Vasurian language

Vasurian is a Caric language of the Caro-Valdic language family, spoken across the Colvine Plains in the eastern portion of the continent of Noxorea. The native language of the lion peoples, Vasurian is the sole official language of the Vasurian Republic, and is co-official in Piregia and Telodia.

Standard Vasurian (or Imperial Vasurian) is the prestige dialect of the City of Vasur, the imperial capital of the Vasurian Republic, and is considered the formal standard of the Vasurian language. Vasurian is not be confused with Classical Vasurian, the ancestor language of Vasurian, which is also the parent to several daughter languages: Agrithian, Heroxian, Piregian, Napallonian and Thupravian.

By virtue of the Vasurian Republic's extensive economic and political influence in West Noxorea, it is the language of commerce and trade between many mammalian polities.

Phonology

Modern Standard Vasurian phonology saw a drastic simplification of consonants and vowels since Classical Vasurian began splitting into its various daughter languages. Nasalisation, a hallmark of Caric branch languages were lost entirely in Late Classical Vasurian and became nasal consonants /m n ɲ ŋ/ by the time Vasurian was standardised 300 years ago. Uvular consonants disappeared, merging with velars, while /h/ appeared after the grammaticalisation of the auxiliar imperative ahai. The distinction of short and long vowels was also lost completely lost, reducing the vowel inventory to seven monophthongs and five diphthongs ai, ia, ua, io and oi.

Phonotactics in Vasurian CCVVCC. Except for loanwords, native Vasurian words do not permit consonants clusters exceeding two consonants. There cannot be more than three vowels in a syllable nuclear, in which case a glottal stop is inserted.

Consonants

		Labial	Coronal		Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
		m	n			ɲ	ŋ
Stop	Voiceless	p	t			(c)	k	ʔ
Stop	Voiced	b	d			(ɟ)	ɡ
Affricates	Voiceless			t͡ʃ
Affricates	Voiced			d͡ʒ
Fricatives	Voiceless	f	s		ʃ ~ ɕ		x	h
Fricatives	Voiced	(v)	(z)		(ʒ ~ ʑ)
Liquids			l			j	w
Trill			r

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Low	a		ɑ

Numerals

Standard Vasurian uses a decimal system. Numbers in Vasurian may be cardinal, ordinal, distributive and adverbial (or multiplicative).

Numeral	Cardinal	Ordinal	Distributive	Adverbial
0	inala'an	inala'anë	buxai	gro'om
1	jam	taldu	ximai	jamku
2	yes	yesë	yesai	yesku
3	o	okë	osai	oku
4	baid	baidë	bai	baidaku
5	sak	sakë	sakai	saku
6	ër	ërë	ërai	ërku
7	nos	nosikë	nosai	nosku
8	ney	neykë	neyai	neyku
9	faer	faerë	faerai	faerku
10	pay	payi	payai	payku
50	paysak	paysakë	paysakai	paysaku
100	gendu	gendunë	gendugai	genduku
1,000	gë'ok	gë'okë	gë'okai	gë'oku

Grammar

Standard Vasurian is a mostly head-marking, highly inflected, and agglutinative language, using a large inventory of conjugatable auxiliary verbs to convey complex meaning. As with most Caric languages, Vasurian verbs are inflected for number, gender, person and TAM. Vasurian also uses employs adpositional suffixes or particles which are added on to nouns to convey relative location, direction and deixis. Unusual to many other Vasurid languages, Standard Vasurian has gained the paucal which is inflected in noun and pronoun paradigms.

Word order in Vasurian is relatively free, but in most constructs, verb-subject-object is the default. Relative clauses are merged with possessive constructions or indirect object markers on verbs.

Rare to most world languages, Vasurian features nominative–absolutive morphosyntactic alignment, and it occurs in transitive and ditransitive verb constructions in the aorist and semelfactive aspects, or in relative clauses consisting of an intransitive verb. Conversely, the imperfective aspect is marked by adding an ergative marker to the subject, except in paucal and plural constructions in which a locational suffix -iya suppletes the plural marker to index the imperfective.

