Lišěč

Lišĕč (Lišĕčna/Лишĕчна)
Spoken in:	Poland, Ukraine
Region:	Galitia
Total speakers:	85.000 speakers
Genetic classification:	Language isolate or Altaic family :Uralic languages ::Lišĕč languages :::Lišĕč
Extra information
Author:	Bukkia

Lišĕč is a language, spoken in Galitia, on the border line between Poland and Ukraine. It’s an highly agglutinative language, and it‘s similar to Finnish, Estonian and Hungarian languages, maybe related to the Uralic family, but it has many differences, that show the influence of Slavic and German languages. It is unknow if it is an isolated language with influences from both Uralic and Indo-European languages, or an Uralic language with a unknown substrate and influences from Indo-European languages.

It can be written both with Latin Alphabet and with Cyrillic alphabet.

Phonology

Vowel harmony

The vowel harmony is typical phenomenon of non-Indo-european languages in Europe.

The vowels of interchangeable endings change according to the last vowel in the last syllable of the word.

The interchangeable vowels in the endings are:

• -e-: for a last front vowel in the world
• -a-: for a last central vowel in the world
• -o-: for a last back vowel in the world

Examples: The plural endings are: -nes, -nas, -nos / -нес, -нас, -нос

Lin (man) → Linnes / Лин (man) → Линнес
Tanõk (sea) → Tanõknos / Танõк (sea) → Танõкнос
Sava (river) → Savanas / Сава (river) → Саванас

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i • y   ɨ u e o ə    ɛ • œ ɔ æ      a
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p b		t d				k ɡ
Nasal	m	ɱ	n			ɲ
Vibrant			r
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ
Affricate				ʦ ʣ	ʧ ʤ
Approximant						j	ɰ
Lateral approximant			l			ʎ

Writing systems

Lišěč can be written with both a modified version of Latin alfabet (called Latinka/Латинка) and a modified version of Cirillic alfabet (сalled Kirilica/Кирилица).

IPA consonant	Latin	Cyrillic
/p/	p	п
/b/	b	б
/t/	t	т
/d/	d	д
/k/	k	к
/g/	g	г
/m/	m	м
/n/	n	н
/ɲ/	ň	њ
/ʦ/	c	ц
/ʣ/	z	ѕ
/ʧ/	č	ч
/ʤ/	ğ	ђ
/f/	f	ф
/v/	v	в
/θ/	ţ	ө
/ð/	đ	ћ
/s/	s	с
/z/	ś	з
/ʃ/	š	ш
/r/	r	р
/j/	j	й
/ɰ/	u	у
/l/	l	л
/ʎ/	ł	љ

IPA vowel	Latin	Cyrillic
/i/	i	и
/y/	ü	ÿ
/ɨ/	y	ы
/u/	u	у
/e/	e	е
/ɛ/	ĕ	ĕ
/ə/	ë	ё
/œ/	ö	ö
/æ/	ä	ä
/a/	a	а
/ɔ/	õ	õ
/o/	o	о

Morphology

Lišĕč has an agglutinative morphology, i.e, words are declined and take endings, but these ending have only one meaning, instead of the multiple meaning of a Indo-european desinence.

Exemple:

• Latin: Urbium (genitive plural of the cities): root urb + desinence -ium, the desinence have meaning of both plural and genitive case.
• Lišĕč: Gradanasal (genitive plural of the cities): root grada + plural desinence -nas- + genitive desinence -al

Substantives

Substantives have no genre, but they decline according to number (singular, plural and collective) and cases (29 cases):

Number

Number	Latin	Cyrillic
Singular	-	-
Plural	-nas/nes/nos	-нас/нес/нос
Collective	-ałij/ełij/ołij	-аљий/ељий/ољий

The collective number means a defined group of objects or beings, while plural number indicates an undefined number of objects or things (both functions are covered by plural in Indo-european languages):

The collective should be used:

• With cardinal numbers
• Without numbers to indicate “a group of” or with uncountable nouns to indicate “a little of”, “a bit of”

Case

The case indicates the role the word plays in the sentence, without prepositions. Lišěč has 29 cases, many more of any Indo-european language, but a large number of cases is normal for Uralic languages.

