Aganean
Aganean (Agn: Cucg ua håcg) is the primary language of the Kingdom of Ag (Agn: Håcgrum ua cgysrå)
Alphabet and orthography
The Aganean alphabet consists of the following 20 letters:
a å b c cg d dg e ë g h hg l m p r s s´ u y (aë)
Digraphs are considered their own letters for collation purposes. Two letters, ô and y have the variations oë and aë respectively. They are considered the same letter, as ô and y are used only internally within a word with oë and aë used when the sounds begin or end a word. The letter y is always a vowel.
The letter u has two sounds, before a consonant or at the end of a word it sounds like oo, before another vowel, it sounds like an English y or German j. If the letter u is sounded as an oo before any vowel, it is written ù, but still collated as if it were u. The same goes for à and ò which are used only before ë to show both vowels are sounded seperately, as opposed to oë and aë. The letters à and ò are not used when oë and aë occur internally within a word, since oë and aë are never used as a diphthong in such cases.
Vocabulary
See: Aganean lexicon
Grammar
Aganean is an isolating language. Aganean has no inflections, but uses particles for these functions.
Nouns
Aganean has no plural, and uses numbers to show these functions, as well as particles: ca: "some, a few", hgepd: "large group, herd". These are not always necessary, since context can usually sort it out. There are a few words which are inherently plural; compare mus´cgyl: boy and cårcgaë: "boys, children"; ryc: "mountain, mountaintop", mascgyl, "mountains, mountain range".
Aganean is an ergative-absolutive language, and the word order is patient-verb-agent. The particle e/ë is used to signify the agent. The patient is usually left unmarked, but may be marked with aë if desired, although this often sounds awkward.
Pronouns
Pronouns in Aganean are invariable, and with the exception of "we" are also not marked for plural:
- uë - I
- es´, huës - you
- u - he, she, they
- ul - it, they
- ùëc - we (you + I)
- ùër - we (you + I + he/she/they)
- ùëm - we (he/she/they + I)
- gu - this/that/these/those (one[s])
ë à ò ù s´ å
Verbs and adverbs
Aganean has no tenses, but three aspects, perfective, continuous and habitual. Aganean uses particles to conjugate verbs:
Aganean verbs | perfective | continuous | habitually | negative |
---|---|---|---|---|
imperative | ma | sgë | aëm | ra |
would | mar | sar | aër | ar |
negative | mycg | sycg | aërecg | aërcg |
want | më | së | aërë | rë |
must | moë | soë | aëroë | roë |
can | mus´ | sus´ | aërus´ | rus´ |
need | mu | su | aëu | ru |
become | mo | has´ | aës´ | aës´ |
make | pam | pas | aëpd | oëpd |
ru ba gycamd leu e uë. I don't need to go to the hospital.
- ru - not need
- ba - to, at, in
- gycamd - hospital
- leu - to go
- e/ë - indicates agent of sentence
- uë - I, me
ë à ò ù s´