Intervocalically:

Phonotactics

(C3)V(C3)

Long consonants cannot follow long vowels. When I made this rule I was young and stupid and thought this was ugly. Long vowels can, however, follow geminated consonants, as in myttaan /'mytːaːn/ (‘don’t want’).

Suprasegmentals

Primary stress always falls on the first syllable, and is realised as a slight increase in volume. In compound words, secondary stress may fall on the first syllable of each root word after the first, or maybe omitted entirely in short words.

Orthography

Rlvaky uses the Kerav script, an alphabet that is written from left to right and up to down, like the Latin alphabet. The orthography doesn’t distinguish voicing. This causes some words to be ambiguous, but it’s usually clear through context.

The Kerav script was invented in Kerav, a country to the west of Greater Rlvako. The Kerav language happens to be part of another branch of the same language family as Rlvaky.

In places where /r/ was historically pronunced word-finally and the preceding vowel was lengthened (in southern accents), it is acceptable to transcribe as a short vowel followed by /r/, or a long vowel only.

Writing in Greater Rlvako

The Rlvaky language, especially in Rljada, doesn’t have a particularly long tradition of writing. It dragged its feet on it for the past few hundred years, but it’s ubiquitous post-industrialisation and the majority of the population is literate. Because of this short history, most Rlvaky speakers consider writing purely to be a (valuable) utilitarian tool to document spoken language, not the definitive form of a language or something with much cultural importance or artistic value by itself.

Before the 7th century, most literate nomads were clan leaders, or members of clans who had a lot of contact with settled clans and the centralised government. Literate settled people were mostly scholars, traders, and diplomats. In both groups, writing was used mostly for administration and recordkeeping purposes, but it did see some use in academic contexts.

Even now, in Rljada, literature and written poetry are not considered to be especially culturally important, and they are considered a somewhat foreign art form. The most respected native ‘written’ works tend to be documentations of spoken poetry and epics, oral histories, and songs, but even for these works, this form of documentation is considered artificial and utilitarian. Written Rlvaky art is associated with Varada, which adopted literature much earlier in its history and gives the art form more cultural power. Whether it’s because Varadans respect and promote the art form more, because they consider it to be more important to their culture, or because Greater Rlvako as a whole favours their authors’ voices, most famous Rlvaky-language authors are Varadan. The Rljadan modernist movement tends to push back against this trend, seeking to adopt literature into Rljadan culture.

Incidentally, Rlvakke, especially Rljadans, tend to put a lot of value on the spoken word. Important details of negotiations often aren’t recorded on paper, people are expected to remember complicated verbal instructions, messages are considered to have more weight when delivered verbally than on paper, and radio plays and narrated stories are more successful art forms than literature. Many argue that the ephemerality of speech is what gives it its weight.

798 spelling reform

The Rlvako government set the current system in 798 but, due to a lack of a lack of a (respected) literary authority, a general lack of centralisation in the country, and the relative cultural unimportance of writing, especially to a unified national identity, it took several decades to implement. By 830, though, it was the most common system, and by the late 9th century the reformed system was the only spelling system in use in modern-day Rljada.

Post-reform spelling took an especially long time to be implemented in Varada. This was partially because the new system did not resemble the accent that was common there, and partially because the canton had a separate, fairly powerful legislative body that didn’t bother with it in official documentation. It switched much later to facilitate international compatibility. It became ubiquitous around 950 or so, but even by 1030 pre-reform spelling is still occasionally used in Varada, as a marked form. It’s not always accurate to how it was actually used before the reform. Pre-reform spelling is generally used to suggest old-timeyness (think: ye olde chippe shoppe), but in some contexts it is used as a Varadan nationalist symbol.

Syntax

Questions

Polar questions

Polar questions are formed by adding the suffix -va to the verb being questioned.

Len suora.

2SG.FAM eat

'You are eating.'

Len suora-va?

2SG.FAM eat-Q

'Are you eating?'

The echo response is favoured over a yes/no response. Overusing the latter sounds unusually emphatic.

Len suora-je-va? –Se suora-je.

2SG.FAM eat-REC.P-Q –1SG eat-REC.P

'Did you (familiar) eat (recently)?' –'I ate.'

Most speakers would drop the first-person pronoun (and often the second-person pronoun and tense affix), but more on that later.

Suora-va? –Suora.

eat-Q –eat

Question-word questions

Question words are slapped onto the beginning of a statement, as in Finnish. There is no wh-movement.

Den sa > Koin den sa?

2SG.FOR be > who 2SG.FOR be

'You are' > 'Who are you?'

