.(time-concept) time-PART leader-unite-GEN DEM.DIST-time give-PST.P avatar all-unite-thing-ACC water-structure-land-DAT rock-leader-land-DAT fire-land-DAT wind-walk-AGENT-DAT ADVS change-PASS-PST.P all-DEM.DIST DEM.DIST-time head-fight-PST.P fire-land avatar one-ADVERB know-PST.IMP DEM.DIST-person four-all CT.(generic) split-thing-PART | DEM.DIST-person one-ADVERB turn-CAUS-POT-PST.P fire-move-AGENT without-union-PATIENT ADVS erase-PASS-PST.P DEM.DIST-time want-PASS-PST.P DEM.DIST-person all-land-DAT change-PASS-PST.P many time CONJ exist fire-land not-far land-capture-ALL war-LOC two CT.(time-concept)-ABL year-PART father-person 1SG-GEN CONJ structure-land-ABL 1SG-GEN person water-split-PST.P-PL rock-leader-land-ALL for give-good war-LOC fire-land-GEN bad ask-PST.P-PL 1SG-ACC CONJ brother-person-ACC 1SG-GEN look-NEC-1PL structure-land 1PL-GEN think-PL some-person NEG-appear-PASS some-time avatar wind-walk-AGENT-INE CONJ split-PASS-PST.P turn-PATIENT ADVS 1SG-here NEG-betray-PST.P-1SG good-ACC thought-ACC 1SG-GEN think-PRS.IMP-1SG some-INS thing-INS here-turn-PASS-PSM-FUT avatar all-land-GEN good-DAT.
Original	Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days: a time of peace when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar mastered all four elements; only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.