Charos S'fik

About

Modern Charos S'fik is an evolved version of the Traditional Kharos S'fik.
It was created 5/2006 by me (Pascal A. Kramm).

Culture

The speakers of Charos S'fik, the Hoka, are living majorly on Hokkaido (Japan's northern-most island), but a good amount of them also live on Honshû (the Japanese main island), and there mostly in the Kantô region. A small amount is still living on the Russian island Sakhalin north of Hokkaido.
Their name stems back from the late 16th century, when they first made contact with westerners (most likely Portuguese) who named them "Hocaidoes". They eventually adapted the name for themselves, but shortened it to "Hoka".

Origin

When analyzing their language, and also judging from their original Phoenician-derived script, it seems most likely that the Hoka were originally tribes coming from today's Germany and Scandinavia, as you can still find Germanic-sounding words in their vocabulary. From their original habitat, they moved more and more eastwards, crossing all of Russia on the way (which had quite an impact on their language), always looking for a good place to stay. They eventually set over to Sakhalin, and from there to Hokkaido, where they finally started settling down, while some moved on to Honshû and settled mostly in the Kantô region. Their language became strongly influenced by Japanese over time.

Modernisation

Starting with the Meiji Restauration of 1868, the Modernisation also reached the Hoka and eventually gave rise to Modern Charos S'fik.
The new script of Modern Charos S'fik, based upon the old handwriting script, was influenced by the intensive trade and relations with Korea, which also had an strong impact on their language. Also, many started moving over to Korea.

Grammar

Sentences have SOV order.
All words consist of syllables which are composed like this:

• initial consonant (which can be the null-consonant)
• vowel (which can be the null-vowel after the word-initial consonants ch, f, s)
• final consonant (doesn't always occur at the end of a word, omitted before r)

Script

Modern Tifet Script

The Modern Charos S'fik script evolved from the original Tifet handwriting script.

In its creation, the Korean Hangul alphabet was taken as a model for the vowels and the syllable stacking.

Phonology

The Phonology has changed somewhat from the traditional version.

Alphabet

This table presents the alphabet in its proper order.
It is named chakra, after its first two consonant letters.

Sound	Ipa	Initial	Medial	Final	Unit by itself
a	a,ʌ	O	O	O	O
ä	æ	O	O	O	O
e	e,ɛ	O	O	O	O
ei	aɪ	O	O	O	O
i	i,ɪ	O	O	O	O
u	u,ʊ	O	O	O	O
o	o,ɔ	O	O	O	O
eu	oɪ	O	O	O	O
ja	ja,jʌ	O	O	O	O
jä	jæ	O	O	O	O
je	je,jɛ	O	O	O	O
ju	ju,jʊ	O	O	O	O
jo	jo,jɔ	O	O	O	O
jeu	joɪ	O	O	O	O
ch/kh	ç/x	ch	kh	kh	ch
kr	kʁ	O	O	O	O
k	k	-	O	O	-
t/d	t/d	t	d	t	-
n	n	O	O	O	-
f	f	O	O	O	O
m	m	O	O	O	-
p	p	p+ja	O	O	-
j	j	O	O	-	-
r	ʁ	O	O	-	-
l	l	O	O	O	-
sh	ʃ	O	O	O	O
s	s	O	O	O	O
h	h	O	O	-	-

• kr is regarded as a single consonant
• initial vowels use a null-consonant (as in Korean Hangul)
• only p + "ja"-vowel can occur word-initially

Pronunciation rules

Two consonants have a different pronunciation, depending on their position in the word:

• ch/kh: ch if word-initial, kh otherwise.
• t/d: t at the beginning or end of a word or at the end of a syllable, d at the beginning of a syllable inside of a word.

If consonants are followed by any of the ja vowels (ja, jä, je...), some change their pronunciation:

• ch+ja -> cja [ʝa]
• kh+ja -> cha [ça]
• kr+ja -> kkha [kxa]
• k+ja -> kja [kça]
• n+ja -> nja [ɲa]

• t+ja -> tja [tja]
• d+ja -> dja [dja]
• f+ja -> fj [fja]
• p+ja -> pj [pja]
• s+ja -> sj [sja]

The consonants m, j, r, l, sh, h cannot be followed by a ja vowel.