Echo questions

Echo questions, questions asking for clarification on what the previous speaker has said, are fairly common. They are spoken with the same prosody as other questions.

Question-word echo questions are permitted. Polar question echo questions are present in all dialects, but they are particularly common in the north.

Imperatives

The imperative mood is formed through the imperative (-ts) suffix and, more rarely, the prescriptive (-ssa) suffix.

Se-sat ridja-ts.

1SG-COM talk-IMP

‘Talk to me.’

If the root verb ends in a consonant, the final vowel of the verb is pronounced at the beginning of the imperative suffix.

hatsek > hatsek-ets

Negative imperative phrases are formed by attaching the imperative suffix to the verb, and then the negative suffix -aan. If the both the negative and imperative suffixes are attached to the verb, and the root verb ends in a long vowel, that final vowel is shortened. Politeness and strength are encoded in the same way as positive imperatives.

Femtaa-ts!

run-IMP

‘Run!’

Femta-ts-aan!

run-NEG-IMP

‘Don’t run!’

Strength and politeness

An imperative phrase on its own is usually not perceived as rude, or may not even be interpreted as as a mandatory command. There are, however, several means of softerning requests or indicating politeness.

The prescriptive -ssa suffix is ‘softer,’ functioning more as a mild request or suggestion. In many cases, the prescriptive mood can seem inappropriately familiar or intimate, even among close friends, and is quite marked.

Second-person imperatives usually omit the pronoun, but not always. Using the 2nd person formal pronoun is the most common way of forming a polite request, as long as the interlocutor is not familiar enough with the speaker to warrant the informal pronoun.

Priiha-ts.

come-IMP

‘Come.’

Den priiha-ts.

2SG.FOR come-IMP

‘Please come.’ (lit. you come)

prorra (please, thank you) is used in imperative phrases somewhat infrequently. It is used mostly when the speaker believes that a request is encroaching on the interlocutor. It’s used much more commonly to mean ‘thank you,’ among other use cases. A friendly ‘please sit!’ sounds bizzare to a Rlvaky speaker. A flat ‘Sit.’ is much more common.

An exception to this is the common, slightly informal phrase vua/vui prorra (literally ‘yes please,’ or perhaps ‘what please’), which is used to request that a speaker repeat themselves or clarify information. Another common phrase for this purpose, though, is syftjats or syftridjats (an imperative ‘repeat’). It’s slightly more formal but acceptable in most social situations.

Other cultures tend to interpret Rlvakke as being incredibly terse at best…

Verbal sentences

All verbs obligatorily have subjects, but it’s very common to omit the subject when it’s clear through context. Dummy subjects/pronouns do not exist.

Obligatory:

Sau kattos.

rain fall

‘It’s raining.’

Verbs need not have direct objects. Theoretically, any verb may be used with or without a direct object.

Possession

Like English, the genitive occurs after the noun. (G-N)

rauka-ve tvla

man-GEN shirt

'The man's shirt'

If the GEN pronoun refers to the NOM subject, the NOM pronoun is usually dropped.

Se-ve [book] mytte.

1SG-GEN book want

'I want my book.' (lit. my book want)

The possessor is marked with the genitive case, while the posessed noun is unmarked (in most dialects). The GEN pronoun usually comes before the possessed noun. Switching this is emphatic, but is becoming increasingly common and neutral.

There are three words that can be translated as 'to have': halja, uava, and uve. The same genitive pronoun is used for all types of possession.

halja is preferred when the 'possessed' entities are kinship relations and friends, but it can be used for other animate objects. The latter usage is slightly marked, and implies an emotional connection.

Se aan vutke halja.

1SG two sister have

'I have two sisters.'

uava is used elsewhere, when the possessed object is animate.

uve is used exclusively when the possessed object is inanimate. This is also the verb used for emotions and physical sensations or conditions.

uve originally indicated temporary possession, constrasting with halja, which indicated permanent possession and/or a strong emotional connection with the possessed object. These meanings have mostly been lost.

Alienable/inalienable possession

Inalienable possession is marked through identical possessor deletion. If an object is inalienably possessed, the genitive pronoun for the possessor is dropped.

It is permissible to mark non-kin relations as inalienable. This is a somewhat marked form that suggests affection.

Ja se-t kaslva haula-jo.

3SG 1SG-ACC name tell-PST

'He told me his name.' (INAL)

Ja se-lla ja-ve lyvuo ninta-jo.

3SG 1SG-LAT 3SG-GEN bag give-PST

'He gave me his bag.'(AL)

Ja elim sylle-jo.

3SG hand wash-PST

'He washed his hands.' (INAL)

(Ja) ja-ve tvla sylle-jo.

