Conlang
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Spheri
Ižkwa
Type
Agglutinative
Alignment
Nominative-accusative
Head direction
[Placeholder]
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



General information[]

Spheri is a reformed version of "Spheronese," spoken by Spherons on the planet Žaǰori 1a (formed from waǰož "boulder" and zori "wind," and then žara "fire.") Its spoken form is known as Ižkwa, and its written form is known as Ižkwe.

There are four main dialects of Ižkwa, specified as fire, water, air, and earth (žara, roǰi, zori, and jaža) as well as countless other variants and dialects of the language. The main dialects are colloquially named Ižara, Ižoǰi, Ižori, and Ižaža, and natively known as Isara (voiceless/voiced chance not applied, but in a few words still does, such as loan words), Ižoǰi (main dialect), Ižori (usage of q and v), and Iz'az'a (different writing system and spelling to represent voicing).

History[]

Spheronese was rejected as the language of Spherons due to the fact that it had no system or rules for it to function, as well as a lack of pattern in the words. In 1652, a language known as "Isciva" was created as one of the solutions or reforms for the Spheronese language. It was officially adopted by the beings in 1655, and was left unchanged for many years, until, in 1720, reforms were made to the pronunciation and alphabet to pave the road to modern Ižkiwa.

Phonology[]

Consonants[]

Modern Ižkiwa[]

Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar Velar
Nasal n
Plosive k
Fricative v s z ʃ ʒ
Approximant ɹ
Letter IPA Transcription Approximation in English
Aa /a/ bra
Ee /e/ roughly like face
Ii /ɪ/ bit
Jj /ʃ/ shock
Kk /k/ car
Nn /n/ not
Oo /o/ roughly like law (British English)
Rr /ɹ/ raw
Ww /v/ viper
Zz /s/ sip
J̌ǰ /ʒ/ vision
Žž /z/ zip

Isciva[]

Labio-dental Alveolar Post-alveolar
Nasal n
Plosive t
Fricative v s ʃ ʒ
Lateral app. l
Letter or Digraph IPA Transcription Approximation in English
Aa
Ee
Ii
Sh /ʃ/ shock
Ss /s/ sofa
Cc /tʃ/ check
Nn /n/ not
Oo
Ll /l/ law
Vv /v/ viper
Zh /ʒ/ vision

Vowels[]

Front Near-front Back
Near-close ɪ
Close-mid e o
Open a

Phonotactics[]

Typically, consonants will not occur next to another, and vowels will not occur next to another vowel, unless that vowel is the same, in which case it is pronounced as a long vowel.

That being the case, the markers that form new nouns out of verbs or other nouns will take over the vowel endings of the original words, such as the following:

žara (fire) -> žaraiž ([diminutive] fire) - > žariž ([diminutive] fire)

However, the case and number markers will not do this (even if some will cause two consonants to be close together), as it is not part of the word in the first place.

žaǰe (plant) -> žaǰeiǰ ([plural] plant) -> žaǰeiǰžew (from the [plural] plant)

If two similar consonants, or in the case of case and number markers, vowels, occur together, a pause may occur between them. In other variants of pronunciation, the sound is geminated. Note: the following example includes an Extended IPA symbol.

žaǰeiǰǰe (plant's) [zæʒɛɪʒ ʒɛ] or [zæʒɛɪʒːɛ]

Grammar[]

Gender Cases Numbers Tenses Persons Moods Voices Aspects
Verb No No No No No No No No
Nouns No No No No No No No No
Adjectives No No No No No No No No
Numbers No No No No No No No No
Participles No No No No No No No No
Adverb No No No No No No No No
Pronouns No No No No No No No No
Adpositions No No No No No No No No
Article No No No No No No No No
Particle No No No No No No No No

Nouns[]

Nouns are specified without articles, therefore the word žara can mean "fire," "the fire," and "a fire." However, in early Ižkiwa, these articles existed as "ri-" and "kar-". Therefore, sara ("fire" in early Ižkiwa, before the voiced/voiceless change) would be declensed as risara "a fire," and karsara "the fire."

