Phonology[]
Vowels[]
The phoneme inventory of Strennic consists of eleven vowel monophthongs. The reason why the vowel inventory is so large is that some vowel comes in a long and short variety, and this vowel length can form minimal pairs (for example pad "rug" and pád "butter") so each is considered a separate phoneme. Sometimes a long vowel is of a slightly different quality than it's corresponding short vowel (for example near-mid 'e', corresponds to mid 'é')
| - | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | /i/ i /iː/ í | /u/ u /uː/ ú | |
| Mid | /eː/ é | ||
| Open-Mid | /ɛ/ e | /ɞ/ ọ | /ɔː/ ó |
| Open | /a/ a /aː/ á | /ɒ/ o |
Vowel Length[]
Vowel length is phonemic in Strennic, however vowel length isn't always straight forward, some 'long vowels' have slightly different qualities than their short counterparts.
| Short | Long |
|---|---|
| /a/ | /aː/ |
| /ɛ/ | /eː/ |
| /i/ | /iː/ |
| /ɒ/ | /ɔː/ |
| /ʊ/ | /uː/ |
The open-mid central unrounded vowel /ɞ/, represented by the letter 'ọ' is always short in Strennic.
Long vowels are represented by the use of an acute accent above their letter, as in á é í ó and ú.
Diphthongs[]
There are five diphthongs in Strennic.
| Diphthong | Representation |
|---|---|
| [aʊ̯] | aŭ |
| [oʊ̯] | oŭ |
| [eʊ̯] | eŭ |
| [ɪʊ̯] | iŭ |
| [uʊ̯] | uŭ |
Note that these five diphthongs are the only environments which feature the letter <ŭ>.
Diaereses[]
Any other sequences of vowels other than the five diphthongs are diaerases, sequences of two vowels that do not collapse into diphthongs. For example dnrea and gvuon.
Syllabic Consonants[]
Some soronant consonants can sometimes be syllabic, meaning that they function as a vowel. Four consonant sounds [l], [m], [n] and [r] can act as a syllable nucleus. For example in the word gvr meaning "grass", which seems to have no vowel, actually instead has a syllabic 'r'. Some extreme examples from Strennic include gvrstvrsn (grass verge) from gvr "grass" and stvrsn verge.
This situation can arise in English words, such as acre, where the 'r' is, in fact, the nucleus of the final syllable.
Orthography[]
Alphabet[]
The Strennic Alphabet is a version of the Latin Alphabet, modified with the addition of the accented letters á, é, í, ó and ú, the other letters with diacritics 'ọ' (o with dot below) and 'ŭ' (u with breve), as well as five digraphs ch, lh, ny, sh and zh, which are all treated as individual letters in their own right.
| Letter | IPA Pronunciation |
Equivalents in English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | /a/ | similar to car | |
| á | /aː/ | like 'a' but pronounced slightly longer | |
| b | /b/ | because | |
| c | /ts/ | mats | |
| ch | /tʃ/ | cheek | |
| d | /d/ | day | |
| e | /ɛ/ | get | |
| é | /e/ | hey | |
| f | /f/ | foot | |
| g | /g/ | give | |
| h | /h/ | hello | The character <h> is also used in the letters <ch>, <lh>, <sh> and <zh>. |
| i | /i/ | beat | |
| í | /iː/ | like 'i' but longer | |
| j | /j/ | yellow | |
| k | /k/ | car | |
| l | /l/ | little | |
| lh | /ɬ/ | like the sound represented in Welsh by <ll>. | |
| m | /m/ | moat | |
| n | /n/ | nice | |
| ny | /ɲ/ | similar to onion | |
| o | /ɒ/ | bomb | |
| ó | /ɔ/ | raw | |
| ọ | /ɞ/ | like bird but rounded | |
| p | /p/ | pit | |
| q | /x/ | loch | |
| r | /ɾ/ | a tapped 'r' | |
| s | /s/ | stop | |
| sh | /ʃ/ | shop | |
| t | /t/ | bit | |
| u | /ʊ/ | foot | |
| ú | /u/ | loon | |
| ŭ | /ʊ̯/ | bow | represents non-syllabic 'u' in diphthongs |
| v | /v/ | very | |
| x | /ks/ | box | |
| z | /z/ | zebra | |
| zh | /ʒ/ | vision |
Basic Grammar[]
Nouns[]
Case[]
Strennic nouns come in nine cases: the Nominative, Dative, Genitive, Accusative, Adessive, Apudessive, Inessive, Benefactive and Comitative. These cases all come in a singular and plural varieties.
| Case | Singular Suffix |
Plural Suffix |
Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | - | - | va mazan/vea mazanek (the house(s)) |
| Dative | -nye | -nyea | va mazannye/vea mazannyea (to the house(s)) |
| Genitive | -ushe | -ushea | va mazanushe/vea mazanushea (the house's/the houses') |
| Accusative | -í | -ich | va mazaní/vea mazanich |
| Adessive | -ashlhe | -ashlhuqe | va mazanashlhe/vea mazanashlhuqe (near the house/houses) |
| Apudessive | -ézeŭ | -ézeva | va mazanézeŭ/vea mazanézeva (next to the house/houses) |
| Inessive | -sheb | -shebv | va mazansheb/vea mazanshebv (in the house/houses) |
| Benefactive | -pugv | -pugvulí | va mazanpugv/vea mazanpugvulí (for the house(s)) |
| Comitative | -shtú | -shtea | va mazanshtú/vea mazanshtea (with the house(s)) |
Posession[]
Posession is indicated in Strennic by adding a 'possessive suffix' to the noun, as shown in the following table.
| - | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| 1st Person | -nta | -zta |
| 2nd Person | -vna | -sna |
| 3rd Person | -qra | -qroŭa |
Number[]
All nouns in Strennic come in a singular and plural. With Nominative Nouns the plural is formed regularly by adding the suffix -n or -en, depending on whether the noun ends in a vowel or a consonant. Otherwise, each different noun case has it's own unique singular and plural suffix.
