vitser

[vitser]

Hello!/Halau!/Ienr! I’m Jester, and this is my conlanging blog. Here I talk about my Germanic conlang Izar and my a priori conlang Zyowiktelic, and maybe my magic universe Scrapmetal as a result (as both conlangs exist in said universe)! My main blog is @the-isj! :D

[vitser]

Zyowiktelic’s grammar rules (official):

NOUNS AND PRONOUNS

Nominative: -

Accusative: -ń

Dative: -m

Benefactive: -n

Locative: -ł

Allative: -w

Ablative: -y

DEFINITENESS

Proxal: -u

Distal: -i

Definite: -a

Plural ending is -r. The suffix order is noun, case, plural, article.

VERBS

Order is past/present/future.

Perfective: -k/-t/-p

Imperfective: -x/-s/-f

PERSON INFLECTIONS

First: -u

Second: -i

Third: -a

Subjunctive is formed by adding -z to the tense and aspect endings, which on their own are indicative. If the subjunctive ending is added to the stem/infinitive, it becomes imperative. Person endings become plural by either stacking or elongation. Person endings can not be used if grammatical person has already been stated, in which the plural ending is -a. Imperative plural always adds -a to -z, granting -za. Suffix order is verb, tense and aspect, subjunctive, person/plural.

ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS

More: -e

Less: -o

Most: -ei

Least: -ou

Adverbs are formed by adding -a. Adjectives and advebrs do not inflect for number.

[vitser]

Hey so uh

Yeah my indecisive ass has decided to change this AGAIN.

Fuck you indecision.

ANYWAY NEW POST ABOUT ZYOWIKTELIC GRAMMAR COMING UP-

Zyowiktelic grammar time:

Default syntax is as follows: Word order is SOV (subject-object-verb), tense-aspect particle after the subject, adjectives before nouns, particles and adpositions after nouns, verb-modifying adverbs before verbs, adjective-modifying adverbs after adjectives, and no articles. This can be changed around, so long as the subject and the object (or other argument for copulas) are seperated by the verb and/or the tense-aspect particle, and said particle is separated from the particle/adposition for nouns.

Nouns have singular, partitive, and collective forms, and all three take the same plural ending, which is -a. The partitive ending (specifically a part/piece/section of) is -r, and the collective ending (group of) is -z. The plural ending always goes last, but is not used if there is another word that clearly indicates its plurality, i.e. a number greater than one.

The accusative (direct object) and dative (indirect object, or 'to') cases are represented with particles - 'o' for the former and 'e' for the latter. Howeverm when paired with an adposition, they always go after the adposition and become ablative (from) and allative (toward) respectively. They are not ablative and allative on their own. Particles and adpositions become plural by adding -a if they’re modifying multiple nouns.

Verbs have four forms: infinitive, imperative singular (adds -az to the singular form if the last consonant is p, t, k, f, s, x, or z, and adds -ar if the last consonant is m, n, ń, w, r, y, or ł), imperative plural (adds -a to the singular form), and plural (adds -a). The imperative forms drop the initial a if the verb ends in a diphthong or a long vowel. The past tense particle is u, present tense is a, and future is i. These become imperfective (equivalent to English’s to be + -ing construction) by adding an ł- to them, resulting in łu, ła, and łi respectively. Tense-aspect particles become plural by adding -a if they’re modifying multiple verbs, and verbs become plural if they have multiple subjects.

[vitser]

Zyowiktelic grammar time:

Default syntax is as follows: Word order is SOV (subject-object-verb), tense-aspect particle after the subject, adjectives before nouns, particles and adpositions after nouns, verb-modifying adverbs before verbs, adjective-modifying adverbs after adjectives, and no articles. This can be changed around, so long as the subject and the object (or other argument for copulas) are seperated by the verb and/or the tense-aspect particle, and said particle is separated from the particle/adposition for nouns.

Nouns have singular, partitive, and collective forms, and all three take the same plural ending, which is -a. The partitive ending (specifically a part/piece/section of) is -r, and the collective ending (group of) is -z. The plural ending always goes last, but is not used if there is another word that clearly indicates its plurality, i.e. a number greater than one.

The accusative (direct object) and dative (indirect object, or 'to') cases are represented with particles - 'o' for the former and 'e' for the latter. Howeverm when paired with an adposition, they always go after the adposition and become ablative (from) and allative (toward) respectively. They are not ablative and allative on their own. Particles and adpositions become plural by adding -a if they’re modifying multiple nouns.