(3SG) 3SG-GEN shirt wash-PST

'He washed his shirt.' (AL)

Comparison

The postpositions yjot (ahead of, in front) and hpaiv (behind) are used to form comparisons. They are placed after the noun being compared against.

The ablative is used to indicate a difference, and the lative cases is used to indicate a similarity.

Setsa rkuu kera-kke yjot.

building tall tree-abl ahead

'The building is taller than the tree.'

Setsa rkuu kera-kke hpaiv.

building tall tree-abl behind

'The building is not as tall as the tree.'

Setsa rkuu kera-lla.

building tall tree-lat

'The building is as tall as the tree.'

Syro aju haivja-lla.

flower grue sky-LAT

'The flower is as blue as the sky.'

Le pavt se-kke yjot uve.

2SG.FAM money 1SG-ABL ahead have.INAN

'You have more money than me.'

As pavt ends in -t, the ACC suffix is elided.

These postpositions are prototypically used to mark location:

Le se-kke yjot.

2SG.FAM 1SG-ABL ahead

'You are in front of me.'

Animacy

Animacy hierarchy

1. Humans, gods, spirits
   1. 1^st + 2^nd person pronouns; speakers and interocutors
   2. 3^rd person pronouns; referents other than speakers or interlocutors
   1. Proximate
   2. Obviate
2. Animals
3. Natural forces, locations
4. Inanimate objects, plants, abstractions, locations

Category 1 is always referred to using animate pronouns, and category 4 is always referred to using inanimate pronouns. Categories 2 and 3 are subject to regional and contextual variation. Western dialects use inanimate pronouns for animals. Eastern dialects, including Vallu dialect, use animate pronouns. Both classify them as being less animate than humans, however.

Locations may be classifed as either category 3 or 4. Classifying them as category 3 implies a respect or affection for that location, and is expected in formal speech. Cities and countries are most likely to be classified as category 3 in any register.

Plural marking is mandatory on animate pronouns in all dialects, but in some western dialects they can elided on inanimate pronouns. In Varada dialect it is possible to mark nouns referring to category 1 as plural, but this is somewhat marked.

All animacy categories can take the subject position in verb phrases, but more animate nouns are expected to take that position. If the subject is less animate than the object,

Omitted subjects still follow this rule.

(Se) se-ve ohim-sat ridja.

(SG.NOM) 1SG-GEN friend-COM talk

'I am talking to my friend.'

The first-person pronoun se is almost always elided, but still considered to be the subject and more animate than seve ohim.

(Se-ve) ohim se-sat ridja.

(1SG-GEN) friend 1SG-COM talk

'My friend is talking to me.'

In this sentence, it would be more common to include seve than se in the previous example.

Volition

Volition is marked through case. Actions performed without volition are marked by declining the subject of a transitive clause in the ablative.

Ja tappu-t yttet

3SG vase-ACC break

'She breaks the vase (on purpose).'

Ja-kke tappu-t yttet

3SG-ABL vase-ACC break

'She breaks the vase (by accident).

Morphology

Rlvaky is chiefly dependent-marking. It is a synthetic, agglutinative language.

Case marking

Rlvaky has an exclusively nominative-accusative morphosyntactic alignment. It has 11 cases, which are marked as noun suffixes. Case endings generally cannot ‘stack’; postpositions are used if necessary.

Case endings are sometimes used as derivational affixes for verbs.

Some verbs trigger a specific case regardless of context. This is usually due to a past semantic shift, in which the expected case was preserved.

Formality and register

Rlvaky speakers tend to be very formal with strangers. Linguistic markers of formality and respect tend to reflect personal distance more than power dynamics. Do not try to be chummy with strangers, especially southerners. Informality will be interpreted as disrespect, not familiarity or friendliness.

In spoken language, it is acceptable to address strangers in the informal register, but the formal second-person pronoun den must be used. It is preferable to address everybody in this manner, including friends (but not family members or clanmates), in professional contexts.

In both formal and informal speech, people tend to use their interlocutors’ names very frequently, as a marker of respect. In formal situations, if their name is unknown, they will use a formal epithet or a job title.

The formal register is used in most literature. It is characterised by:

• Double negation of the noun and verb
• Marking of the present tense (usually dropped in long-form storytelling)
• Use of the vocative case when addressing a person: recently, this has been falling out of use in informal speech, especially in the north, where it is increasingly associated with literary speech. In those regions, the vocative suffix become a kind of formal title.
• More frequent inclusion of subjects and nominative pronouns
• In southern dialects, more frequent use of personal pronouns to express anaphora (instead of deletion)

Vocabulary

Navigation and timekeeping

The same set of function words are used to describe time and space.

