Packilvanian language

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Packilvanian
luTamuk aluBakilfania
Created byNone
DateUnknown
EthnicityPackilvanians (Felines, Humans etc from Packilvania)
Users1.1 billion to 1.5 billion
Purpose
Concordo-Yastero-Auroran
  • Yastero-Auroran
    • Central-Eastern Yasterian
      • Central Yasterian
        • Greater Bakil
          • Southern Bakil
            • Bingol
              • Packilvanian
Early forms
Middle Packilvanian
  • Old Packilvanian
    • Ancient Packilvanian
Standard forms
Standard Modern Packilvanian (Bingolian)
Dialects
  • Standard Modern Packilvanian (Bingol)
  • Ashurian
  • Fidakarian
  • Shakarian
  • Ukhanarian
  • Drakkengardian
Language codes
ISO 639-3

The Packilvanian language is the official language of Packilvania and a regionally recognised language in Drakkengard. It belongs to the Yastero-Auroran language family. As of January 2022, Packilvanian is spoken by 1.1 to 1.5 billion people, making it one of the most widely spoken languages in the world by number fo first language speakers. Furthermore, it is the liturgical language of most Paxism denominations. It traces its roots to a language spoken by nomadic people in Central Yasteria since time immemorial. It has gone through various iterations which are broadly grouped into the following groups: Ancient Packilvanian (10,000 - 2,000 BCE), Old Packilvanian (2,000 BCE to 1,100 CE), Middle Packilvanian (1,100 CE to 1,800 CE) and Modern Packilvanian (1,800 CE to the present). The standard version of Packilvanian used in Pax-Draconica is based on the dialect spoken in Bingol. However, various dialects exist. Experts estimate as many as 70 dialects of Packilvanian are spoken with at least 50 of them being mutually intelligible.

Standard Modern Packilvanian is regarded as an agglutinative synthetic language as many affixed are appended to roots to impart and alter their meaning. The usual structure of sentences is the SVO model however some constructions use VSO. The verbs have 5 aspects and 6 moods. Nouns and verbs have 2 negations, 2 definiteness markers, 5 cases, 4 classes and 3 numbers. 3 types of numerals are used. Adjectives and adverbs are governed by indistinguishable rules and are often placed after the verb, noun, adjective or adverb that they are describing. 2 types of demonstratives are used. This language is generally regarded as difficult for speakers of Staynish-Codexian to learn due to the heavy use of agglutination, however many roots have cognates and there is speculation that Staynish-Codexian diverged from an ancestor of Ancient Packilvanian at least 8,000 years ago as humans migrated to Aurora and South East Yasteria due to Feline encroachment. Written in the Packilvanian script, it has at least 8 vowels and 25 distinct consonants. The script consists of 26 letters in both upper and lower case and numbers use a base 10 counting system.

History

Phonology

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i u
Mid ɛ (e) ɔ (o)
Open a

Vowels can have long forms as follows:

  • Close back long form: oo (Moon)
  • Open central long form: aa (Barn)
  • Close front long form: ee (Been)

Consonants

Labial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Glottal Uvular
Nasal m n ng
Plosive Voiced b d g
Voiceless p t k
Affricate Sibilant ts ch (voiceless), j (voiced) q
Fricative Voiced v dh z jh
Voiceless f th s sh h kh
Approximant l y w
Trill r

Orthography

Packilvanian is written in the Packilvanian Script which comes in two official forms: the Cursive and Regular versions. The Regular version is an alphabet as every glyph represents either a consonant or a vowel. In contrast, the Cursive version is an hybrid abjad which uses diacritics to mark for vowels in the middle of words. Vowels are only written when they appear as the first letter of a word. Vowels can be omitted altogether in Cursive as is regularly the case in most settings as the vowels can be inferred by the reader. The letter "I" is technically not represented at all and must be inferred in some texts. Languages that use Packilvanian Script can adapt it to suit their needs. For instance languages that have diphthongs can use multiple diacritics on top of each other to represent those sounds. Languages that devoice or prenasalise sounds can use appropriate diacritics. Thus, Packilvanian can act as a universal phonetic-based writing style for any language in the world. Cursive Packilvanian can be written without lifting the hand except to add diacritics making it highly efficient for languages that are typically written on paper or parchement.

