| Whag | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Fusional | ||||||||||||
| Alignment | Nominative-Accusative | ||||||||||||
| Head direction | Head-Initial | ||||||||||||
| Tonal | No | ||||||||||||
| Declensions | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Conjugations | Yes | ||||||||||||
| Genders | None | ||||||||||||
| Nouns decline according to... | |||||||||||||
| Case | Number | ||||||||||||
| Definiteness | Gender | ||||||||||||
| Verbs conjugate according to... | |||||||||||||
| Voice | Mood | ||||||||||||
| Person | Number | ||||||||||||
| Tense | Aspect | ||||||||||||
| Meta-information | |||||||||||||
| Progress | Expression error: Unexpected < operator.% | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Creator | ICantEdit | ||||||||||||
Whag was the language of the Pencils and many other species/civilizations in the central regions of the Pencilcosmos, before they partially adopted The Pencil Language. Whag is directly descended from Proto-Central, and thus shares many traits with it.
Whag has no real demonstratives, unlike its predecessor, although word "jjo" (meaning "here") can sometimes be used as a proximal demonstrative.
The language has few loanwords, with most of the loanwords coming from The Pencil Language.
The language is peculiar in that even though it is stress-timed, it exhibits no known signs of vowel reduction.
Rounded vowels are usually also allophones with their unrounded equivalents.
Classification and Dialects[]
Whag is divided into 2 main dialects: the Wofian dialect ("normal" Whag) and the Freeglian dialect (spoken by Pencils who participated in the armed invasion of the civilization of Freegl by the CSCR, as well as Pencils originating from Freegl who speak Whag). Although they are classified as separate dialects, the dialects are relatively similar to each other.
Phonology[]
Note that the phonology is just an approximation of the alien phonology used by the speakers.
Consonants[]
| Bilabial | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | /b/, /bʲ/
/p/, /pʲ/ |
/d/, /t/
/dʲ/ ~ /tʲ/ |
/g/, /k/ | |||
| Fricative | /s/, /sʲ/
/z/, /zʲ/ |
/ʃ/ | /ɕ/ | /h/ | ||
| Approximant | /w/ | /j/ | ||||
| Lateral Approximant | /l/, /lʲ/ | |||||
| Affricate | /t͡ɕ/, /d͡ʑ/ | |||||
Vowels[]
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| High | /i/ | /u/ ~ /ɯ/ | |||
| Near-high | /ɪ/* | ||||
| High-mid | /e/ | ||||
| Mid | /ə/* | /ɔ/ ~ /o/ ~ /ʌ/ | |||
| Low-mid | /ɛ/* | ||||
| Near-low | |||||
| Low | /a/ |
*These sounds are only present in certain dialects.
Phonotactics[]
Although Whag is still relatively strict on consonant clusters, it is more lenient than its predecessor, Proto-Central.
Allowed consonant clusters (note that "j" represents /j/):
(C)w
Whag developed a slightly different syllable structure to Proto-Central (Pencilcosmos) due to sound changes. Words tend to end in vowels, in contrast to Freeglian, its closely-related counterpart.
All sounds are allowed as onset, and /p/, /s/, /k/, /l/, and all vowels allowed as coda.
Stress is always on the penultimate syllable (this does not apply to loanwords).
Phonological Sound Changes[]
- /x/ -> /h/ in onset
- /p/ -> /b/ in onset
- /ʍ/ -> /w/
- /ji/ -> /ɛ/ if followed by /ɾ/ (unpredictable)
- /ji/ -> /i/ if followed by a fricative (unpredictable)
- /r/ -> /ɾ/
- /ç/ -> /ɕ/ in stressed positions (there are many exceptions to this)
- /ç/ -> /ʝ/ -> /j/ in unstressed positions (there are many exceptions to this)
- /q/ -> /k/ and sometimes -> /g/ in onset
- /ɒ/ -> /ɑ/ -> /a/ or /ɔ/ and /o/
- /ʊ/ -> /ə/ -> /ɛ/ (-> /e/) (the exact path is uncertain)
- /awu/ -> /au/ -> /ɒ/ -> /ɔ/
- /ɑ/ -> /a/ -> /ɛ/ -> /e/ in stressed positions (sound change is relatively unpredictable; this sound change tends not to happen in monosyllabic words)
- /kj/ -> /c/ -> t͡ɕ
- random loss of /h/
- /ɾ/ -> /l/
- /ij/ -> /j/
- /uw/ -> /w/
- consonants before or after /i/ tend to get palatalized
- word-final devoicing
Writing System[]
| Letter | b | bj | p | pj | d | dj | g | k | kj | s | sj | z |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sound | /b/ | /bʲ/ | /p/ | /pʲ/ | /d/ | /dʲ/ | /g/ | /k/ | /c/ | /s/ | /sʲ/ | /z/ |
| Letter | sh | shj | w | h | j | r | a | e | o | u | i | ə |
| Sound | /ʃ/ | /ɕ/ | /w/ | /h/ | /j/ | /ɾ/ | /a/ | /e/ or /ɛ/ | /ɔ/ or /o/ | /u/ | /i/ or /ɪ/ | /ə/ |
| Letter | c | jj | ||||||||||
| Sound | /t͡ɕ/ | /d͡ʑ/ |
Grammar[]
Nouns[]
Nouns take some marking, and decline according to person, definiteness, and number.
