Slavski jezik

Overview

Setting

Slavski jezik is a constructed and simplified language based on Slavic languages. It is characteristically a South Slavic language with a significant amount of East Slavic (mainly Russian) and West Slavic (Polish) influence.

Basic Grammar

Orthography

Slavski spelling is quite phonemic in practice and mixes morphological and phonetic principles. The punctuation follows the German model.

Slavski language has two parallel writing systems: Cyrillic and Latin. They can be used interchangeably in all situations but being more suitable for a Cyrillic language the Cyrillic spelling is preferred in official contexts.

The Latin alphabet for Slavski jezik (27 letters, 2 letter combinations): Aa Bb Cc Čč Dd Ee Ff Gg Hh Ii Jj Kk Ll Ljlj Mm Nn Njnj Oo Pp Rr Ss Šš Tt Uu Ůů Vv Yy Zz Žž

The Cyrillic alphabet for Slavski jezik (30 letters): Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд Ее Жж Зз Ии Йй Јј Кк Лл Љљ Мм Нн Њњ Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт Уу Ўў Фф Хх Цц Чч Шш Ыы

Several other letters can occur in order to render direct citation of foreign words, primarily modified Latin letters, such as: q, w, x; ç; Đ,đ; Ģ, ģ; Ł, ł; Ş, ş; Ż, ż. Though written, these are pronounced like the most similar indigenous phoneme, e.g. Kwaśniewski is pronounced as though written Kvašnjevski, Washington as though written Vošington. Other Cyrillic letters, e.g. Щщ ъ Яя, may be used in foreign words and names.

The use of i/j: in Latin spelling Jj is used when [i] is the final part of a vowel combination and syllable-initially. Ii is used elsewhere. The use of и/ј/й: Jj is used syllable-initially, й is used when [i] is the final part of a vowel combination. Ии is used elsewhere.

If diacritics cannot be used, the letters with diacritics are spelt as follows: č > cz, š > sz, ů > ou, ž > zs. In Cyrillic ў > оу.

Phonology

Vowels

The Standard Slavski vowel system has five monophthongal and one diphthongal vowel. The difference between long and short vowels is not phonemic.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i и [i]	y ы [ɨ]1	u у [u] ů ў [ou]2
Mid	e е [ɛ]		о о [o]
Open			a а [ɑ]

1. This is an additional sound that is not reflected in the official spelling. In unofficial spelling it is usually rendered as Ы, ы (Cyrillic) or Y, y (Latin). The quality of the sound varies mainly depending on the speaker’s age. The older generation still use a close central unrounded vowel (IPA: [ɨ]) correspoding to the respective sounds in Russian (ы after unpalatalised consonants) and Polish (y). The younger generation tend to use a labialised near-close near-front unrounded vowel (IPA: [wɪ]). Or the same sound with no prior labialisation (IPA: [ɪ]). Whether the sound should be reflected in the official spelling is debatable but as only few minimal pairs exist and they do not cause much confusion, marking this sound in spelling has been seen unnecessary so far.
2. The Diphthongal Vowel The close back rounded vowel preceded by a very short close-mid back rounded vowel ў (Cyrillic) or ů (Latin) (IPA: [ou]) is used solely as plural genitive ending. It was historically a half-long nasal close-mid back rounded vowel (IPA: [õ•]) that was reduced to a short close-mid back rounded vowel [u] elsewhere but kept its special quality in the plural genitive ending resulting in the sound [ou]. Some nasalisation may be heard occasionally, oddly enough, amogst the younger speakers [õ(w)]. When it does not denote the genitive plural ending it is pronounced as [w] e.g. Ůiski/Ўиски [wiski] and imaůam/имаўам [imawam].

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	Post-alv.	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m м [m]	n н [n]		nj њ [ɲ]
Plosive	p п [p] b б [b]	t т [t] d д [d]			k к [k] g г [g]
Affricate		c ц [ts]	č ч [tʃ]
Fricative	f ф [f]	s с [s] z з [z]	š ш [ʃ] ž ж [ʒ]		х [χ]
Approximant	v в [ʋ]			j ј/й [j]
Lateral		l л [l]		љ [ʎ]
Trill		r р [r]

1. Voiced plosives and fricatives are devoiced word-finally and when preceding a voiceless consonant. E.g. muž [muʃ] 'man', blizki [bliski] 'nearby', led [let] 'ice'.
2. Non-palatal consonants may be palatalised when preceding a front vowel. E.g. led [ʎet] 'ice', biti [bic(i)] 'to be'. The infinitive suffix -ti is frequently pronounced as [c] or [ts].
3. Syllable final L is frequently vocalised to a semivowel [w]. E.g. Jа не видел тебе. [ja ne videw tebe] 'I did not see you.'

