Islysian
| Islysian Ilieski | |
 Sa halesta Iliesken - The flag of Islysia | |
| Spoken in: | Islysia [ɪ'sliʒə] |
| Timeline/Universe: | Modern timeline Alternate Earth |
| Total speakers: | ~10 million native |
| Writing system: | Modified Latin alphabet |
| Genealogical classification: | Indo-European Islysian |
| Typology | |
| Basic word order: | SOV |
| Morphological type: | Inflecting |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
| Conlang details | |
| Conlang type: | Fictional language |
| Inspirations: | Baltic & Finnic languages |
| Lexicon size: | >1000 |
| Created by: | |
| Cody Jaeger, 2006-present | |
The Islysian language (ir kälvi Iliesken or ilieski, IPA: [ɪli'ɛski]) is spoken by nearly all of Islysia's population of ~10 million; by small ethnic-Islysian communities in neighbouring countries such as Sweden, Finland, Poland, and the Baltic Rim; and by small emigrant communities in the Anglophone countries.
The Islysian language is considered an Indo-European isolate. Much loaned vocabulary can be traced to Finnic, Baltic, Germanic, Slavic, and even Romance languages—for example, "poike" boy from Finnish and Swedish; "arbat" tea from Lithuanian; "kamping" from English; and "dešöné" lunch from French.
There are several dialects of Islysian. While they are all mutually intelligible (except, perhaps, among the very elderly, who tend to retain antiquidated forms of speech), this article will focus on the spoken form of the Western Islysian (Vísilieski) dialect. This dialect, originating in the metropolitan areas of Islys and the Tälia Sound, is the most widespread dialect, spoken by approximately 60% of the Islysian-speaking population. Western Islysian is de facto accepted as the standard form of the language.
Iterekisna - Introduction
Ir istoria ir kälvisti Iliesken - The history of the Islysian language
It is commonly accepted by the linguistic community that, while influenced by neighbouring Baltic and Finnic languages, the Islysian language evolved separately from Proto-Indo-European. A few very close relatives have been partially attested, but if they were indeed separate languages, all were extinct and superceded by Islysian by about the fifth century AD. The Islysians, outside of their loose linguistic unity, lacked a stong sense of identity beyond the tribal level until they began regular contact with the Suiones and the Rus' in the 8th century AD.
In Islysian, the term Islys refers only to the region of the same name (specifically, the valley of Hythalia and the southeastern part of the the Visia peninsula), while Ilieska refers to the country as a whole. The exonym Islysia was first used by the Suiones, who sailed southeast into the narrow and rocky (but strikingly beautiful) Tälia Sound early in the 8th century. There they were met by a tribe of fishermen and simple farmers who called themselves Islyn. The Norse settlers, however, applied the name "Islysian" to all of the tribes who spoke what they referred to as the "whispered tongue" (likely due to the language's propensity for unvoiced consonants). A travelling Anglian scholar wrote circa 850:
"Those who the Vikings call Isliskingar, are the same sea-faring race the Fenni [Finns] call the Green-Eyed People... They are friendlier and more civilised than their neighbours the Balts, but their language is esoteric and they are reluctant to renounce their heathen ways."
Little is known about Islysia or the Islysian language over the next few centuries, except what was reported by foreign historians: apparently the kingdom was more or less Christianised by the 11th century, and extended its territory deep into what is now Lithuania, Poland, and Belarus in the 13th century.
The first written text in Islysian was the Code of Laws of Prince Iliem II, written in the 1340s, but literacy remained low (particularly in remote rural areas) for many centuries. In the middle of the 15th century, the Cyrillic alphabet briefly gained prominence in Islysia, likely due to the influence of Eastern Orthodoxy. During the 16th century, some important literary works on religious thought were published in Islysian, illustrating the intense debate in the country about the validity of the Reformation—these works were highlighted, even in their own time, by the heated open correspondence between the Archbishop of Islys and an unknown Humanist scholar using the pseudonym "Illyrius." Ensuing throughout the first half of the 1560s, this literary tirade was the most popular entertainment in the capital of Hythalinna (IL: Haiþalinna), with many popular plays (both comic and tragic) written about the Archbishop and Illyrius. It has been speculated that the contrast between the harsh, vitriolic tones of the Archbishop's letters and the logical yet witty musings in Illyrius's letters helped to swing the populace towards a favourable view of the Reformation.
Finally, King Andiri IV standardised the Islysian orthography in 1573. What followed was a period now known as the Islysian Renaissance, or the Islysian Golden Age: an explosion of artistic and literary works by various scholars and artists whose erudition helped to establish Islysian as a major literary and intellectual language in the region. The University of Hythalinna became one of the most prolific centres for Humanist thought in Central Europe. A complete copy of the New Testament in the Islysian language was first issued in 1578. Based on Martin Luther's 1534 translation into German, this book would prove integral in establishing the Protesant Church of Islysia as the religious power in the kingdom.
