Sylphic

IMPORTANT

This language has evolved into Nauspayr Until I can sort things out, disregard the below.

Overview

Sylphic is a language its creator initially developed when he was about eleven, but since starting a degree in linguistics, decided he ought to go back to it and start formalising it a little. Among its (unintentional) sources are Spanish, English, Gaelic, Mandarin, Japanese, Polish and some Nordic elements. Its main notable aspects are its dependence upon interpersonal relationships, a four "gender" system and its lilting spoken tone. It is intended to be both spoken and written, both for artistic and more prosaic purposes. The language is still undergoing development as its creator tries to make it 'more realistic' and usable. Suggestions for vocabulary or 'how to get the currently embryonic case system to work properly (!)' are much obliged. Template:Private Template:Under-Construction

Cultural Background

A refreshing lingual difference in the monoglot Empire, Sylphic is one of several fringe languages and dialects. Although a widely dispersed tongue, the number of speakers compared to the standard is tiny. Furthermore, the insular nature of the Sylphic speaking community makes it an excellent cultural determiner. Sylphic has a large literary heritage and remains to be used for fiction, histories and the characteristic poetic forms. However, Sylphic is chiefly a spoken language, used by agricultural labourers in the wilderness, the Church, local government and immigrants gone to the big Cities alike. The complex forms and musical form fit the arts well, especially in folk music, with the added advantage that very few eavesdroppers will understand!

Note From the Creator

I apologise that, at the moment, some elements are made unclear by formatting. As soon as I get the hang of formatting, (hopefully create some tables) this should be much clearer. Also, while the language is still in development could you please not make major changes to the language system itself, though suggestions are much welcomed. Thank you.

Alphabet

Sylphic uses a Roman alphabet, modified with various diacritics, along with a small group of other letters. Vowels come in three 'flavours' (for want of a better word): plain, first derivative coloured or second derivative coloured, or simply: undotted, single dotted, double dotted. Consonants may appear plain or coloured (some being just single dotted, others single and double). Finally there are held vowels and held nasal consonants. These are sounds of a lower pitch, and held for roughly twice the length of other vowels and consonants. The diacritics ´ `^ and ˇ mark "gender" and do not alter pronunciation. The pronunciation guide below is written (for clarity) in English, rather than IPA, and should be approached with a Northern British accent. However, these pronunciations are for guide purposes only! In fact, the sound is more rounded, having a "English singing pronunciation' or more Norwegian sound. Imagine you have a boiled sweet in your mouth as you say these. Furthermore, pronunciation also is altered by context, vowels ending syllables tend to be cut short and vowels before nasals tend to themselves be partly nasalised.

Plain Vowels

a	/ar/ as car
e	/e/ as bet
ı	/i/ as bit
o	/o/ as cot
u	/u/ as hut

First Derivative Coloured Vowels

ȧ	/ao/
ė	the relaxed final /a/ of banana
i	/ee/ as tree
ȯ	/ow/ as row

Second Derivative Coloured Vowels

ä	/ay/ as bay
ë	/ur/ as cur
ï	/ich/ as German ich
ö	/or/ as sore
ü	/oo/ as loot

Plain Consonants

b	/b/ as but
c	/c/ as cat
d	/d/ as duck
f	/f/ as of
g	/g/ as goat
h	/h/ as hat
j	rolled /j/ as Spanish jota
k	/k/ as kit
l	/l/ as pull, not as light
m	/m/ as map
n	/n/ as new
p	/p/ as pot
q	/c/ as cut
r	/r/ as rat
s	/s/ as sail
t	/t/ as tent
v	/v/ as van
w	/w/ as water
x	/x/ as Xanadu
y	/y/ as yet
z	/z/ as zoo

Coloured Consonants

ḃ	/bh/
ċ	/xsh/
ḋ	/dh/
ç	rolled /c/
ḟ	/f/ as flower
ġ	a French /j/ as je suis
ḣ	unpronounced; denotes a complete expulsion of air from the lungs
ḧ	rolled /h/
ṗ	/ph/ as philanthropy
ṙ	rolled /rr/ as Spanish perro
ṡ	/sh/ as shut
ṫ	/th/ as bath, not as there
ẗ	/st/ as stop
ẇ	/wh/ as what
ẅ	/ewh/
ẋ	/ch/ as church
ẍ	/sx/: a run on of six, or s-schwa-x
ẏ	/dj/ or /j/ as jam
ÿ	/I/ as I
ż	/sjz/

Held Vowels and Held Consonants

Remember to drop pitch when moving to these sounds: there should be a certain sonority to them.

