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Azraen Language

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Azrael
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Azraen Language

Postby Azrael » Fri Dec 30, 2011 4:25 pm

Technically-speaking, Standard Azraen is a Dachsprache (similar to Standard Arabic) that is used to establish intelligible communication among the native Azraens, as the country of Azrael itself forms a dialect continuum where some of the different dialects can sometimes not be entirely mutually intelligible to one another. Standard Azraen is regulated by the Azraen Language Committee (Az. Temukei du Azria), which was established many years ago to help unify our the native people's. Many dialects are still present, but Standard Azraen is mandatory education in schools along with English, our nation's other official language, and is the form of Azraen taught to foreigners. Therefore, the usage of the language is rapidly increasing in every area of the nation.

There is only one other discernible indigenous language in Azrael, the enigmatic Feirvalian language, which is the regional language of Feirval, although it's only natively spoken or commonly used by the Feirvali people (Az. Feirvalta), although it is being taught as an optional language course in most schools. It is widely different from any form of Azraen with hardly any degree of mutual intelligibility, and as such is recognized as an entirely different language with many linguists looking in to investigating it's origins. The Feirvali are indeed quite different from other Azraens, and their language is key to their equally mysterious culture.

Vowels (Examples of pronunciation included):
a - "father"
e - "bed"
i - "feet"
ï - "bit"
o -"row"
ö - "hot"
u - "food"
ə - "comma"

Diphthong vowel combinations:
ai - "eye"
ar - "are"
ue - "wet"
ui - "we"
ei - "say"
eir - "air"

Consonants (examples only included if pronunciation differs from English):
b
d
f
g
h
j
k
l
m
n
p
r
s
t
v
x - "chalk"
y
z

Verb rules:
  • Verbs do not conjugate in relation to person
  • 3 tenses exist - present, past, future
    -Present is created by placing the noun or the article of the subject in front of the infinitive (ex. "lo jörai" = "I run" )
    -Past is created by adding the suffix -ïs to the end of the infinitive (ex. "lo xoraiïs" = "I ate")
    -Future is created by adding the suffix -u to the end of the infinitive (ex. "lo soraiu" = "I will go")
  • 4 aspects exist - simple (basic conjugation), progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive
    -progressive is created by adding the suffix -vi to the end of the conjugated verb(ex. "lo raivi" = "I am walking")
    -perfect is created by adding the suffix -so to the end of the conjugated verb(ex. "lo levaiso" = "I have arrived")
    -perfect progressive is created by adding the suffix -sovi to the end of the conjugated verb (ex. "lo kïraisovi" = "I have been waiting")
  • 4 moods exist - indicative, subjunctive, imperative and interrogative
    -subjunctive is created by removing the -ai ending and replacing it with -ska (ex. "Zu lo oska klavi..." = "If I were smart...")
    -imperative is created by simply removing the noun, like in English (ex. "Jorai!" = "Run!"), (ex. "Uantaiha!" = "Stop (yourself)!")
    -interrogative is created by by dropping the -ai ending and replacing it with -ən (ex."Nan ye sorənïs?" = "Where did you go?")
  • For transitive clauses, the object is placed after the verb(ex. "Ka kivon kömaiïs ka jöru "= "The man saw the boy")
  • To use pronouns with transitivity you add the object pronoun to the end of the verb (ex. "lo kömaiïsyeha" = "I saw you")
  • For ditransitivity, "ö" is used in similar fashion as "to" is in English (ex. "Lo tomaiïs ka kopa ö reha" = "I gave the cup to her"), (ex. "Lo tomaiïsroha ö reha" = "I gave it to her")
  • Verbs are made reflexive by adding the suffix -ha (ex. "lo kömaiha" = "I see myself")

Pronouns:
Personal:
lo - I
ye - you (sing)
ra - he
re - she
ro - it
vue - we
yer - you (pl)
har - they

Objective:
loha - me
yeha - you (sing)
raha - him
reha - her
roha - it
vueha - us
yerha - you (pl)
harha - them

Possessive (can also be used in a fashion similar to nouns with the apostrophe s in English):
loren - mine
yen - yours (sing)
ran - his
ren - hers
ron - its
vueren - ours
yeren - yours (pl)
haren - theirs

Numbers:
uta - one
öra - two
koma - three
kuna - four
zara - five
tena - six
mara - seven
böra - eight
ixa - nine
tarala - ten
örala - twenty
komala - thirty
kunala - fourty
zarala - fifty
tenala - sixty
marala - seventy
börala - eighty
ixala - ninety
utanaia - one hundred

Verbs:
oai - to be
vai - to be able to
urai - to end, finish
sorai - to go
uantai - to stop (something)
aremanai - to listen
kuvai - to know
karzenai - to follow
izjurai - to humor
vurvai - to lead
koxanai - to share
horenvai - to win
honvai - to thank

