Rajala jevira lojer – language of the people of the sun

Phoneme inventory

Consonants

Vowels

For the purposes of this article, ʋ is written as v, and the mid vowels as e and o without the lowering diacritics. (In the lore, j is written as y by the anglophone convention, and x is written as kh.) Modern velar x was historically a postalveolar ʃ; it is still used in the archaic language version used for naming Emperors. For this article, it will be written as š when needed. (In the lore, ʃ is written as sh.)

Grammar

Xaras has SOV (subject object verb) word order – "I him see". It is head-final (adjectives precede the nounds they modify – "black horse" – genetive constructions included – "Aril's horse"), and has postpositions.

Grammatical cases

The modern language has had multiple postpositions be reinterpreted as case endings. Demonstrating the cases with tasu "large" voros "lake":

The Xaras case system does not distinguish between time, state, interior, surface, or adjacency; "at dawn" (xujere), "in the sky" (evure), "on a hill" (akare), "at the cliff" (tirare), and "as a father" (isare) all use the same Essive case.

Xaras does not have compulsory number marking. To speak about two large lakes, one would say kako tasu voros, where kako means "two".

Verbal conjugation

Xaras has multiple grammatical moods: indicative (present/nonpast and past), as well as several irrealis moods: conditional, imperative, optative, and potential. Using vuxe "to speak" as an example:

Negation is expressed with the conjugational suffix vu, which comes after the mood suffixes (ji, re, ka, ko, ne) and before the person suffixes (ve, te, tak).

Case usage

Nominative

For the subject of a transitive verb: Saras norase sivatak "Saras eats hay".

For the experiencer of an intransitive verb: Saras savatak "Saras arrives".

Accusative

For the direct object of a transitive verb: Saras norase sivatak "Saras eats hay"; Aril norase Saraka ixatak "Aril gives Saras hay".

Genetive

Arila inur "Aril's mother"; Sarasa noras "Saras's hay".

Also used for creating relative clauses: Venxatkaka savara loxa, Saras norase sivajitak "After arriving in Venxatkas, Saras ate hay"; rajal ilola teje, ijire kukuje velovutak "The Sun rose, so it's not cold anymore".

Postpositional

Used with postpositions: vara saka "inside the stream"; xu loxa "after the night"; kere ilo "above the mountain".

Lative

Used to express movement into, to, or onto: akaka "onto a hill"; tiraka "to a cliff"

Used for becoming: kivaka savakate! "Grow up!" (lit. "become an adult!")

Also used as a dative: Aril norase Saraka ixatak "Aril gives Saras hay".

Ablative

Used to express movement out of, away from, or off: akaloi "from a hill"; tiraloi "off a cliff"; voroloi "from the lake"; nekuloi "out of the house".

Essive

Used to express a static state of being at, in, on, or in a state: xujere "at dawn"; nekure "in a house"; vorore "at/in a lake"; tirare "at a cliff"; isare "as a father". If a greater sense of specificity is required, one might distinguish e.g. being in a lake with voro sakare, being on the lake with voro ilore, and being at/in the vicinity of the shore with voro vajore.

Perlative

Used to express movement through a time, place, or state: tetotes "by road"; varates "by river"; kosates "through the center";

Verbal conjugation usage

Indicative nonpast and past

The indicative is used for simple declarative sentences. Aril Saraka tasu eve vorore vuxujitak Aril spoke to Saras at the large blue lake

Conditional

The conditional expresses dependent statements: si Sarase veloreve, xa norase sivareve If I were Saras, I would eat hay

Imperative

What is called the imperative here is by linguistics terminology technically actually three separate moods: cohortative (first person), imperative (second person), and jussive (third person). It is a deontic (what should be) directive (commands, requests, requirements) mood.

In the first person, it's roughly equivalent to English "Let us": vuxukave Let's speak; norase Saraka ixakave Let's give Saras hay

In the second person, it's the imperative: vuxukate! Speak!; sivakate! Eat!

In the third person, it is used to express speakers' positions or opinions that somebody is allowed to do something or that somebody is expected to do something. It is very common in legislative contexts. Kaxora xavore ikokatak May the Emperor's will be obeyed; xule savakatak Let night come; Aril norase sivakatak Aril must not eat hay

Optative

The optative is a deontic (what should be) volitive (hopes, wishes) mood.

It most commonly expresses wishes: Sanulivu vaxale unakove! If only I had a horse like Sanul! avase sivakote (I) wish you'd eat an apple

It is also used for contrafactuals in if-then statements: si vanas vuxukotak, xa vanas kaxore velokotak if horses could speak, then a horse would be Emperor

Potential

The potential is an epistemic (what may be) mood. It is used to express things that are judged probable or likely by the speaker: xujere savaneve I'll probably arrive at dawn; savara vaxal Sarase velonetak the arriving divine horse is probably Saras

Glossed example sentences

Aril Saraka tasu eve vorore vuxujitak
Aril Sara-ka tasu eve voro-re vuxu-ji-tak
Aril Saras-LAT large blue lake-ESS speak-PAST-3
Aril spoke to Saras at the large blue lake

Aril Sarasa norase Kuka ixajivutak
Aril Saras-a noras-e Kul-ka ixa-ji-vu-tak
Aril Saras-GEN hay-ACC Kul-LAT give-PAST-NEG-3
Aril didn't give Kul Saras's hay

noras Ersisaloi savajitak
noras Ersisas-loi sava-ji-tak
hay Ersisas-ABL come-PAST-3
the hay came from Ersisas

korore tetotes Venxatkaka savara loxa, Saras norase sivajitak
korol-re tetol-tes Venxatkas-ka savar-a loxa, Saras noras-e siva-ji-tak
dusk-ESS road-PERL Venxatkas-LAT arrival-GEN after, Saras hay-ACC eat-PAST-3
after arriving in Venxatkas at dusk via the road, Saras ate hay

rajal ilola teje, ijire kukuje velovutak
rajal ilol-a teje, ijir-re kuku-e velo-vu-tak
sun rise-GEN because, now-ESS cold-ACC be-NEG-3
The Sun rose, so it's not cold anymore

Aril norase sivakatak
Aril noras-e siva-ka-tak
Aril hay-ACC eat-IMP-3
Aril must not eat hay

si (ve) Sarase veloreve, xa (ve) norase sivareve
si (ve) Saras-e velo-re-ve, xa (ve) noras-e siva-re-ve
if (I) Saras-ACC be-COND-1, then (I) hay-ACC eat-COND-1
if I were Saras, I would eat hay

tere sivarevuve
te-re siva-re-vu-ve
you-ESS eat-COND-NEG-1
if I were you, I wouldn't eat (that)

Sanulivu vaxale unakove!
Sanul-ivu vaxal-e una-ko-ve
Sanul-like divine.horse-ACC own-OPT-1
if only I had a horse like Sanul!

avase sivakote
avase-e siva-ko-te
apple-ACC eat-OPT-2
I wish you'd eat an apple

xule savakotak
xul-e sava-ko-tak
night-ACC come-OPT-3
if only night would come

si vanas vuxukotak, xa vanas kaxore velokotak
si vanas vuxu-ko-tak, xa vanas kaxor-e velo-ko-tak
if horse speak-OPT-3, then horse emperor-ACC be-OPT-3
if horses could speak, then a horse would be Emperor