The Islysian language suffered a decline in prominence beginning in the 18th century, as the sphere of influence of the Russian Tsars extended to the Baltic. For a time, the Islysian language was actually banned in politics and education, but the underground literary movements were surprisingly resilient. After the Russian Revolution, Islysian once again became official. After World War I, Islysia struggled—and succeeded—in an effort to remain free of the Soviet Union, and strong support for the Islysian language was critical to the success of this movement.
Sadalaikisti Ilieska jau hanet valstilait - Modern Islysia and its people
Throughout the modern era, the Islysians have been a peaceful people driven more by the desire to better themselves than by the desire to defend themselves. The small kingdom put forth only a minimal effort during the First World War and remained neutral during the Second, after which it was the only Central European nation to successfully remain outside the Iron Curtain. Today Islysia consistently ranks with its Scandinavian neighbours among the best-developed countries in the world.
Islysia is seen by many as a crossroads of Europe, connecting east with west, north with south. It is geographically Baltic, culturally Nordic, and historically it has jumped back and forth between Central and Northern European. It counts among its people not only those of the Islysian ethnicity, but also those of Polish, Baltic, Russian, and Nordic backgrounds, thanks to Islysia's often-shifting historical borders. In the last century, Islysia became a haven for wealthy and intellectual Africans fleeing the imperialist "scramble for Africa," and today the country boasts one of the most affluent ethnic African populations in the world—among them the widely-loved Chancellor Isobel Nikoli, who traces her ancestry back to Cameroon. Most immigrants adopted the Islysian culture as their own, including the unique Islysian tongue. It is thanks to this fact that Islysia is blessed with a more or less complete lack of the ethnic and racial tensions that so often plague such diverse societies.
Religious life in Islysia is equally diverse. The most popular denomination is the Church of Islysia, a Protestant sect which models its structure and beliefs on those set forth by Martin Luther. Also found throughout the country are Orthodox and Catholic churches, as well as mosques, synagogues, Buddhist and Hindu temples, various small Wiccan and Neopagan communities, and centres for Atheist thought.
Islysian society is very egalitarian, values concensus above all else, and is generally socially liberal and progressive. The economy is a mixture of free-market capitalism with socialistic ideals and limitations, state-run enterprises, and a comprehensive welfare state, resulting in a system similar to (and heavily inspired by) the "Swedish model." Typically of such quasi-socialist societies, Islysians pay massive amounts of taxes but recieve wide varieties of benefits, such as free healthcare/medicine, retirement, and higher education. Further government programs exist to help young (university-age), elderly, disabled or otherwise unlucky citizens to find and afford decent housing, food, and even cars. Still other taxes go to building and maintaining some of the best-kept infrastructure in Europe.
Lantevaidaslys - Phonology
Islysian, long influenced by its North Germanic and Finnic neighbours, exhibits a rich vowel inventory which includes 13 monophthongs, 10 diphthongs, and one triphthong, in contrast with a relatively small consonant inventory ("V" and "S," for example, occur far more frequently than "B" or "F"). The morphology, however, is consonantal in nature (in contrast with vocalic languages such as Hawaiian).
Sonesai - Vowels
a - /a/
á - /ɑ/
ä - /ɛ:/ in Western Islysian, but some dialects (particularly Finnish-influenced far northern dialects) realise as /æ/.
e - /ɛ/
é - /e:/. Some dialects diphthongise to /ɛi/ or /ei/.
i - /i/
í - /i:/
o - /ɔ/
ó - /o:/
ö - /œ/
u - /y/ in Western Islysian, but varies greatly between dialects—may be heard as /ʊ/ or /ʉ/.
ú - /u/
y - /ɪ/
Pronunciation of certain consonants (such as G, which has three separate allophones) change depending on which vowel they precede. For these purposes, Islysian vowels are grouped into "hard" and "soft" sets.
- The hard vowels are: a, á, o, ó, ú.
- The soft vowels are: ä, i, í, e, é, ö, u, y.
An accute accent marks a vowel as long. Acute-accented vowels are not considered separate letters of the alphabet; ä and ö, however, are.
Divisonesai - Diphthongs
Diphthongs in Islysian are as follows:
ai - /ai/
au - /au/
ei - /ɛi/
eu - /ɛu/
ia - /i.a/
ie - /i.ɛ/
iu - /i.y/
oi - /ɔi/
ou - /u:/ - an historical relic, this diphthong is merely the word-final realisation of ú.
ui - /ɥi/ (as in French cuir)
uo - /uɔ/ or /u.ɔ/, depending on its position in the syllable/word
All diphthongs are pronounced with a grave accent on the second vowel. All diphthongs (except ou) may occur word-initially, but many (notably ui and uo) rarely or never do. Historically, initial ui has monophthongised to u (uili > uli, totally, completely), and uo to ó (uonissa > ónissa, to dream).
