Old Shax

Shax – Xacs
Morphological Type:	Synthetic
Morphosyntactic Alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Linguistic Head:	Head Initial
Word Order:	SOV*, SVO
Tonal?	No
Made by:	Maxseptillion77

General Information

This is the long lost North African romance language. It manifested in the Maghreb: specifically in modern-day Morocco, the Roman Empire's Mauritania. Shax's country is of the same name, Mauritania, in Shax, Morrania ([ˈmo̞ranja]). The East Roman Empire's side of North Africa was influenced by Greek and gave birth to coptic and other such languages. Though, influence from Western Romance languages, namely Iberian, have made it closer to those such languages phonetically. It's sister language, Vandalic , followed a much different path, though is still highly respected among the inhabitants of Mauritania.

("wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" <- for collapsible tables)

(*) In Verbial Phrases in Syntax

Morrania, Xarràña, Vandal King., Cirtania

In the photo, Morrania (Shax's constate) is in blue taking the place of modern day Morocco and parts of western Algeria. The Vandal Kingdom (Vandalic's constate) in purple is taking the place of Tunisia, coastal Algeria, Sicily, the Balearic Islands, Corsica, and Sardinia. Xarràña (Xarrano's constate) is in yellow taking the place of a conland around a volcano called Ezgo. Cirtania (Cirtanian's constate) is in dark blue next to Greece and is a fictional island that had been heavily influenced by Greece and Italy.

Phonology

Consonant

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n			ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d			k g kʷ gʷ
Fricative	f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ	ɣ
Liquid	w		l r	ʎ j

Vowel

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Close-Mid	e	ə	o
Open-Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Low		a ã

Other

Sound Changes

Can be found here

Stress

Stress falls on primarily on the closed syllable (except if it's ultimate) or a pre-rhotic syllable; if there isn't one of those conditions, the stress falls on the penultimate. Note that stress on the ultimate syllable is on an open syllable followed by a closed syllable in a two syllable word. On two, open syllable words, the stress falls on the ultimate syllable if the ultimate syllable is of a nasal vowel, diphthong, or nasal diphthong. Nasal vowels carry more strength than non-nasal vowels so if any above condition is not ture, the stress will fall on the nasal vowel. 

Sandhi

The vowels [u] and [i] may be freely exchanged for [w] and [j] respectivally before vowel regardless of word barriors (u amu [w.amu] - I like/love). Identical vowels between word boundries may also fuse into one sound (u sũ ũ fezuã [u sũ fezwã] - I am a person). Also, voiced consonants such as [b], [d], and [g] may become [v], [ð], and [ɣ] respectivally intervocallically between word boundries as well. [r] is an unstable phoneme and is often removed word finally if a dental or alveolar phoneme (though, many speakers keep it before [s] and [z], but this is also unnecessary) follow it in the next word. Note that vowel nasality is also quite free: if there is a nasal vowel near any vowel, the adjecent vowel[s] may become allophoniclly nasal as well. 

Phonotactics

(G)(V)(C)(C)((P*)L)V(V)(C)(C)

C - consonant; V - vowel; G - glide (w, j); L - liquid (w, j, r, l); P - plosive

(*) Note that nasals become nasal-plosive cosonant cluster before [r] (i.e.: <mr> = [mbr])

Note that diphthongs ending in [ɪ̯] cannot precede [r] 

[ã] can only appears in the following ways: [ãɪ̯], [w̃ã], [ãʊ̯]

Orthography

Alphabet

Letter	Sound	Letter	Sound
A a	[a]	B b	[b], [v]
C c	[k]	D d	[d], [ð]
E e	[ə], [ɛ]	F f	[f]
G g	[g], [ɣ]	H h	[∅]
I i	[i], [j]	J j	[ʒ]
L l	[l]	M m	[m]
N n	[n]	O o	[o̞]
P p	[p]	Qu qu	[kʷ]
R r	[r]	S s	[s]
T t	[t]	U u	[u], [w]
V v	[v]	W w	[w]
X x	[ʃ]	Y y	[i], [j]
Z z	[z]	Ș ș	[θ], [ð]
Ț ț	[θ], [ð]	’	[∅]

• I/Y and U are [j] and [w] respectivally before another vowel
• Intervocalically, [b] > [v], [d] and [θ] > [ð], [g] > [ɣ]
• Ș comes from [st] and [ts] > [θ]
• Ț comes from [#t] and loans > [θ]
• ’ is used for transcribing letters that have been lost from Old to Modern Shax and Arabic sounds that have a null value in Shax, [ħ], [h], [ʔ]*, and [ʕ]
  • (*) Though, [ʔ] is sometimes [k] initially and finally in Shax
• E is [ɛ] in a closed syllable

Multigraphs

Letters	Sound
Gu gu	[gʷ]
Lh lh	[ʎ]
Bb, Dd, Gg, Șș/Țț	[b], [d], [g], [θ]*
Ng, Nc, Nqu	[ŋ~ŋg], [ŋk], [ŋkʷ]
Gh gh	[ɣ]

• (*) These negate the intervocallic ruel

Diacritics

Letter	Sound
à ã	[ã]
Ê ê, Ô ô	[e], [o]
É é, Ó ó	[ɛ], [ɔ]
Û û	[uə̯]
grave	homophone
umlaut	seperate vowels

Grammar 

Nouns

Declension

1st Declension

selua [sɛlwa] - forest

Contains only feminine nouns ending in [a].