Markers[]

Nouns are created or declensed using markers, to specify properties such as number, gender, size (diminutive/augmentative), and person. Only the size markers can be repeated ad infinitum, as long as they are the same marker, intensifying or weakening a noun further and further.

Type of Marker Marker 1 Marker 2 Marker 3
Number

"-n"

None

"-iǰ"

Plural

Gender

"-e"

Masculine

"-a"

Feminine

Diminutive/Augmentative

"-iž"

Diminutive

"-ož"

Augmentative

Person

"-eǰ"

First

"-eǰe"

Second

"-eǰa"

Third

Unlike case markers, these markers will "assimilate" over a vowel ending, such as with the following case:

žara (fire) + -ož -> žarož (conflagration)

However in some dialects, this rule is not applied to words at all.

In the case of the grammatical person marker, it only applies to specific words [specify].

Cases[]

In this language, there are five cases, specified with a case marker each: nominative (-aǰ), accusative (-ež), dative (-eža), ablative (-žew), and genitive (-ǰe). They can be described as the subject, the direct object, the indirect object, from the object, and of the object, respectively. These are used only to specify the case of nouns, not adjectives, verbs, or other word classes.

This table is using the word žara "fire" to demonstrate the case markers in the language.

Noun + Case marker Meaning
Nominative žaraaǰ fire
Accusative žaraež fire
Dative žaraeža to the fire
Ablative žaražew from the fire
Genitive žaraǰe of the fire

The case markers do not usually assimilate with the vowels in the word, as they are not "word-creating" markers. However, in some dialects, it can assimilate with the vowels, as they are understood in the context. Therefore, žaraǰžarež, and žareža, in this instance, are possible in those dialects.

Vocabulary[]

Since my language will have a long list of words, I shall post them on this side page on my website. (Note: the page is a work in progress.) 

Basic phrasebook


No. English
1I
2you (singular)
3he
4we
5you (plural)
6they
7this
8that
9here
10there
11who
12what
13where
14when
15how
16not
17all
18many
19some
20few
21other
22one
23two
24three
25four
26five
27big
28long
29wide
30thick
31heavy
32small
33short
34narrow
35thin
36woman
37man (adult male)
38man (human being)
39child
40wife
41husband
42mother
43father
44animal
45fish
46bird
47dog
48louse
49snake
50worm
51tree
52forest
53stick
54fruit
55seed
56leaf
57root
58bark
59flower
60grass
61rope
62skin
63meat
64blood
65bone
66fat
67egg
68horn
69tail
70feather
71hair
72head
73ear
74eye
75nose
76mouth
77tooth
78tongue
79fingernail
80foot
81leg
82knee
83hand
84wing
85belly
86guts
87neck
88back
89breast
90heart
91liver
92drink
93eat
94bite
95suck
96spit
97vomit
98blow
99breathe
100laugh
101see
102hear
103know
104think
105smell
106fear
107sleep
108live
109die
110kill
111fight
112hunt
113hit
114cut
115split
116stab
117scratch
118dig
119swim
120fly
121walk
122come
123lie
124sit
125stand
126turn
127fall
128give
129hold
130squeeze
131rub
132wash
133wipe
134pull
135push
136throw
137tie
138sew
139count
140say
141sing
142play
143float
144flow
145freeze
146swell
147sun
148moon
149star
150water
151rain
152river
153lake
154sea
155salt
156stone
157sand
158dust
159earth
160cloud
161fog
162sky
163wind
164snow
165ice
166smoke
167fire
168ash
169burn
170road
171mountain
172red
173green
174yellow
175white
176black
177night
178day
179year
180warm
181cold
182full
183new
184old
185good
186bad
187rotten
188dirty
189straight
190round
191sharp
192dull
193smooth
194wet
195dry
196correct
197near
198far
199right
200left
201at
202in
203with
204and
205if
206because
207name


Learning[]

Basic Learning

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