There is also a single triphthong:
iai - /i.ai/ or /jai/
Soklasinet - Consonants
b - /b/
d - /d/
f - /f/
g - /g/ before a hard vowel or finally; /ʝ/ before a soft vowel; /k/ before a consonant
h - /h/
hj - /ç/ is the only consonant written with a digraph (see #Ir alfabet - The alphabet).
j - /j/ before a hard vowel or finally; /ʝ/ before a soft vowel
k - /k/, palatised /kʲ/ before a soft vowel (unless it occurs at the end of a consonant cluster) or finally
l - /l/, apical, as in Italian, French, etc.
m - /m/
n - /n/ normally, /ŋ/ before K (or G in loan words)
p - /p/ aspirated unless it occurs at the end of a consonant cluster
r - /r/ before a vowel or finally; /ʁ/ before a consonant (except J). Some speakers (eg. young children) may consistently realise /ʁ/.
s - /s/
š - /∫/
t - /t/ aspirated unless it occurs at the end of a consonant cluster
þ - /θ/ in nearly all dialects, but may sometimes be heard as /ð/ in a few remote rural areas (historically, /ð/ was an allophone)
v - /ʋ/ by most Western Islysian-speakers, but most other dialects realise as /v/ (both are acceptable)
z - /z/
Doubled consonants indicate extended length, which varies between dialects. In Western Islysian, the length of a doubled consonant should be slightly shorter than the "N" sound in English "pen-knife."
Sanalantaslysti mainai - Pronunciation changes
Pronunciation changes in Islysian are relatively rare and mostly regular.
Very common clauses sometimes feature internal elision or contraction. For example, the relative clause "saka za" that, which is in everyday speech rendered as ['saksa].
An unstressed "I" before an approximant is lenited to /ɪ/, such as the first letter of the word "ilieski" itself.
More informally, an initial unstressed "E" is often elided: this is most often heard in the case of the demonstrative pronoun "eta" this/it (is), which is very commonly elided to 'ta, particularly by children. In extreme cases, sentences such as "eta enka erda en ejou eli illa?" is this narrow table sufficient or not? may be heard as tankardan júlilla? However, it would not be likely to hear someone speaking in such an exaggerated manner except for effect.
In some cases, if the mutation becomes widespread enough it may enter the standard form of the language: for example, "serkesli," good evening is a morphologised contraction of "sei irkesli."
Skeutasti rakoini - Syllable structure
Islysian syllable structure is basically (C)V(C). Clusters of up to three consonants are allowed initially. Every syllable must have an acceptable vowel sound, ie. structures such as Czech "prvni" first, in which "r" functions as a vowel, would not be allowed in Islysian. Final consonant clusters are not allowed. In recent years, however, it seems this rule has been blurred when adopting loan words, particularly from English.
Kursa ilieskiksi - Writing in Islysian
Ir alfabet - The alphabet
Islysian is written with a modified Latin alphabet. The first written text in Islysian was the Code of Laws of Prince Iliem II, written in the 1340s. However, the Teutonic missionaries who introduced literacy failed to create an orthography specially designed for the language (they were probably in a hurry to get to heathen Lithuania), which is apparent by the wide spelling variations of the period: Ä was interchangeable with E, and Ö with U. /∫/ was variously written as SZ, SJ, SCH, CH, and CJ. K and C were interchangeable, as were V and W. Above all, it seemed that every writer came up with his own realisation of /θ/.
Islysian spelling was finally standardised by King Andiri IV in 1573. His reform is basically what is in use today. Andiri, a scholar of languages, imported the thorn (Islysian letter þa) from England and the S-caron (Islysian letter še) from Bohemia. The phoneme /ç/ is today written with a digraph due to the fact that, at the time of Andiri's reform, /ç/ was not considered a distinct phoneme but rather a palatisation of <h>.
The modern Islysian alphabet has 26 letters: 8 vowels and 18 consonants. Collation order is as follows:
Vilainon kursatyllet - Non-native letters
The following letters are not considered part of the Islysian alphabet as they do not occur naturally in the Islysian language. They are only found in loan words, foreign names, and technical jargon (eg, "www.")
c - /k/ before a hard vowel or finally; /ts/ before a soft vowel
q - /k/
w - /v/ or /ʋ/
x - /ks/ before a hard vowel or finally; /∫/ before a soft vowel
Divikursuret - Digraphs
Besides the diphthongs described in the section on Phonology, the only digraph in the modern Islysian orthography is <hj>, which is pronounced /ç/. It most frequently occurs word-initially, and is almost never found word-finally except in a few colloquialisms, such as "ihj" [ɪç] - which is equivalent to either "ouch!" or "oy vey!"
Kiesai kursajöruret - Alternate realisations
In situations (eg. typewriters, keyboard, www addresses, etc) in which typing Islysian letters such as Še and Þa (the thorn) would be difficult or impossible the following realisations are acceptable:
ä - ay
ö - oy
š - sj
þ - tj
Digraphs are not considered separate letters of the Islysian alphabet. In alternate realisations, however, the two letters are treated as though they were the proper Islysian monograph: eg. "tjaysti" (þästi) often would nominally be sorted after, for example, "tyrsi" dry.