	Nom-Acc	Gen-Dat
Singular	selua	selue
Plural	seluaz	seluez

2nd Declension

lovu [lovu] - wolf

Contains only nouns ending in [u].

	Nom-Acc	Gen-Dat
Singular	lovu	lovi
Plural	lovuz	loviz

3rd Declension

faș [faș] - father

Contains only masculine nouns. This is also the declension for gerunds.

	Nom-Acc	Gen-Dat
Singular	faș	fași
Plural	fașz	fașiz

4th Declension

re [re̞] - the truth of the situation/events, a witnesse's claim [in a court of law], reality [as opposed to a fantasy] (can be used to call someone crazy or deluded)

Contains only feminine nouns.

	Nom-Acc	Gen-Dat
Singular	re	rei
Plural	rez

Changing gender

Masculine nouns can change to feminine nouns by using the 4th declension and feminine nouns can use the 3rd declension.

Suffixes

To make a "doer" noun (i.e.: farmer, swimmer, fisher, etc), place a -u/-ü, masculine, or -i/-ï, feminine (forms with umlauts are for nouns that end the same vowel).

Adjectives

Declension

Adjectives decline just like what they're modifying (ex with biũ, good: lovu biu, nice wolf, or selua bia, friendly woods/forest).

Note that in a list, the declension of the adjective will match the second noun.

States

A comparitive is marked with the construction "more/most" + adjective-"io" (+ "than" + the thing being compared). A superlative adjective is adjective-"ixu."

Transformations

A verb can become an adjective through the use of its present participle. A noun can become an adjective by placing it the way an adjective would be and declining it to what it's modifying. An adjective can become a noun by the same process as a noun would become an adjective. Note that some adjective cannot be noun and vice versa (i.e. pliccu must be an adjective). 

Adverbs

Adverbs simply take the full adjective and end it with -mẽ.

Pronouns

Personal

		Nom	Gen-Dat	Acc	Nom Emphatic
Singular	1st	u	mi	me	mé
	2nd	țu	ți	țe	țé
	3rd M	ele	elu	le	éli
	3rd F	ela		la	éla
Plural	1st	nu	noși	nu	nó
	2nd	vu	vuși	vu	vó
	3rd M	elé	elú	li	élir
	3rd F	elá		lar	élar

Possessive

Object ⇨ Owner ⇩			Singular		Plural
			Mas	Fem	Mas	Fem
Singular	1st	Mas	mau	mauda	maur	maudar
		Fem	mía	miada	míar	miadar
	2nd	Mas	țu	țuda	țur	țudar
		Fem	țua	țuada	țuar	țuadar
	3rd	Mas	su	suda	sur	sudar
		Fem	sua	suada	suar	suadar
Plural	1st	Mas	noși	noșa	noșir	noșar
		Fem	noșșa	noșșada	noșșar	noșșadar
	2nd	Mas	veși	veșa	veșir	veșar
		Fem	veșșa	veșșada	veșșar	veșșadar
	3rd	Mas	xi	xida	xir	xidar
		Fem	xa	xada	xar	xadar

Verbs

Morphology

Full article here.

Reflexive

Put the corresponding accusative pronoun with the verb (ex: u me lu [u me lu] - I wash myself).

T-V Distinction

Shax doesn't have a T-V distinction, but when refering to a person of higher authority, one must use their title as a prefix to țu.

Passive

Some verbs are intrisically "passive." Such verbs work like manquer, to miss, in French and gustar, to like, in Spanish where the verb works in the opposite way. (ex: u țe șuvu means "You're confusing me," but literally, it's "I you confuse" where it is "I am being confused by you" semantically). Note that this "passivity" doesn't apply to imperitive and intransitive verb [forms].

Syntax

Phrases

Postpositional

Being a head initial language, Shax puts its prepositions (or compound prepositions) after the noun. The noun take the Nom-Acc case. Sometimes, the noun will the Gen-Dat case. Note: the noun takes the appropriate article.

Nominal

Nouns with adjectives

A nominal phrase has the noun at the head (which is the first word) with adjective following it. Adjectives follow it in a logical order of which descibes the noun best or which is the most important quality. Therefore, a change in the adjective can also change the semantic of the noun. Though in colloquial speech, the order is irrelevant and one would simply list to their whim.

Genitive Nouns

The owner takes the genitive case and turns into a modifier, but it is placed before the owned noun. mau fați lovu means "My father's wolf." 

Verbial

Word Order

A personal pronoun is necessary before every verb form in Shax. If the clause uses pronouns alone, it is SOV (ex: u me lu - I wash myself, u țe șuve - you confuse me, u elu dormiau - I'll sleep [over] there; but u su fezuã - I am a person). Note that interrogative sentences function as any normal verb would in Shax.

