Vistic (VISS-tik)

The most common trade language, Vistic is shared between the Kez, Polu, and Thasli Cultures and spoken throughout the Golden Ocean regions. It is derived, primarily, from the Old Kez, Old Polu, and Old Thasli languages, but commonly borrows terms and sayings from many other cultures it has come in contact with. It is the primary spoken language of Vista, where it has gained its name, having been previously referred to as Common.  

Natively known as: vistik /ˈvistik/

  ...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
luth fin ram pibi gish but luth shen gish dzam lal man skoth
Pronunciation: /luth fin ram ˈpibi gish but luth shen gish dzam lal man skoth/
Vistic word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: b c d f g h j k l m n p r s t v w z

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	c	k g
Fricative		f v	s z			h
Approximant				j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o u y

	Front	Back
High	i y	u
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable   Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
y	ů
j	y
c	ch

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Grammar

  Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: prepositions  

Nouns

Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix g- Else: Prefix ga- gapal /ˈgapal/ dog
Plural	No affix pal /pal/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	gars /gars/ the	me /me/ a
Plural	am /am/ the	mo /mo/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Definite article can be omitted: ‘I am going to supermarket’
• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for languages: ‘The English’

  Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific mass (uncountable) nouns: non-specific means ‘Would you like some (any) tea?’ whereas specific means ‘Some tea (a specific amount) fell off the truck’

 

Pronouns

1st singular	im /im/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	e /e/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	fin /fin/ he, him, his, it (masc), its (masc)
3rd singular fem	luy /luj/ she, her, hers, it (fem), its (fem)
1st plural	lů /ly/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	skes /skes/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	bek /bek/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	fi /fi/ my
2nd singular	luz /luz/ your
3rd singular masc	gish /gish/ his
3rd singular fem	i /i/ her
1st plural	ska /ska/ our
2nd plural	lop /lop/ your (pl)
3rd plural	a /a/ their

Verbs

  Vistic uses a standalone particle word for past tense:

Past	Particle before the verb: y - ů dibi /y ˈdibi/ learned

Vistic uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: zol - zol dibi /zol ˈdibi/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

  The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Vistic uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

Prefix shy- shůdibi /ˈshydibi/ learns/is learning

Perfect aspect

  The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Vistic uses the word for ‘already’ se for the perfect aspect.  

Numbers

  Vistic has a base-10 number system:   1 - kiy
2 - a
3 - ras
4 - pi
5 - goy
6 - tarků
7 - iz
8 - ů
9 - shat
10 - zars
100 - voz
1000 - kilu
 

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Prefix to-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix y-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix li-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix za-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix sh-
Else: Prefix sha-
Noun to verb = If starts with vowel: Prefix ast-
Else: Prefix asti-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix bi-
Tending to = Prefix po-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Prefix a-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Prefix o-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix zi-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix ho-
Diminutive = Prefix pa-
Augmentative = Prefix dze-