ā	long, sighed /a/
ē	long, sighed /e/
ī	long, sighed /i/
ō	long, sighed /o/
ū	long, sighed /u/
ṁ	long, hummed /m/
ṅ	long, hummed /n/
ŋ	long, hummed /ng/ as rigging

Other Letters

ð	/th/ as there, not as bath
æ	/a/ as cat
ll	/ll/ as pull, not as light
	rolled /j/ as Spanish jota
	/y/ as yellow
	/dl/ as puddle
œ	/oi/ as oil

Basic Grammar

Basics

Noun Types ("Genders")

Many societies see the world divided up into four elements. The four types of noun have nothing to do with this, but it may help to think along these lines. In fact there is no set reason why one is one thing and one another, but tends to be divided by age, gender, level of complexity of idea, abstract versus prosaic, etc. The definite and indefinite article mark gender, along with the written diacritic upon the first un-coloured vowel of the word. These diacritics are also found on the article. As in Chinese, where tone differentiates between words such as "mother" and "question participle", a single Sylphic word may refer to four different nouns, four different verbs, four adjectives and four adverbs (although they tend to be related). This is clearly defined in writing, where the diacritics and article mark word type. (Gender extends to all word classes). However, in speech, where no article is present, confusion may arise. However, much of the time words across type are roughly synonymous (i.e. in speech there is no big need to differentiate "end" and "finish"). If there is a large difference in meaning across type, then definition is created through context. "The cat sat on the mat" is hardly going to be "the cunning rested on the carpet tile"

Indefinite Article	Definite Article
Qué -	Yá
Quèd	Dà
Quêl	Lâ
Jĕ	Jă

Singular, Dual, Trial, Paucal, Plural

Singular refers to one object, Dual to two, Trial to three. Paucal refers to 'many' (roughly between four and seven) and Plural refers to 'lots' (at least seven). This is due to Sylphic's base three counting system, only recently adapted to allow decimal numbers. To mark quantity, the following suffixes are applied to the noun. No agreement is needed with adjectives, but is required of verbs. All nouns are count nouns, that is, the word for water refers in fact to a single 'hypothetical' quantity of water. All mass nouns, when used as such, are given the plural suffix. For words ending in vowel sounds:

Singular	n/a
Dual	s
Trial	t
Paucal	j
Plural	r

For words ending in consonant sounds:

Singular	n/a
Dual	ÿs
Trial	ÿt
Paucal	ÿj
Plural	ÿr

Persons

These tend not to be attached to verbs as in 'I am', as the verb conjugation itself tells enough about tense and person (as in Spanish). However, these words are used rather for formality's sake, to clarify ambiguous statements, as possessives or as the subjects of verb statements. They are altered by case.

I	Ä
You singular to someone close to the first person	Beäḣ
You singular to someone who the first person is respectful / distant to	Bÿ
He	Teo
She	Teä
It	Tÿ
One / Impersonal You	Ÿ
We including the second person	Ṫi
We not including the second person	Ṫÿ
You plural to others close to the first person	Leäḣ
You plural to others who the first person is respectful / distant to	Lÿ
They masculine	Seo
They feminine	Seä
They genderless objects	Sÿ

Social Honorifics

When discussing other human beings, or objects given human qualities, Sylphic uses an extended system of honorifics, demonstrating the relationship between the addresser and addressee or person discussed. These are attached (by hyphen) to the end of the name of the addressee or subject. If a name is not present, then this is tagged to the chief noun describing the subject or addressee, such as job titles, descriptions, nouns marking social status, etc. If there are none of these present, the honorific is tagged to the final word of the utterance, or sentence. An similar feature in English is "I'll do that right away, sir". Also, in first utterances, the addressee is often hailed by their honorific.

