Élkźk Language
Élkźk language (Élkźk Îăcúrd, IPA: ['elkʐkʰ i'ɐt͡sɯɹd̪]) is a synthetic language spoken in the Kingdom of Élk. It is used by over 40,000 people around the world, about 35,000 of which are native speakers.
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Dialects
There are over 70 different dialects spoken in Élk, however they're mostly minor variations of a major dialect - Northern Élkźk (Sebriélkźk).
Orthography
Traditionally, Élkźk language was written in Cyrillic alphabet, with diacritic marks added to letters to indicate sounds not found in Slavic languages. Nowadays, however, the language uses a modified version of the Latin alphabet.
Alphabet
The modern Élkźk alphabet contains 33 letters:
| Letter | IPA value | Name |
| A, a | /ɑ/ | a |
| Ą, ą | /ɑ̃/ | a nasalá |
| Ă, ă | /ɐ/ | a diéźá |
| Á, á | /ə/ | a bisóká |
| B, b | /b/ | bá |
| C, c | /t͡s/ | cá |
| Ć, ć | /t͡ɕ/ | ćá |
| D, d | /d̪/ | dá |
| E, e | /ɛ/ | e |
| Ę, ę | /ɛ̃/ | e nasalá |
| É, é | /e/ | e bisóká |
| G, g | /ɡ/ | gá |
| H, h | /e/ ~ ∅ | há |
| I, i | /i/ | i |
| K, k | /k/ | ká |
| L, l | /l/ | lá |
| M, m | /m/ | má |
| N, n | /n/ | ná |
| Ń, ń | /ŋ/ | ńá |
| Ñ, ñ | /ɲ/ | ñá |
| O, o | /ɔ/ | o |
| Ó, ó | /o/ | o bisóká |
| P, p | /p/ | pá |
| R, r | /ɹ/ | rá |
| S, s | /s/ | sá |
| Ś, ś | /ʂ/ | śá |
| T, t | /t̪/ | tá |
| U, u | /u/ | u |
| Ú, ú | /ɯ/ | u bisóká |
| V, v | /f/ ~ /v/ | vá |
| X, x | /x/ | xá |
| Z, z | /z/ | zá |
| Ź, ź | /ʐ/ | źá |
The Latin letters F (evá), J (źéîá), Q (kiá), W (vá vtagá) and Y (i greká) are not used in Élkźk alphabet.
Other letters
Three letters - Ĕ (e diéźá), Î (i kapelá) and Û (u kapelá) - are also used in Élkźk language, but are not considered part of the alphabet.
Ĕ used to be a separate letter, representing a Near-open front unrounded vowel /æ/. However, in modern Élkźk, it's pronounced exactly the same as e, and is only used in one word, ĕ ("and"), to distinguish it from e (masculine form of the copula "to be").
Î and Û only appear before another vowel, and indicate that they must be pronounced separately as a vowel instead of as a semivowel. For example, the word nîet (no) is pronounced ['niɛt̪ʰ] and not [njɛt̪ʰ].
Diacritic marks
Élkźk language uses several diacritic marks: Bisóká (the acute accent: á, ć, é, ń, ó, ś, ú, ź), Nasalá (the ogonek: ą, ę), Diéźá (the breve: ă, ĕ), Kapelá (the circumflex: î, û) and Taldá (the tilde: ñ).
Apart from ĕ, î and û, all the other letters with diacritic marks are considered part of the alphabet. Diacritic marks are never omitted in capital letters or abbreviations.
Phonology
Pronunciations of Élkźk is not phonetically consistent, varying from dialects to dialects, speakers to speakers and most noticeably between different words. Below are two tables that describe all phonemes encountered in standard Élkźk dialect (Sebriélkźk).
Consonants
In columns with two consonants, the ones on the left are voiceless, and the ones on the right are voiced.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Labial-velar | Velar | |
| Plosive | p b | t̪ d̪ | k ɡ | |||||
| Nasal | m | n | ɲ | ŋ | ||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʂ ʐ | x | ||||
| Affricative | t͡s | t͡ɕ | ||||||
| Approximant | ɹ | j | w | |||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ʎ |
Notes:
- /p/, /t̪/ and /k/ become aspirated /pʰ/, /t̪ʰ/, /kʰ/ respectively at the end of a syllable.
