Bika
Bika is the regional language of the Phaera region. Phaerans also use the trading language, as it's fairly common to see merchants travelling through Phaera to visit the farm towns/villages.
Bika's written form is an abugida language. This means that the symbols are written as consonant-vowel clusters. For instance, /tʃɔ/ is written as one symbol. In cases of words with vowels or consonants outside of the cluster, they are simply added on. Vowels are attached directly to the symbol (either the right or left, depending on whether they're before or after the cluster), while consonants are written as their own symbols.
Bika's written form is an abugida language. This means that the symbols are written as consonant-vowel clusters. For instance, /tʃɔ/ is written as one symbol. In cases of words with vowels or consonants outside of the cluster, they are simply added on. Vowels are attached directly to the symbol (either the right or left, depending on whether they're before or after the cluster), while consonants are written as their own symbols.
Writing System
Bika's alphabet is primarily made up of 95 symbols, used to represent pairs of consonants and vowels. However, in cases where a vowel or consonant isn't part of a pair, the symbol used to represent the individual consonant or vowel is added to the word. Vowels are attached to the symbol (if they're before the cluster, they're attached to the left side; if they're after, they're attached to the right side), while consonants are added as a separate symbol.
The symbols themselves are made up of circles, ovals, and spirals. At a glance, non-speakers frequently confuse some symbols for each other.
Geographical Distribution
Spoken mainly in Phaera, though sometimes you may hear it in the neighboring regions.
Phonology
Bika has 19 consonants and 5 vowels.
Consonants
b, d, dʒ, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, tʃ, w, ɲ, ɾ, ʃ
Vowels
a, i, u, ɔ, ɛ
Morphology
Bika's pronouns are as follows:
Bika's verb conjugation is as follows (using patid /patid/, meaning "study", as an example):
Absolutive | Ergative | Genitive | Dative | Locative | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1st Singular | I moto /ˈmɔtɔ/ |
Me podolam /ˈpɔdɔlam/ |
Mine dip /dip/ |
To me niñe /niɲɛ/ |
natudid /natudid/ |
2nd Singular | You lireb /lirɛb/ |
You wishenan /wiʃɛnan/ |
Yours la /la/ |
To you nirip /niɾip/ |
foje /fɔʤɛ/ |
3rd Singular Masculine | He/It bepit /bɛpit/ |
Him/It fip /fip/ |
His/Its pebe /pɛbɛ/ |
To him/it satime /satimɛ/ |
lab /lab/ |
3rd Singular Feminine | She/It nuboma /nubɔma/ |
Her/It napimi /napimi/ |
Hers/Its se /sɛ/ |
To her wa /wa/ |
gemo /gɛmɔ/ |
1st plural | We fok /fɔk/ |
Us totipi /tɔtipi/ |
Ours chum /ʧum/ |
To us bir /biɾ/ |
pu /pu/ |
2nd plural | You rigora /rigɔra/ |
You daheh /dahɛh/ |
Yours notifu /nɔtifu/ |
To you bi /bi/ |
pehukit /pɛhukit/ |
3rd plural | They pej /pɛʤ/ |
Them bopias /bɔbipas/ |
Theirs kufo /kufɔ/ |
To them midob /midɔb/ |
kished /kiʃɛd/ |
Past | Present | Future | |
---|---|---|---|
1st Singular | -(ɛ)fa patidefa /patidɛfa/ I studied |
-(ʃ)u patidu /patidu/ I am studying |
-(m)ɛ patide /patidɛ/ I will study |
1st Plural | -(p)ɔ patido /patidɔ/ We studied |
-(i)fi patidifi /patidifi/ We are studying |
-(d)i patidi /patidi/ We will study |
2nd Singular | -(m)a patida /patida/ You studied |
-(ɛ)tɔ patidto /patidtɔ/ You are studying |
-(u)ti patidti /patidti/ You will study |
2nd Plural | -(ɛ)ʃi patideshi /patidɛʃi/ You all studied |
-(u)si patidusi /patidusi/ You all are studying |
-(ɔ)wɛ patidowe /patidɔwɛ/ You all will study |
3rd Singular | -(a)nɔ patidano /patidanɔ/ He/she studied |
-(ɛ)ʃ patidesh /patidɛʃ/ He/she are studying |
-(ɲ)ɛth patideth /patidɛth/ He/she will study |
3rd Plural | -(ɛ)ru patideru /patidɛru/ They all studied |
-(i)ʤɔ patidijo /patidiʤɔ/ They all are studying |
-(i)na patidina /patidina/ They all will study |
Syntax
Bika is written from left to right, top to bottom. The word order is Verb-Subject-Object-Oblique. For instance
Definite - su
Indefinite - mo
"I handed him the book."becomes:
"Handed I him the book."
Articles
Bika has a definite article and an indefinite article:Definite - su
Indefinite - mo
Grammar
In sentences where the pronoun would be directly following a verb, the verb's conjugation implies the pronoun, rather than using the pronoun itself. For instance, in the sentence "I handed him the book", the conjugation of "hand" would imply that the speaker handed "him" a book. However, if you are directly referring to a person, such as saying "I handed Sasha the book", you would still include Sasha's name while also conjugating "hand".Negation is done by adding the word nu before the verb, while turning the verb into an imperative uses the suffix (e)to. If you were to tell someone in Bikan not to touch something, it would be said as "nu nubto".
Related Articles
Phaera
Phaera
Comments
Author's Notes
Header image courtesy of Vertixico