Jeglijan language

 

Jeglijan
Spoken in	Jeglijan
Ethnicity	Jeglijan
Language family	Glijrongian
Writing system	Jeglijan script
Language codes
ISO 639-1	jg
ISO 639-2	jgj
ISO 639-3	jgj

The Jeglijan language is the official language of Jeglijan, hence the name.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonants in parentheses are allophones (see phonotactics below).

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Labioalveolar	Lateral	Postalveolar	Velar	Labiovelar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n				ŋ
Voiceless stop	p	t	ts	tʷ			k	kʷ
Voiced stop	b	d		dʷ			g	[gʷ]
Voiceless continuant	f	θ[?]	s		[ɬ]	ʃ	x	[ʍ]	h
Voiced continuant	[v]	ð[?]	z		l	ʒ~j	[ɣ]	w
Trill			r
Trilled fricative			[r̝]

Vowels

Jeglijan has front-back vowel harmony.

Phoneme	Front	Back
/i/	[i]	[ɨ]
/e/	[e]	[ɯ]
/a/	[æ]	[ɑ]
/o/	[ø]	[o]
/u/	[y]	[u]
/en/	[ɛ̃]	[ɯ̃]
/an/	[ɑ̃]
/on/	[œ̃]	[ɔ̃]

Phonotactics

The syllable structure for Jeglijan is /(s(C)(L)V(L)(N)(ts)/, where:

• C = Any consonant except /ŋ/;
• L = The liquids /l/ and /r/;
• V = any vowel; and
• N = The nasals /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/.

Other rules

• /h/ cannot appear word-initially for historical reasons;
• Nasals cannot appear right next to each other;
• Liquids cannot appear right next to each other or after labialized velars and labialized dental stops;
• Therefore, [v] is an allophone of /w/ before /u/, /r/, or /l/;
• [ɬ], and [r̝] are not phonemic per se, and result from the assimilation of the clusters /xl/ and /xr/ respectively.
• Geminate consonants and vowel sequences are not permitted.
• In syllables with a nasal in the coda, that syllable's vowel is nasalized. For historical reasons, there is no /ĩ/ or /ũ/.
• /ʒ~j/ has multiple allophones that are in free variation, including but not limited to [dʒ], [j], and [ɟ], although [ʒ] is the proper pronunciation in formal speech.

Orthography

Main article: Jeglijan script

The Jeglijan language uses a superalphasyllabary, meaning entire syllables, including onset, vowel, and coda, are encoded in a single character. When Atla was alive, there needed to be an easy way for the Divine Legends to be remembered without loss of data through oral transmission. Originally, Atla wanted an ideogram system to be used, but found it would take thousands of hours for the scribe just to make symbols for every word in the language, so they just stuck with an easy-to-learn mnemonic pictograph system. After Atla's death in 35 AE, this system spread like wildfire throughout the newly-formed Empire as the Divine Legends was read by more and more people.

Surprisingly, the copying of the Divine Legends slowed down how fast variations diverged from one another. It wasn't until 730 AE when Bretz Ur Erbensune I began to notice significant variations in how the Divine Legends were written down and recited. Due to the imperfect nature of the pictograms, they were always prone to misinterpretation, with the original meanings being lost over centuries of oral transmission. To avoid the permanent loss of the original, Erbensune's scribes sat down, and looked at versions of the Divine Legends. After countless scrutinous hours, they noticed that several versions used similar wording, and started working on a standardized version. By June 732, a draft of this new version of the Divine Legends was finished.

Now, the main problem was how to ensure that what was being told was unambiguous. Although one was proposed at first, an ideogram system wouldn't do it, as it would be prone to the same mutation the pictographs were. At the time, the maximum syllable structure was CVC, with eighteen consonants and five vowels. Erbensune decided to create a 360-character alphasyllabary, where there would be one glyph per possible syllable in the language. The first copies of the Divine Legends in Erbensune's alphasyllabary were published in March 733, when the Bretz ordered the destruction of all "sinful" copies. This system worked, for a while.

