SAKVIR

LANGUAGE FAMILY: COLMERIC   # SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 1.83M / #24   SPOKEN IN: Dragonshead - 750K / Sakxa - 450K / Bluepool - 450K / Dokeen- 100K / Cerlin - 80K / Reollan - 3K   Sakvirghede ("Hall Sakvir") is a high dialect of the Sakvir language spoken by nobles. Traces of Sakvir also exist in Taramba, a Qildabic creole.   PERIOD OF USE:   SCRIPT USED:   PARENT LANGUAGE:  

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  "...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."   Translation: di lolldt lolldt passuʧ pabbi idattsdt di memmä ki lolldt bong schassch momm   Pronunciation: di lɔlt lɔlt paˈsuʧ paˈbi iˈdatst di meˈmɛ ki lɔlt boŋ ʃaʃ mom     Sakvir word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned  

Spelling & Phonology

  Consonant inventory: /b d f h j k l m n p s t v x z ç ŋ ɡ ʁ ʃ ʔ ʦ ʧ χ/  

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n			ŋ
Stop	p b		t d			k ɡ		ʔ
Affricate			ʦ	ʧ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ	ç	x	χ ʁ	h
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant			l

  Vowel inventory: /a aɪ aʊ aː e eː i iː o oː u uː y yː øː œ ɐ ɔ ɔʏ ə ɛ ɛː ɪ ʊ ʏ/   Diphthongs: aɪ, aʊ, ɔʏ  

	Front	Central	Back
High	i iː y yː		u uː
Near-high	ɪ ʏ		ʊ
High-mid	e eː øː		o oː
Mid		ə
Low-mid	ɛ ɛː œ		ɔ
Near-low		ɐ
Low	a aː

  Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Second — stress is on the second syllable
Word initial consonants: b, bl, bʁ, d, dʁ, f, fl, fʁ, h, j, k, kl, kn, kv, kʁ, l, m, n, p, pf, pl, pʁ, s, t, tʁ, v, z, ɡ, ɡl, ɡʁ, ʁ, ʃ, ʃl, ʃm, ʃn, ʃp, ʃpʁ, ʃt, ʃtʁ, ʃv, ʃʁ, ʔ, ʦ, ʦv
Mid-word consonants: b, bl, bʁ, d, f, fh, fn, fp, ft, ftʁ, fɡ, fʁ, h, j, k, kl, ks, kt, kv, kz, kʦ, l, lb, ld, lf, lft, lk, lt, ltz, lz, lç, lɡ, lʃ, m, mb, mbʁ, ml, mn, mp, mpf, mpj, n, nbl, nd, nf, nh, nl, nm, nst, nt, ntk, ntl, ntv, ntʔ, nv, nz, nçm, nɡ, nɡl, nɡʁ, nʁ, nʃ, nʦ, nʧ, p, pf, pl, pv, pz, s, sf, sh, sl, st, stk, sv, sz, sç, sʔ, t, tbʁ, tk, tn, tv, tz, tç, tʔ, v, x, xd, xt, xʁ, z, ç, çk, çl, çst, çt, çtl, ŋ, ŋk, ŋkʦj, ŋn, ŋz, ɡ, ɡn, ʁ, ʁb, ʁd, ʁdn, ʁf, ʁh, ʁk, ʁkl, ʁl, ʁm, ʁn, ʁnz, ʁp, ʁt, ʁtl, ʁv, ʁz, ʁç, ʁçtb, ʁɡ, ʁʃl, ʃ, ʃp, ʃpʁ, ʃt, ʃv, ʔ, ʦ, ʦd, ʦj, χ
Word final consonants: f, ft, k, ks, kt, l, lk, lp, lpst, ls, lt, lʃ, m, mpf, n, nf, nft, ns, nst, nt, nts, nʃ, p, pf, pt, pʃ, s, st, t, tl, ts, tst, x, xt, ç, çt, çts, ŋ, ŋk, ŋks, ŋkt, ŋst, ɡŋ, ʁ, ʁf, ʁk, ʁl, ʁn, ʁnst, ʁt, ʁts, ʁç, ʁʃ, ʃ, ʧ   Phonological changes (in order of application):  