Nouns

Nouns are declined for four core cases which include the nominative, absolutive, ergative and possessive. Adpositions may be suffixed or function as particles to convey locative and specific spatial relations of nouns.

Stopped coda declensions
Stopped coda			Singular	Paucal		Plural
Stopped coda			Singular	Familiar	Alien	Plural
Nominative			-Ø	-a	-a
Absolutive			-Ø	-a	-i
Ergative	Masc.		-un	-od		-wë
Ergative	Fem.		-a	-od		-wë
Possessive	1p		-oi		-yai
	2p	Masc.	-eki	-ëm	-uk
	2p	Fem.	-ri	-ëm	-uk
	3p	Masc.	-ña	-ësa
	3p	Fem.	-råke	-ësa

Fricative and liquid coda declensions
Vowel coda			Singular	Paucal		Plural
Vowel coda			Singular	Familiar	Alien	Plural
Nominative			-Ø	-a	-wo
Absolutive			-Ø	-a	-wi
Ergative	Masc.		-ʔun	-yod		-twë
Ergative	Fem.		-nai	-yod		-twë
Possessive	1p		-noi		-wai
	2p	Masc.	-eki	-tëm/-dëm	-wuk
	2p	Fem.	-di	-tëm/-dëm	-wuk
	3p	Masc.	-na	-ësa
	3p	Fem.	-åkra	-ësa

Vowel coda declensions
Vowel coda			Singular	Paucal		Plural
Vowel coda			Singular	Familiar	Alien	Plural
Nominative			-Ø	-ya	-sa
Absolutive			-Ø	-ya	-ki
Ergative	Masc.		-ʔun	-yod		-twë
Ergative	Fem.		-nai	-yod		-twë
Possessive	1p		-noi		-hai
	2p	Masc.	-gi	-hëm	-huk
	2p	Fem.	-xi	-hëm	-huk
	3p	Masc.	-iña	-dësa
	3p	Fem.	-kåt	-dësa

Pronouns

Independent personal pronouns are anaphoric, and regularly omitted in speech since verbs already inflect for person. Use of independent pronouns features more commonly in formal and written communication, emphasis and imperative phrases. Except in casual and informal situations, Vasurian speakers typically avoid using the 2nd person pronoun as part of polite and formal speech. When addressing those of higher social rank or age, demonstrative pronouns are used in its place. Like other Vasurid languages, 2nd person pronouns are gendered by biological sex. Hermaphroditic beings (especially when addressing mollusc folk), are addressed in the 2nd person feminine by default.

Vasurian pronouns do not distinguish alienable and inalienable possession, a feature lost since the split between Regropian and Vasurian languages. The numeric "one", hima, is not recognised as an impersonal pronoun in Standard Vasurian, though it is commonly used in colloquial speech and slang.

Independent pronouns

Pronouns		1st person			2nd person			Demonstratives (3rd persons)
		Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Proximal			Distal
		Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Nominative	Masc.	ke	sini	las	han	pakway	ipiá	dalo	waínla	waí	ceram	tajuwaí	juwaí
Nominative	Fem.	ke	sini	las	rayí	pakway		dalo	waínla	waí	ceram	tajuwaí	juwaí
Absolutive	Masc.	dra	tuka	kiśoy	wol	neyal		telba	geínla	gim	boŋ	tapwesa	pwesa
Absolutive	Fem.	dra	tuka	kiśoy	welin	neyal		telba	geínla	gim	boŋ	tapwesa	pwesa
Ergative	Masc.	sut	gaw	gi'át	xarg	leho	gan	gindé	ëlëmda	ëlëm	olba	takuŋga	kuŋga
Ergative	Fem.	sut	gaw	gi'át	sali	leho	gan	gindé	ëlëmda	ëlëm	olba	takuŋga	kuŋga
Possessive	Masc.	irci	cëlm		peiŋ	xit		pu'an	fai'u		ñesin	talébe	lébe
Possessive	Fem.	irci	cëlm		wasi	xit		pu'an	fai'u		ñesin	talébe	lébe