Family Relationships

The English language marks various family relationships such as "brother", "sister", "uncle", "niece", etc. However, Sylphic has a much larger lexis of these. The term "daughter" in English tallies to four possible terms in Sylphic, which coincidentally tally with a system formerly prevalent in the British private school system: major, minor, minimus. An eldest daughter is termed "mȧlá", second "mȧlé", third "mȧló" and younger ones as "mȧlú". Granddaughters are usually termed "mȧlæ". This system produces a very intricate map of family and interfamily relationships.

Social Relationships

In English, one addresses another as "sir", "Your Highness", or "ms". The same is true in Sylphic, except it is much greater developed. The list of honorific terms in use is potentially enormous, as roles in, for example, government develop their own honorific. However, there is a body of day-to-day terms such as "dȯlèü": best female friend. It is important to note that the term "dȯlèü" carries an extra differentiation: viability for a romantic relationship, i.e. if you were not both friends then that person could be potentially attractive. In Sylphic speaking society, a strategic use of honorifics is often employed.

Usage

To illustrate this in practice, we may examine the term for "identical twin sister": ÿdà. This may be used as such:

• Ẋä-nô igqunœ äẋ ÿdà-læ
  • This-NOM be-HABIT/3rdSING I-POS identical twin sister-PSD
  • Literally: This is my identical twin sister
• Éfæ-nô-ÿdà igqunœ xâllā
  • Eva-NOM (my identical twin sister) be-HABIT/3rdSING sleep-ADJ
  • Literally: Eva is sleepy
• Ÿdà, igquı xâllā
  • Identical twin sister, be-HABIT1stSING sleep-ADJ
  • Literally: I am sleepy
• It also may be the case that one addresses a very close best friend as "ÿdà" as well, in order to demonstrate the closeness of the relationship, mutual respect or sisterly affection.

Numbers

Cardinal Numbers

As a point of interest, the Sylphic number system (extended to base ten) is as follows:

Zero	Pù
One	Yÿ
Two	Tzá
Three	Twá
Four	Kÿ
Five	Qúi
Six	Sÿs
Seven	Süt
Eight	Óll
Nine	Nüj
Ten	Yȧ
Twenty	Tȧ
Thirty	Twȧ
Forty	Kȧ
Fifty	Qúȧ
Sixty	Syȧ
Seventy	Zȧ
Eighty	Ói
Ninety	Nȧ
Hundred	Útä
Thousand	Ítia

Base Three Counting System

The original base three counting system worked on two principles. The first was a counting system which went as follows: 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 21, 22, 23, etc, which rose to 333 (that is, 27). The second functioned as a rather more basic system: 1, 2, 3, many, lots (as is present in the plural system). There are specialist words for these hypothetical quantities: ȧfón (many), ȧrlón (lots).

Case

Note from the creator

Currently, much of the Sylphic standardisation is taking place in the area of case. However, a working list of case used is possible, although it is likely to be altered at a future date. As of the moment, the case system resembles that of Finnish (and a little of Hungarian)

• Nominative
• Accusative
• Partitive
• Prolative
• Essive
• Translative
• Instructive
• Abessive
• Comitative
• Genitive
• Locative
  • Allative
  • Adessive
  • Inessive
  • Elative
  • Illative
  • Ablative
  • Dative

Deixis

Sylphic marks six deictic distances, rather than the two used in English (“here”, “there” / “this”, “that”). These are proximal, corporeal, visual, distal, abstract and metonymic.