Time is conceptualised as a space the speaker moves forward through. The future is in front; the past is behind.

Numbers and measurement

Rlvaky uses a base-10 numeral system, like English. The numeral system is very regular.

For numbers 11-19, the first ‘val’ is optional and slightly formal.

Multiples of 100 are linguistically and culturally more important than multiples of 10.

Each morpheme is stressed on the first syllable: /'aːn'vatː.e'val/ (21)

(val-)ahje-val-vatte-val: 111

Se tei-vatte-ylle haiva (riraja).

1SG four-ten-seven year (live)

‘I am forty-seven years old.’

The Rlvaky numeral system uses a modified sign-value notation system. A smaller value placed inside a grapheme representing a larger value indicates that those two numbers should be multiplied. Decimals are expressed similarly to percentages.

Dialectal variation

Rlvaky speakers usually classify their dialcts according to the major clan polities that speak them, regardless of difference or mutual intelligibility. Rljadan dialects are usually named after to the largest or most powerful clan polity in a given state, but there is variation within those states, and many smaller polities which speak that dialect.

Rlvaky can be broadly split into the northern dialect, spoken in Varada, and the southern dialects, spoken in Rljada. Despite having more geographical barriers in the form of mountains and rivers, Varadan Rlvaky is much more linguistically homogenous than Rljadan Rlvaky, and the variant spoken there is usually analysed as one dialect (variation is comparable to standard Australian English), while Rljada has many noticeably different regional dialects. Although the origin of the language is controversial, most scholoars point to the diversity in the south as evidence that Rlvaky originated there. Unlike in Kerav and K’aavjo, this issue is not very politically charged.

Within Rljadan dialects, there is a weaker distinction between eastern and western dialects. Vallu dialect is considered an eastern dialect.

Northern/Varadan dialect

Phonology

Syntax

Anaphora

Varada dialect expresses anaphora through the reflexive pronoun. Deletion is acceptable but uncommon.

Kissa se-sat ridja na, ja-jat haikan uve.

person 1SG-COM talk and, 3-REFL anger have

['kisːæ 'sezæt 'ridjæ 'na 'jajæt 'haikæn 'uⱱe]

‘The people talked to me, and they were angry.’

(Vallu dialect: ['kunːe 'sesɑt 'ridjɑ 'nɑ, '[jɑ] 'hɑikɑn 'uve])

Negation

In informal speech, in clauses with both a (non-pronoun) noun and verb, only the noun is negated.

In formal speech, double negation occurs, as in Vallu dialect.

Ja set haulaan, (ja) vamakiaan uve.

Ja se-t haula-an, (ja) vamaki-aan uve

3SG 1SG-ACC tell-NEG, (3SG.NOM) car-NEG have.INAN

['ja 'set 'ha.u.læːn 'ja 'ⱱa.mæ.ki.aːn 'u.ⱱe]

‘She didn’t tell me she doesn’t have a car.’ (informal)

Ja set haulajaan, ja vamakiaan uvekaan.

Ja se-t haula-ja-an, ja vamaki-aan uve-k-aan

3SG 1SG-ACC tell-DIST.PST-NEG, 3SG car-NEG have.INAN-PRES-NEG

['ja 'set 'ha.u.læjæːn 'ja 'ⱱa.mæ.ki.æːn 'u.ⱱe.kæːn]

‘She didn’t tell me she doesn’t have a car.’ (formal)

Morphology

There is optional plural marking (the suffix -l) on nouns referring to humans, gods, or spirits. This form is somewhat marked.

Geminate consonants followed by long vowels are permitted.

lat is a common variant of the pronoun la (2SG.FAM.ACC), but it is considered ugly and is proscribed.

Pyvaja dialect

Pyvaja is a large, culturally important city to the west of Vallu. Before Varada seceded, it was a part of the canton of Varada, but is now located within Rljadan territory.

The vocabulary used in Pyvaja dialect closely resembles that used in Varada dialect.

Phonology

Grammar

yvi ‘zero, none’ is used as a negative particle in addition to its original use as a numeral. In existential statements it can function as a negative verb.

Suoraja yvi mytte-va?

eat want-Q none

['suoɾæjæ 'yvɪ 'mytːevæ]

‘You don’t want to eat?’

Vamaki yvi.

car none

['vamæɣɪ 'yvɪ]

‘There are no cars.’ (among other translations, depending on context)

lat is the most common 2SG.FAM.ACC pronoun (as opposed to let or la, which are more common in the north and south, respectively).

Examples

Pyvaja Vyyharlvakove Varadakissakke halje. Varadakke saja fyn, Rljadakke hajo ryta sa.