Suresaslys jau akruonimet - Capitalisation and acronyms
Capitalisation is absolutely regular. Only the first letter of a sentence and the first letter of a proper noun are capitalised. Often the genitive form of a proper noun functions as an adjective (see the second example below) and these are capitalised. Common adjectives and common nouns drived from proper nouns are not capitalised.
- Ilieska (p.n.) Islysia
- Iliesken (p.adj.)Islysian (lit. "of Islysia")
- ilieski (c.n.) the Islysian language
- ilieskallini (c.adj) typical of Islysia or Islysians
- ilieskalainen (c.n. an Islysian person (lit. "of the land Islysia" - see #Navnet - Names)
Acronyms are written with the capitalised first letter of each component word, and any following letters from the same word are lowercase. There is no punctuation between letters of an acronym. Acronyms which are themselves loan terms are not usually translated.
- ITv (Iliesken Televizia, Islysian Television)
- IK (Itenörju Karjanen, United Kingdom)
- UNProFor (UNPROFOR, United Nations Protection Force)
Kursahaftaslys - Punctuation
Formatting for full stops, commas, colons, exclamation/question marks, etc. is the same as in English—that is, no space after the preceding word.
Inverted commas are used to show emphasis of strength which, in speech, would be indicated by the speaker's tone of voice.
- Illa, 'Kören' en meun isen. 'Kären' en mahan naina. No, KÖREN is my son. KÄREN is my wife.
Outward-pointing double angle quotes (with internal spacing) indicate speech. No comma is used to offset quotes. If the quotation includes the end of a sentence, the full stop goes inside the quotes, otherwise they go outside.
- Se vardun « siras iši. » You said, "I like cheese."
- Isse « kóté jau kiené jau tréšou » irsu. He saw "cats and dogs and a rabbit."
However, for ongoing dialogue, such as in narrative storytelling (which is always written in the present tense), em-dashes are preferred. To show the cutoff point of the dialogue where the sentence does not end, a colon is used.
—Saka? ja roti. "What?" I ask.
—Ö, ja vardu saka za ruosti skolliksi ida : isse varde. "Uh, I said I have to go to school," he says.
Indentation is not used in written Islysian, except for nesting lists. Double-spacing indicates a new paragraph, but blocks of dialogue use only single spacing.
Ir kun alfabetisti - The alphabet song
Islysian children learn an "alphabet song" which is sung to the same tune as the English alphabet song:
Ha i ja ka el-äm-än-o-ö,
Pe är äs, še te þa, ju vé ipsilon zéta
Ja ir alfabetas jussi, jazo 'ta nén klósoli?
The last line translates to: "I know the alphabet, isn't that lovely?"
Sanarakoinaslys - Morphology
Tuisli satslys - Basic syntax
Islysian is an inflecting language following a typically Indo-European nominative-accusative morphosyntactic alignment.
Nouns inflect for number and case. There are two numbers in Islysian, singular and plural. There are four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and a simple locative (which often fulfills the function of dative). There are two genders in Islysian: masculine and feminine. There is no neutral gender. Masculine nouns have four possible declensions, feminine nouns only one.
Personal pronouns inflect for three persons (first, second, third) and two numbers (singular and plural). Personal pronouns feature nominative, accusative, and locative forms. The genitive actually has three forms (masculine, feminine, and a gender-neutral plural) which agree in gender and number with the noun they indicate possession of and therefore also function as simple possessives.
Adjectives inflect for number, gender, and case, and must agree in all three respects with the noun they modify. Unlike nouns, however, adjectives only have one plural form, which is indifferent to gender. The adjective comes before the noun.
Verbs inflect for tense, person, number, and mood, and they must agree with the subject. Islysian verbs have five tenses: present, past, present perfect, future, and future perfect (historically there was a past perfect tense, but since narrative storytelling is done in the present tense, it is no longer used). There is a conditional mood and a subjunctive mood, both of which can be used with all five tenses—thus to answer the question "idan?" will you go? the answer "ja idellai nem ja arverai" I would will go, but I have to will work is grammatically acceptable. Finally, there is a passive voice, and naturally only transitive verbs have passive forms.
For adverbs, no agreement of person, number, etc. is necessary. Most adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding the suffix -(e)þai.
Sanet ortaslys - Word order
Islysian word order is basically SOV, though in some instances (usually for clarity) SVO may be acceptable.
- Ja keu Þuraja vardui. I have spoken with Thuraja.
- I - with - Thuraja - speak(PPERF-1PS)
- Se asa keu mén hassen? Do you want to eat with me?
- You - to eat - with - me - want(2PS)?
There are cases in which SVO word order is acceptable. The most notable case is when using the copula "eissa" to be.
- Vai on Ilieskon. We are Islysian.
- Sonic Youth en meun fásti örisli. Sonic Youth is my favourite band.
