Bika Language in Actrein | World Anvil

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.

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:
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/
Bika's verb conjugation is as follows (using patid /patid/, meaning "study", as an example):
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
"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


Cover image: by Vertixico

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Author's Notes

Header image courtesy of Vertixico


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