|Nouns decline according to...|
|Verbs conjugate according to...|
Svadoki is the official language of the conworld (insert name and link here). The language consists of 23 sounds: 14 consonants, 2 vowel connectors (v & j), and 7 vowels. In this Wikia, unfamiliar IPA symbols will be represented as English letters: θ is th, ɬ is sh, t͡ʃ is ch, j is y, and ɣ is h.
|Flap or tap|
t as in talk
r like in run, but with a small trill
n as in no
d as in dog
th as in thunder (IPA = θ)
k like in kite, but have the middle of you tongue near the roof of your mouth
ch as in chew (IPA = t͡ʃ)
b as in boy
sh has no English equivalent; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_alveolar_lateral_fricative (IPA = ɬ)
h like an H in English, but with a slight gutteral (IPA = ɣ)
s like in some, but move the tip of your tongue a centimeter towards the back
l as in line
ʒ as in measure
m as in mom
i as in the letter e in me
e as in play (without the diphthong)
a as in father
o as in low
ø as in the German word schön (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid_front_rounded_vowel)
ʌ as in mud
u as in luminate
y as in you
v as in vase
Vowel connectors (the letters v and y) are used in front of vowels.
Never use a vowel connecter after the consonants B, R, and H.
The sound of ø is created when the vowels o and ʌ are together in that order (oʌ)
There are only two vowel diphthongs in Svadoki: oi and ai
Svadoki follows a subject-object-verb format in its sentences. This is a similar format to languages like Korean, but completely different from languages like English and Spanish. Take a look at the sentences below:
ʒon kenum kleʒi - I will tell him
kenum ʒon kleki - He will tell me.
In the sentences above, the pronouns ʒon (I) and kenum (he) were switched, so the sentence was altered and the verb was conjugated differently. It is optional in Svadoki to add the vowel e in front of the object to clarify the subject and the object.
kenum enenumyoh kleka - I tell them.
The Parts of Speech
There are five parts of speech in Svadoki: nouns, verbs, noun modifiers, verb modifiers, and prepositions (interjections aren't considered a part of speech in this language). Nouns in Svadoki include words like "he", "cow", "they", and "louse". Noun modifiers are almost the English equivilent to an adjective. In English, the Svadoki word leksis means "fish". But, when adding the noun modifier "-oʒyʌ", the word becomes leksisoʒyʌ, or "small fish". The noun modifier to make a noun plural is "-osh". Always put the plural noun modifier on first, then a regular noun modifier second. You cannot use more than one regular noun modifier on a noun.
Verbs are always conjugated in this language; the last consonant in the verb is matched to the first letter of the pronoun the noun follows and the last vowel is matched to the tense. a verb ending in "o" is in past tense, a verb ending in "a" is in present tense, and ending in "i" is in future tense. Here is a verb chart:
(TO) TELL - KLEDA
|ʒon - kleʒa||roch - klera|
|tvan - kleta||syut - klesa|
|kenum/kenis - kleka||nenumyoh - klena|
kenis roch klekaʒe - She needs to tell us.
ʒon tvan hobroʒite - I will have to kill you.
The last part of speech in Svadoki are the prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases work like they do in English. In these examples, 'une' is "in" and ise is "by".
kenum tobroko une hosmikʌ - He died in the forest.
nenumyoh borkatvut kleno u kenis ise rubenosh - They told the story to him by the flowers / I told him the story by the flowers.
Interrogative pronouns in Svadoki include abom, abos, abush, abʌk, aboʌr and aban (who, what/which, where, when, why, and how). These pronouns are mentioned at the end of interrogative sentences and they are phrased as if they were statements. The interrogative suffix -mya goes onto the last verb of the question (after a regular verb suffix).
ekenoʌs hobrokomya abom - Who killed it?
kenoʌs hobrokomya abom - It killed who?
kenis kenoʌs hobrokomya aboʌr - Why did he kill it?
When you're not asking a question with an interrogative pronoun, you replace the a with u.
tvan toib svaiti ubush tvan tvoita - You will come to the house when you finish.
In English, sentences like "Go to the garden" don't include a pronoun at the beginning of the verb. These are called Commands in Svadoki. When using commands, take out the subject and use the "we" form of the verb.
bera ibre rubenes - Go to the garden
ibre - to/at
When using subordinate clauses, only put the part of the sentence that cannot stand alone in the sentence at the end. An example is shown.
I - ʒon
You - tvan
He - kenum
She - kenis
It - kenoʌs
We - roch
You (pl.) - syut
They - nenumyoh
Who - abom
What/Which - abos
Where - abush
When - abʌk
Why - aboʌr
How - aban
to be - da
to go - beda
to come to - svaida
to tell - kleda
to see - nomda
to suck - borvida
to eat - kotvada
to drink - breda
to kill - hobroda
to die - tobroda
to finish - tvoida
to win - shoʌda
to lose- ʒʌda
to smell - bvidada
to know - klaika
to not know - lireda
man - honyum
woman - honyis
child - tityum
spouse - tvanum
mother - svanis
father - sanum
animal - hotad
fish - leksis
skin - smol
house - toib
meat - krasvan
blood - lekhos
rubenes - garden