Nouns

Slavski nouns have grammatical gender (masculine, feminine or neuter), number (singular or plural) and case (nominative, genitive, dative and locative).

The plural is formed by adding to or replacing the the singular ending. Some forms are similar for all nouns of all genders, such as the genitive plural ending in -ў .

Masculine Gender

Hard Declesion

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	муж	мужи
Genitive	мужа	мужў
Dative	мужoм	мужaми
Locative	муже	мужах

Soft Declesion

Masculine nouns ending in palatal sounds (њ, љ, ј) get the suffix -ем in dative singular.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	коњ	коњи
Genitive	коња	коњў
Dative	коњем	коњами
Locative	коње	коњах

Disappearing A

A weak -a- may vanish in declination e.g. in these words: дан, театар...

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	дан	дни
Genitive	дна	днў
Dative	днoм	днaми
Locative	дне	днах

Neuter Gender

Hard Declesion

Neuter and masculine nouns only differ in nominative endlings. Otherwise the declination patterns are identical.

	Singular		Plural
Nominative	слово		слова
Genitive	слова		словў
Dative	словом		словaми
Locative	слове		словах

Soft Declesion (words ending in palatal sounds)

	Singular		Plural
Nominative	поље		поља
Genitive	поља		пољў
Dative	пољем		пољaми
Locative	поље		пољах

Feminine Gender

Both Hard and Soft Declesion

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	жена	жени
Accusative	жену	жени
Genitive	жени	женў
Dative	женам	женами
Locative	жене	женах

Feminines with I- declination (e.g. кост 'bone', гост 'guest', двер 'door')

A small number of feminine nouns end in consonants and have a divergent declination pattern.

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	кост	кости
Genitive	кости	костјў
Dative	костим	костјами
Locative	кости	костјах

Endings

	M sg	N sg	F sg		M pl	N pl	F pl
Nominative		-о (-е)	-a	-C	-и	-а	-и
Genitive	-а		-и		-ў
Accusative	N/G	N	-у	N	N/G	N
Dative	-ом (-ем)		-ам (-им)		-ами
Locative	-е			-и	-ах

Exceptions: време (neuter) 'time' pl.: времена (-н- added in all other forms save nominative and accusative singular)

Adjectives

Adjective paradigms are rather similar to the ones of nouns.

Almost all adjectives end in -i in masculine singular, the form found in dictionaries.

As an example the adjective novi 'new'.

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Masc & Fem	Neuter
Nominative	нови	ново	нова	нови	нова
Genitive	нова		нови	новў
Accusative	Н/Г		нову	Н/Г
Dative	новом		новам	новами
Locative	нове			новах

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns in Slavski have various forms according to gender, number, person and case.

	Sg. 1st	Sg. 2nd	Sg. 3rd m/n	Sg. 3rd f	Pl. 1st	Pl. 2nd	Pl. 3rd
Nominative	ја	ти	он/o	она	мы	вы	они
Accusative/ Genitive	мене	тебе	нега	нејо	нас	вас	их
Short form	ме	те	га	јо	-
Dative/Locative	мени	теби	нему	нејой	нами	вами	им
Short form	ми	ти	му	јой	-

The pronoun оно can be used referring to neuter gender words. It is declined exactly like the 3rd person pronoun for masculine gender, он.

The reflexive pronoun is Acc/Gen.: себе (се), Dat/Loc.: себи (си) 'myself, yourself, oneself...'.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns exist only in 1st and 2nd person. In 3rd person the genitive forms of personal pronouns are used.

	M	N	F	PL
Nominative	мой	моје	моја	моји
Genitive	моја		моји	мојў
Accusative	N/G		моју	N/G
Dative	мојам	мојом	мојам	мојами
Locative	моје			мојах

Мой my

Твой your

Свой one's, my own, your own...

Наш our

Ваш your (pl)

...are all conjugated as мой.

