Soygan (soy-gan)

The language of Aldarians

natively known as: byiflang /ˈbjiːflæŋ

and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind... àr àd shrí wayw kívví àik àr náng mlá shrí snás slezh àv Pronunciation: /ɑɹ ɑd ʃɹɪ weɪ̯w ˈkɪvvɪ ˈɑiːk ɑɹ nɜːŋ mlɜː ʃɹɪ snɜːs slɛʒ ɑv/ Byiflangian word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Numbers Byiflangian has a base-20 number system:

1 - ad

2 - àyzo

3 - ngoúmlàk

4 - káng

5 - nyà

6 - àð̺

7 - lyà

8 - doú

9 - àd

10 - smois

11 - nás

12 - whefà

13 - snà

14 - baym

15 - thozh

16 - ploúkà

17 - shlíð̺

18 - shlou

19 - bayd

20 - myav

(Four) hundred - fù

(Eight) thousand - pliezyá

Writing System

uses the writing from the vonyich manuscript as the basis

Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð̺ ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

Spelling rules: Pronunciation Spelling

Pronunciation	Spelling
aɪ̯	ie
aʊ̯	ou
eɪ̯	eɪ̯
iː	i
uː	u
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɔː	o
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɪ	í
ʊ	ú
ɜː	á
ʌ	ù
ɑ	à
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʧ	ch
θ	th
Vː	VV
◌̯

Morphology

Syllable structure: (C)(C)V(C) ? Initial — stress is on the first syllable ?
Derivational morphology

• Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -f
• Else: Suffix -ʊf
• Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m
• Else: Suffix -ɑm
• Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix n-
• Else: Prefix næ-
• Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Suffix -ɔɪ̯v
• Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɑ
• Noun to verb = Suffix -eɪ̯ð̺
• Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -oʊ̯
• Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -k
• Else: Suffix -ɔːk
• Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʒ
• Else: Suffix -uːʒ
• Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -v
• Else: Suffix -ʌv
• One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -ʌŋ
• Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ
• Else: Suffix -iːʃ
• Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -w
• Else: Suffix -æwAugmentative = Prefix aʊ̯-

Syntax

Nouns Nouns have three cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Nominative	No affix choúmu /ˈʧoʊ̯muː/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	Prefix ɛ- echoúmu /ˈɛʧoʊ̯muː/ (verb done to) dog
Genitive	If starts with vowel: Prefix ŋ- Else: Prefix ŋɛ- ngechoúmu /ˈŋɛʧoʊ̯muː/ dogʼs

Singular	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix dɛ- dechoúmu /ˈdɛʧoʊ̯muː/ dog
Plural	No affix choúmu /ˈʧoʊ̯muː/ dogs

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	myou /mjaʊ̯/ the	ka /kæ/ a
Plural	tsaym /tseɪ̯m/ the	blayð̺ /bleɪ̯ð̺/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used to talk about countable nouns in general: English’s ‘I like cats’ would translate to ‘I like the cats’
• Not used for mass (uncountable) nouns: ‘Walking in the mud’ would always translate to ‘Walking in mud’.
• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	po /pɔː/ I	thlá /θlɜː/ me	dfav /dfæv/ mine
2nd singular	zí /zɪ/ you	nyoú /njoʊ̯/ you	zhoúd /ʒoʊ̯d/ yours
3rd singular masc	àd /ɑd/ he, it	hoi /hɔɪ̯/ him, it	à /ɑ/ his, its
3rd singular fem	tú /tʊ/ she, it	zhá /ʒɜː/ her, it	ej /ɛʤ/ hers, its
1st plural	bás /bɜːs/ we	pù /pʌ/ us	ouv /aʊ̯v/ ours
2nd plural	á /ɜː/ you all	byi /bjiː/ you all	e /ɛ/ yours (pl)
3rd plural	shnoish /ʃnɔɪ̯ʃ/ they	ka /kæ/ them	má /mɜː/ theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	shas /ʃæs/ my
2nd singular	e /ɛ/ your
3rd singular masc	shrí /ʃɹɪ/ his
3rd singular fem	mev /mɛv/ her
1st plural	zù /zʌ/ our
2nd plural	bye /bjɛ/ your (pl)
3rd plural	ay /eɪ̯/ their

Phonetics

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð̺ ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɜː ɪ ʊ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ

Spelling rules: Pronunciation Spelling

Pronunciation	Spelling
aɪ̯	ie
aʊ̯	ou
eɪ̯	eɪ̯
iː	i
uː	u
æ	a
ɛ	e
ɔː	o
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɪ	í
ʊ	ú
ɜː	á
ʌ	ù
ɑ	à
j	y
ŋ	ng
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʧ	ch
θ	th
Vː	VV
◌̯

Tenses

Verbs

	Present	Past
1st person	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɑ- kàkmoi /ˈkɑkmɔɪ̯/ (I/we) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix p- Else: Prefix peɪ̯- paykmoi /ˈpeɪ̯kmɔɪ̯/ (I/we) learned
2nd person	If starts with vowel: Prefix zm- Else: Prefix zmɪ- zmíkmoi /ˈzmɪkmɔɪ̯/ (you/you all) learn	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix sæ- sakmoi /ˈsækmɔɪ̯/ (you/you all) learned
3rd person	Prefix gɛ- gekmoi /ˈgɛkmɔɪ̯/ (he/she/it/they) learn	Prefix ɜː- ákmoi /ˈɜːkmɔɪ̯/ (he/she/it/they) learned

Byiflangian uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: wɑf - wàf kmoi /wɑf kmɔɪ̯/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Byiflangian uses a standalone particle word for progressive:
Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Byiflangian uses a standalone particle word for habitual:

Habitual

Particle before the verb: kmɪ - kmí kmoi /kmɪ kmɔɪ̯/ learns

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.
Byiflangian uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Reduplicate first part of first syllable kmoikmoi /ˈkmɔɪ̯kmɔɪ̯/ have learned

Sentence Structure

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

Adjective Order

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. Adposition: postpositions

Spoken by

• Aldarian