- v represents /f/ if it appears before a voiceless consonant, otherwise /v/.
- i and u are semivowels (see Vowels section below). i represents /ʎ/ only when preceded by Lateral approximant /l/.
- h is usually muted, except when appearing word-initial in words borrowed from Ancient Greek (see Vowels section below).
- -st at the end of words are pronounced /s/.
- -śt at the end of words are pronounced /ʂ/.
- Consonant gemination occurs very rarely only in certain words, and even then, most native speakers do not pronounce lengthened consonants properly. For example, diuśătta ("windmill") can be pronounced either [d̪ju'ʂɐtːɑ] (correctly) or [d̪ju'ʂɐtɑ] (incorrectly) but the meaning retains the same.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |||
| Unrounded | Rounded | ||||
| Close | i | ɯ | u | ||
| Close-mid | e | o | |||
| Mid | ə | ||||
| Open-mid | Oral | ɛ | ɔ | ||
| Nasal | ɛ̃ | ||||
| Near-open | ɐ | ||||
| Open | Oral | ɑ | |||
| Nasal | ɑ̃ | ||||
Notes:
- h represents /e/ when appearing word-initial in Ancient Greek loanwords. For example, hró ['eɹo] ("hero") or hlel ['elɛl] ("God"), but hék [ekʰ] ("six") or kavaih [kɑ'vɑi] ("cute").
- There is no distinction between short and long vowels.
- When two vowels appear consecutively, they must be pronounced separately. However, when i and u precede another vowel, they become semivowels - i becomes /j/ (Palatal approximant) or /ʎ/ (Lateral palatal approximant) and u becomes /w/ (Voiced labio-velar) respectively, unless when written î and û.
- When inflecting a word that ends in a nasal vowel, the nasal vowel is denasalized into oral vowel + consonant ń. For example, dévą ['d̪evɑ̃] becomes dévańa [d̪e'vɑŋɑ] in its nominative form.
Stress
- In words with three and above syllables, stress falls on the penultimate syllable.
- In words with only two syllables, stress falls on the first syllable.
- Stress rules are only applied after words have been inflected. For example, in the word macár ("mother"), stress falls on the first syllable ma: ['mɑ.t͡səɹ]. But in its inflected nominative plural form, macáras ("mothers"), stress falls on the second syllable cá: [mɑ't͡sə.ɹɑs].
Grammar
Élkźk language follows SOV structure (though this order is often violated in colloquial speakings and in song lyrics), and is a fairly inflected language: Nouns, adjectives and verbs all inflect and agree with each other. Adverbs do not inflect, however many adverbs are based on already inflected adjective forms.
- Three genders: Masculine, feminine and neuter.
- Three noun cases: Nominative, accusative and dative.
- Two numbers: Singular and plural.
- Four verb tenses: Infinitive, past, present and future.
In classical Élkźk, there existed two more cases (genitive and vocative), as well as the separation of animate and inanimate genders (bringing the number of total genders to six). As time went by, those were removed or merged together, though traces of them can still be seen in the rich and varied noun endings.
Other grammatical aspects are indicated using various prepositions, postpositions and affixes. Adjective comes before noun, adverb comes before verb.
Nouns
Élkźk nouns are inflected by gender, case and number.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | ||
| Singular | Nominative | -i | -a | -u |
| Accusative | -ó | -é | -iu | |
| Dative | -ió | -ia | -iu | |
| Plural | Nominative | -is | -as | -us |
| Accusative | -ós | -és | -ius | |
| Dative | -iós | -ias | -ius | |
Some nouns end in -i or -a. For those nouns, their nominative forms are the same as their dictionary forms, and to get their accusative and dative forms, the -i/-a endings must be removed before inflection.
To pluralize nouns in their dictionary form (to be used in Subordinate clauses), simply add the ending -s to the noun. Exceptions:
- When the noun already ends in -s or -ś: The ending -t is added (actual pronunciation doesn't change).
- When the noun ends in -h: -h is replaced by -s.
- When the noun ends in a nasal vowel: The nasal vowel must be denasalized before adding -s.
Examples:
- méra ("day") - méras ("days").
- himnós ("song") - himnóst ("songs").
- néxrę ("sky") - néxreńs ("skies").