Verbs have four forms: infinitive, imperative singular (adds -az to the singular form if the last consonant is p, t, k, f, s, x, or z, and adds -ar if the last consonant is m, n, ń, w, r, y, or ł), imperative plural (adds -a to the singular form), and plural (adds -a). The imperative forms drop the initial a if the verb ends in a diphthong or a long vowel. The past tense particle is u, present tense is a, and future is i. These become imperfective (equivalent to English’s to be + -ing construction) by adding an ł- to them, resulting in łu, ła, and łi respectively. Tense-aspect particles become plural by adding -a if they’re modifying multiple verbs, and verbs become plural if they have multiple subjects.

[vitser]

Fuck it, I’mma post Romanized Zyowiktelic here:

Aa - /a/ [ä]

Ee - /e/ [e̞]

Ff - /f/ [ɸ]

Ii - /i/ [i]

Kk - /k/ [k]

Lł - /l/ [l]

Mm - /m/ [m]

Nn - /n/ [n]

Ńń - /ń/ [ŋ]

Oo - /o/ [o̞]

Pp - /p/ [p]

Rr - /r/ [r~ɾ]

Ss - /s/ [s]

Tt - /t/ [t]

Uu - /u/ [u]

Ww - /w/ [w]

Xx - /x/ [x]

Yy - /y/ [j]

Zz - /z/ [ɬ]

There are no affricates or voiced obstruents, and stops are not aspirated.

There can only be up to two vowels or consonants in a row at any given time, however every letter can be long, with long vowels being represented with an acute accent instead of being doubled. All possible diphthongs are allowed and all possible consonant clusters are allowed.

Long stops are [ʔ] + the original stop after a vowel, and the original stop + [h] elsewhere. Short r can be tapped or rolled, but long r is akways rolled.

[vitser]

*sigh*

So the i in my other blog’s name (the-isj) stands for indecisive.

And I’m a conlanger.

You can guess what that means.

(Context: I just changed the Izar alphabet again… and simplified its grammar a bit. So uh… yeah, quite a few changes.)

*SIGHING*

[vitser]

I have no idea what to make a post about next… and I’ve been distracted by other things… hence why I haven’t posted anything else to here XD

Might make a poll (once I figure out how to do so) or not, I’m not sure yet.

This blog’s still alive! Just- has a distracted owner XD

[vitser]

Yup! :D

*drops the grammatical features of Izar and runs away*

Three genders - masculine, feminine, and neuter. Default is neuter - this actually means that animate nouns are *neuter* by default, not masculine.

Two numbers - singular and plural.

Four cases - nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Accusative is also allative (toward), and genitive is also ablative (from), *unless* you’re using the actual prepositions (til and frå, respectively), in which 'til' is genitive and 'frå' is dative.

Indefinite article goes before the noun and inflects for gender, definite article is a suffix that inflects accordingly for gender, number, *and* case. Definite suffix is also used when the noun is being modified by 'ðit' (this) or 'ðat' (that).

Adjectives inflect for gender, number, case, *and* definiteness, and go *before* the nouns that they modify. A separate definite article is used *along* with the definite suffix if the noun is definite (in other words, you essentially say 'the' twice).

Base word order is SVO or SOV. Usually, any clause that *isn’t* the first clause of the sentence is SOV, while the first one is SVO. Changes to VSO when asking a question.

Verbs inflect for past, present, *and* future - there is no future tense auxiliary verb (technically there is but it’s only used in the past tense as a conditional marker). They also inflect for number, but only inflect for person in the singular, *regardless* of tense.

There are weak verbs and strong verbs. Weak verbs add -t/-d to form the past tense and -s/-z to form the future tense - the stem is present tense if first person singular, past tense if third, and future tense if second. Strong verbs undergo ablaut in *both* the past and future tenses, and inflect for person similarly in *all* three tenses. (Note: It is very common for native speakers to *drop* the singular person inflections of strong verbs.)

There are two past participles: the 'ge-' form, which is used with the verb 'at hava' (to have), and the -t/-d/-en form, which adjectivizes the verb - the former two are used with weak verbs, and the last one is used with strong verbs.

[vitser]

@sir-virtem For the most part, yes. Most animate neuter nouns have the masculine and feminine forms derive *from* the neuter form (i.e. masc 'katur', fem 'katin', and neuter 'kat', all meaning 'cat'). Inanimate neuter nouns usually don’t need to do this (i.e. hus 'house', kläðr 'garment', hjärta 'heart', etc.). But the more important difference is the indefinite dative plural form - usually it’s -(u)m for neuter nouns, but for neuter nouns that inflect for gender, it changes to -(a)m, so as to not clash with the feminine form, which is *also* -(u)m. *However*, it goes *back* to -(u)m once it’s definite.