Synthetic pronouns

Pronouns	Zero (optional)	1st person			2nd person			Demonstratives (3rd persons)
		Singular	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Proximal					Distal
								Singular			Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural
								e-/i-	a-/o-/u-	C-	Paucal	Plural	Singular	Paucal	Plural
Masculine	i	gal	sin	las	ge	pan	ipi	-s	-r	-ur	n	do	as	tay	jay
Feminine	i	gal	sin	las	sla	pan	ipi	-gi	-l	-iŋ	n	do	as	tay	jay

Verbs

Vasurian verbs are divided into four traditional categories: nonfinite, finite, auxiliary and stative verbs (which behave as adjectives). Tense is not inflected in the verb conjugation in the irrealis mood, relying on context, locatives or relative clauses to indicate time and place.

True adjectives do not exist.

Nonfinite verbs

Nonfinite verbs constitute the largest inventory of verbs in Vasurian. They feature limited conjugation, lack vowel alternation and cannot inflect for TAM, requiring auxiliary verbs to convey additional information. Nonfinite verbs are usually derived from nouns suffixed with a verbaliser, though some nonfinite verbs may be standalone free morphemes. Because nonfinite verbs are syntactically similar to nouns, they can be declined like nouns, taking an ergative marker to imply an antipassive voice.

Os-sla-x

AUX.CONT.NPST.IRR-2SG.F-DITR

g-anai-g-(g)i-ot?

DEF-feed.NF-NMLZ-ERG-Q

"You're feeding (with food)?"

Likewise, any noun can be syntactically verbalised, which is defaulted into the nonfinite verb paradigm. The word for honour (tërgës) is a noun by default, but when verbalised, it comes to mean 'to revere'.

Ñe-s›gal-tu

AUX.AOR.NPST.REAL-3SG.M›3PAU.F-TR

∅-ci-tyërgës-k

INDEF-AUG\honour.NF-VBZ

g-walaim-a.

DEF-lioness-ABS.PAU.FAM

"He greatly revered the lionesses."

Nonfinite verbs may take on the possessive case to convey possession or create relative clauses. In the below example, the stative verb for upset (åjo'o), as a stative (and functionally an adjective/nominal) is being declined for the possessive 2nd person feminine to indicate the subject's feelings.

De'ës-sla-y-sla›n-du

fail.FIN-CONT.NPST.REAL-IO-2SG.F›3PAU.F-TR

x-a'ajen-g-ëm

DEF-push.NF-NMLZ-POSS.3PAU.F

pëcamaik-∅

business-ABS

åjo'o-xi.

upset.STAT-POSS.2S.F.

"She failed their business and she's upset (about it)."

Finite verbs

Finite verbs are free morphemes that may be fully conjugated synthetically for person, number, gender and TAM, but cannot stand as nouns unless nominalised. Finite verbs includes common words and copulas (including the negative copula). The number of finite verbs is relatively small, but consist of some of the most commonly used verbs in use, such as to eat, to carry, to move or to be. Finite verbs conjugations are fairly regular.

	Realis		Irrealis
	Past	Nonpast	Inferential	Imperative	Desirative	Optative	Potential	Necessitative
Aorist	-m	-Ø	-Ø	-ai	-hai	-gen	-iśu	-ui
Semelfactive	-jeyi	-je	-t	-aija	-hëbá	-gena	-iyit	-ui
Continuous	-sla	-ma	-n	-aisi	-haisë	-gema	-iyam	-usi
Habitual	-å	-bu	-xë	-aibu	-hebu	-gåb	-ilar	-ulat

Auxiliary verbs

While auxiliary verbs are functionally and syntactically similar to finite verbs, their highly irregular conjugation and complexity often places it in its own verbal category in traditional Vasurian grammar. Auxiliary verbs can be broadly subdivided into subcategories of conjugation based on semantics, phonology and transitivity.