Come c. 1500 AE, when the Jeglijan language began to undergo a period of vowel loss. Unstressed vowels were elided between consonants and liquids, changing the maximum syllable structure to CLVC, where L is a liquid: /l/ or /r/. Other sound changes, namely, the lowering of high vowels before liquids, and denasalization of nasal stops [m], [n] to [b], [d] respectively after nasal vowels, had also become noticeable, yet the Jeglijan script was unmodified. In 1502, Bretz TBD ordered the highest scribes of the Empire to meet in Rizborn once again to update the script to compensate for the new sound changes. As L and R used hooks on the tops of the glyphs, they could easily be combined with the other glyphs to make new syllable glyphs, increasing the glyph count to exactly a thousand.

To be expanded...

Transcription into Latin

Phone	In Latin	Phone	In Latin
[æ]	ä	[o]	o
[ɑ]	a	[ø]	ö
[b]	b	[p]	p
[d]	d	[r]	r
[dʷ]	dw	[r̝]	rh
[ð]	dh	[s]	s
[e]	e	[ʃ]	ch
[f]	f	[t]	t
[g]	g	[tʷ]	tw
[gʷ]	gu	[θ]	th
[ɣ]	gh	[ts]	tz
[h]	h	[u]	u
[i]	i	[ɯ]	ë
[ɨ]	ï	[v]	v
[k]	k	[w]	w
[kʷ]	qu	[ʍ]	wh
[l]	l	[x]	kh
[ɬ]	lh	[y]	ü
[m]	m	[z]	z
[n]	n	[ʒ~j]	j
[ŋ]	ng

Grammar

Nouns

Number	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive	Dative
Singular	-Ø	-ma	-ge	-r
Dual	-l	-mal	-gel	-ler
Plural	-n	-man	-gen	-ner

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

	Singular	Dual Inclusive	Dual Exclusive	Plural Inclusive	Plural Exclusive
First	Za	Wil	Nel	Wi	Ne
Second Male	Ga	Gal		Gan
Second Female	Ge	Gel		Gen
Third Male	Ir	Irol		Ern
Third Female	Ire	Irel

Possessive pronouns

	Singular	Dual Inclusive	Dual Exclusive	Plural Inclusive	Plural Exclusive
First	Zar	Wiler	Neler	Wir	Ner
Second Male	Gar	Galer		Ganer
Second Female	Ger	Geler		Gener
Third Male	Irer	Iroler		Erner
Third Female		Ireler

Verbs

Conjugations

	-a	-la	-ma	-na	-ra	era (the copula)	ika "to go"
Infinitive/Present	-a	-la	-ma	-na	-ra	era*	ika***
Past	-abo	-lbo	-mbo	-mbo	-rbo	**	iko
Future	-ata	-lta	-mta	-nta	-rta	erta	ita
Subj. Present	-age	-lge	-mge	-nge	-rge	erge	ike
Subj. Past	-ajo	-ljo	-mjo	-njo	-rjo	iro	icho
Subj. Future	-amba	-lmba	-mba	-mba	-rmba	remba	kimba
Conditional	-ani	-lni	-mdi	-ndi	-rni	reni	kini
Past Conditional	-agua	-lgua	-mgua	-ngua	-rgua	rigua	kagua
Imperative	-o	-lo	-mo	-no	-ro	ero	ikro
Present Participle	-al	-lal	-mal	-nal	-ral	eral	ikal
Perfect Participle	-azi	-lzi	-mzi	-nzi	-rzi	rezi	kizi
Passive Participle	-ado	-ldo	-mdo	-ndo	-rdo	None	None

Irregular verbs

The most significantly irregular verbs are era (the copula) and ika "to go", and era is also the only suppletive verb. Era's first-person singular present and past forms derive from the Classical Jeglijan adposition ama, which marked the now nonexistent essive case and is no longer grammatical in the modern language. It is believed that this was done to avoid conflation with the first-person possessive determiner zar.

