Kharos S'fik
Introduction
Kharos S'fik was created 1/2006 by Pascal A. Kramm.
It is used in Conlang Relay 13.
Culture
The speakers of Kharos S'fik, the Hoka, are a fringe group living on Hokkaido, Japan's northern-most island, just like the Ainu.
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 settled down, with their language being significantly influenced by Japanese over time.
Grammar
Sentences have SOV order. All words consist of sound units which are usually made up of CV (consonant-vowel) pairs, though vowel-only or consonant-only units are also possible. Final consonants are tacked onto the preceding unit. Every unit takes the same time to pronounce.
Script
Kharos S'fik has three scripts, two of which are still used today.
The transcriptions into the roman script for all three scripts were devised by a German merchant around the 1870s to faciliate trade, after Japan had ended its period of isolation with the Meiji Revolution in 1868 and opened itself to trade with foreigners again.
Fenix script
The Fenix script is the original and oldest script. Like many other scripts (including our roman script), it probably developed from the phoenician script.
Its use today is limited to formal occassions, for headlines, or to express special emphasis (where the roman script would use bold or italic text).
Khaful script
The Khaful script appeared some time after the Fenix script. It uses the same vowels and vowel marks, but completely different chars for all consonants.
It was apparently only used for a short time period alongside with the Fenix script, but disappeared again soon.
It is not used at all anymore today.
Tifet script
When Buddhist scriptures arrived, people were very fond of the Tibetan handwriting the scriptures were composed with. Compared to the Fenix script it seemed much more practical as letters were connected, and thus it could be written more fluently.
Aesthetical considerations probably further helped it to eventually replace the Fenix script as the everyday purpose script.
Today, this is still the main script used for most occassions, with few exceptions where the Fenix script is still used.
Phonology
This table presents the alphabet (khakra) in its proper order.
Sound | Ipa | Initial | Medial | Final | Unit by itself |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
a | a | O | O | O | O |
ä | æ,E | O | O | O | O |
i | i | O | O | O | O |
u | u | O | O | O | O |
au | aU | O | O | O | O |
e | e,E | O | O | O | O |
ei | aI | O | O | O | O |
o | o,O | O | O | O | O |
eu | oI | O | O | O | O |
k | k | - | O | O | - |
kh | ç | O | -/- | -/- | -/- |
kh | x | -/- | O | O | - |
kr | kʁ | O | O | O | O |
ch | ç | O | O | O | O |
cj | ʝ | O | O | - | - |
nj | ɲ | O | O | - | - |
t | t | O | O | O | - |
d | d | O | O | - | - |
n | n | O | O | O | - |
p | p | - | O | O | - |
f | f | O | O | O | O |
w | v | O | O | - | - |
m | m | O | O | O | - |
z | ts | O | O | O | - |
j | j | O | O | - | - |
r | ʁ | O | O | - | - |
l | l | O | O | O | - |
q | kw | O | O | - | - |
x | ks | O | O | O | - |
sh | ʃ | O | O | O | O |
s | s | O | O | O | O |
h | h | O | O | - | - |
- h is also used to indicate long vowels
- kr is regarded as a single consonant
Babel text
Bereshit (Book of Genesis) Chapter 11, 1-9
- 1 Tep khanaz mira en s'parakh de sam khotop ta ha.
- 2 In futesh ch'mas til osot, umanen in Shinara falakh ta tarof okh dä kholoni ta ch'mas.
- 3 Etin til s'jäl ta tal: "Nu f'rokhot! Lata fokin tichel ch'mas okh etin taxan s'cjikrat!" Etin tichel f'samen ishi okh tajära f'samen morat ta fenutaz.
- 4 Tokrat etin ta tal: "Nu f'rokhot! Lata fokin s'tat de toran til nebo fa fokin s'dani, s'da fokin nei sufa khanaz jorat s'ka kha s'farakh."
- 5 Fut HaShem ch'ta ta f'rokhot fa fidet s'tat okh toran ch'toen in ta s'dani.
- 6 HaShem ta tal: "Fal khom en ch'toen de en s'parakh etin khon tata fechin ch'mas, nada etin khikak ch'mas s'ka ise nei wos'mosh fa etin.
- 7 Nu f'rokhot! Lata fokin ch'ta iti okh s'parakh af etin s'mush'cjen, s'da etin nei s'jäl s'ka f'seh."
- 8 S' HaShem etin sufa khanaz jorat s'farakh, okh etin ta f'rek s'dani s'tat.
- 9 Dakha s'tat Fafel ta kha nam, khara HaShem dä s'parakh af khanaz mira s'mush'cjen; til dä, HaShem etin sufa khanaz jorat ta s'farakh.
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
Kharos S'fik | English |
---|---|
A | |
af | of |
CH | |
ch'mas | to make, to do |
ch'ta | down, downwards |
ch'to | man, person |
D | |
dakha | therefore |
dä | there |
de | with |
E | |
-en | plural suffix (infrequently used) |
en | one |
et | it |
etin | they (mixed gender) |
F | |
fa | for |
fal | if |
falakh | flat; a plain |
fechin | begin; beginning |
fenutaz | use |
fidet | see |
fok | I |
fokin | we |
f'rek | stop |
f'rokhot | come |
f'samen | instead (of) |
f'seh | understand; understanding |
fut | but |
futesh | journey |
H | |
ha | have |
I | |
iki | go |
in | in; continuous action particle |
ise | to be; being |
ishi | stone |
J | |
jorat | earth |
KH | |
kha | passive particle |
khanaz | whole |
khara | because (of) |
khikak | plan |
kholoni | settlement, colony |
khom | as |
khon | this |
khotop | word |
L | |
lata | let |
M | |
mira | world |
morat | mortar |
N | |
nada | nothing |
nam | name |
nebo | sky |
nei | not |
nu | imperative particle |
O | |
okh | and |
osot | east |
S | |
sam | same |
s'cjikrat | burn; fire |
s'da | so that |
s'dani | build; building |
s'farakh | spread, scatter |
s'jäl | self, oneself, one another |
s'ka | future particle |
s'mush'cjen | confuse; confusion |
s'parakh | language |
s'tat | city, town |
sufa | over |
T | |
ta | past particle |
tata | perferct particle |
tajära | tar |
tal | say |
tarof | find |
taxan | much, many, a lot |
tep | now |
tichel | brick |
til | until, to, towards |
tokrat | then |
U | |
uman | man, human |
W | |
wos'mosh | possible |