The eight categories auxiliary verb types are:

Existence and polarity (ñe, kuxu, balis, aŋay)
Movement (pug, ulda, ul, kem)
Ditransitives:
- Direct objects (xi, tuxás)
- Indirect objects (niú, ëra, hop)
Locative (toábi)
Compound verbs
Converbs (etey, amay, maixi, hugaw, solo)

Existence and polarity auxiliaries

Existence and polarity auxiliaries describe existence and state of being (not to be confused with stative verbs). These include two copulas: nẽ (the uninflected form of an affirmative be) and kuxu (the negative particle). Both na and kuxu are highly irregular and feature extensive suppletion in its conjugation.

ñe ('to be')	Realis		Irrealis
ñe ('to be')	Past	Nonpast	Inferential	Imperative	Desirative	Optative	Potential	Necessitative
Aorist	kon	ñe	ñe	la	xóët	gewa	xiś	kui
Semelfactive	këli	gwali	gwal	gwalaija	gwalëbá	gwawena	gwait	kui
Continuous	sla	meñ	os	faisa	xóëtaisë	gewam	xiyám	kusi
Habitual	åso	så	såxë	faibu	fibu	fixäb	filar	kulat

In the following example, ñe (be) is conjugated for the aorist, semelfactive, optative mood to indicate the man was pumping water, given that pumping water is a temporal event.

gwawena-r›jaŋ-a

AUX.SEM.OPT-3SG.M›REM.DEM-PL

walsagu=noa-k

pump=water-VBZ.NF

pitíya-médra.

noon-ABS-LOC

"He hoped to pump the water at noon."

kuxu (negative)	Realis		Irrealis
kuxu (negative)	Past	Nonpast	Inferential	Imperative	Desirative	Optative	Potential	Necessitative
Aorist	kakón	kuxu	kux	kuwáí	kuxán	kewa	kiś	kakui
Semelfactive	kwino	kwin	kwil	kiwaija	kwilëbá	káwna	giwit	kakui
Continuous	raku	riku	rixu	randa	randóët	randwa	ras	rugi
Habitual	ka'åso	kåså	kåxë	kufaibu	kufibu	kufixäb	kufilar	kufat

káwna-r›jaŋ-a

AUX(NEG).SEM.OPT-3SG.M›REM.DEM-PL

walsagu=noa-k

pump=water-VBZ.NF

pitíya-médra.

noon-ABS-LOC

"He hoped he did not have to pump the water at noon."

Movement auxiliaries

There are four commonly used auxiliary verbs to describe movement. They are pug, ulda, ul, and kem, each roughly denoting a kind of movement involving the subject or object.

Which movement auxiliary to use is complicated, and varies by dialects. Pug and ulda are generally unambiguous, describing movement towards (andative) and away (venitive) from the subject respectively, though there are phonological and historical exceptions. Ul and kem expresses general movement, but which one to use is entirely not predictable and depends on culture, dialect, semantics and academic consensus (or lack thereof).

pug ('go towards')	Realis		Irrealis
pug ('go towards')	Past	Nonpast	Inferential	Imperative	Desirative	Optative	Potential	Necessitative
Aorist	pug	bana	faxi	faya	difan		'eptu	rëpi
Semelfactive	puŋu	batay	kimë	ke'an	dióy	malu	rásu	soña
Continuous	puŋu	rasú	inosi	ke'anan	drexo
Habitual	pinå	pinogå	saspinå	ke'ananu	drexo

Bisn-åkra

day-POSS.3SG.F

kakón=pug-im›as

NEG.COP=AUX(go.AND).AOR.PST-3SG›3SG(DIST)

Tikayon-irci

Tikayon-POSS.M

toi-m

see.FIN-REAL.AOR.PST

rujalab-un

shaman-ERG

"Tikayon made no effort to go to the shaman yesterday."

Ditransitive auxiliaries

Ditransitive auxiliaries (also known as dative auxiliaries) are specifically used to indicate sender and recipient relations. Where the subject of an argument is acting on the object through a ditransitive relationship, the verbal auxiliary xi is used, usually preceding a non-finite adjunct verb to give more context to the argument. Xi broadly means to 'send', 'deliver' or 'pass', usually a tangible object. If the subject is marked in the ergative, the ditransitive auxiliaries take on an antipassive stem instead.