Articles[]
Articles are (as in English) placed as a preposition before a noun. The indefinate articlue (english: a/an) is represented by sutv, and is only found before singular nouns. The definate article (english "the") is represented by va before singular nouns and vea before plural nouns.
| Example | Meaning |
|---|---|
| uvushtí | flower |
| uvushtin | flowers |
| sutv uvushtí | a flower |
| va uvushtí | the flower |
| vea uvushtin | the flowers |
Adjectives[]
Adjectives come in several forms, using suffixes to indicate varying degrees of intensity. The following table shows these suffixes using the adjective kovoŭde meaning "cold".
| Suffix | Result | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| - | kovoŭde | cold |
| -lha | kovoŭdelha | colder |
| -lhakea | kovoŭdelhakea | coldest |
| -duqul | kovoŭdeduqul | very cold |
| -mnezhe | kovoŭdemnezhe | (is) not cold |
Adjectives can be made into verbs by adding the suffix "-goroŭ". For example "nyéván" meaning "question" can be altered to nyévángoroŭ "to question".
For example:
- Hvrz ak kovoŭdemnezhe - That isn't cold
- Va klhematí ak kovoŭdegoroŭ ní - The weather is making me cold
Verbs[]
Tenses[]
Strennic verbs come in five tenses: the Past, Past Participle, Present, Present Participle and Future. Take the word ómne meaning "to go":
| Tense | Suffix | Result | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | ómne | to go |
| Past | -dn | ómnedn | went |
| Past Participle | -aneb | ómneaneb | have gone |
| Present | -pr | ómnepr | go |
| Present Participle | -unyúd | ómneunyúd | am going |
| Future | -pé | ómnepé | will go |
Agent[]
If the agent of a verb can be represented by a personal pronoun, then the agent is represented in the verb word itself, for example Ómneprnr means "I go". However otherwise the agent of the verb is placed before the verb, as in english. For example Sam ómnepr "Sam goes" and Va sulunzhlé omnepr means "The woman goes".
A list of the agent suffixes is as follows:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| First Person | -nr | -zr |
| Second Person | -vọn | -sọn |
| Third Person | -qr | -qroŭ |
So for example ómnedn which means "went" becomes ómnednqr means "it went".
Patient[]
The patient is placed after the verb. For example the verb gvursht means "to like", becomes gvurshtnr "I like", which becomes gvurshtnr ví "I like you".
Pronouns[]
Personal Pronouns[]
Personal pronouns decline fairly regularly, although the 1st person singular and plurals may cause some minor irritation, for example the use of zheb where zesheb would have been more regular.
| Person | Nominative | Dative | Genitive | Accusative | Adessive | Apudessive | Inessive | Benefactive | Comitative |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Person Singular |
nr | nrnye | nushe | ní | nulhshe | neŭ | nesheb | nupugv | noshtú |
| 1st Person Plural |
zr | zrnye | zrshe | zních | zashlhuqe | zeŭek | zheb | zupugvulí | zoshtú |
| 2nd Person Singular |
vọn | vọnnye | vọnushe | vọní | vọnashlhe | vọnézeŭ | vọnsheb | vọnpugv | vọnshtú |
| 2nd Person Plural |
sọn | sọnyea | sọnushea | sọnich | sọnashlhuqe | sọnézeva | sọnshebv | sọnpugvulí | sọnshtea |
| 3rd Person Singular |
qr | qrnye | qrushe | qrí | qrashlhe | qrnézeŭ | qrsheb | qrpugv | qrshtú |
| 3rd Person Plural |
qroŭ | qroŭnyea | qroŭushea | qroŭich | qroŭashlhe | qroŭéveza | qroŭshebv | qroŭpugvulí | qroŭshtea |
Interrogative Pronouns[]
Interrogative pronouns (like the English "wh words") are fairly easy.
| Pronoun | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ká | what |
| kús | who |
| klhó | where |
| kásh | when |
| mtanaps | why |
| lham | how |
| vrts | which |
For example: Ká va krdúvnta? "What is your name?"
Demonstrative Pronouns[]
| English | Strennic |
|---|---|
| this | stva |
| these | stvan |
| that | hvrz |
| those | hvrzan |
For example: Ká stva? What is this?
Relative Pronouns[]
Relative pronouns are formed by adding the suffix -pt to their related interrogative pronoun.
| Interrogative | Example | Relative | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ká | ká krdúvhvna? what is your name? |
kápt | Stva kápt krdúvnta ak This is what my name is |
| kús | kús nr? who are you? |
kúspt | Stva kúspt mnenr This is who I am |
| klhó | klhó vọn? where is he/she/it? |
klhópt | Gvaŭinhnr mnux klhópt akvọn I don't know where he/she/it is |
| kásh | kásh ómneunyúdvọn? when are you going? |
káshpt | Gvaŭinhnr mnux káshpt ómneunyúdnr I don't know when I'm going |