Devkarin (Dev-Ka-Riin)

Natively known as: devkarin devkarin /ˈdevkarin/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
wu i ûmukhi khikh i etke wu ka i so omû i tikhlûm wu i ʊmuxi xix i ɛtkɛ wu ka i sɔ ɔmʊ i tixlʊm
Pronunciation: /wu i ˈʊmuxi xix i ˈɛtkɛ wu ka i sɔ ɔˈmʊ i ˈtixlʊm/
Devkarin word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: d h j k l m n p r s t v w x ɖ ɹ ɾ ʔ ʣ ʤ ʥ ʧ ⱱ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p		t d		ɖ			k	ʔ
Affricate			ʣ	ʧ ʤ		ʥ
Fricative		v	s					x	h
Approximant			ɹ				j
Tap		ⱱ	ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i u ɔ ɛ ɪ ɯ ʊ

	Front	Back
High	i	ɯ u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
High-mid	e
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Initial — stress is on the first syllable
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	ʻ
ɔ	o
ɛ	e
ɪ	î
ʊ	û
j	y
x	kh

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions

Nouns

Nouns have both a plural affix and ‘paucal’ affix for referring to a few of something.

Singular	No affix patpi patpi /ˈpatpi/ dog
Plural	Suffix -ap patpiap patpiap /ˈpatpiap/ dogs
Paucal	Suffix -u patpiu patpiu /ˈpatpiu/

Articles

Devkarin has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’.

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ket kɛt /kɛt/ I	sep sɛp /sɛp/ me
2nd singular	wi wi /wi/ you	kol kɔl /kɔl/ you
3rd singular	i i /i/ he, she, it	ûm ʊm /ʊm/ him, her, it
1st plural	sa sa /sa/ we	khû xʊ /xʊ/ us
2nd plural	wek wɛk /wɛk/ you all	say saj /saj/ you all
3rd plural	nû nʊ /nʊ/ they	ûy ʊj /ʊj/ them

Possessive determiners

1st singular	ket kɛt /kɛt/ my
2nd singular	wi wi /wi/ your
3rd singular	i i /i/ his, her, its
1st plural	sa sa /sa/ our
2nd plural	wek wɛk /wɛk/ your (pl)
3rd plural	nû nʊ /nʊ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix pîmmiw pɪmmiw /ˈpɪmmiw/ learn
Past	Suffix -aw pîmmiwaw pɪmmiwaw /ˈpɪmmiwaw/ learned
Remote past	Suffix -i pîmmiwi pɪmmiwi /ˈpɪmmiwi/ learned (long ago)

Devkarin uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: tu - tu pîmmiw tu pɪmmiw /tu ˈpɪmmiw/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Devkarin uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: ku - ku pîmmiw ku pɪmmiw /ku ˈpɪmmiw/ learns/is learning

Perfect aspect

The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Devkarin uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -ɔj pîmmiwoy pɪmmiwɔj /ˈpɪmmiwɔj/ have learned

Numbers

Devkarin has a base-10 number system:
1 - num num
2 - khew xɛw
3 - yîs jɪs
4 - pil pil
5 - khok xɔk
6 - am am
7 - pûm pʊm
8 - piskay piskaj
9 - wû wʊ
10 - pu pu
11 - pu punum num “ten-one”
100 - naʻmekh naʔmɛx “hundred”
101 - naʻmekh naʔmɛx num num “hundred one”
200 - khew xɛw naʻmekh naʔmɛx
1000 - po pɔ “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ʊw
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ɔ
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -ul
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w
Else: Suffix -ɔw
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -am
Noun to verb = Suffix -al
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ɛk
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
Else: Suffix -ik
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -aw
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -im
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t
Else: Suffix -it
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -it
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -l
Else: Suffix -ʊl
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s
Else: Suffix -ɔs
Again = If ends with vowel: Suffix -x
Else: Suffix -ɛx
Opposite = Suffix -aʣ
Of life = Suffix -ɔ
Of heresy = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n
Else: Suffix -in
Of inorganic = Suffix -ɪm
Of light = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɖ
Else: Suffix -eɖ

Distribution & Variants

Devkarin is the native language of the Drow, and thanks to the history of the Akroni Confederacy, is one of their official languages. It has evolved significantly since its first usage, taking a fair amount of influence from the language of the Star Cultists, Irakan. Whether or not Devkarin is a dialect of Irakan, a cousin from the same family, or just a language that has melded itself to the latter over the years is a matter of fierce debate, with the minimal evidence providing some support for all three camps. THe language itself is spoke throughout Akronis and the myriad of Drow and Aelf states scattered across the Low Peaks of Zhatar and the Sotteran.

Devkarin in Akronis varies wildly, with a general rule being that the closer one is to the Empire of Laran, the angrier the language will sound. The kingdoms in the Low Peaks have a significant variation in sound pronunciation, where any vowel that is usually spoken at the back of the mouth will be spoken at the center instead, making the language far lighter. In Arakos, a mix of Devkarin and Irakan is used, but for in religious services where Devkarin is dropped entirely. 

Notably, despite being a Corajyo city, Nazzerath's pygmy language has more elements of Devkarin than it does of Uurdu Ladi. Also, near the front lines of conflict with the Empire of Laran, a bastardized pigmy language of Uurdu Ladi, Gui Biaozhun , and Devkarin is spoken, however, this varies from region to region so that despite using the same base languages, a foreign speaker really needs to understand all three to properly make sense of it.

Dictionary

3140 Words.