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns are marked for class, case and number. Packilvanian nouns are built as follows:

(Negation)-Definiteness-Case-class-number-root.

Definiteness

Definiteness is marked by the tone of the first syllable of the word.

  • Indefiniteness: High tone
  • Definiteness: Low tone

Negation

Negation is marked with a 'n' (or a ne if the word starts with a consonant) and always occurs at the start of a word.

Cases

Case Prefix
Nominative none
Accusative o-
Genitive a-
Instrumental ye-
Locative we-
Infinitive kha-

Classes

Classes or genders go after cases and before number.

Class Infix
Abstract -l-
Inanimate -n-
Animate -v-
Sapient -b-

Number

Number goes after the class and before the root.

Number Infix
Singular -u-
Plural -e-
Uncountable -o-

Verbs

Verbs are constructed as follows: [contextual prefixes]-[root]-[adverbial suffixes]-[inflectional suffixes].

  • Contextual prefixes are those of the noun to which the verb is related i.e. Definiteness-negation-class-number
  • Root is the stem of the word
  • Adverbial suffixes are roots of adverbs that modify the verb such as quality, quantity, size etc.
  • Inflectional suffixes tell you the aspect and mood.


Aspect

Verbs are inflected for time as follows:

Tense
Non-past Past
Aspect Perfect none -evaj or -vaj
Imperfective Habitual none -ekade or -kade
Continuous -edol or -dol -egum - or -gum

Verbs are constructed as follows:

Root-applicative-passive-reciprocal-aspect. For example the sentence "The castle was not built (diminutive form of established) by Drakk I for himself" is Vugard nevuturukmneporbyshalvvaj obuDrakk bunganute.

Indicative mood

This is the default mood and it states things as fact. It follows the word order: subject verb object

  • Present perfect form: BeBakhilfanya besalaya betuwakahim (Packilvanians pray together).
  • Present habitual form: BeBakhilfanya besalaya betuwakahim befutun (Packilvanians pray together often/usually)
  • Present continuous form: BeBakhilfanya besalayedol betuwakahim (Packilvanians (are) praying together)
  • Past perfect form: BeBakhilfanya besalayevaj betuwakahim (Packilvanians [are] praying together)
  • Past habitual form: BeBakhilfanya besalayekade betuwakahim (Packilvanians prayed[often] together )
  • Past continuous form: BeBakhilfanya basalayegum betuwakahim (Packilvanians were praying together)

Interrogative mood

This mood is used to ask questions. Interrogative clauses are formed by switching the word order as follows: verb-subject-object. For instance: Bemanje beHagan vumedarud? (Directly: Eat the soldiers this? Indirectly: Are the soldiers eating this?) When either the subject or the object are unknown, use a pronoun. But if there is too little information to know the correct pronounce, then use the root -hadish.

Subjunctive

Subjunctive mood is used to indicate that there is uncertainty or to indicate a wish about whether an event will occur. The subjunctive word -mudawer is used to indicate the subjunctive mood. It has the same word order as the indicative mood, but the word mudawer is used to modify the verb. For instance: BeHagan bemanje bemudawer vonootrayeen (Directly: the soldiers eat maybe the food or Indirectly: if the soldiers eat the food). It can be used in combination with other moods: in a question it would take on the following form: Bemanje beHagan vonootrayeen, vomedarud vomakhaluyit vomudawer (Indirectly: Will the soldiers eat the food if it is clean? or Directly: Eat the Soldiers the Food, it clean maybe).

Imperative mood

This has the same word order as the Interrogative mood except that there are no grammatical markers on the head verb. A periphrastic construction using the modifier -mperatur in an indicative sentence can have the same semantic effect. For instance, Ashamiliya, beBakhilfanya! (Assimilate, Packilvanians) is in the indicative mood. Bebakhilfanya beashamiliya bemperatur (Directly: Packilvanians Assimilate must or indirectly: Packilvanians must assimilate). The latter example is in the indicative mood.

Reciprocal mood

Indicates that the subject of the verb is doing something to itself. The suffix -shalv is used to indicate this. For instance bemanjeshalv (Eat (themselves)). For example: Buwayeet beparlashalv. (The man talks to himself)

Applicative mood

This means to do something for or on behalf of another using the suffix -por- For instance: Bemanjepor (Eat (for/behalf of)). Buwayeet befrayeezapor obumadam abumedarud lumago. (The man paints the picture for his wife).