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Demonstrative Pronouns

	Singular			Plural
	M	N	F	M	N	F
Nominative	то		та (acc ту)	ти	та	ти
Genitive	та		ти	тў
Dative/Locative	том		там	тими		тами

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Interrogative Pronouns

	Animate		Inanimate
Nominative	ко		чо
Genitive	кога		чога
Accusative			чо
Dative/Locative	кем		чем

Numerals

Cardinal		Short form	Ordinal
1	jedan	jen	1.	pervi
2	dva	-	2.	drugi
3	tri	-	3.	triti
4	četiri	čtir	4.	četirti
5	pet	-	5.	peti
6	šes	-	6.	šesi
7	sem	-	7.	semi
8	osam	-	8.	osmi
9	devet	det	9.	deveti
10	deset	des	10.	deseti
11	jedannadeset	jenast	11.	jedannadeseti
12	dvanadeset	dvanast	12.	dvanadeseti
13	trinadeset	trinast	13.	trinadeseti
14	četirinadeset	čtirnast	14.	četirinadeset
15	petnadeset	petnast	15.	petnadeseti
16	šesnadeset	šesnast	16.	šesnadeseti
17	semnadeset	semnast	17.	semnadeseti
18	osamnadeset	osamnast	18.	osamnadeseti
19	devetnadeset	detnast	19.	devetnadeseti
20	dvadeset	dvades	20.	dvadeseti
21	dvadeset jedan	dvades jen	21.	dvadeset pervi
30	trideset	trides	30.	trideseti
40	četirideset	čtirdes	40.	četirideseti
50	petdeset	pedes	50.	petdeseti
60	šesdeset	šezdes	60.	šesdeseti
70	semdeset	semdes	70.	semdeseti
80	osamdeset	osamdes	80.	osamdeseti
90	devetdeset	dedes	90.	devetdeseti
100	sto	-	100.	stoti
101	sto jedan	sto jen	101.	sto pervi
1 000	tisica	-	1 000.	tisicni
1 000 000	miljon	-	100 000.	miljoni
1 000 000 000	miljard	-	1 mrd	miljardi

Most of the ordinal numbers have short forms used frequently in spoken language. Corresponding short forms for cardinal numbers are formed by adding the suffix -i.

Cardinal numbers are declined as adjectives.

Jedan is declined as an adjective (jedan, jedna, jedno, jedni). Jen is short for jedan. It's often used as an indefinite article. It's usually not declined.

Telling The Time

	Сколко време? What time is it?	У сколко? At what time?
on the hour	Шада три (часи).	Он прииде у три (часи).
over	три и пет	Он прииде у три и пет.
half	пола три	Он прииде у пола три.
to	петнаст до тр	Он прииде у петнаст до три.

Verbs

Tense

Verb tenses of Slavski language are present, past and future.

• Present tense uses the verb stem and a personal ending. E.g. ''ima + m = imam 'I have
• Past tense uses verb stem, suffix -l- and personal ending. The suffix is frequently pronounced [w] and even written as w/ў in conversational/dialectal contexts. A parallel form using only the suffix conjugated in gender and number exists. Personal pronouns must be used with this form. E.g. ima + l + am 'I had~I have had' OR ja ima + l = Ja imal 'I had~I have had'
• Future uses the future form of the verb biti 'to be' and infitive. E.g. budem imati 'I shall have
  
  

Mood

Besides the indicative, Slavski uses conditional, subjunctive and imperative.

• Conditional uses plain past tense forms with suffixed conditional forms of the verb biti 'to be'. E.g. ima + l + bim = Imalbim 'I would have
• Subjunctive uses the indicative with the particle da. E.g. da + ima = da ima 'I have
• Imperative uses suffix -i or -j attached to the (shortened) stem of the verb. E.g. ima + j = imaj! 'Have!

Aspect

Slavski uses two verbal aspects: perfective and imperfective.

• Perfective uses the plain verbs forms.
• Imperfective uses a suffix. The infinitive ending -ти is replaced by -вати and the verb is conjugated accordingly.

Ја читам книги. I read books.

Ја читавам твоју книгу. I am reading your book.

Ја читал книгу. I (have) read a book.

Ја читавал книгу. I was reading a book.

Ја будем читати книгу. I shall read a book.

Ја будем читавати книги. I shall be reading books.

Conjugation

Verb имати 'to have' used as an example.

Infinitive: има|ти (root being има-)

Active Past Participle: ималан (declined as a regular adjective)

Passive Past Participle: имати (declined as a regular adjective)

Present Participle: имајуши (declined as a regular adjective)

Some of the verb form presented below have alternative forms:

• Past: ималам, ималаш, имала, ималаме, ималате, имали
• Conditional: бим, биш, би, биме, бите, би + имати (infinitive)
• 3rd Person Plural: Conjugated verb froms can either end in -ју or be identical to the 3rd person singular forms.