Noun marking will be shown via the word "ho" (realm/-verse):
| Nominative | Accusative/Lative | Genitive | Locative | Dative/Benefactive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Definite Article | ho | hoji | hoca | hoge | hopas |
| Indefinite Article | ho luco | hoji luco | hoca luco | hoge luco | hopas luco |
The indefinite article evolved from a word in Proto-Central meaning "there".
Nouns have 3 numbers: singular (unmarked), dual, and plural. This will be demonstrated via the noun "wagep", which means "pencil/creature" (note that this form is irregular):
| Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| wegap | wagake | wageso |
A regular form, this time using "ho" (realm/verse):
| Singular | Dual | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| ho | hoke | hoso |
If a number greater than 2 is directly specified (as in "wegap bu", meaning "eight pencils"), affixes showing grammatical number disappear.
Verbs[]
Verbs conjugate according to tense, aspect, and voice (note that the language makes no distinction between past tense and perfective/perfect aspect).
Verb conjugation will be shown via the word "shji" (create):
| Imperfective Aspect/Infinitive | Perfective Aspect/Past Tense | Future Tense | Indirect (specifies whether the action is direct or indirect) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Active Voice | Non-Reflexive | shjeja | sheroja* | shisoja* | sakushjeja |
| Reflexive | shjekezja | sherokezja | shisokezja | sakushjeja | |
| Passive Voice | shjeshja | sheroshja | shisoshja | sakushjeshja | |
*These are irregular forms.
The passive voice marker can also be used as a passive participle former.
The gerund former is -wi, which changes to -ui if the word it is being suffixed on ends with /p/ or /l/.
To express that a thing is able to do something, the particle "shjechja" is placed after the phrase/clause.
Copula[]
The copula slowly became the default word ending in Ancient Whag, although the copula can still stand on its own.
Relative Clauses[]
Relative clauses are formed by putting the verb before the noun, just like in Proto-Central. The object goes before the verb (if there is one).
The verb is appended with the suffix -jja, and occasionally a particle wi placed behind the verb.
Adjectives[]
Adjectives take no marking.
Most adjectives (excluding the basic ones, such as "good", "bad", "many", "few", etc.) are derived from verbs, such as "soshjas" ("smart"), "loshjas" (dumb/stupid), "alive ("hep"), and "dead ("heso"), although quite many are derived from nouns, such as "jeca" (peaceful/peace), "hesoca" (voidlike/void), and "haca" (time-like/spreading).
Some adjectives and their corresponding nouns share the same form.
Comparative/Superlative Degree[]
The comparative is marked by reduplicating the first syllable of the word.
The superlative is marked by a particle (wisijja), which comes after the adjective.
This will be demonstrated using the word "hip" (small):
| Superlative | Comparative |
|---|---|
| hip wisijja | hihip* |
*The word is often pronounced as [hiːp]
Some words have irregular inflection, such as the word "jechja" (peace/peaceful)
| Superlative | Comparative |
|---|---|
| jeca wisijja | hajeca |
There are no commonly used diminutive and augumentive words (e.g. "very"). Typically, reduplicating the first syllable of the adjective can be used to express an augumentive meaning.
Conjunctions[]
Whag previously had 5 conjunctions: "and" (shu), "or" (rujjo), "but" (ruseca), and "because/for" (basesi), although it lost a dedicated word for "and" later on, opting for the Pencil Language comma as a replacement (which was subsequently pronounced as either /wi/ or /wo/, depending on region).
Conjunctions aren't too interesting grammar-wise, and take no marking (as they are just conjunctions). Some conjunctions, like "bazasi", are also used as particles.
Question Words[]
- "basesi" can be used as "why" when it comes at the end of a sentence.
- "lusas" can be used as "what". It is treated as a noun.
- "lushjasa" can be used as "when". It is treated as an adjective.
Syntax[]
Whag is head-initial, although at times it can be head-final (the head direction of Whag was heavily disputed after the CSCR had been disestablished). There are barely any particles that come before the word they're inflecting.
Lexicon[]
Example text[]
(in Late Middle Whag)