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´