Proximal	Relating to objects upon, about, or of the body of the speaker. Items of extreme proximity
Corporeal	Relating to objects within the range of the grasp of the speaker, or may be physically touched. Items within personal space
Visual	Relating to objects within visual range and may be directly gestured at. Items up to the horizon
Distal	Relating to objects beyond the line of sight, over the horizon, although theoretically within range of the speaker’s ability to travel
Abstract	Relating to objects beyond the speaker’s ability to travel. A long way away. Also used when describing theoretical objects, concepts, or within fictions. Items not possible to inspect
Metonymic	Relating to objects represented. This used to typically refer to the object in an image, that has left footprints or tracks, or any artefact. Modern examples include pointing at a video and saying that’s the Prime Minister

Speaking Sylphic

Tone and Pronunciation

Speaking Sylphic fluently involves the adoption of the rising and falling tone of the language. Rules governing pitch are very rough, but as a set of guidelines, the following tends to cover most aspects. Single syllable: Down (and short). Double syllable (ending in vowel sound): Down - up. Double syllable (ending in consonant sound or æ): Up - Down or Down - up. Double syllable (ending in climax vowel / consonant): Up - Down. Triple syllable: single syllable - double syllable or up - double syllable. Quadruple syllable: down - up - down - up. Quintuple syllable: up - down - up - down - up. This is by no means an exhaustive list. Someone recently remarked that it sounded like a cross between Shetland, Spanish and Liverpudlian.

Honorifics

Take care to use the correct honorifics for each social situation, it can be considered impolite to misaddress someone.

Verbs

When speaking, it is permissible to only use the simpler verb tenses (rather than the more specific forms used in writing). This can make speaking the language much easier. In an informal situation, using 100% correct grammar suggests an impolite superiority complex, or being excessively sarcastic (correct grammar in speech can equate to saying "yeah, right"). Furthermore, don't panic over gender, as it will probably be clear which sense of a word you mean.

Dictionary

The Dictionary

The dictionary is still under massive reconstruction, each word that had been invented being tested and formalised. These are the words that have so far made it through. Please, please, please, don't hesitate to suggest more vocabulary; as long as it follows the rules (and is not too stupid) it should be accepted. The more people who get involved the better. The current dictionary is available as a .pdf (as it is far too complicated a job to reformat it here). You can view it here: Dictionary v1.1.pdf (When the first page has loaded, wait a few seconds, then click the download for free button) The dictionary will be updated over time

Growth of Vocabulary

As people who speak one language go out and meet other people who speak a different language, then linguistic items are exchanged. If speakers of another conlanguage want to exchange lexis on a low level, then I am more than happy for this to take place.

Other Conlangs

As an intellectual exercise, I have attempted to transliterate the names of some other conlangs described on another Conlang site:

• Nȧléqæn
• Ḣélıkoṅ
• Úṁbriænæ
• Glȯt
• Áliṡyæ

Cultural Items

Time Division

Sylphic, although now having absorbed the standard Western calendar, used to, and still does to a large extent, use different forms of time division. [| Diagram of Sylphic Calendar and Hour System]

Hours

A Sylphic "hour" roughly equates to that of a modern Western hour. However, a Sylphic "hour" is a much more abstract concept, and does not necessarily last sixty minutes. Rather, there are twenty four different characters of each day, regularly represented in cultural mysticism by the twenty four Figures (essentially demigoddesses or female saints). Each "hour" has a quality associated with it, thus connecting time, routine and the supernatural more closely. The "hours" are standardised to the spring equinox, and are stretched or shortened according to the time of year. Sometimes whole "hours" will be skipped, at the discretion of the speaker.

Meals

Sylphic has an unusually developed set of terms for times of eating. It is not inferred that a Sylphic speaker will eat fifteen meals a day, only that they differentiate between, for example, an afternoon snack and an afternoon tea.

Annual Divisons

As well as the twelve seasons, the Sylphic year is divided into eight approximate sections, marked by a specific festival. As with the "hours", these divisions each have a Figure. Contemporary Sylphic reconciles these festivals with standard Western feast-days, such as Christmas and Easter (although the dates differ by a few days). The names of the Figures make popular girls' names.

Example text

This section is due to change soon. For the moment,

Example Text

Yá bérigiṅue-nô qélpënœ ǔndÿplǔ yá ȧlóṅiaḣ-ẋè fìlæü

Direct Translation

The riverNOM flowHABIT DIRECTION-DEIXIS the valeDAT stormADJ

Gloss

The river flows down through the stormy vale