Note that eissa is not considered transitive in Islysian, thus the direct object in the sentence above (örisli, band) is in the nominative rather than the accusative case.
The indirect object (usually in locative case) comes after the verb.
- Sto kita miksi! Give me that!
- Vai kienas krainek siksi. We're buying you a dog.
Because of the Islysian language's inflecting nature, in casual everday speech, subject pronouns are often dropped from simple sentences:
- (ja) Ir poikas irsi. I see the boy.
- (vai) Sa linniai idek. We are going to the city.
- (se) Pénte isten. You are right. (lit. "you have reason/logic")
In some cases the subject pronoun is absolutely necessary. For example, "krainu" could mean I bought, he bought, she bought, or it bought.
Adjectives come before the noun they modify.
- Ir sieni poike The little boy
- Sa siena talakänta The little conversation
- Ir sienai jallet The little rooms'
Adverbs come after the verb they modify, and no agreement of person, number, etc. is necessary. Most adjectives can be made into adverbs by adding the suffix -(e)þai.
- Nö tuisse leteneþai. She sighs sadly.
- Ja keu Ili vardu tistiþai. I talked quietly with Ili.
- Skolliksi idas fausiþai. They slowly walk to school.
Javati - Gender
Islysian has two genders: masculine (myskati) and feminine (naini). All nouns are either masculine or feminine—there is no neutral gender. Gender is random, other than obvious inherent sexuality of animate nouns ("sa naina," the woman; "ir poike," the boy) and the fact that loan words are inherently masculine, regardless of their meaning in the original language. Feminine nouns can only end in the letter -a (or its long form -á), but the converse is not necessarily true: notable exceptions include "ir sa," the sea, "ir televizia" television, and "ir vaika," the child.
The grammatical gender of an animate noun corresponds to the noun's natural gender—however there is no distinct indication of whether a noun is animate or not (with very few exceptions, only nouns describing people or animals are animate). For such nouns, there is almost always one noun for each gender: for example, a male doctor is a toktori, while a female doctor is a toktora. If the gender of the doctor is unknown or is semantically irrelevant (eg. "Help! I need a doctor!") the masculine form is default. For some animate nouns, the only change is in the article: "ir agna" is a male ox, "sa agna" is a female ox. Groups of mixed gender are also described as masculine—therefore a toktori and a toktora would collectively be toktoret, not toktorai.
While nouns have either two forms (singular and plural) or four (masculine singular, masculine plural, feminine singular, feminine plural), adjectives have strictly three forms: masculine, feminine, and plural. Unlike in nouns, the plural form of an adjective is indifferent to gender, as illustrated by the following forms of the phrase "sei vuos" good friend:
| singular | plural | |
|---|---|---|
| masc. | sei vuos | siai vuoset |
| fem. | sai vuosa | siai vuosai |
In dictionaries, adjectives and animate nouns are usually presented only in their masculine forms—with a few exceptions, like "cow/bull."
Artikelet - Articles
Islysian has two definite articles: "ir" for masculine singular and plural, and "sa" for feminine singular and plural. There is no indefinite article, though it is not uncommon to specify using "iten," the number one (ex. "Ja kótas isti" I have a cat versus "ja itenas kótas isti" I just have one cat).
As in languages such as French and Arabic, the definite article is used when describing abstract concepts (eg. "ir ei en sei" life is good; "ir politík mén interiesse" I am interested in politics). It is not used, however, when describing general concepts of tangible objects (eg. "kafas iši" I like coffee, "politet lukas" politicians lie). If it is used, it implies that you are describing a particular item or set (eg. "ir kafas iši" would imply something like I like this particular blend of coffee or I like the coffee at this café; "ir politet lukas" would mean these particular politicians lie).
Vilainon sanet izeraninaslys - Assimilation of loan words
Loan words in Islysian can be divided into two categories: "recent" loan words, and "Islysianised" loan words, which have been more or less completely assimilated into the Islysian language.
An example of the former is "ir week-end," directly from English. To the Islysian ear, such loan words sound distinctly "foreign," so older speakers and linguistic purists will tend to use an older, fully Islysian phrase such as "sa soima veikisti," lit. the end of the week. If and when this loan word is assimilated, it would undergo conformity to the Islysian phonology and orthography, including paragoge (typically of I), since Islysian does not allow final consonant clusters.
Since all loan words in Islysian are inherently masculine, regardless of their native gender or function, we could therefore expect "week-end" to Islysianise to "ir vikendi."