Case	Latin	Cyrillic	Case function
Nominative	-	-	Case of subject
Genitive	-al/el/ol	-ал/ел/ол	Case of possession
Dative	-am/em/om	-ам/ем/ом	Case of indirect object
Accusative	-an/en/on	-ан/ен/он	Case of direct object
Partitive	-a/e/o	-а/е/о	Case of ripartition It can be translated with the adjectives some any
Essive	-as/es/os	-ас/ес/ос	Case of existence It can be translated with the word as
Causal	-fal/fel/fol	-фал/фел/фол	Case of causes It can be translated with prepositions because of for
Originative	-dala/dele/dolo	-дала/деле/доло	Case of origin It can be translated with prepositions from of
Instrumental	-kam/kem/kom	-кам/кем/ком	Case of instrument It can be translated with prepositions with by
Comitative	-sam/sem/som	-сам/сем/сом	Case of company It can be translated with preposition (together) with
Agentive	-õlna/õlne/õlno	-õлна/õлне/õлно	Case of agent It can be translated with the preposition by
Finalitative- benefactive	-ossa/osse/osso	-осса/оссе/оссо	Case of finality and benefice It can be translated with preposition for
Abessive	-baś/beś/boś	-баз/без/боз	Case of absence It can be translated with preposition without
Temporal	-ňal/ňel/ňol	-њал/њел/њол	Case of time It can be translated with prepositions at during
Terminative	-õňa/õňe/õňo	-õња/õње/õњо	Case of end It can be translated with preposition until
Inessive	-ka/ke/ko	-ка/ке/ко	See table below
Elative	-kaňa/keňe/koňo	-кања/кење/коњо	See table below
Illative	-kaţun/keţun/koţun	-каөун/кеөун/коөун	See table below
Superessive	-sõda/sõde/sõdo	-сõда/сõде/сõдо	See table below
Delative	-šanë/šenë/šonë	-шанë/шенë/шонë	See table below
Sublative	-sõğa/sõğe/sõğo	-сõђа/сõђе/сõђо	See table below
Adessive	-đyna/đyne/đyno	-ћына/ћыне/ћыно	See table below
Ablative	-daţë/deţë/doţë	-даөë/деөë/доөë	See table below
Allative	-adanë/edenë/odonë	-аданë/еденë/одонë	See table below
Interjective	-rağä/reğä/roğä	-рађä/ређä/рођä	See table below
Transitive	-rakä/rekä/rokä	-ракä/рекä/рокä	See table below
Translative	-arykë/erykë/orykë	-арыкë/ерыкë/орыкë	See table below

The last 12 cases in table above are Locative cases. The locative system of Lišĕč language is highly developed, with indication for interior (inside), surface (on, above) and adjacency (near), and with the four locative complements: statement in, movement to, movement from and movement across.

So, for example, the sublative case means a movement towards above, or a movement over a surface.

Case System
	interior	surface	adjacency
statement in	inessive	superessive	adessive
movement to	illative	sublative	allative
movement from	elative	delative	ablative
movement across	interjective	transitive	translative

Adjectives

Adjectives act like substantives, they take the same endings of case and number. Adjectives in attributive function are placed always before their substantives. Only past participles (which are adjectives) can be placed after the substantive.

There is no article at all.

Adverbs

Adverbs derived from adjectives are built by adding to adjectives’ base form the adverbial ending: -õkša/õkše/õkšo,-õкша/õкше/õкшо

Locative adverbs

Lišĕč locative adverbs have a particular feature, which makes them different from the other languages‘ adverbs: they decline. They take the same locative endings of substantives, to indicate what kind of movement or statement they express, according to the locative system, explained in the table above. For example:

Sinaan/Синаан has the unspecified meaning of there, but its role can be specified by adding the locative endings:

With the elative ending, Sinaankaňa/Синаанкања, it specifies its meaning in from there inside

With the adessive ending, Sinaanđyna/Синаанћына, it specifies its meaning in there (statement) near.

And so the other locative adverbs decline.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Pronouns	Latin	Cyrillic
I	kaj	кай
Thou	le	ле
He/she/it	am	ам
We (exclusive)	fi	фи
We (inclusive)	fikaj	фикай
You	lěni	лěни
They	amini	амини

Personal pronouns use the same endings substantives to decline. Personal pronouns in nominative are not needed before declined verbs, since they already show their person with desinences.

Personal pronouns declined in genitive play the role of our possessive adjectives/pronouns. They are placed before the substantive but they are not adjectives and they do not decline (note: they are already declined in genitive). Other Uralic languages have particular personal desinence to express our possessive adjectives, and maybe Lišěč had but surely lost them.

My mother: kajal anja/кайал анйа

Interrogative Pronouns

Pronouns	Latin	Cyrillic
What	nik	ник
Who	këta	кëта
Which	jõgë	йõгë
How Much	skolg	сколг

Interrogative pronouns use the same endings for substantives to decline.