• f → w / _V
• a → e / _j#
• j → ∅ / V_V
• t → ʦ / _ʔ
• k → ɡ / _#
• t → tɬ / _{a,u}
• n → ∅ / _{f,v,s}

  Spelling rules:  

Pronunciation	Spelling
v	w
p	b / _#
t	dt / _#
ks	chs
x	ch
ç	ch
ʃ	sch
ʁ	r
z	s
ʦ	z
k	ck / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
{m,b,l,t,n,p,s}	@@ / {a,e,i,o,u,œ,ɐ,ɔ,ɛ,ɪ,ʊ,ʏ}_
ŋk	nk
ɡ	g
ŋ	ng
ʦj	ti
ʦ	zt / _#
ʦ	z
iː	ie
ɛː	ä
ɛ	ä | e
œ	ö
aʊ	au
oː	o | oh | oo
ɔ	o
ɔʏ	eu
aɪ	ei | ai
yː	ü
ʏ	ü
uː	u | uh
ʊ	u
aː	a
ɐ	er / !_r
ɐ	e
ɪ	i
øː	ö
ø	ö
eː	ä | äh | e | eh | ee
ə	e
ʔ	∅

 

Grammar

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

Nouns

  Nouns have two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix schtrömi /ʃtʁøːˈmi/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -am schtrömimm /ʃtʁøːˈmim/ (verb done to) doɡ

   

	Singular	Plural
Definite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʁ Else: Suffix -iʁ schtrömir /ʃtʁøːˈmiʁ/ the doɡ	Suffix -ak schtrömiack /ʃtʁøːˈmiak/ the doɡs
Indefinite	No affix schtrömi /ʃtʁøːˈmi/ a doɡ	Suffix -aʃ schtrömiassch /ʃtʁøːˈmiaʃ/ some doɡs

 

Articles

  Sakvir encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.  

Pronouns

 

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ta /ta/ I	kab /kaːp/ me
2nd singular	achs /aks/ you (masc)	ja /ja/ you
3rd singular	lolldt /lɔlt/ he, she, it	kiem /kiːm/ him, her, it
1st plural	bloʧ /blɔʧ/ we	ka /ka/ us
2nd plural	mi /mi/ you all	me /mɛ/ you all
3rd plural	miss /mɪs/ they	ang /aŋ/ them

 

Possessive determiners

 

1st singular	ta /ta/ my
2nd singular	ja /ja/ your
3rd singular	lolldt /lɔlt/ his, her, its
1st plural	bloʧ /blɔʧ/ our
2nd plural	mi /mi/ your (pl)
3rd plural	miss /mɪs/ their

 

Verbs

 

	Present	Past
1st person	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -ul dinnull /diˈnul/ (I/we) learn	Suffix -øː dinnö /diˈnøː/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	No affix dinn /din/ (you/you all) learn	Suffix -uʁl dinnurl /diˈnuʁl/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	If ends with vowel: Suffix -x Else: Suffix -ix dinnich /diˈnix/ (he/she/it/they) learn	Suffix -ɛm dinnämm /diˈnɛm/ (he/she/it/they) learned

  Sakvir uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: i - i dinn /i din/ 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).   Sakvir uses an affix for imperfective:  

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -ɔf dinnof /diˈnɔf/ learns/is learninɡ

 

Numbers

  Sakvir has a base-10 number system:   1 - le
2 - oo
3 - modt
4 - ach
5 - nonn
6 - huch
7 - schmerll
8 - ill
9 - tarsch
10 - ko
11 - le di ko “one and ten”
100 - lä pa “one hundred”
101 - le pa lä “one hundred one”
200 - oh pa
1000 - lä zufdt “one thousand”  

Derivational morphology

  Adjective → adverb = Suffix -uː
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ɛn
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -uː
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ap
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -i
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -al
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ɔs
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ts Else: Suffix -ots
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -i
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -uk
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -it
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k Else: Suffix -ak
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -on
Augmentative = Suffix -ɛː