Old Shax

Shax – Siax
Morphological Type:	Synthetic
Morphosyntactic Alignment:	Nominative-Accusative
Linguistic Head:	Head Initial
Word Order:	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, Morráni ([mɐrˈrani]). 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)

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

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d		k g
Fricative	ɸ β	s z
Liquid	w ʍ	l r	j

​All phonemes except [w], [j], [ʍ], and [ŋ] can be geminate

Vowel

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Open-Mid	ɛ		ɔ
Near-Low		ɐ
Low		a

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.

Orthography

Alphabet

Letter	Sound	Letter	Sound
A a	[ɐ], [a]	B b	[b]
C c	[k]	D d	[d]
E e	[ɛ]	F f	[ɸ]
G g	[g]	H h	[h]
I i	[i], [j]	J j	[j]
K k	[k]	L l	[l]
M m	[m]	N n	[n], [ŋ]
O o	[ɔ], [ɐ]	P p	[p]
Q q	[k]	Ų ų	[ʍ]
R r	[r]	S s	[s]
T t	[t]	U u	[u]
V v	[v]	X x	[ks]
Y y	[i], [j]	Z z	[z]

• (*) Ų looks more like a ɥ written (U with descender). Basically the written Armenian Z, զ. 
• I and U are [j] and [w] respectially before and after another vowel except with an acute on it. 
• Stressed A and O are [a] and [ɔ] respectivally
• N is [ŋ] before C, K, Q, and X

Multigraphs

Letters	Sound
double letter	geminate

Diacritics

Letter	Sound
acute	stress
Á á	[ˈa]
Ó ó	[ˈɔ]
 â	[a]
Ô ô	[ɔ]
Û û	[ɐ]
À à, Ò ò	[ɐ]

• Very important to note that the acute is used on every word to mark stress except those with only one vowel since the stress is obvious :)

Grammar 

Nouns

There are two cases: nominative and obliqe. The nominative is used in the nominative and most prepositional cases, and oblique in most other cases. Sometimes a certain preposition will require the oblique case.

Declension

1st Declension

	Nominative	Oblique
Singular	stem
Plural	stem-s	stem-s

2nd Declension

	Nominative	Oblique
Singular	stem-(ò)s	stem
Plural	stem-s*	stem-vûs

Note that the -òs stem in the singular nominative is used in certain nouns (ex: pats, father, only uses -s while cózos, method/way, uses -òs. There is no system to this. Though, in informal speech, many times the Ò will be dropped and simply pronounced -s, especially in the case of cózos which is often pronounced [ˈkɔsː] and misspelt cóss or cózs). Also, certain nouns like pats that naturally end in S don't add the -s or -òs but keep the stem.

(*) Note that words that have the nominative stem as simple -s geminate the previous consonant and those that use the -òs ending use the simple -s.

3rd Declension

The 3rd declension contains feminine nouns that follow the 2nd declension (ex: glacs, ice).

Adjectives

Declension

Adjectives have been heavily simplified. Feminine adjectives follow the first declension nouns. Masculine nouns follow the structure of stem for singular and stem-s for plural. Though, there are a relatively good amount of irregulars. The basic declension:

long [ˈlɔŋ] - long		Nom		Oblique
		Mas	Fem	Mas	Fem
Positive	Sing	long
	Plur	longs		longór	longár
Comparative	Sing	longiúr		longuér
	Plur	longués		longiór
Superlative	Sing	longissm
	Plur	longissm		longissmór	longissmár

Pronouns

Personal

Emphatic corralates to the Latin vocative, the English marked-nominative, and the French stressed pronouns

		Nom	Oblique	Accusative	Reflexive
Singular	1st	eg	mi	me
	2nd	tu	ti	te
	3rd	et	ejt	òn/àn	set
		at
Plural	1st	nos	notts	nos
	2nd	vos	vetts	vos
	3rd	es	jos	os	ses
		as	jas	as

Possessive

The top is what's being owner and the left is what is owning.

		Mas		Fem
		Sing	Plur	Sing	Plur
Singular	1st	mus		ma	mas
	2nd	tos		ta	tas
	3rd	sos		sa	sas
		sas
Plural	1st	notts
	2nd	vetts
	3rd	ses		sas

Verbs

In the indicative, the past tense was formed from the Latin perfect tense. The future, as most Romance Languages, was formed from the indicative + HABĒRE construction.

The subjunctive in Shax is used in hypothetical situations, if statements, that clauses (that are subordinant to must, shall, can, wish, want, and occasionally need), and various other phrases. The future is made through a paraphrastic phrase. The optative was formed in a similar way to the future. The subjunctive was growing to be less "optative" semantically, therefore the requirement for copér, to wish, to go before the main verb in the 3rd singular person (the main verb is still conjugated) was developed. Eventually, they mixed semantically and syntactually and like the future in Shax, became a new conjugation. This developed into two prefixes: co- before consonants where the consonant in geminate, and cop- before vowels. Note that these prefixes can never be stressed. 

The imperitive is identified by how it does not use a pronoun (where the other moods do). The subjunctive imperitive, or jussive, came about by the conjugating divér, must, in the subjunctive present and the imperitive.

The origininal Latin 3rd conjugation merged into the 2nd, 4th, or Irregular Class depending of the verb. Note that arabic loan verbs will use the Class II conjugation usually.

Paraphrastic Phrases

The subjunctive and optative futures are formed by to go in the present of either subjunctive or optative and the future participle. The passive is formed by a paraphrastic phrase of to be in the desired tense and the present participle.