Numerals

Number	Latin	Cyrillic
0	nõl	нõл
1	ögši	öгши
2	kägśi	кäгзи
3	öłne	öљнë
4	ňiła	њиља
5	biśi	бизи
6	güśij	гÿзий
7	sjěn	сйěн
8	vaśën	вазëн
9	điviţ	ћивиө
10	kyme	кыме

Verbs

Verbs do conjugate according to persons, moods (indicative, subjunctive, conditional, accusative, imperative) and tenses (present, aorist, perfect past, imperfect past, ancient past, anterior past, recent future, far future, anterior future)

Verbs do conjugate according to persons by adding some personal endings:

Personal Desinence	Latin	Cyrillic
I	-alm/elm/olm	-алм/елм/олм
Thou	-atë/etë/otë	-атë/етë/отë
He/She/It	-ast/est/ost	-аст/ест/ост
We (exclusive)	-ammë/emmë/ommë	-аммë/еммë/оммë
We (inclusive)	-amäl/emäl/omäl	-амäл/емäл/омäл
You	-atëni/etëni/otëni	-атëни/етëни/отëни
They	-astyn/estyn/ostyn	-астын/естын/остын

This makes the nominative personal pronouns completely useless to conjugate verbs.

Before adding the personal endings, you have to indicate the verb’s mood, by adding modal endings:

Mood	Latin	Cyrillic
indicative	-	-
subjunctive	-šaš/šeš/šoš	-шаш/шеш/шош
conditional	-laň/leň/loň	-лањ/лањ/лањ
accusative	-nan/nen/non	-нан/нен/нон
imperative	-aj/ej/oj	-ай/ей/ой

• The Indicative mood marks certain facts and it’s the mood of the reality.

• The Subjunctive mood marks uncertain facts, doubts, and possibility..

• The Conditional mood marks facts under a specified condition, possibility, unreality.

• The Accusative mood marks actions in subordinated clauses. It can only appear in this kind of clauses, which so do not require particular conjunctions. It can be added together with subjunctive or conditional endings, if the meaning of the verbal action requires them.

• The Imperative mood marks orders. It does not require personal endings.

At last, but before the personal endings, you should add the temporal endings, to indicate the verb’s tense:

Tense	Latin	Cyrillic
Present	-ak/ek/ok	-ак/ек/ок
Aorist	-as/es/os	-ас/ес/ос
Perfect Past	-amt/emt/omt	-амт/емт/омт
Imperfect Past	-ostal/ostel/ostol	-остал/остел/остол
Ancient Past	-akaš/ekeš/okoš	-акаш/екеш/окош
Anterior Past	-đarn/đern/đorn	-ћарн/ћерн/ћорн
Recent Future	-ňaţ/ňeţ/ňoţ	-њаө/њеө/њоө
Far Future	-ssan/ssen/sson	-ссан/ссен/ссон
Anterior Future	-ülaj/ülej/üloj	-ÿлай/ÿлей/ÿлой

• The Present tense marks an action which takes place in present time.

• The Aorist tense marks an action, which took place in past time, but without any time reference, and any aspectual reference.

• The Perfect Past tense marks an action in a specified past, with the meaning of the completeness of the action itself. The expressed action is complete and with no links with present time.

• The Imperfect Past tense marks an action in a specified past, with the meaning of incompleteness of the action itself. The expressed action is not complete or it has some links with present time, or we talk about the time of last of the action itself.

• The Ancient Past tense marks an action, which took place before an action expressed by the Aorist tense.

• The Anterior Past tense marks an action, which took place before an action expressed by the Perfect Past tense or Imperfect Past tense.

• The Recent Future tense marks an action, which will take place in a future not far from present time.

• The Far Future tense marks an action, which will take place in a far future from present time.

• The Anterior Future tense marks an action, which will take place before an action expressed by Recent Future tense or Far Future tense.

There are some other verbal endings, which are the infinitival ending and participial endings:

Mood	Latin	Cyrillic
Infinitive	-ajn/ejn/ojn	-айн/ейн/ойн
Present Participle	-ağanđ/eğenđ/oğonđ	-ађанћ/еђенћ/ођонћ
Past Participle	-at/et/ot	-ат/ет/от

• Infinitive is the form you find in dictionaries, and, together with accusative modal endings, it follows modal verbs.

• The Present Participle is an adjectival endings, which form an adjective with the meaning one who does… that which does… in present form.

• The Past Participle is an adjectival endings, which form an adjective with a passive meaning for transitive verbs, and simple past meaning for intransitive verbs.

To negate a verb you may place the adverb ěłi/ěљи before the verb.

Syntax

Verb "to have"

Lišĕč language does not have a verb similar to English verb “to have”. This is a main feature also of all languages in Uralic family. To express possession you can use the construction:

Owned thing or being in Nominative + Õłojn/Õљойн (to be) + Dative of the owner:

• They have two children → Aminiem õłokostyn kägśi pëkaałij / Аминием õљокостын кäгзи пëкаљий

Lexycon

See: Lišěč-English dictionary

Useful expression

• Üvëen Amüen / Ÿвёен Амÿен: Good morning
• Üvëen Pĕinaan / Ÿвёен Пĕинаан: Good afternoon (day)
• Üvëen Vičĕren / Ÿвёен Вичĕрен: Good evening
• Üvëen Jõon / Ÿвёен Йõон: Good night

• Üvëõške mënnat / Ÿвёõшке мённат: Welcome