Sirsin

Natively known as: sirs /siːrs/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
plo stab re stab oc lei plo stab pitsu pux plom plu quo
Pronunciation: /plo stab re stab ok lei̯ plo stab ˈpitsuː puːks ploːm plu kʷoː/
Sirsian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h k kʷ l m n p r s t w

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d	k kʷ g
Fricative		f	s		h
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a ae̯ au̯ aː e ei̯ eu̯ eː i io̯ iu̯ iː o oe̯ oː u ui̯ uː
Diphthongs: ae̯ au̯ ei̯ eu̯ io̯ iu̯ oe̯ ui̯ ?

	Front	Back
High	i iː	u uː
High-mid	e eː	o oː
Low	a aː

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kʷ	qu
ks	x
k	c
w	v
ː
̯

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Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Ergative is the doer of a verb, when the verb is done to something: dog bites man.
• Absolutive is used in two scenarios: the doer of a verb when not done to something (dog bites), and the done-to of a verb (man bites dog).

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -d Else: Suffix -ud ciumud /ˈkiu̯mud/ dog (doing a transitive verb)
Absolutive	No affix cium /kiu̯m/ dog (doing an intransitive verb)

Singular	No affix cium /kiu̯m/ dog
Plural	Suffix -io̯st ciumiost /ˈkiu̯mio̯st/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	po /po/ the	gloe /gloe̯/ a
Plural	raun /rau̯n/ the	rei /rei̯/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used for languages: ‘The English’
• Used with place names: ‘The London’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive
1st singular	spae /spae̯/ I	quu /kʷuː/ me
2nd singular	be /beː/ you	gleins /glei̯ns/ you
3rd singular masc	stab /stab/ he, it (masc)	pli /pli/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	ni /ni/ she, it (fem)	ra /ra/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	feu /feu̯/ we	cro /kro/ us
2nd plural	ciu /kiu̯/ you all	dei /dei̯/ you all
3rd plural	os /os/ they	a /a/ them

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	spae /spae̯/ my
2nd singular	be /beː/ your
3rd singular masc	stab /stab/ his
3rd singular fem	ni /ni/ her
1st plural	feu /feu̯/ our
2nd plural	ciu /kiu̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural	os /os/ their

Verbs

	Present	Past	Remote past
1st person	Suffix -ank crianc /ˈkriːank/ (I/we) learn	Suffix -eu̯ crieu /ˈkriːeu̯/ (I/we) learned	Suffix -aːm criam /ˈkriːaːm/ (I/we) learned (long ago)
2nd person	Suffix -e crie /ˈkriːe/ (you/you all) learn	Suffix -au̯ criau /ˈkriːau̯/ (you/you all) learned	If ends with vowel: Suffix -nkro Else: Suffix -uːnkro crincro /ˈkriːnkro/ (you/you all) learned (long ago)
3rd person	If ends with vowel: Suffix -rspa Else: Suffix -ui̯rspa crirspa /ˈkriːrspa/ (he/she/it/they) learn(s)	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -im crim /kriːm/ (he/she/it/they) learned	Suffix -u criu /ˈkriːu/ (he/she/it/they) learned (long ago)

Sirsian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: pei̯ - pei cri /pei̯ kriː/ 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).
Sirsian uses an affix for imperfective:

Imperfective

If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -iu̯n crin /kriːn/ 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.
Sirsian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -eu̯s cris /kriːs/ have learned

Numbers

Sirsian has a base-10 number system:
1 - goe
2 - iu
3 - u
4 - nu
5 - bad
6 - pib
7 - tei
8 - glio
9 - he
10 - vo
100 - pu
1000 - gras

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ui̯l
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Suffix -ont
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -uː
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -nt
Else: Suffix -io̯nt
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ist
Noun to verb = Suffix -ist
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
Else: Suffix -om
Tending to = Suffix -aː
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rs
Else: Suffix -ers
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -iu̯s
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -skae̯
Else: Suffix -ei̯skae̯
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Suffix -oe̯
Diminutive = Suffix -au̯
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -rae̯
Else: Suffix -arae̯

Dictionary

3018 Words.

Spoken by

• Aeternic