Ditransitive auxiliaries do not conjugate for the semelfactive aspect, but are generally lumped together with the continuous aspect.

xi (to send)	Realis				Irrealis
	Past		Nonpast		Inferential		Imperative		Desirative		Optative		Potential		Necessitative
	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.
Aorist	xi	niú	gob	warnu	xi	nehá	xata		ëximan	ëkuman			ënuti	pwarë	usin	utap
Continuous	xika	niúka	gobay	warnay	xisin	ne'an	xatika		ikumaná				ënutika	pwarëka	usinay	utapay
Habitual	hop	hopú	hopí	hopau	ka'ó	ka'oná	kahopá		hipi				hipoka		hopinay

ënuti-sla›jay

AUX(DITR).ACT.ERG.POT-2SG.F›3PL.M

x-ójula

INDEF-offer.NF

faxi-g=gu-drasa-ki

AUX(ALL).INF-NMLZ=god-ABS.PL

(-)ya'erig-lébe

INDEF-gift-POSS.3PL.M

wiyáxai=jubok-a

fox=testicles-NOM.PL

"You can offer fox testicles as a valid gift to the gods."

Intangible objects tend to use the word tuxás, such as sending one's love, a prayer, or curse.

tuxás (to send)	Realis				Irrealis
	Past		Nonpast		Inferential		Imperative		Desirative		Optative		Potential		Necessitative
	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.	Active	Antip.
Aorist	tuxás	géxat	fúdal	arfa	tuxás	gehá	gata		ëtás	gëxás	ëtás	gëxás	tuxi	putuwi	tusin	tusap
Continuous	tuxáka	getáka	fúday	arfay	tuxin	tu'an	tuka		ituxa				tu'ika	putitu'ika	tusinay	tusapay
Habitual	o'an	o'anat	wu'adat	wu'ifay	tu'agat		ho'ana		hipo'ani				o'aka		o'akinay

fudál

AUX(send).DITR.CONT.NPST

ja-pa'at-a

INT-love.NF-ERG.F

Waśur(-)

waśur-ABS.M

"I truly admire Vasur."

Locative auxiliary

The locative auxiliary consists of a single auxiliary verb toábi which generally describes the existence of a subject or object in relation to its origin or location. It is used in arguments of either ablative or locative nature. Highly defective, toábi behaves syntactically like a non-finite verb, and can't be conjugated without the dummy affix -han-. Without it, toábi is defaulted to be in the imperfective inferential mood.

taóbi-han-s›as-ix

AUX(LOC)-EXPL-NPST.DES.1PL›3SG-DITR

gi-caplu-'a

DEM.F-pond-ERG.F

Yómpu(-)

Yómpu-ABS.M

aib-ge=tromúŋ.

new.STAT-NMLZ=beginning.

"From this pond, we wish it sprouts a new beginning for Yómpu."

Compound verbs

When two verbs stems are combined, they become compound verbs. Their conjugation paradigm is determined by the ultimate verb stem. Thus, if the ultimate verb stem is an auxiliary verb (e.g. okacpug, "to announce"), the compound verb assumes the inflectional pattern of pug. Likewise, the word for "usurp", okaciambu (which compounds the verbs okac "to appoint" and jiambu "to coerce"), is a nonfinite verb and cannot be conjugated, requiring a verbal auxiliary to conjugate it.

Compound verbs may be combined with noun stems, particles and adpositions to create complex derivational morphology. The order of which the noun or verb stem follows is unpredictable and sometimes swapped in casual speech, sometimes with the intention of making it a cant.