There are actually some animate neuter nouns that don’t inflect for gender - namely more general words such as barn 'child (as in a minor)', kind 'child (as in a parent or guardian’s child)', and oðer 'parent'. But for the most part, an animate neuter noun *will* have its masc and fem forms derive from it.

I’m not always good at explaining things, but considering this is something I really like, I hope I explained it well enough! :D

*drops the grammatical features of Izar and runs away*

Three genders - masculine, feminine, and neuter. Default is neuter - this actually means that animate nouns are *neuter* by default, not masculine.

Two numbers - singular and plural.

Four cases - nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Accusative is also allative (toward), and genitive is also ablative (from), *unless* you’re using the actual prepositions (til and frå, respectively), in which 'til' is genitive and 'frå' is dative.

Indefinite article goes before the noun and inflects for gender, definite article is a suffix that inflects accordingly for gender, number, *and* case. Definite suffix is also used when the noun is being modified by 'ðit' (this) or 'ðat' (that).

Adjectives inflect for gender, number, case, *and* definiteness, and go *before* the nouns that they modify. A separate definite article is used *along* with the definite suffix if the noun is definite (in other words, you essentially say 'the' twice).

Base word order is SVO or SOV. Usually, any clause that *isn’t* the first clause of the sentence is SOV, while the first one is SVO. Changes to VSO when asking a question.

Verbs inflect for past, present, *and* future - there is no future tense auxiliary verb (technically there is but it’s only used in the past tense as a conditional marker). They also inflect for number, but only inflect for person in the singular, *regardless* of tense.

There are weak verbs and strong verbs. Weak verbs add -t/-d to form the past tense and -s/-z to form the future tense - the stem is present tense if first person singular, past tense if third, and future tense if second. Strong verbs undergo ablaut in *both* the past and future tenses, and inflect for person similarly in *all* three tenses. (Note: It is very common for native speakers to *drop* the singular person inflections of strong verbs.)

There are two past participles: the 'ge-' form, which is used with the verb 'at hava' (to have), and the -t/-d/-en form, which adjectivizes the verb - the former two are used with weak verbs, and the last one is used with strong verbs.

[vitser]

Pronomenatid (pronouns time)! Order is nominative, accusative, dative, genitive:

Jeg, mig, mir, mi - first person singular.

Ðu, ðic, ðir, ði - second person singular.

Hain, han, honum, hains - third person masculine singular.

Zåi, hana, heni, henar - third person feminine singular.

Zei, zei, zeu, zeiz - third person animate neuter singular.

It, it, iti, ðets - third person inanimate neuter singular.

Wi, os, okör, vår - first person plural.

Jir, yk, ykör, ir - second person plural.

Zei, zei, zem, zeir - third person plural.

Ðit, ðit, ðiti, ðits - this.

Ðizi, ðizi, ðizum, ðiza - these.

Ðat, ðat, ðeti, ðats - that.

Ði, ði, ðim, ðia - those.

All genitive pronouns except the third person singular ones inflect for the gender of whatever’s possessed. The previous forms given are the neuter plural forms, which are the *only* genitive forms that are used with prepositions. Order is masculine, feminine, neuter singular/plural:

Min/mini, mi/mina, mit/mi - my.

Ðin/ðini, ði/ðina, ðit/ði - your (singular).

Vår/våri, vår/våra, vårt/vår - our.

Ir/iri, ir/ira, irt/ir - your (plural).

Zeir/zeiri, zeir/zeira, zeirt/zeir - their (plural).

'Someone' is 'et person (a person)', 'something' is 'et ting (a thing)', 'somewhere' is 'et plats (a place)', and the negative version of all of these is just the number zero, 'nul' - which can be singular or plural. Also, 'every-' + any of these is 'alt' (neuter form of 'al', meaning 'every/all') + their respective Izar words.

[vitser]

*drops the grammatical features of Izar and runs away*

Three genders - masculine, feminine, and neuter. Default is neuter - this actually means that animate nouns are *neuter* by default, not masculine.

Two numbers - singular and plural.

Four cases - nominative, accusative, dative, and genitive. Accusative is also allative (toward), and genitive is also ablative (from), *unless* you’re using the actual prepositions (til and frå, respectively), in which 'til' is genitive and 'frå' is dative.