Babel text

Note:

• The apostrophe (') is used in order to indicate syllable boundaries. After a single consonant it means that the consonant has to be pronounced long (consonant-only syllable).
  

Babel text

Bereshit (Book of Genesis) Chapter 11, 1-9

• 1 Chik'im choncjeu sekä han s'parakh sjam chot'op fe tja ita.
• 2 Tjon e in fut'esh ch'mas, inkhan Shin'ara ni pjoncje tja tjarof okh tä shikmin tja ch'mas.
• 3 Krot-ul själ ni tja malha: "Jo f'rokhot! Nek-ul tikh'el jo ch'mas okh mik chot-ul jo fjulpik!" Krot-ul tikh'el sjam'en tol okh tjäl sjam'en morat tja suda.
• 4 Ched'akh krot-ul tja malha: "Jo f'rokhot! Tosh tjoran fe chankron e nek-ul fa jo chorip, s'da nek-ul choncjeu jorat ue njet s'ka cha s'farakh."
• 5 Ut'an HaShem ch'ta tja f'rokhot fa tosh okh tjoran fi'djet som sjaram in tja chorip.
• 6 HaShem tja malha: "Man'il akkhat'i han sjaramtul han s'parakh fe krot-ul chon tata shi'kjak ch'mas, nada krot-ul chäfik ch'mas pulchanunhan krot-ul fa s'ka ita.
• 7 Jo f'rokhot! Nek-ul ch'ta jo chada okh s'parakh af krot-ul jo chondon, s'da krot-ul själ njet s'ka ihä."
• 8 S' HaShem krot-ul choncjeu jorat s'fa tja s'farakh, okh krot-ul tosh tja f'rek chorip.
• 9 Takha tosh Faf'el tja cha nam, emedan HaShem dä s'parakh af choncjeu sekä chondon; tä jo'kje, HaShem krot-ul choncjeu jorat ue tja s'farakh.

Literal: (word-by-word)

• 1 now whole world one language same word with *past* have.
• 2 east towards *continuous* travel make, human-*plural* Shinar in flat *past* find and there settlement *past* make.
• 3 they self to *past* say: "*cohortive* come! We brick *cohortive* make and much they *cohortive* burn!" they brick instead-of stone and tar instead-of mortar *past* use.
• 4 then they *past* say: "*cohortive* come! city tower with sky towards we for *cohortive* build, so-that we whole earth over not *future* *passive* scatter."
• 5 but HaShem down *past* come for city and tower see that man-*plural* *continuous* *past* build.
• 6 HaShem *past* say: "if as one people with one language they this *perfect* begin do, nothing they plan do not-possible they for *future* be.
• 7 *cohortive* come! we down *cohortive* go and language of they *cohortive* confuse, so-that they self not *future* understand."
• 8 so HaShem they whole world over *past* scatter, and they city *past* stop build.
• 9 therefore city Babel *past* passive* name, because HaShem there language of whole world confuse; there from, HaShem they whole earth over *past* scatter.

Translation:

• 1 Now the whole world had one language with the same words.
• 2 Journeying eastwards, men found a plain in Shinar and settled there.
• 3 They said to one another: "Come! Let's make brick and burn it thorougly!" They used bricks instead of stone and tar instead of mortar.
• 4 Then they said: "Come! Let's build a city for us with a tower up to the sky, to make a name for us, so that we are not scattered over the whole earth."
• 5 But HaShem came down to see the city and the tower men were building.
• 6 HaShem said: "If as one people with one language they have begun doing this, nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them.
• 7 Come! Let's go down and confuse their language, so that they will not understand each other."
• 8 So HaShem scattered them over the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.
• 9 Therefore the city was named Babel, because there HaShem confused the language of the whole world; from there HaShem scattered them over the whole earth.

Lexicon

(coming soon)

Numbers

(coming soon)