Pyvaja Vyyha-rlvako-ve Varada-kissa-kke halje. Varada-kke sa-ja fyn, Rljada-kke hajo ryta sa.

Pyvaja greater-Rlvako-GEN Varada-people-ABL originate. Varada-ABL be-DIST.PST but Rljada-ABL city now be.

['pyvæjæ 'vyːhæɾlvæɣove 'vaɾæd͡zæɣɪsːækːe originate. 'vaɾæd͡zækːe 'sajæ 'fyn 'ɾljæd͡zækːe 'hajo 'ɾytæ 'sa.]

‘Pyvaja is part of Greater Rlvako’s northern (Varadan) culture group. It was part of Varada, but is now a Rljadan city.’

Note: The northern cultural group is referred to in Rlvaky as the ‘Varadan people’ (Varadakissa). The borders of this culture are very blurry, but despite its name and its close association with Varada, it is agreed to extend much further south than pre- or post-seccession Varada.

Far south

There’s a perception that speakers of these dialects mumble unintelligibly. City slickers who feel like being dicks might pretend not to understand them :’)

These dialects have lost word-final /r/. If the preceding phoneme was a vowel, that vowel is usually lengthened to compensate.

Southeastern dialects

Sanotakka-Rujoka dialect

Phonology

A lot of rural southern dialects, including the Sanotakka-Rujoka dialect, use heavy hard attack before initial vowels, and separate final and initial vowels in compound words with a glottal stop. Hard attack sounds super rural to most listeners (and harsh and unpleasant to many) and is disfavoured in cities. Rujoka dialect even uses the ejectives [t' k' p'] before utterance-initial vowels, but that's very very uncommon and weird-sounding outside Rujoka (which is a fairly small polity, in any case).

If the citation form of a root word has a final monophthong, many speakers elide it before any suffixes, especially in informal or rapid speech (this rule usually also applies to derived lexemes, but it depends on the speaker). If a [j] is in the penultimate position this is not possible.

Examples

Informal:

Ja sa auln, ja vaily uvn.

Ja sa aul-n, ja vaily uv-n

3SG 1SG.ACC tell-NEG 3SG car have.INAN-NEG

['jɑ 'sɑ 'ɑul.n 'jɑ 'ʋɑe.lʉ 'uʋ.n]

Formal:

Ja sa aulajan, ja vailyn uvekn.

Ja sa haula-ja-n, ja vaily-n uve-k-n

3SG 1SG.ACC tell-DIST.PST-NEG, 3SG car-NEG have.INAN-PRES-NEG

['jɑ 'sɑ 'ɑu.lɑ.jɑn 'jɑ 'ʋɑel.n 'u.ʋɛk.n]

Pyvaja Vyyharlvakove Varadakissakke halje. Varadakke saja fyn, Rljadakke ajo ryta sa.

Pyvaja Vyyha-rlvako-ve Varada-kissa-kke halje. Varada-kke sa-ja fyn, Rljada-kke ajo ryta sa.

Pyvaja greater-Rlvako-GEN Varada-people-ABL originate. Varada-ABL be-DIST.PST but Rljada-ABL city now be.

['pʉʋɑjɑ 'ʋʉːhɑχlvɑkoʋe 'ʋɑʁɑdɑkisːɑkːe originate. 'vɑʁɑdɑkːe 'sɑjɑ 'fʉn 'χljɑdɑkːe 'ɑjo 'ʁʉtɑ 'sɑ.]

Western dialects

Phonology

Grammar

Some western dialects use demonstrative pronouns (this, that) to express anaphora.

Animacy

Imperative formation

If the root verb of an imperative ends in a diphthong, the first vowel of the diphthong is elided.

hvao > hvots

[fao > fots]

If the root verb ends in a short vowel, and is preceded by [m], [n], [v], or [l], that vowel is elided when the imperative suffix is attached.

Examples

Informal:

Ja sa auln, ja vailjy uvn

Ja sa aul-n, ja vaily uv-n

3SG 1SG.ACC tell-NEG 3SG car have.INAN-NEG

['jɑ 'sɑ 'ɑul.n 'jɑ 'ʋɑe.ljy 'uʋ.n]

Formal:

Ja sa aulajan, ja vailjyn uvekn.

Ja sa haula-ja-n, ja vaily-n uve-k-n

3SG 1SG.ACC tell-DIST.PST-NEG, 3SG car-NEG have.INAN-PRES-NEG

['jɑ 'sɑ 'ɑu.lɑ.jɑn 'jɑ 'ʋɑeljyn 'u.ʋɛk.n]