Indefinite article goes before the noun and inflects for gender, definite article is a suffix that inflects accordingly for gender, number, *and* case. Definite suffix is also used when the noun is being modified by 'ðit' (this) or 'ðat' (that).

Adjectives inflect for gender, number, case, *and* definiteness, and go *before* the nouns that they modify. A separate definite article is used *along* with the definite suffix if the noun is definite (in other words, you essentially say 'the' twice).

Base word order is SVO or SOV. Usually, any clause that *isn’t* the first clause of the sentence is SOV, while the first one is SVO. Changes to VSO when asking a question.

Verbs inflect for past, present, *and* future - there is no future tense auxiliary verb (technically there is but it’s only used in the past tense as a conditional marker). They also inflect for number, but only inflect for person in the singular, *regardless* of tense.

There are weak verbs and strong verbs. Weak verbs add -t/-d to form the past tense and -s/-z to form the future tense - the stem is present tense if first person singular, past tense if third, and future tense if second. Strong verbs undergo ablaut in *both* the past and future tenses, and inflect for person similarly in *all* three tenses. (Note: It is very common for native speakers to *drop* the singular person inflections of strong verbs.)

There are two past participles: the 'ge-' form, which is used with the verb 'at hava' (to have), and the -t/-d/-en form, which adjectivizes the verb - the former two are used with weak verbs, and the last one is used with strong verbs.

[vitser]

So uh, I added eth and thorn to Izar, so I’mma just repost the alphabet here real quick-

Aa - [ä]

Ää - [æ]

Bb - [b]

Cc - [x]

Dd - [d]

Ðð - [ð]

Ee - [e~ɛ]

Ff - [f]

Gg - [g]

Hh - [h]

Ii - [i~ɪ]

Jj - [j]

Kk - [k]

Ll - [l]

Mm - [m]

Nn - [n], [ŋ] before k, g, c, or x

Oo - [o~ɔ]

Öö - [ə]

Pp - [p]

Rr - [r~ɾ]

Ss - [s]

Tt - [t]

Uu - [u~ʊ]

Vv - [v]

Ww - [w]

Xx - [ɣ]

Yy - [ɨ]

Ýý - [ʉ]

Zz - [z]

Þþ - [θ]

Åå - [ɒ]

Same rules apply! Just- realized I should probably add the dental fricatives aksuhfpamwpem

[vitser]

Dag! So I figured I’d start with Izar’s alphabet just so y’all know what to expect in regards to pronunciation:

Izar alphabet

Aa - [ä]

Ää - [æ]

Bb - [b]

Cc - [x]

Dd - [d]

Ee - [e~ɛ]

Ff - [f]

Gg - [g]

Hh - [h]

Ii - [i~ɪ]

Jj - [j]

Kk - [k]

Ll - [l]

Mm - [m]

Nn - [n], [ŋ] before k, g, c, or x

Oo - [o~ɔ]

Öö - [ə]

Pp - [p]

Rr - [r~ɾ]

Ss - [s]

Tt - [t]

Uu - [u~ʊ]

Vv - [v]

Ww - [w]

Xx - [ɣ]

Yy - [ɨ]

Ýý - [ʉ]

Zz - [z]

Åå - [ɒ]

A few notes: E, i, o, and u are typically more closed [e i o u] if in an open syllable or if only followed by one consonant, but more open [ɛ ɪ ɔ ʊ] if in a closed syllable or followed by more than one consonant. This actually makes words ending in those vowels + one consonant unpredictable - as a common feature of Germanic languages that Izar lacks is differing between long and short vowels, often by the number of consonants following a vowel. This also means that doubled consonants (and, also, vowels) will rarely appear, except in compound words. Also, <c> represents Nordic soft <k> and <kj>, along with West Germanic <ch>, and <x> represents Nordic soft <g> and <gj>.

And yes, Izar is both North and West Germanic. However, it has a lot of Icelandic influence, shown by both its grammar *and* some of its words. There is also some Dutch influence, but most of the foreign language influence on Izar is Icelandic.

With that being said - it has two standard dialects! Northeastern and Southwestern. Northeastern Izar contains more Nordic words, whereas Southwestern Izar contains more West Germanic words. For nouns, that can mean that the gender of a noun changes (yes there is grammatical gender!), but not the actual word itself.

Hopefully that gives you all enough insight on what to expect from how words are spelled! :D

Also here’s the previous Izar post.