An example of the latter is "laina," land, which is a very old Germanic borrowing and cognate with Swedish län and English land. Originally it was probably "lain" or "laini," but at some point it was "Islysianised" and became feminine.
| Nom. | Acc. | Loc. | Gen/Poss. (m/f/pl) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | ja | mén | miksi | meun/mahan/met |
| we | vai | mu | vaksi | mún/maina/mút |
| you(s) | se | sén | siksi | sen/sina/sinet |
| you(p) | anai | anai | aiksi | anän/aina/anet |
| he | isse | han | haneksi | isän/issa/isset |
| she | nö | hana | hanniai | hanän/hana/hanet |
| one | an | ón | ónsi | ónän/óna/ónet |
| they | isai/nui | ište | ištaksi | išten/ištai/ištet |
Note that unlike many European languages, Islysian lacks T-V distinction: the second person is divided only by singular and plural, not formal and informal. Everybody is addressed as "se," from young children up to the King and even God during prayer.
saka - what/which
kie - who
kini - whose
kitsi - to whom
iþe - where
kyta - to where
veuna - from where
jat - why
jakin - when
kaþ - how
kalli - how much/how many
daste - what kind
To form relative clauses, insert the particle "za" after the interrogative pronoun.
- Jakin vaden? When are you coming?
- Miksi vizieven jakin za se vaden. When you come, call me.
- Stas ir auto daste za Ili (sto) iste. That's the kind of car that Ili has.
- Eta jat za ja nén siksi vizievu. That's why I didn't call you.
If you put the interrogative pronoun at the end of the sentence or phrase, it implies that you already know something but have just forgotten.
- Isse hjallá kaþ? What's his name again? (lit. "he is called how?")
Interrogative pronouns are also used to set aside clauses.
- Miksi vike saka za eta ir melialän. I think that it's the best one.
- (Miksi vike - "to me it seems")
- Se vardun saka za eta u klósoli. You said that it was beautiful.
Note that the phrase "saka za" is, in everyday speech, pronounced ['saksa].
As Islysian is an inflecting language, it has some pro-drop features. Generally, two personal pronouns do not appear next to each other.
- Ja ir kotas irsi I see the cat
- Ja anätta fötbálas iši én I also like to play football/soccer
- Sto iši I like it
- Se asa keu mén hassen? Do you want to eat with me?
- Ištet koté iši I like their cats
- Sén irsi I see you
- Mén iše? Does he/she like me?
Substantivet - Nouns
Geruntet - Gerunds
There are no gerunds in Islysian. Instead, either a noun or the infinitive of a verb is used.
- Siþa iši. I like to swim for I like swimming
- Ir Islyksi ei en klósoli. Life in Islys is lovely for living in Islys
Substantivon kassai - Noun Cases
There are four simple cases in Islysian: nominative, accusative, genitive, and locative. Masculine nouns have four declensions, feminine nouns only one. For masculine nouns, the declension of a noun can be determined by the final letter in the nominative singular ("default") form.
- Declension I: ends in a soft vowel
- Declension II: ends in a hard vowel
- Declension III: ends in a consonant
- Declension IV: ends in vowel+S
However Declension IV is strictly single vowel+S. "Kais" chair, which ends in diphthong+S, is actually Declension III. The five-part examples in this section go in this order: Declension I, Declension II, Declension III, Declension IV, Feminine Declension.
Ir nominativi kassas - The nominative case
The nominative case is used for the grammatical subject. This is the "default" form of nouns found in dictionaries, etc.
- Ir poike ir siras ase. The boy eats the cheese.
- Ir biro en erdiai. The pen is on the table.
- Ir kien nén hante varda. The dog cannot talk.
- Ir toslys kafas lagas. The company makes coffee.
- Björk huonu « ja en sa jäköra ». Björk sang, "I am the hunter(f)."
Ir akusativi kassas - The accusative case
The accusative case is used for the direct object of a transitive verb. The copula (Essa, To be) is not considered transitive.
- Ir siri ir poikas ase. The cheese eats the boy.
- Ja ir birou kavu. I took the pen.
- Ir kienas hässa autaksi! Get the dog in the car!
- Isse ir toslyje jusse. He is familiar with the company.
- Kiesi jäköri sa jäköré jäku. Another hunter hunted the hunter.
Ir genitivi kassas - The genitive case
The genitive case is used to show possession or belonging. Word order in the genitive case is not fixed. Nominally the word order is the genitive word then nominative word (eg. "Iliesken karta," map of Islysia) but it can switch so as not to break up a definite article (only adjectives can come between an article and the noun: eg. "Sa sura karta Iliesken," the big map of Islysia).
- Poikisti ei en tresli. A boy's life is nice.
- Ja nén ir birasti vieras iši. I don't like the colour of the pen.
- Nö kienisti visanas iste. She has the face of a dog.
- Eta ir toslysti direktori. This is the president of the company.
- Sa jäkören siknasti hjúle iši. I like the hunter's swan dress.
Ir lokativi kassas - The locative case
The simple locative case is used to express in, on, at, to, towards something. Indirect objects usually fall into this case—Islysian has only very recently (in the last two centuries) dropped the dative case in common speech; the Ilieskisti Akademí only declared the dative case officially obsolete in the early 20th century.
- Sto kita ir poikiksi. Give that to the boy.
- Ir biraksi irsa. Look at the pen.
- Vót kapo ir kieneksi. There is a hat on the dog.
