Vödë
(V-Eau-D-Eu)
(V-Eau-D-Eu)
The language is pronounced like French. I alternate between a French spelling and a spelling I devised just so that each phoneme is represented by a single letter to prevent confusion.
So far, I just have grammar and a few words. Until I make up the words, I will just put their English equivalents.
This is the most common language on my continent, spoken over the most territory. In other areas, it is frequently used as the language of trade/diplomacy between groups that don't speak the same languages. The culture is polytheistic and feudal.
PHONEMES
Consonants: B, D, F, G, K, L, M, N, P, Ĥ (like a French R), S, Š (Sh), T, V, Y (can only occur after a vowel), Z, Ž (Zh).
Vowels: A (Ah), Å (Aw), E (Eh), Ë (Eu), Ė (En), I (Ee), O (Aw)Ö (Eau), Ô (On), U (Oo), Ü (pronounced like a a German umlauted U), İ (In).
There are others, but they are variations of the ones listed here and just depend on pronunciation and stress.
CULTURE
Politeness is taken very seriously. Hospitality must be offered in question form (e.g.: "Would you like some tea?") if it is offered at all; usually, it is simply given. Hospitality is generally given elaborately as a showing off of wealth and status. Lower classes cannot offer hospitality to their betters as this would be seen to be "showing off" and would be an insult to the higher's status. Similarly, servants cannot offer to serve. They must either simply serve quietly or wait to be commanded.
Honour is highly regarded. Honour on the battlefield is very important. Solving disagreements and legal issues through duels allows both injurer and injured to save face (even the loser). Titles and formality are very important.
Grammar
Stress: The last syllable is usually stressed.
Structure: The language is inflected. "A" and "the" are present as separate particles to indicate general/specific respectively. Pronouns in the accusative form are located before the verb and connected with a hyphen (e.g.: "I him-hit").
Grammatical Gender: Masculine, Feminine, and Neuter are present. M, N, L, and T are feminine endings; B, P, and D are neuter; all other consonants are masculine. A and İ are feminine endings; Ö, U, and Ü are neuter endings; all other vowels are masculine.
Word Order: SVO is typical, though it is a mark of good breeding and education to mix up word order, forming lengthy and complex sentences.
Pronouns: Pronouns with their own verb conjugations are separated by commas. If two (or more) pronouns share a verb form, they are separated with a forward slash. I, I (formal)/We (inclusive)/We (exclusive), You (singular), You (plural and formal), He/She/It/One, They (plural and formal).
Verb Tenses: Habitual, Past Perfect, Past Progressive, Past Subjunctive, Uncertain Past, Past Imperfect, Present Indicative, Present Subjunctive, Uncertain Present, Imperative, Future Indicative, Uncertain Future, Future Subjunctive. Verbs that refer to the actions of the gods take 'a-' as a prefix.
Negating: Sentences are negated by placing a special particle in front of the verb and another after (e.g.: "Je ne sais pas").
Questions
General: The verb is placed before the subject.
Yes/No: Questions give a choice of possible answers (e.g.: "Je sais ne sais pas?").
Conjunctions: XY-and. Vel X vel Y (one or both). Ant X and Y (just one or the other, not both). X and Y (between two full sentences).
Numbers: Base ten. Numbers up to five are declined. 27 is represented as "seven and twenty."
Idiomatic Constructions
Language: "By-means-of X, I speak."
I have...: "Among my possessions, there is..."