Passive mood

This indicates that the object is the agent of the sentence. -by is used as the suffix to mark this. For instance Bemanjeby. Example: Lumago lufrayeezaby obuwayeet (The image is painted by the man).



Demonstratives

Demonstratives are used to determine entités that are being referred to.

  • Distal: -qa (leqa, veqa, neqa: those, luqa, nuqa and vuqa: that)
  • Proximate: -arud (learud, nearud, and vearud: these, luarud, nuarud and vuarud: this)


Pronouns

This page (or section) is a work in progress by its author(s) and should not be considered final.

Pronouns are inflected for case and class where applicable:

  • First person: in the nominative case, the first person singular root is Min. It is used together with bu- in the singular and with be-in the plural (I.e., the equivalent of We in Staynish).
    • Bumin bukasa nobakil (I want water)
    • BuSultan bukasa khabuparla obumin (The Sultan wants to speak [to] me).
    • BuSultan bukasa nobakil abumin (The Sultan wants my water).
    • BuSultan bukasa khabuakhat nupontun yebumin (The Sultan wants to build a bridge by me).
  • Second person: in the nominative case, the first person singular root is Du (equivalent of Thou in Middle Codexian).
    • Budu buyal nobakil (You drink water).
    • BuSultan bukasa obudu (The Sultan wants you)
    • BuSultan khabukasa nobakil abudu (The Sultan wants your water)
    • BuSultan bukasa bujaheler weluDrakkengard yebudu (The Sultan wants to send a letter to Drakkengard by you).
    • BuSultan bukasa khabuvade lutooton webudu(Sultan wants to confer knighthood upon you).
  • Third person is the most complex. Similarly to the previous others it is inflected for case and number. The third person root is Med. The suffix -arud is added to the end of the word for distal (faraway) and the --aqa suffix is added for proximal (nearby).
    • Bumedarud buwalwa nuvelha (They [faraway/out of view] eat meat) or Bumedaqa buwalwa nuvelha (They [close/within view] eat meat).

Modifiers and descriptors

Adverbs and adjectives are grammatically treated the same, thus linguists do not make a distinction between the two, giving rise to the use of the loose term "modifiers" and "descriptors".

The class Prefix of the noun or verb that the modifier is modifying is attached to the root of the modifier. For example: LuBakhilfanya lujikhantalia (Gigantic Packilvania) or Luashamiliya lurapadin (Assimilate(s) quickly). In the case of imperatives whereby the subject of the verb is unclear, the root of the modifier may be used alone, for example: Ashamiliya rapadin! (Assimilate quickly) If the subject of the verb is known, the class prefix of the subject can be attached to the modifier, for instance: Bedu, beenekomimi, berejem berashambalia obeBakhilfanya. Ashamiliya berapadin! (You, Nekomimi, must resemble the Packilvanians! Assimilate quickly!)

The modifiers appear in the following order:

  • Quantity or number.
  • Quality or opinion.
  • Size.
  • Age.
  • Shape.
  • Color.
  • Proper adjective (often nationality, other place of origin, or material)
  • Purpose or qualifier.

These can be added directly on to verbs between the inflectional suffixes and the root instead of separate words for instance: Vugard nevuturuknganutshanpulkharatdupamnejenariqporbyshalvvaj obuDrakk bunganute is The castle was not built (diminutive of established) above first beautifully long-ago by Drakk the First for himself.

Postpositions

The location of the subject, object or instrument relative to another is usually implied by the use of the locative case. However, to specify the relative position, special modifiers called postpositions are used. For example:

  • -beneyath: beneath, under or underneath
  • -ubuv: above
  • -ashidi: beside
  • -akhansta: against
  • -dupa: on top of, on
  • -aye: with (not to be confused with the instrumental case)
  • -munga: among
  • -idaween: between
  • -akhrono: during
  • -ayn: within, in
  • -xepet: except, excluding
  • -gurash: across
  • -nayeer: near, close
  • -joor: through
  • -vah: off
  • -rotunda: around
  • -berefia: before
  • -futar: after
  • -far: far

Diminutive, intensive and feminisation

These are used to show something to a smaller degree: the suffix -amne or -mne can be added as a suffix to noun, verb or modifier. This can be doubled to further diminuate the word concerned. For example, luwayeet (man) becomes luwayeetamne (small man) which can become luwayeetamnemne (a very small or pathetic man). Double diminutive are often used as pejoratives.