*Present forms of era	Singular	Dual Inclusive	Dual Exclusive	Plural Inclusive	Plural Exclusive
First	Za am	Wil era	Nel era	Wi ar	Ne ar
Second Male	Ga ar	Gal era		Gan jera
Second Female	Ge ar	Gel era		Gen jera
Third Male	Ir ar	Irol era		Ern jera
Third Female	Ire ar	Irel era

**Past forms of era	Singular	Dual Inclusive	Dual Exclusive	Plural Inclusive	Plural Exclusive
First	Za ambo	Wil erbo	Nel erbo	Wi erbo	Ne erbo
Second Male	Ga rabo	Gal erbo		Gan erbo
Second Female	Ge rabo	Gel erbo		Gen erbo
Third Male	Ir rabo	Irol erbo		Ern erbo
Third Female	Ire rabo	Irel erbo

***Present forms of ika	Singular	Dual Inclusive	Dual Exclusive	Plural Inclusive	Plural Exclusive
First	Za jaka	Wil ika	Nel ika	Wi jaka	Ne jaka
Second Male	Ga jaka	Gal ika		Gan jaka
Second Female	Ge jaka	Gel ika		Gen jaka
Third Male	Ir ika	Irol ika		Ern jaka
Third Female	Ire ika	Irel ika

Vocabulary

The Jeglijan lexicon is a extensive list of all known words within the Jeglijan language. It shall serve as a comprehensive dictionary for the language, providing a reference for any words use in the language that one may wish to find.

A

Alguo; "bird"

Atla; "mighty, powerful"

B

Brese; "command, control"

Bretz; "Bretz, Emperor"

Breza; "(to) rule"

Brezje; "empire, kingdom"

Ch

Cha; "work"

Chara; "(to) work"

D

Dhol; "dog"

Don; "all"

Dong; "crow, raven"

Donfam; "mankind"

Donje; "(the) world"

E

Era; the copula

Erben; "iron"

Emo; "little"

F

Fam; "man"

G

Gal; "water"

Galnari; "sea snake" (from Gli+Nari)

Gli; "sea"

Glijrong; "sea mother"

Galdaguo; "sea bird" (from Gli+Alguo)

Gliwal; "river"

Glor; "light"

Guer; "fight"

Guera; "(to) fight"

I

Ika; "(to) go"

Ista; "wood"

J

Jan; "sky, heavens"

Jankhang; "creator god, sky father"

Je; "earth, land, soil"

Jrong; "mother"

Kh

Khang; "father"

Khangstla; "(to) assassinate"

L

Lega; "(to) build"

Luga; "surface"

M

Mlago; "fire"

Mlagual; "electricity, 'fire-path'" (from Mlago+Wal)

Mritz; "cold"

Mrizgli; "ice, snow"

N

Naln; "ring"

Nari; "serpent, snake"

Nom; "sun"

O

Okena; "(to) bring"

Orn; "master"

P

Peda; "diamond"

Pochli; "year"

Qu

Quan; "holy"

Quona; "(to) worship"

Quonwal; "worship, 'holy path'"

R

Rhode; "island"

Rodre; "later"

S

Skatza; "(to) unite"

Spor; "conquest, domination"

Spora; "(to) conquer"

Stla; "(to) kill"

Sune; "sword"

T

Thong; "bowl"

Twel; "home"

U

Uden; "also"

W

Wal; "road, path, trail"

Wem; "many"

Z

Zama; "(to) create"

Zena; "(to) lift, raise, elevate"

Zendoluga; "table, raised platform"

Zoser; "help"

Zosra; "(to) help"

Zatz; "flower"

Numbers

Zero; Zeltz

One; Da

Two; Il

Three;

Four;

Five;

Six;

Seven;

Eight;

Nine;

Ten;