Proper nouns
- Proper nouns (people names, country names, months, numbers, etc. but NOT language names and nationalities) do not inflect. However, adjectives and verbs still agree with those nouns.
- All letter names are considered feminine.
- All number names are considered masculine.
- All other proper nouns can be either masculine, feminine or neuter.
Pronouns
Beside following standard noun inflection, pronouns are also divided into two groups: Formal and informal. Formal pronouns are used when talking to and about people at a higher social rank than the speaker, strangers, or in polite situations. Informal pronouns are used when talking to and about people at the same or lower social rank, friends, family, familiar people, etc.
Care must be taken with gender separation as well: be careful not to use a male second pronoun when addressing a female, and vice versa.
The neuter gender is used whenever gender is not necessary. For example, in governmental or scientific documents, when addressing someone of ambiguous gender, or in case of mixed gender.
Élkźk is a pronoun drop language - pronouns are usually omitted unless for emphasis or clarifying context.
As another special rule, all pronouns have their first letter capitalized, provided that they are not already the first word in a sentence.
Note that the pronouns in the following table still need to be inflected by number and case, like all other nouns.
| Formal | Informal | |||||
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| 1st person | Skir | Skar | Skur | Sir | Sar | Sur |
| 2nd person | Tir | Tiar | Tur | Tir | Tar | Tur |
| 3rd person | Ziér | Zéar | Zéur | Zér | Zar | Zun |
Genitive case of pronouns are formed by attaching the suffix -dé, and reflexive case by attaching the suffix -am. For example, "my voice" is Sardé vóći. Pronouns with suffixes are considered adjectives, and are further inflected through the postposition in (see Possessive section below).
Adjectives
Élkźk adjectives are inflected by gender and number.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Singular | -i | -a | -u |
| Plural | -ió | -ia | -iu |
After inflection, an adjective can be changed into adverb by adding the suffix -ćt. For example, the adjective báut ("beautiful") becomes báutaćt ("beautifully") when describing a verb performed by a female subject.
Some adjectives end in -h. Before inflecting them, the -h endings must be replaced by -x. For example, éoh are inflected into éoxi, éoxa, éoxu, etc.
Articles
Compared to other aspects of Élkźk language, articles are surprisingly simple. There is no indefinite article (a, an), instead the word ist (cardinal number one) is used as an article when necessary. As for definite article (the), the same article applies for all numbers (both singular and plural) and all cases, and differs depending only on gender.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
| di | das | den |
Verbs
Élkźk verbs are all regular, and divided into two groups: Those that end in -n and those that end in -m, with the exception of the verb "to be" (see Copula section below).
The infinitive tense is used in verb phrases like "want to do," "need to do," "can do," "should do," "must do," "how to do," "in order to do," etc, and in subordinate clauses (see Subordinate clause section below).
Verbs ending in -n
Verbs that end in -n are inflected by gender (of the subject performing the verb), tense, person and number. In conjugations, masculine forms are fairly straightforward, while feminine forms are very irregular, especially in present tenses.
Below is the table describing conjugations of verbs that end in -n:
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |||||||||||
| Infinitive | Past | Present | Future | Infinitive | Past | Present | Future | Infinitive | Past | Present | Future | ||
| Singular | 1st person | -ik | -it | -is | -il | -ak | -at | -ą | -al | -ek | -et | -es | -el |
| 2nd person | -iks | -ic | -iv | -ils | -aks | -ast | -ańst | -als | -eks | -ec | -ev | -els | |
| 3rd person | -ik | -it | -iś | -il | -ak | -at | -ańs | -al | -ek | -et | -eś | -el | |
| Plural | 1st person | -ig | -id | -iz | -ir | -ag | -ad | -ę | -ar | -eg | -ed | -ez | -er |
| 2nd person | -iké | -ité | -isé | -ilé | -aké | -até | -ené | -alé | -eké | -eté | -esé | -elé | |
| 3rd person | -ig | -id | -iź | -ir | -ag | -az | -eńs | -ar | -eg | -ed | -eź | -er | |
Verbs ending in -m
Verbs that end in -m are not inflected by gender. They are rarer than verbs that end in -n, and, in general, easier to conjugate. Below is a table describing conjugations of verbs that end in -m:
| Infinitive | Past | Present | Future | ||
| Singular | 1st person | -irs | -isé | -is | -ils |
| 2nd person | -irst | -isté | -ist | -ilst | |
| 3rd person | -ir | -ité | -it | -il | |
| Plural | 1st person | -irsą | -isańé | -isą | -ilsą |
| 2nd person | -irsę | -iseńé | -isę | -ilsę | |
| 3rd person | -iri | -idé | -id | -ili | |
Some adverbs can be added directly before verb to indicate other grammatical moods:
- Passive: ré.