Intensive forms have the suffix -gur or -agur. intensive word form is one which denotes stronger, more forceful, or more concentrated action relative to the root on which the intensive is built. For example: Manje (eat) becomes manjegur (devour) becomes manjegurgur (consume gluttonously). Double intensives are also pejoratives in many cases.

Packilvanian does not have sex-based grammatical gender but a suffix can be added to a word to feminise it. -Elea and -lea are the official root however a simple -a, -ia and -lia have been used to effeminise words. Non-feminised words also use the latter three at their ends. For example lumedichi (doctor) becomes lumedichilea (female doctor). Feminisation applied to men is regarded as a pejorative.

Numbers

Numbers describe a numerical quantity. Packilvanian uses a base 10 system. Numbers are represented using distinct glyphs (Packilvanian numerical glyphs). They can be written out in terms of how they are pronounced as well. Numbers can be used as either verbs, modifiers and descriptors, and nouns. For 20 to 90, simply modify dukha with a number between 2 and 9. The same principle applies to other base numbers as shown below. The default class of numbers is "lu" unless the noun is specified. To add a number to the end, simply use the "with" postposition. For instance 23 is ludukha ludush luaye lutaru (two ten with

three), 7,589 is lumileniyat lushevaan luaye luhashamat luvayeef luaye ludekha luagluat ayelunanya (seven thousawithand five hundrwithand eight twithand nine).

Cardinal Glyph Ordinal Abbreviation Frequency Abbreviation
-ngun 1 -nganute 1te -nganashan 1shan
-dush 2 -dashute 2te -dushashan 2shan
-taru 3 -taruhe 3he -tarshan 3shan
-vayeer 4 -veyeerute 4he -veyeershan 4shan
-vayeef 5 -veyeefute 5he -veyeefshan 5shan
-sasha 6 -sashuhe 6he -sashan 6shan
-shavaan 7 -shevaanute 7te -sheevanshan 7shan
-agat 8 -egate 8te -gashan 8shan
-nanya 9 -nanyahe 9he -nashan 9shan
-dekha 10 -dukhahe 10he -dukhashan 10shan
-hashamat 100 -heshamatute 100te -hashamatashan 100shan
-mileniyat 1,000 -muleniyatush 1,000sh -mileniyashan 1,000shan
-guraleen 1,000,000 -giraleenush 1,000,000sh -gureleenashan 1,000,000shan
-khuraleen 1,000,000,000 -khiraleenush 1,000,000,000sh -khurileenashan 1,000,000,000shan
-meqaleen 1,000,000,000,000 -makaleenush 1,000,000,000,000 sh -meqaleenashan 1,000,000,000,000shan
-tashqaleen 1,000 meq (1,000,000,000,000,000) -teshqaleenush 1,000 meqsh -tashqaleenashan 1,000 meqshan
-wakaleen 1,000,000 meq (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) -wekaleenush 1,000,000 meqsh -wakaleenashan 1,000,000 meqshan

Sample text

Khahabitangatuntequweelavaj khamuvash abekolonixer benekomimi avesilamiyat aluKririya. Ludonai abemedaqa wesilamiyat lutrukhuntsudunavaj yekolonixer abeValeva besujharania vusilamiyat vumaknir vumedayeen

The first recorded habitation of the Cryrian islands was in the form of nekomimi settlers. Their presence in the Isles was abruptly truncated with the arrival of the elves, who grew to dominate the large central island, and the nekomimi only persisted in the far northwest, where they eventually formed the theocratic realm of Vhydhasz, encompassing the islands of Brekbu and Kraskne, as well as portions of the Brekkim Peninsula. The variety of elven groups slowly grew to establish a patchwork of kingdoms and chiefdoms across the main island, which thus became known as Älva Mark, or Elf Land, eventually shortened to Älmark. The southwestern portions of the island group became home to the first human habitation by early arrivals from Novaris, and saw the development of the Kingdom of Vesterholm and a proto-republic on what would become Lindesgaard. The balkanizing geography of the Cryrian Isles stunted the development of all of these groups and ensured that no one dominant power was ever truly able to arise on the Cryrian Isles during its early history.