	TENSE			MOOD
	Present	Past	Future	Conditional	subjunctive	Imperative
Sg. 1st	имам	имал, -а (сем)	будем имати	ималбим	да имам	-
Sg. 2nd	имаш	имал, -а (си)	будеш имати	ималбиш	да имаш	имай
Sg. 3rd	има	имал, -а, -о (је)	буде имати	ималби	да има	-
Pl. 1st	имаме	имали (сме)	будеме имати	ималбиме	да имаме	-
Pl. 2nd	имате	имали (сте)	будете имати	ималбите	да имате	имайте
Pl. 3rd	има(ју)	имали (су)	буду имати	ималби	да има(ју)	-

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Irregular Verbs

There are only two verbs with irregular forms: бити 'to be' and идети 'to go'.

Бити (infinitive), билан (APP), бити (PPP), бијуши (PP), будуши (Future Participle)

	TENSE			MOOD
	Present	Past	Future	Conditional	Subjunctive	Imperative
Sg. 1st	сем	(билам)	будем	бим	да бим	-
Sg. 2nd	си	(билаш)	будеш	биш	да биш	буди
Sg. 3rd	је	бил, -а, -о	буде	би	да би
Pl. 1st	сме	(биламе)	будеме	биме	да биме	будиме
Pl. 2nd	сте	(билате)	будете	бите	да бите	будите
Pl. 3rd	су (је)	били	буду	би(ју)	да би(ју)	-

Идети (infinitive), идети (PPP), идејуши (PP)

Only Past forms are irregular:

masculine singular: шал

feminine singular: шла

neuter singular: шло

plural: шли

Prepositions

Preposition	Case	Meaning	Examples
без	gen	without	мени каву без млека.
дља	gen	for	Ја радил то дља тебе.
до	gen	until, to	Мы доидели до града.
из	gen	from, out of	Он изшал из трамваја.
кроме	gen	except	Вси су ше кроме тебе.
од	gen	of, from, since, by	Он работа ше од лета.
помимо	gen	in spite of	Он радил то помимо бурји.
против	gen	against	Си против мене?
сагласне	gen	according to	Сагласне нега, ми требаме..
учасе	gen	during	Учасе выходи, мы летали у Касабланку.
уместе	gen	instead of	Пијме пиво уместе вина.

Preposition	Case	Meaning	Examples
межу	acc/loc	between	Школа је межу музејах.
мимо	acc/loc	next to
на	acc/loc	on
нас	acc/loc	above
окла	acc/loc	around
под	acc/loc	under, during(loc)
полев	acc/loc	left of
поправ	acc/loc	right of
пред	acc/loc	before, in front of
при	acc/loc	near
у	acc/loc	in
за	acc/loc	after, behind, because of

Preposition	Case	Meaning	Examples
по	acc	after, in the manner of, up to
пре	acc	because of
пер	acc	through, across

Preposition	Case	Meaning	Examples
к	dat	to

Preposition	Case	Meaning	Examples
о	loc	about

Preposition	Case	Meaning	Examples
са	inst	with, by means of

Dictionary

• Slavski Jezik / A
• Slavski Jezik / B
• Slavski Jezik / C
• Slavski Jezik / Č
• Slavski Jezik / D
• Slavski Jezik / E
• Slavski Jezik / F

Example text

Svi ljudi rodin se svobodni i jednaki u svoji dostojnosti i pravimi. Oni su nadeleni sa razumem i sovestim i treban postupati jedan pret ina u duši bratsva.
(1. Artikal Vseobceni deklaraciji pravů človeka)

Сви људи родин се свободни и једнаки у своји достойности и правими. Они су наделени са разумем и совестим и требан поступати један прет ина у души братсва.
(1. Артикал Всеобцени декларацији правў чловека)

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.
(Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights)

_____________________

Zdravo! Hello!

Šče! Hi!

Kak ti (si)? How are you?

Dobre. Fine.

Dekam. Thank you. (lit. I thank)

Deki. Thanks.

Ne za čo. / Nizaš. / Niš. You are welcome.

Svoja strana ljubima, druga strana neznama. Home sweet home.

U každi strani, svoji privičani. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

Žaš čo sijaš. You reap what you sow.

Neplači, strašno dete, zautre ti kupime novo lice. Don't cry ugly child, tomorrow we'll buy you a mask.

Luče ideš. You'd better go.