Shataranjan, also referred to as Classical Shataranjan in order to distinguish it from Old Shataranjan, was the language of Shataranjans, inhabitants of the tidally-locked planet of Shataran, located around 500 light years from the Solar System.
There are two main descendants, the one spoken on the always bright side which is eternally illuminated by their star, and the other spoken in the darkness of the hemisphere facing against the star.
| Shataranjan šātarānan mā | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Type | |||
| Agglutinative/Fusional | |||
| Word origins | |||
| Alignment | |||
| Nominative-Accusative | |||
| Head direction | |||
| Mixed | |||
| 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[]
The consonant inventory in noteworthy for having a retroflex series of sounds, no labiodentals and a contrast between voiced and voiceless bilabial trills. All nasals and occlusives can be geminated. The retroflex series is noteworthy for triggering consonant harmony
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | sibilant | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | |||
| Occlusive | unv. | p | t | ts | ʈʂ | tɕ | k | (ʔ) |
| v. | b | d | dz | ɖʐ | dʑ | g | ||
| Fricative | unv. | ɸ | ɬ | s | ʂ | ɕ | x | h |
| v. | z | ʐ | ʑ | |||||
| w | l | ɻ | j | |||||
| Trill | ʙ̥, ʙ | |||||||
Vowels[]
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| High | i | iː | u | uː | ||
| Mid | ɛ | ɛː | (ə˞) | ɔ | ɔː | |
| Low | a | aː | ||||
Phonotactics[]
The syllable structure is (C)(l/w)V(l/N)(C). In clusters, /l/ or /w/ can only appear after occlusives that are not retroflex or palatal.
Grammar[]
Shataranjan is a predominantly agglutinative language with some fusional traits. It is notable for having evidentiality and a system of classifiers.
Verbs[]
Verbs in Shataranjan are highly inflected, similar to Old Shataranjan. Verbs conjugate for mood, evidentiality, aspect, tense, person and number.
Tense-aspect-person-number conjugation[]
-n- or -ń- indicates that the sounds /n/ and /ɲ/ undergo metathesis and are placed before the final consonant in the root. -j- in the affix palatalizes underlying /n, t, d, ts, dz, s, z, k, g, x/ into /ɲ, tɕ, dʑ, tɕ, dʑ, ɕ, ʑ, tɕ, dʑ, ɕ/.
| Singular | Plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1P | 2P | 3P | 1P | 2P | 3P | |
| Present | -n- | -a | - | -ń-jo | -śo | -jo |
| Progressive | -un | -ū | -u | -uńo | -uśo | -ujo |
| Imperfective | -n-in | -n-ī | -n-i | -n-ińo | -n-iśo | -n-ijo |
| Perfective | -jun | -juna | -ju(n) | -juńo | -juńśo | -ju(ń)o |
| Future | -dan | -dā | -da | -dańo | -daśo | -dajo |
Mood and evidentiality conjugation[]
| Indicative | Conditional | Imperative | Interrogative | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct evidence | Indirect evidence | Direct evidence | Indirect evidence | Direct order | Indirect order | Wh-interrogative | Yes-no interrogative |
| plain stem | reduplicated stem | plain stem | reduplicated stem | plain stem | |||
| - | -xa- | -fez-/-fež- | - | -fez-/-fež- | -hal- | -ćit- | |
Verbs of motion[]
Shataranjan does not have a verb that covers the function of "to go" in all of its senses, instead the manner by which the action is carried out must be specified by the type of the verb.
| Shataranjan verb | English translation | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Root | 1SG.IND.DIR.PRS | 1SG.IND.DIR.PRO | |
| ňār- | ňŕň, ŋoŋg | ňāruň | to walk |
| dā- | dān | dāwun | to run |
| xwīp- | xwimp | xwīpun | to bring, to carry |
| gūd- | gund | gūdun | to ride (any animal) |
| fet- | fent | fetun | to sail |
| jāg | jaŋg | jāgun | to head to |
Nominals[]
Shataranjan nominals include nouns, adjectives and pronouns. All of those inflect for case.
Case table[]
| Case | General affix | VOWEL STEMS | CONSONANT STEMS | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| STEM | i-stem | u-stem | h-stem | N-stem | P-stem | vP-stem | F-stem | Z-stem | l-stem | r-stem | |
| Nominative | - | - | - | - | -N | -P | -P̬ | -P | -Z | V => V̄ | - |
| Partitive | -i | -ji | -wi | -hi | -Ni | -Pi | -P̬i | -Fi | -Zi | -li | -ri |
| Accusative | -a | -ja | -wa | -ha | -Na | -Pa | -P̬a | -Fa | -Za | -la | -ra |
| Genitive | -n- | -n | -n, V => V̄ | -Nan | -NP | -NP̬ | -NP | -NZ | -n, V => V̄ | -ň | |
| Dative | -ik | -k; V => V̄ | -hik | -Nik | -Pik | -P̬ik | -Fik | -Zik | -lik | -rik | |
| Locative | -c | -c | -c, V => V̄ | -nc | -Pc, V̄ => V if applicable | -Sc | -c, V => V̄ | -č | |||
| - | - | -š | -ň | alveolar => retroflex if applicable | -ž | V => V̄ | -ra | ||||
| Instrumental | -hin | -hin | -Nin | -Pin | -Fin | -Sin | -łin | -šin | |||
The second row for locative indicates an archaic locative that only survives in certain set expressions and irregular forms.
Classifiers[]
Shataranjan has inherited Old Shataranjan's system of classifiers. A classifier takes case marking that would normally be placed on the noun, while the noun itself takes a partitive case ending.
| Classifier | Usage |
|---|---|
| niŋ | generic |
| zew | people (Shataranjans) |
| łuŋ | soldiers |
| nī | large animals |
| rīš | small animals |
| čār | weapons/tools |
| xim | livable buildings |
| dles | tribes, villages |
| cāł | flat objects |
| wort | plants |
| mew | groups of living beings |
| nōn | groups of smaller objects |
| bi | written documents |
Lexicon[]
Most words in Shataranjan are formed by derivation and compounding, however sometimes new meanings are given to a word by applying a classifier different from the one commonly used to it.
Shataranjan has obtained numerous loanwords from substrate languages that used to be spoken in the territories of the Empire. It has also been influenced by Urasranamah vocabulary, having a substantial amount of loanwords from that literary language.
Example text[]
Miscellaneous[]