Words and Phrases:
Azriel - Azrael
Repəblïk du Azriel - Republic of Azrael
Azrielta - Azraen person/people (as a group/singular)
Azrieltaya - Azraen people (plural)
Azria - Azraen language
Azrieli - Azraen (adjective)
halo - hello
nore - what
nan - where
hana - why
ho - huh
sa - wow
ala - to
por - for
krozao - there
to - and
nu - not
du - of
zu - if
bana - but
ere - or
dən - with
ka - definite article
u - indefinite article
ös - this
ösya - these
es - that
esya - those
se - that/who (only when coming before a verb; ex. "Ka kivon se vurvai" = "The man who leads")
sa - yes
na - no
one - O.K., alright, very well (term of agreement)
ran - then (transition word)
fuo - while
go - than
ne - please
marsen - person
marseneya - people
kivon - man
kivan - woman
mersa - child
mersaya - children
jöru - boy
jöra - girl
bava - mother
dara - father
klavi - smart
krase - part, section
bari - new
versa - blood
bariva - fruit
garundo - wolf
parun - money/currency
höxaiya - chance, luck
votrun - day
votrunaya - days
yarala - forest
itsuru - ocean
itsago - seashell
izeru - island
skazao - land
yuraska - country
aliskada - nation
Kraien - North (noun)
Feirval - East (noun)
Dujan - West (noun)
Sxo - South (noun)
pəlitikya - politics
pəlitisian - politician
partik - political party
demökrasi - democracy
demökratïki - democratic
libertarian - libertarian (noun)
libertariani - libertarian (adjective)
sosialïst - socialist (noun)
sosialïsti - socialist (adjective)
kömunïst - communist (noun)
kömunïsti - communist (adjective)
Last edited by Azrael on Sat Dec 22, 2012 9:59 pm, edited 51 times in total.
If nothing exists, where did this anger come from?

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Se Nil ce Lhuuba
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Founded: Oct 17, 2012
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Postby Se Nil ce Lhuuba » Thu Dec 27, 2012 12:33 am

Is Azraen an a priori conlang?
We are officially Se Repúbelíka ce se Nil ce é Λúba. Call us Se Nil for short.

I'm a homosexual 16-year-old male. Get over it. <3

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Azrael
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Founded: Oct 19, 2011
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Postby Azrael » Thu Dec 27, 2012 11:22 am

Se Nil ce Lhuuba wrote:Is Azraen an a priori conlang?

For the most part, yes. The majority of its vocab is not based on any RL languages, but since in universe the nation of Azrael has a large population of foreigners who speak RL languages, some influence has found its way into modern Standard Azraen vocab. Grammatically, Azraen is very Indo-European, but that was just an artistic choice by me. I plan on making a language entirely from scratch in the future some time.
If nothing exists, where did this anger come from?

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Se Nil ce Lhuuba
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Founded: Oct 17, 2012
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Postby Se Nil ce Lhuuba » Thu Dec 27, 2012 7:51 pm

Okay, that's what I figured. Mine is mostly a priori, with real-world loanwords as well, but the grammar isn't very Indo-European, I don't think...

I hope you don't mind, I copied and reused your format here for my own.
We are officially Se Repúbelíka ce se Nil ce é Λúba. Call us Se Nil for short.

I'm a homosexual 16-year-old male. Get over it. <3

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Dostanuot Loj
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Founded: Nov 04, 2004
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Postby Dostanuot Loj » Thu Dec 27, 2012 9:36 pm

My first BA is in linguistics, so I enjoy these threads.

First, your language is basically English, but with different words. This isn't a bad thing, but if you were shooting for something different, it's worth knowing. Beyond that, there is not much to be judged on the language, a few comments though.

Your verbal syntax is, well, contradictory. You use the suffix -ha to indicate a reflexive verb, yet it is likewise added to personal pronoun suffixes of verbs. So, to use your example lo kömaiïsyeha, it would be completely incomprehensible as it would mean "I saw you who happens to be myself", in the most logical way I can put it, or otherwise lead to confusion. The -ha suffix on the personal pronoun is not explained, and its relevance is unclear. Whereas lo kömaiha is perfectly clear because it is reflexive.

The note on transitivity can be more simply explained in that word order is Subject-Verb-Object (As having an Object determines transitivity), and that pronouns are suffixed to verbs. Or you could conjugate the verbs by personal pronoun with a suffix.

I would love to see a paragraph written out using many of the words you list, with proper syntax as you intend. I could give you deeper information from that, with this post.
Leopard 1 IRL

Kyiv is my disobedient child. :P

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Azrael
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Posts: 7884
Founded: Oct 19, 2011
Ex-Nation

Postby Azrael » Mon Dec 31, 2012 11:51 pm

This thread isn't supposed to really be for discussion on the language.

As for the post above, I appreciate your feedback, but I'm not changing anything at all for the moment being. This project was an experiment and I've grown vastly in my understanding of language since I first developed this. It's been everything I've wanted it to be, everything was all artistically dictated by me, and I'm proud of where it's gone. With the recent locking of my translation thread and me focusing primarily on the A&F forum, I don't see much need to continue working on this, and as such, I'm leaving this as it is.
If nothing exists, where did this anger come from?


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