User:Bukkia/sandboxIII

Qihep (in Qihep: Qixēp [ˌkʷiˈxeːp]) is a constructed fantasy language

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labio- dental		Dental		Alveolar		Post- alveolar		Palatal		Velar		Labialized velar		Labialized velar
Plosive	p	b					t	d					k	g	kʷ		(ʔ)1
Nasal		m		(ɱ)2			n					ɲ		(ŋ)3
Vibrant								r
Fricative			f	v			s		ʃ				x				h
Affricate							ʦ		ʧ	ʤ
Approximants												j		w
Lateral approximants								l

Note:

• [ʔ]¹is not recognised as an independent phoneme but it is inserted between two vowels, or between two identical consonants.

• [ɱ]² and [ŋ]³ are considered allophones of the normal nasal phonemes in front of [f]/[v] and [k]/[g]/[kʷ] respectively.

Vowels

Vowels
	Front		Near- front		Central		Near- back		Back
Close		i(ː)								u(ː)
Close mid		e(ː)								o(ː)
Mid					ə(ː)
Open					a(ː)

Every vowel can be distinctively short and long.

No dipthongs are allowed. If two vowels are adiacent in a compound word, a glottal stop ([ʔ]) emerges to keep them separated.

Transcription

Qihep uses a logographic script, but it can be transcribed in Latin form:

Letter

a

ā

b

c

d

e

ē

f

g

ǵ

h

i

ī

j

k

l

m

n

ń

o

ō

p

q

r

s

ś

t

ts

u

ū

v

w

x

y

ȳ

IPA

[a]

[aː]

[b]

[ʧ]

[d]

[e]

[eː]

[f]

[g]

[ʤ]

[h]

[i]

[iː]

[j]

[k]

[l]

[m]

[n]

[ɲ]

[o]

[oː]

[p]

[kʷ]

[r]

[s]

[ʃ]

[t]

[ʦ]

[u]

[uː]

[v]

[w]

[x]

[ə]

[əː]

Transcription in Latin adopts the use of underline, when a word is written with logograms used for their sound, and not for their meaning. Qihep uses this rule usually for foreign names or proper names.

• I am going to go to Rome: ul Rōma fut bim fa vol

Morphology

Tipologically speaking, Qihep is an isolating language, that means its words never change nor add any additional ending to show number, gender, tense, aspect, etc.

We followed those men: Ul la nār vran ta śak fa

Analysing the sentence:

• Ul: means I
• la: it's a grammatical particle which shows the idea of plural
• nār: means that
• vran: means man
• ta: it's a grammatical particle, conveying the idea of past
• śak: means follow
• fa: it's a grammatical particle, conveying the idea of action complete

Grammar roles and complements are conveyed by the position in the sentence, by grammatical particles and by postpositions. Grammatical particles are not strictly needed and can be left out of the sentence if the meaning is clear from the context. For example, in the previous sentence, the particle ta can be easily omitted if it's clear that we are talking about the past.

Even if there is no strict morphology, Qihep words can be compounded to form new words and a complex derivational morphology does exist. For example:

• xep, mouth + svūk, sound → xepsvūk, voice
• troj, to build + -kȳt, noun for the result of the action → trojkȳt, building

Nouns

Nouns do not change for number or for gender.

Nouns denoting humans or animals can be linked to a definite gender by prefixing the terms tan, male or res, female:

• vran, human, person → tanvran, man, resvran, woman.

By reduplicating the nouns we can express the meaning of a collective noun:

• vran, human, person → vranvran, people, population

The particle la can be postponed after the nouns to express plurality, but it conveys also the idea of "many".

• vran(vran) la, many people

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Pronouns show a limited gender distinction and mandatorily use the grammar particle la for plural if they refer to plural forms.

Person	English	Form	Explanation
1st	I	ul
2nd	you	ma
3rd	he	tȳn	for humans or animals, male or without defining gender
3rd	she	rȳs	for humans or animals, strictly for female
3rd	it	qem	for objects or small animals
3rd	it	do	indicates something undefined, object or idea, which it has already been talked about, aforementioned

When referring to more people or objects, particle la is mandatorily postponed after the pronouns:

• ul, I → ul la, we

Pronouns do not change for case, as they do in English, but they express their role by using the position in the sentence:

• ul tȳn nat piǵ kra, I can't see him
• tȳn ul nat piǵ kra, He can't see me

Interrogative pronouns

There are two basic interrogative adjectives and pronouns

Form	English	Explanation
wē	who, which	for humans and animals
wū	what, which, where	for objects and small animals, it can also express location with locative verbs

• Ma wē ta piǵ fa lo, Who did you see?
• Tȳn la wū skyt sty lo, What are they doing?
• Rȳs wū stā sty lo, Where is she?

