The Proto-Sbakaz language(PS) is spoken by the Proto-Sbakaz people, a society on the Northern Coastal savannas of the most southwest island. It is rather synthetic language with synthetic word construction.
Etymology
The name "Sbakaz" means "The People" in PS. It stems from Bakan, become, with the ending "-z" which means "one who -". Bakaz therefore means "A Person", or "The one who becomes". The "s" comes from the plural prefix for masculine words, which are nearly all.
Phonology
Vowels
A = [a] E = [e] I = [i] O = [o] U = [u] Ü = [ɨ] Ù = [ə]
Consonants
The following are pronounced as they are in English, and most other languages: V B D S Z N M G Ch W T K. Aside from those, J's are pronounced as [j] and Zh is as [ʒ]. Other sounds not in English are the following:
β = [β]
Γ = [ɣ̞]
Ṫ = [t̪]
Grammar
Syntax
Sentence
The base structure is VSO, with modifiers coming after the word it modifies.
Verb Phrase
The syntax of a verb phrase can be a little complicated in PS, if you factor in the verb itself. The base structure is the verb itself, whose structure we will cover later. The second major part is the Auxillary, which comes before the core verb. Kaddiüs Γodin
You should make/cause
After that part, it may be followed by an adverb, or another type of phrase.
Noun Phrase
The noun phrase is quite simple as well. First you have the noun itself, and then a conjunction or relative phrase marker. If there are two or more nouns conjoined, the relative marker comes after the last noun.
Morphology
Substansitives
Substansitive, which include all nouns and adjectives, are formed the same way(with adjective agreement). The substanstive is entirely synthetic in formation, with agglutination. They start out with a preposition particle, if applicable, then followed by the plural marker(which is affected by gender). The next piece is the noun stem itself, followed by a case marker, and a relative marker.
Gender
Gender in PS is actually quite easy. There are two genders, masculine and feminine, but they are not arbitrarily assigned. If an object is specifically feminine, it will be feminine. If it is not, it is automatically masculine. The Feminine is marked with a -t, which comes after the root, or replaces the final letter (In the case of the "one who" -z particle). E.g. Bakaz (Man), Bakat (Woman)
Plurals
Plural in PS is based on gender, with the plural marker for masculine, and thus most words, being S-, as we have in "sbakaz" (people). For feminine, it is V-, which would make "Women", Vbakat.
Cases
There are 6 cases in PS, all shown in the following table:
Case | Case Suffix | Case Purpose |
Nominative |
Uk |
Used for the subjects |
Accusative | Um | Used for direct and indirect objects |
Genitive | Che | For describing possession. "of X" |
Instrumental | Kan | Saying "With X" |
Non-Instrumental | Za | Saying "Without X" |
Locative | Pan | Used with prepositional phrases |
Verbs
The verb is also agglutinative, with the so called "Direction" particle first, and the verb stem following. After the verb stem is: the mood, time particle, and negative marker.
The Direction Particle
The Direction Particle is an odd thing. It's definition is hard to put in words, but the direction it speaks about it metaphysical for lack of a better term. This particle is not necessary to be in a verb, The following is a table.
Direction | Particle | Example of Modification |
Towards | ze | The Verb "to transfer" can be given this to become "to give" |
Away | mag | The Verb "to transfer" can be given this to become "to take" or "to recieve" |
Around | sek | Would cause "look" to become "look around" |
Over | badd | Would make "emphasize", "over-emphasize" |
Under | ṫudd | Would make "emphasize", "under-emphasize" |
Mood
In PS, there are only 3 moods, and one of them is unmarked, and one of them has a little complication. The first mood is the indicative, and remains unmarked. The second is the imperative, which uses the particle "ü" (or "üt" if you are talking to a woman). The third is the causative, which uses the particle "s", which is placed after the imperative particle if the sentence is a command to cause something.
Time Particle
The time particle is a little tricky as well, because it covers both tense and the amount of times an action is performed. The following is a list of the particles, which can be combined (when logical) with each other in any chosen order.
Particle | End | Explanation |
Past | tiz | Tense, no explanation needed |
Present | no marker | Tense, no explanation needed |
Future | nozh | Tense, no explanation needed |
Again | ag | The English equivalent of the prefix "re-" |
Habitually | gadd | Used to say you do something habitually, e.g. "I walk every morning", "I sing well" |
Never | Va | Adds the semantic meaning of the English "Never" to the sentence. e.g. "I will never" "I never" "I never have" |
Twice | Ba | To say that an action is doubled up. |
The Negative
The negative particle is a simple "ve" added to the end of the sentence to negate the meaning.