- Imperative: źó.
- Request: ćé (used with future forms).
- Volitional: ló.
- Expressive: nó (used to express emotion or seeking agreement, roughly similar to English tag question, but without question mark at the end).
Example:
- Nó blákanast. ("You cried, didn't you?" - when talking to a female).
- Péćé Saria den doriu śrukićt ćé óbenils. ("Please open the door wide for me." - a female talking to a male, lit. "Please for-me the-door widely please-open").
- Tast dávó źó vimisę! ("Look at that bird!" - when talking to more than one person).
Copula
In Élkźk language, the copula verb "to be" is an irregular verb. Not only does it conjugate in a completely different way than other verbs, it's also much more simple as it's only inflected by gender and tense, not by number and case.
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| Infinitive | e | es | en |
| Past | ek | eks | ek |
| Present | e | es | en |
| Future | el | els | el |
Because there is no number nor case inflection, "I (male) am," "you (male) are," "he is," "we (all male) are," "you (plural, all male) are" and "they (all male) are" can all be described using a single copula e. Care must be taken in ambiguous situations like this, where the subject should be added to prevent misunderstanding.
Alternatively, the verb paramén ("to exist") is often used as the "to be" verb instead of the copulas.
Possessive
There are two types of possessive in Élkźk language. Similar to English, in which there are two ways to say A owns B - "A's B" or "B of A," in Élkźk there are also two particles indicating possession:
- Particle ma equals English of.
- Particle in equals English 's.
For example, there are two ways to say "Mother's car" in Élkźk: Either Macár in áutmóks or Áutmóks ma macár. The first way is more commonly used. Be sure to inflect the correct noun in a possessive phrase. For example, in the sentence "I fixed mother's car" the noun being inflected is "car" and not "mother" - either Macár in áutmóksó ráprébićanit or Áutmóksó ma macár ráprébićanit.
Note that ma and in are never used with pronouns, the suffix -dé is used instead.
in can also be used as a postposition to turn some adjectives into nouns. For example, ćeleris ("red") can be turned into ćeleris in ("color red"). In that case, in will be inflected while the adjective keeps its dictionary form. All adjectives inflected this way are considered feminine, so "I like red" is Ćeleris inia acivanek.
As for pronouns with suffixes, they carry the same gender as the original thing they represent. For example, "Yours (your voice) is beautiful" is Tardé ini báut inia e (lit. "Of-you-thing beautiful-thing is"). Alternatively Tardé ini báuti e can also be used, though it doesn't sound as natural.
Negative
Interrogative
Subordinate clause
Orthographic contraction
Like in English, in Élkźk orthography, certain words (copulas and negative conjunction non) can be contracted to shorten the sentence, with the contracted word attached to the word following it (or preceding it, if following the contracted word is a punctuation mark).
The rules for contractions are as below:
| Word | Contracted form |
| es | s |
| ek | k |
| eks | ks |
| el | l |
| els | ls |
| non | n |
- Where the contracted word connects with another word, an apostrophe is put.
- When non is followed by a copula, it is never contracted - the copula is contracted instead.
- Since the masculine infinitive/present copula e is only one letter long, it cannot be contracted.
- The neuter infinitive/present copula en is also not contracted to prevent mistaking it with the contracted form of non.
- Contraction does not happen when surrounded by two pronouns.
- Contraction is considered informal, and is not allowed in formal or legal writings.
- Unlike in English, pronunciation of contracted words remains the same.
Examples:
- Es biblé ćitaną (I am reading a book) can be contracted into S'biblé ćitaną.
- Non biblé ćitaną (I do not read books) can be contracted into N'biblé ćitaną.
- Non es biblé ćitaną (I am not reading a book) can be contracted into Non s'biblé ćitaną.