- Ja anþraxas šykju taleksi tosliai. I sent anthrax to a few companies.
- Sa hjúla siknasti en sa jäköriai. The swan dress is on the hunter.
Because of the admittedly open meanings of words in the locative case, prepositions are sometimes used for clarity.
- Iz ir autaksi ida. Get in the car.
- Túla ir sänkiksi ida. Get on the bed.
- Ir kót imen ir kotiksi idu. The cat went under the house.
Since context and situation would normally indicate whether "ir autaksi ida" means go to the car or get in the car, these adjectives are usually only used for purposes of clarity.
Adiektivet - Adjectives
Ir filosofi adiektivon - The philosophy of adjectives
The most important thing, when describing something in normal conversation, is not to convey the most accurate description of a thing, but to convey the holistic feeling or perception of a thing. In other words, the qualitative takes precedence over the quantitative. For instance, an Islysian would not hesitate to describe a certain shop as "that noisy green shop" or a soft day as "a tired, drippy sky." Perhaps this could explain the popularity of Björk in Islysia.
Adiektivon satslys - Syntax of adjectives
Adjectives come before the noun they modify. They must agree with the noun in terms of number and case, but unlike nouns adjectives are indifferent to gender in the plural number. Thus an adjective of regular declension has twelve possible forms.
| masc. s. | fem. s. | plur. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| nom. | klósoli | klósola | klósolai |
| acc. | klósolas | klósolé | klosolé |
| gen. | klósolin | klósolen | klósolon |
| loc. | klósoliksi | klósoliai | klósolia |
Partisippellet - Participles
Verb participles that function as adjectives can be formed by adding the clitic -ppa. Participles inflect just the same as any regular adjective.
- Vardappa kien? Ihj, soi ja baitykju nar. A talking dog? Ugh, perhaps I've had too much to drink.
Adiektivon ortaslys - Adjective order
Islysian has no real preference as to adjective order: "sienai krönai virai" little green men and "krönai sienai virai" green little men are semantically no different and are both acceptable in Islysian, whereas the latter would sound awkward in English.
Þuolla nyjai adiektivet - Forming new adjectives
Islysian has several affixes that can be added to common nouns to easily create new adjectives. These work similarly to English un-, -ful, etc. and are described below.
| Affix | Description | Original | Derivation | Translation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| divi- | dual, bi- | sonesa | divisonesa | vowel > diphthong |
| iter- | single, uni- | isna | iterekisna | description > introduction, summary |
| -(a)llini | -like, -ish | kien | kienallini | dog > dog-like ("extremely loyal") |
| -(i)haj | un-, -less | vasna | vasnahaj | value > worthless |
| -tava | -able | hitta | hittatava | to believe > believable, credible |
| -ppa | -ing (participle) | siþa | siþappa | to swim > swimming (as an adjective) |
Saradet - Verbs
A student of Islysian will notice that while most grammatical terms are clearly Germanic borrowings (substantivi = noun; adiektivi = adjective), the word "saradi," verb, is seemingly unique. This can be blamed on Reformation-era grammarians: they were reluctant to use "verbi" because this word bore a passing resemblance to an Izjö dialect colloquialism meaning "demon," and stake-burning was particularly in vogue under the overzealous Archbishop of Hythalinna. The wary grammarians, therefore, used the word "saradi," a very old word that once meant "action" or "choice."
Most of the rest of the history of Islysian linguistics, however, is not nearly as tongue-in-cheek.
Koniugaslys - Conjugation
Islysian verbs conjugate for person, number, and tense. There are five: present, simple past, simple future, present perfect, and future perfect. Historically there was a past perfect, but since narrative storytelling is now told in the present tense, it is obsolete. There is also a subjunctive mood and a conditional mood, which can be used with all five tenses. Finally, there is a passive voice, which is only used with transitive verbs.
There is only one form of conjugation for regular verbs. The infinitive is -a. Simple present conjugation for regular verbs is as follows:
- Ja: -i
- Se: -en
- Isse/nö/an: -e
- Anai: -et
- Vai: -ek
- Isai/Nui: -as
Below are all of the forms of conjugation for a regular verb (iša, to like, to enjoy) and an irregular verb (eissa, to be).
| Iša | Pres. | Past | Pres. Perf. | Future | Fut. Perf. | Pass. | Cond. | Subj. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To like | likes | liked | has liked | will like | will have liked | is liked | would like | should like |
| Ja | iši | išu | išui | išai | išaskai | išá | išelli | išera |
| Se | išen | išun | išuin | išan | išaskan | išán | išellan | išeran |
| I/N/A | iše | išu | išui | išai | išaskai | išá | išelle | išera |
| Anai | išet | išut | išuit | išéha | išaska | išát | išellar | išeranai |
| Vai | išek | išuk | išuik | išéhek | išaskei | išák | išellek | išerai |
| Isai | išas | išus | išuis | išessa | išaskas | išás | išellar | išerassa |
| Eissa | Pres. | Past | Pres. Perf. | Future | Fut. Perf. | Pass. | Cond. | Subj. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| To be | is | was | has been | will be | will have been | - | would be | should be |
| Ja | en | u | uné | éja | erai | - | selli | eira |
| Se | en | u | uné | éja | erai | - | sellen | eiran |
| I/N/A | en | u | uné | éja | erai | - | selle | eira |
| Anai | on | sai | uré | eret | éré | - | sellar | eirai |
| Vai | on | sai | urik | erek | éré | - | sellek | eirai |
| Isai | on | sai | uré | eret | éré | - | sellar | eirai |
Keukollasinet - Conjunctions
Keukollasinon Skapaslys - Usage of Conjunctions
Islysian conjunctions are used as follows.
