Kyovantic
Kyovantic is currently going through a huge orthological change. So the way certain words or letters are written may change! Also, when I find the time, I'll try to type up all of my notes here to give a better overview.
Phonology and Orthography
Consonants
Bilabial | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plosive | /p b/ p b | /t d/ t d | /k g/ k g | |||
Nasal | /m/ m | /n/ n | /ŋ/ q | |||
Trill | /r/ r | |||||
Fricative | /ɸ/ f | /θ/ þ | /s/ s | /ʃ/ ṡ | /x/ h | |
Affricative | /ts dz/ c z | /tʃ dʒ/ ċ ż | ||||
Lateral Fricative | /ɮ/ l | |||||
Approximant | /j/ j |
- p t k are pronounced as /p̚ t̚ k̚/ at the end of a word
- b d z ż g are pronounced as /β ð z dʒ ɣ/ in between two vowels or at the end of a word
- r is pronounced as /ð/ at the end of a word
- doubling a consonant makes its sound longer
- when a voiced and voiceless consonant are next to each other, they both take the first letter's voicing
Vowels
Tense
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | /i y/ e u | /ɯ u/ y o | |
Open-Mid | /ɜ ɞ/ a w |
Lax
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close-Mid | /e ø/ ei ui | /ɤ o/ yi oi | |
Open | /a ɒ/ ai wi |
- a e o u w y are pronounced as /ɐ̜ ɪ ʊ̹ ʏ ɐ̹ ʊ̜/ at the end of a word
- a u w y are all silent when in the syllable before the stressed syllable, and pronounced /ə/ elsewhere when unstressed
- doubling a vowel makes its sound longer
- digraphs are lengthened by doubling the first letter of the digraph
Diphthongs
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close-Mid | /øʏ/ ᵫ | /oɪ/ œ | |
Open | /aɪ/ æ |
Stress
Stress normally falls on the first syllable of a word. However, there is irregular stress. This is denoted by an acute accent on that specific syllable's vowel to show the irregularity.
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns in Kyovantic decline based on gender, number, and case. The two articles used in the languages are suffixes.
Gender
There are three genders in Kyovantic: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Their standard form is nominative singular. Each noun's gender can usually be distinguished by the letter that that noun ends with.
Masculine
Masculine nouns usually end in a consonant, a diphthong, -ta, or -se. Any word that describes something animate and male is masculine. With words that can be different genders (e.g. teacher, student), the masculine version always ends in a consonant.
Feminine
Feminine nouns usually end in -a, -e, -o, -u, -y, -bh, -dh, -gh or -amg. Any word that describes something animate and female is feminine. With words that can be different genders (e.g. teacher, student), the feminine version always ends in -a.
Neuter
Neuter nouns usually end in -e, -o, -b, -d, -g, or any doubled vowel. Any word that describes something animate and the gender is not known or the gender is neither male nor female is neuter. With words that can be different genders (e.g. teacher, student), the neuter version always ends in -e.
Articles
There are two morphological articles in Kyovantic. One is mainly assumed.
Indefinite
The indefinite article isn't shown through a suffix, prefix, or separate word. Usually it's just assumed through the noun by itself, however, in certain situations, numbers can be used to express something similar to the indefinite article.
Definite
The definite article is a suffix that changes depending on gender, but not number nor case.
Vowel | Consonant | |
---|---|---|
Masculine | -n | -un |
Feminine | -m | -um |
Neuter | -q | -uq |
Partitive
The partitive article is a suffix that changes depending on gender, but not number nor case.
Vowel | Consonant | |
---|---|---|
Masculine | -s | -as |
Feminine | -sa | -asa |
Neuter | -se | -ase |
Number
There are three distinct numbers in Kyovantic.
Singular
The singular version of a noun is usually its dictionary form.
Dual
In order to express a noun dually, a suffix is added depending on gender and case.
Plural
In order to express a noun plurally, a suffix is added depending on gender and case.
Case
There are six cases in Kyovantic. They are displayed with a suffix and change depending on the specific case, gender, and number.
(In the singular nominative, a specific ending will not be written since it's the dictionary form and there's also more than one. -0 means there is no ending.)
Nominative
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine | - | -t | -ee |
Feminine | - | -t | -e |
Neuter | - | -t | -a |
Accusative
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine | -0 | -t | -ee |
Feminine | -0 | -t | -as |
Neuter | -0 | -t | -aai |
Genitive
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine | -e | -te | -æ |
Feminine | -os | -tos | -acute accent added to the first syllable |
Neuter | -an | -tan | -eq |
Dative
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine | -a | -ta | -ein |
Feminine | -a | -ta | -0 |
Neuter | -o | -to | -oigo |
Locative
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine | -o | -o | -o |
Feminine | -o | -o | -o |
Neuter | -o | -o | -o |
Instrumental
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
Masculine | -aig | -taig | -aiks |
Feminine | -es | -tes | -asici |
Neuter | -oir | -toir | -ad |
Verbs
Tense
All verbs end in -a. Take off the -a and add the corresponding ending based on person and number.
Present
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | -0 | -ta | -na |
2nd person | -d | -da | -t |
3rd person | -acute accent on the last syllable's vowel | -acute accent on the last syllable's vowel+t | - ái |
Recent Past
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | -y | -yta | -yna |
2nd person | -yd | -yda | -yt |
3rd person | -ý | -ýt | - yái |
Anterior Past
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | -e | -eta | -ena |
2nd person | -ed | -eda | -et |
3rd person | -é | -ét | - eái |
Recent Future
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | -u | -uta | -una |
2nd person | -ud | -uda | -ut |
3rd person | -ú | -út | -uái |
Anterior Future
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | -o | -ota | -ona |
2nd person | -od | -oda | -ot |
3rd person | -ó | -ót | -oái |
Negative
All negative verbs end in -sa. The verb is conjugated normally, then the corresponding endings are added onto those endings.
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
---|---|---|---|
1st person | -sum | -s | -s |
2nd person | -us | -s | -se |
3rd person | -se | -se | -s |