Negation

The general negation marker is a no before the main verb and after the main pronoun. Though, specific types of negation may be placed by using no as a prefix (i.e.: nobody, never, nobody ever, no where).

Other

• Supine: gerund + fe (ex: "I went to the pool to swim" = «u amblavi nattuaia a nattuà fe», lit. I walked pool to swiming by means of)

Clauses

Conditional Clauses

Conditional clauses where there is a requirement clause then a condition clause require the indicative then a subjunctive. But, sentences where there is only a condition (like I'd do that) require the verb to be able to in the subjunctive.

Subordinate Clauses

These are introduced with either cã or ce. cã is that; ce means who/whom. The introductory words are necessary and almost never omitted except in very informal or uneducated speech. Subordinate clauses go after independent clauses and are separated by a comma before cã or ce. The verb conjugates to the person taking the nominative in the independent clause. 

Copula

There are two auxillary verbs used for a copula: to be and to have. When it's a construction with a noun and an adjective, he is good, one would use to have and the adjective as a noun.

Extra

Time and Place

Time is written in order: year, day-month ẽxa time(hour-minute) a. Place goes: country, (state, province, etc) ẽxa (everything else in English's order with a postposition of a).

Text

Lexicon

Standard Shax/Lexicon

Universal Decleration of Human Rights

Article 1
English
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Shax
Text	Fezuãr naxũdu avu liverrar o gualar e avu jinda o caccu. Elé dotén avu loggar o muaidi e elé deván țodu carrosié ũdamẽ.
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1	People born with liberties and equality and with dignity and rights. They are endowed logic and morality with and they must all to be courteous unanimously.
Lit. 2	People are born with freedom and equality [amongst themselves] and with dignity and rights. They are endowed with logic and morality and they must all be courteous/respect [to] one another.

Article 2
English
Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.
Shax
Text	Fezuãr țodu dotén a coccur o liverrar, cã dexán Dexé ẽxa, jiẽijur nuavu; ​I jișẽiju desón suda éțniste, su secsu, suda lẽgui, suda regũi, suda oviniu pliccu o suda oviniu giu, suda fația, su tabaccaixtae, suda frovrea, e xitxuexõr eceța. Pluavu: jișẽiju no arai fezuẽ baadi-terrtuarir statiu pliccu, statiu juredisiũ, o statiu ẽténnasiunu fe.
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1	People all endow rights and liberty to, that declare Declaration in, discrimination not-with; This discrimination is from one's ethnicity, one's gender, one's language, one's religion, one's belief political and one's belief in-general, their native-country, one's social-class, one's property, or situations etc. Also: descrimination will not have person's country's state-of-affaires political, state-of-affaires jurisdictional, state-of-affaires international through.
Lit. 2	People are all endowed with rights and liberties, that are declared in this Declaration, without discrimination; this descrimination stems from one's ethnicity, gender, language, religion, political or other opinion[s], homeland, social class, belongings, etc. Futhermore, descrimination will not be had through the political, jurisdictional, or international state of affaires of one's country.

The Lord's Prayer

Prayer
English
Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, As we forgive those who trespasses against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil. Amen.
Shax
Text	Noși Faț, ce e ceu ẽxa, Țu nuẽ fua avedu xiadu. Țu renu fua vẽidu. Țu võda fua fadu Țerra ẽxa, Qui ele fua xiadu ẽxa. Hoju, nu-dũa noși fãi cottíjnu. E: perrũa-nu noșir ițmer dés, Qui nu perrũamu fezũar cer nușa ițmén; E: no dui-nu țẽppaxu ẽxa, Maizu cã librén-nu mãu dés. Amen.
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1	Our Father, who is heaven in,/ Your name will be having holiness/ Your dominion will be coming/ Your will will be doing Earth in,/ That it be heaven in./ Today, us-give our bread daily/And: forgive-us our sins from,/That we forgive people who us-against sin;/ And: lead-us not-into,/ But rather that free-us evil from./ Amen.
Lit. 2	Our father, who is in Heaven,/Your name be sacred./ Your kingdom come./Your will be done in Earth,/ As it be in heven./ Today, give us our daily bread./ And: forgive us for our sins,/ As we forgive people who sin to us,/ But rather that you free us from evil./ Amen.

The Tower of Babel

Exerpt: Genesis 11
English
Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As men moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there.  They said to each other, "Come, let's make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar.  Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth."  But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the men were building.  The Lord said, "If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.  Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other."  So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city.  That is why it was called Babel – because there, the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there, the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.
Shax
Text	’Llamũa, fezũar țodu loquì lẽgui o la’ja ipxa. Qui ’llamũa eledar fezũar errán égui Soi lia, elé djovrivrún flãi, apla Xn’ar, e éu șavlivși.
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1	Then, people all spoke language and dialect same./ While those people wander where that Sun rises, they descovered plain, called Shinar, and there established.
Lit. 2	Back then, everyone spoke the same language and the same dialect./ While the people wander to where the Sun rises, they descovered a plain named "Shinar," in which they settled./

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