Other interrogative pronouns are formed by adding specific nouns:

wū + meś, place	= wūmeś	where, in which place
wū + tsēd, time	= wūtsēd	when, in which period
wū + dān, moment	= wūdān	when, in which moment
wū + cin, way	= wūcin	how, in which way
wū + prīc, reason	= wūprīc	why, for which reason
wū + tsel, purpose	= wūtsel	why, for which purpose

Demonstrative pronouns

There are three demonstrative adjectives and pronouns

Form	English	Explanation
tyk	this	for something or somebody near both the listener and the speaker
qē	that	for something or somebody near the listener but far from the speaker
nār	that	for something or somebody far from both the listener and the speaker

Numbers

Number	Form
1	mē
2	xup
3	ci
4	vo
5	qo
6	bum
7	śo
8	rō
9	va
10	ty
100	sto
1000	qur
1000000	mil
1000000000	milar

To build the higher numbers place the units before the tens, the hundreds, the thousands, etc:

Number	Form
20	mēty
30	xupty
40	city
200	mēsto
300	xupsto
2000	mēqur
30000	xuptyqur
etc.

Compound numbers are built by placing the lesser number after the higher one:

Number	Form
11	ty mē
15	ty qo
23	xupty ci
145	sto voty qo
2156	xupqur sto qoty bum
1 259 978	mil xupsto qoty vaqur qosto śoty rō
etc.

Verbs

Verbs do not change according to time, aspect, mode, number, gender, etc. They are usually associated with grammar particles which convey the negation, the time, the aspect, the modality or the evidentiality of the action. No one of this particle are strictly mandatory if the context is clear enough to express these meanings.

The particles are strictly placed in this order:

Negation

-

Time

-

Verb form

-

Aspect

-

Mode

-

Evidentiality

Example:

• It seems they aren't looking for him right now: tȳn la tȳn not mo qum sty vol nah

Negative particles

• nat: assertive negation, it negate an assertion, a question, a normal sentence
• pē: prohibitive negation, it negate and order, expressing a prohibition

Time particles

• ta: past, it locates the action in the past
• rā: remote past, it locates the action in the remote past, historical past or a past that we feel remote and far
• mo: present, it locates the action in the present, it is usually omitted, and when expressed it conveys the meaning of precise present "right now"
• fut: future, it locates the action in the future
• fu ta: future in the past, it locates the action in the (hypotetic) future of a past action (still in the past)
• ta fu: anterior future, it locates the action in the past of a future action (still in the future)

Modal particles

• si:
• vol:
• pos:
• des:
• ro:
• kra:
• vā:
• fōr:
• kōm:

Evidential particles

• nah:
• box:
• kap:

Syntax

SOV - GN - AN - NP - RN

Subject - Indirect Object - Direct Object - Place - Manner - Temporal adverbs or construction - Negation - Time particle - Verb system

Texts

Babel text

1. tsal dīn dī vranvran mē xēp rā xēp ī tȳn la mēm dum nuts sōl
2. tsēd o le xīs ud qin sty tȳn la Śinār lān stā dī sbēnlān qum fa ī nārmeś rā sōlǵīv fa kōm
3. ī tȳn la drug tȳn la rā kāǵ fa "ma la qin si ul la trojsās skyt fa si ī ul la qem la pīr ō qōc fa si" tȳn la sās ā skām fa dī trojsās i kāx ā skām fa dī trojkāx rā nūts fa
4. ī tȳn la rā kāǵ fa "ma la qin si ul la byl i qem dī fīp kōpdīn fut dūqin fa dī fītrojkȳt tsel vor le ul la dī ńīm snāsy bly fa ī ul la ā nat fut rasjēq fa
5. ī Pō rā dōlqin fa vran dī denden troj sty dī byl i fītrojkȳt piǵvor fa
6. ī tȳn rā kāǵ fa "ma la piǵ fa si tȳn la mē vranvran ī mē xēp xēp sty tyn la do skyt ǵa kōm ī ńakmē tȳn la fut fajan fa kra tȳn la do skyt fa ud dī do ā le tȳn la skyt fa ā"
7. "ma la tyk prīc par qin si ul la dōlqin fa si ī ul la tȳn la dī xēp obmiś fa si tsel vor le tȳn la drug tȳn la dī xepsvūk nat fut enēm fa pos"
8. ī Pō tȳn la ńik lān to rā rasjēq fa ī tȳn la byl dī trojtan jan fa
9. tyk byl ā Bābel rā ńīmkreś fa prīc par le Pō tsal dīn dī xēp tykmeś ud rasjēq fa