Morphology

Class I

Paradigm
potar [pɐˈtar]
Indicative			Present	Past	Future
Singular	1st		pot	potáv	potarávu
	2nd		pot'á's	potást	potarávis
	3rd		pot'á't	potád	potarávet
Plural	1st		potáms	potávims	potarvéms
	2nd		potáts	potávits	potaréts
	3rd		potánt	potavénnt	potarvén
Subjunctive
Singular	1st		pot	potuér	to go + future participle
	2nd		pots	potuéz
	3rd		pott	potuétt
Plural	1st		potéms	potuémms
	2nd		potéts	potuétts
	3rd		potént	potuénnt
Optative
Singular	1st		coppót	cop potuér	to go + future participle
	2nd		coppóts	coppotuéz
	3rd		coppótt	coppotuétt
Plural	1st		coppotéms	coppotuémms
	2nd		coppotéts	cop potuétts
	3rd		coppotént	coppotuénnt
Extra
Participle			potáns	potáts	potatúz
Gerund	Nominative	Sing	potánd
		Plur	potánds
	Oblique	Sing	potánd
		Plur	potánds
Imperfect	2nd	Sing	potá
		Plur	potát

Class II

Paradigm
timér [tiˈmɛr] - to fear
Indicative			Present	Past	Future
Singular	1st		tímu	timué	timerávu
	2nd		timés	timuést	timerávis
	3rd		timét	timuéd	timerávet
Plural	1st		timéms	timuéms	timervéms
	2nd		timéts	timuétts	timervéts
	3rd		timént	timuénnt	timervén
Subjunctive
Singular	1st		tim	timuér	to go + future participle
	2nd		tims	timuéz
	3rd		timt	timuétt
Plural	1st		timáms	timuémms
	2nd		timáts	timuétts
	3rd		timánt	timuénnt
Optative
Singular	1st		cottim	cot timuér	to go + future participle
	2nd		cot tims	cottimuéz
	3rd		cot timt	cot timuétt
Plural	1st		cot timáms	cot timuémms
	2nd		cot timáts	cot timuétts
	3rd		cot timánt	cot timuénnt
Extra
Participle			timéns	timíts	timitúz
Gerund	Nominative	Sing	timénd
		Plur	timénds
	Oblique	Sing	timénd
		Plur	timénds
Imperfect	2nd	Sing	timé
		Plur	timét

Class III

Paradigm
dommiár [dɐmˈmjar] - to sleep
Indicative			Present	Past	Future
Singular	1st		dómmi	dommív	dommirávu
	2nd		dommís	dommíst	dommirávis
	3rd		dommít	dommíd	dommirávet
Plural	1st		dommíms	dommívims	dommirvéms
	2nd		dommíts	dommívits	dommirvéts
	3rd		dommiónt	dommivúnt	dommirvén
Subjunctive
Singular	1st		dómmi	dommuír	to go + future participle
	2nd		dommiás	dommuíz
	3rd		dommiát	dommuítt
Plural	1st		dommiáms	dommuímms
	2nd		dommiáts	dommuítts
	3rd		dommiánt	dommuínnt
Optative
Singular	1st		coddommi	cod dommuír	to go + future participle
	2nd		cod dommiás	cod dommuíz
	3rd		cod dommiát	cod dommuítt
Plural	1st		cod dommiáms	cod dommuímms
	2nd		cod dommiáts	cod dommuítts
	3rd		cod dommiánt	cod dommuínnt
Extra
Participle			dommiéns	dommíts	dommitúz
Gerund	Nominative	Sing	dommiénd
		Plur	dommiénds
	Oblique	Sing	dommiénd
		Plur	dommiénds
Imperfect	2nd	Sing	dommí
		Plur	dommít

T-V Distinction

• T: use the singular form without the pronoun
• V –
  • ​Respectful: use the singular form with the pronoun (note that emphasis of the pronoun is pejorative)
  • Professional: use the plural form without the pronoun
  • Formal: use the plural form with the pronoun (this is also used to those of higher social rank and by children to adults)
  • Very Formal: use the plural form with the pronoun and the honorific before the pronoun (this may be sir or ma'am to your highness or even Mr./Mrs. President anything that mentions the rank or social status of the adressee)

Syntax

Phrases

Postpositional

Being a head initial language, Shax puts its prepositions before the noun. Usually, the nominative case will be taken, but some prepositions use the oblique case historically.

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. (mus pats lops - "my father's wolf")

Verbial

Personal pronouns are rarely used in the nominative with verbs because the conjugation reveils this information already. As mentioned in T-V Distinction above, the emphasis of a pronoun in any T-V form is pejorative. This gets more and more pejorative as you get father from the particular T-V form: for example, using the basic T form to a king would be the ultimate pejorative in terms of morphology while using the Very Formal V form in a sarcastic tone to one of the same or lower social status would represent the same kind of offense. 

Negation

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

Other

• Supine: ųer + gerund (ex: I went down to the pool to swim = «Cemav ad al piscín ųer natáns»)

Clauses

Conditional Clauses

Conditional clauses where there is a requirement clause then a condition clause (like If I went to Japan, I would eat a lot of sushi) require the indicative then a subjunctive. But, sentences where there is only a condition (like I'd do that) require the verb in the subjunctive.

Subordinate Clauses

These are introduced with either ųi (if it's a conjunction) or hod (if it's a pronoun). 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 ųi or hod. 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.

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
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1
Lit. 2

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
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1
Lit. 2

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
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1
Lit. 2

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
IPA
Literal Translation
Lit. 1
Lit. 2

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