Compound verbs	2 lexemes	3 lexemes	4+ lexemes
Verb+verb	okac (appoint)+ pug (go)	kwër (bless) + kon (be) + tuxás (send)	xe (find) + 'ota (enjoy) + dargi (time) + pug (go)
Verb+verb	okacpug "announce"	kwërkontuxás "to ascend, to promote"	xe'otadargipug "procrastinate, to deliberately delay, to stall"
Verb+noun	ufaw (air) + mixjá (snow)	mam (milk) + åsog (be) + anjú (nurture)	ras (pike) + kon (negate) + yë (forehead) + fay (praise)
Verb+noun	ufawmixjá "chill, freeze"	mamåsoganjú "breastfeed"	raskoñëfáy "defamation"
Verb+adposition	mut (opposite) + ga'í (climb)	yidún (caste) + ni (below) + k (VBZ)	Waśur (Vasur) + gewa (be) + pug (go)
Verb+adposition	mutga'i "to become stuck"	yidúnnik "to demote, to relegate"	Waśurgewpug "to Vasurised, to civilise"

waśur=gew=bana-i-jay

Vasur=AUX(go)=AUX(be).AOR.PAST-∅›3PL.DIST

('ët).

(all).

"They are (all) Vasurised."

Stative verbs

Stative verbs encompass all adjectives and verbs that describe a state of being. They are similar to nonfinite verbs in their limited conjugation, but are not as synthetically defective, and cannot conjugate for the semelfactive, continuous and habitual aspects. Common stative words include: sleep, love, rest, possess and ride.

Like nonfinite verbs, stative verbs can assume nominal inflectional morphology by virtue of being adjectives, but unlike nonfinite verbs, do not take on the nominaliser suffix -g.

ŋolib (sleep)	Realis		Irrealis
ŋolib (sleep)	Past	Nonpast	Inferential	Imperative	Desirative	Optative	Potential	Necessitative
Aorist	ŋolibo	ŋolibit	ŋolib	ŋolibáta	ŋolibás	ŋoliban	ŋolibuwi	ŋolibap
Semelfactive		ŋolib		ŋolibá
Continuous
Habitual

low (red)	Realis		Irrealis
low (red)	Past	Nonpast	Inferential	Imperative	Desirative	Optative	Potential	Necessitative
Aorist	lowo	lowbit	lowib	lowáta	lowás	lowan	lowuni	lowap
Semelfactive		lowib		lowá
Continuous
Habitual

ŋolib-o

sleep.STAT-NPST

Kalcanu(-).

Kalcanu-ABS.

"Kalcanu sleeps."

Ites-o

yellow.STAT-NPST

aboŋ-ësa

house-POSS.3SG.PROX

ofum-o

burn.STAT-NPST

kon.

AUX(COP).AOR.PST

"The yellow house is burnt."

Adpositions

Vasurian adpositions describe locative and specific spatial relations of nouns and arguments they describe. Adpositions as independent particles do not conjugate unless incorporated into the verb complex. Adpositions may also be nominalised, with some commonly used adpositions evolving into full fledge lexical nouns.

Adpositions are important in forming dative and genitive constructions outside of possessive ones. For instance, in "hacking down the red door of the family", dative and genitive adpositions are used to describe recipient and agent relations.

g-uśan

DEF-hack.NF

gobay-as›jay

AUX(send).DITR.CONT.NPST-3SG>3PL

këbóka-dësa

door-POSS.3SG

dare-'ambas(-)

PREP(GEN)-family-ABS

"They are hacking the red door of the family."

Varieties and dialects

There are several dialects of Vasurian largely centred around major population centres and their environs. While imperial Vasurian is considered the prestige dialect of Vasurian, most speakers communicate in local varieties. Almost all Vasurian dialects are mutually intelligible.

West Coast Vasurian is the most common spoken variety of Vasurian, and is considered the language of commerce and trade. Imperial Vasurian is the dialect of the capital city, and is associated with imperial authority, power, military and academia. Grassland Vasurian is the language of the country's savannah interior, and is heavily associated with informality, unrefined brusque speech. Highland Vasurian describes several varieties of subdialects from the Gitalak and Sospu mountain ranges, and are associated with comedy, poetry, rhetoric, and music. Insular Vasurian is one of the least spoken forms of Vasurian, and stereotypically associated with fishermen, banditry and pirates.

Vasurian grammar and orthography is regulated by the Imperial Academy of Language, which provides a prescriptivist standard to the Vasurian language as a whole. Attempts to discourage other dialects of Vasurian by the academy have been limited, if not unsuccessful.