- X jau Y iši. I like X and Y.
- X eli Y iši. I like X or Y.
- Ja nén X iši nem Y iši. I don't like X but I like Y.
- Aina X eli Y iši. I like either X or Y.
- X nei Y iši. I like X but not Y.
- Nei X nei Y iši. I like neither X nor Y.
- X iši én Y. I like X, and Y as well.
- Ja nén nem X iši én Y. I like not only X, but Y as well.
- X isti da Y istai. I have X, therefore I'll have Y.
- X iši tak Y. I like X because of Y.
- X istai da Y istellai. I'll have X so that I'll be able to have Y.
- X iši tašia Y en gössi. I like X even though Y is dreadful.
- X iši tašia Y en sei. I like X, although Y is nice.
Titles such as Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc. are not used—everybody in Islysia, regardless of age or social standing, is on a first-name basis. The exception here is members of the royal family and the nobility, who should always be adressed with the title Adel (men) or Adella (women). This custom is rooted in the old Nordic tradition of purely patronymic surnames.
Islysians abandoned this custom around 1700. Today, most surnames are bynames: eg. Kören Ihalainen, literally Kören of Ihalaina. Surnames are passed from parents to their children, and names are rarely changed. Some modern names are derived from patronymics; such families are often descended from cultures in which this practise is or was prominent—notably Chancellor Isobel Nikoli.
Many Islysian surnames bear a striking similarity to Finnish surnames; this, however, is mostly coincidence. The common suffix -lainen is simply the singular genitive form of the feminine noun "laina," land, which is a very old Germanic borrowing (which has been Islysianised and therefore is no longer masculine) and a cognate with Swedish län and English land. "Hollainen," therefore, means simply Hollander.
These names are not inflected like ordinary nouns: the Ihalainens are "ir familí Ihalainen," not "ir familí Ihalainon" or "ir Ihalainet."
Nicknames are usually derived from the first part of the given name, and are used on a very informal basis. Unlike feminine nouns, feminine given names and nicknames do not necessarily end in -a or -á.
Below are a few popular Islysian male and female given names, possible nicknames, and their rough English equivalents, if any.
| Male | Nicknames | English |
|---|---|---|
| Andiri | Andi | Andrew |
| Iliem | Ili, Ilia | William |
| Kören | Köri, Kori | George |
| Nikola | Niko, Koli | Nicholas |
| Sakari | Saki | Zachary |
| Female | Nicknames | English |
| Irina | Íra, Riena | Irene |
| Kären | Käri, Kära | Karen |
| Maidalena | Maja, Mai | Madeleine |
| Samara | Sama, Sami, Sara | (None) |
| Þuraja | Þuri, Þura | (None) |
Imeuset - Phrases
Below is a list of a few common Islysian phrases, their English translations, and an IPA pronunciation guide.
| English | Islysian | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hello | Seihát | sɛi'hɑtʰ | |
| Goodbye | Dessedei | 'dɛsˑɛdɛi | |
| Yes | Voi | ʋɔi | |
| No | Illa | ɪlˑa | |
| Yeah/okay | Saha | 'saha | |
| I don't know | Nén vaidi | ne:n 'ʋaidi | |
| I don't understand | Nén enni | ne:n ɛnˑi | |
| This one - that one | Eta - stas | ɛtʰa - stas | |
| Please | Pari | 'pʰari | |
| Thank you very much | Naš vähän | na∫ ʋɛ:'hɛ:n | lit. "much thanks" |
| I don't speak Islysian. | (Ja) nén ilieskas saini. | ja ne:n ɪli'ɛskas 'saini | Language is in the accusative |
| Do you speak English? | (Se) anglas sainen? | sɛ 'aŋlas 'sainɛn | |
| What does this mean? | Kaþ eta fure? | kaθ ɛtʰa 'fyrɛ | lit. "how does this intend?" |
| How do I get to the city centre? | Kaþ syslinniai idi? | kaθ 'sɪslinˑi.ai 'idi | lit. "how centre(LOC) go(1PS)" |
| Where is nearest bank? | Iþe ir hjerän banki hiersá? | 'iθɛ ir çɛr'ɛ:n 'baŋki 'hi.ɛʁsɑ | lit. "where the nearest bank find(PASS)" |
