Vexirian language

The Vexirian language is a Maskoric language spoken mainly by Vexirs. It is the official language of Vexiristen, where it is also the most widely-spoken language.

Geographic distribution
Around 82% of Vexirian speakers live in Vexiristen. Other nations with sizeable Vexirian-speaking populations include the neighbouring countries of Shavokhbezi, Gvetkleshmon, Raluda, Dospekisten, and Pajisten; there is also a high concentration of Vexirian speakers in the Medlat province of the Caredzinian Union.

Consonants

 * /ʃ/ is postalveolar.
 * The sequences /pr/ and /br/ are realised as [ʙ].
 * In the standard (Maktir) dialect, /t d/ are palatalised to [t͡sʲ d͡zʲ] before /ɪ j/.
 * In most of Fory Region and some of southern Maktiry Region, they are instead realised as postalveolar [t͡ʃ d͡ʒ].
 * /k g/ are realised as [q ɢ] before the vowels /u/ and /o/.
 * In the dialect of Durakan, /v/ is realised as [w], or [ʋ] for some speakers.

Vowels

 * /ɪ/ is written with ⟨y⟩ only when it marks the genitive/possessive case of a noun; in all other instances, it is written with ⟨i⟩.
 * In the standard (Maktir) dialect, /ɪ/ is near-front and near-back.
 * In some dialects, it is instead realised as close [i~ɨ].
 * The historical phonemes /i/ and /ɨ/ have merged into a single phoneme in almost all dialects; the only major dialect without the merger is that of Durakan, where they are now /ɪ/ ⟨i⟩ and /ɨ/ ⟨y⟩ respectively.
 * For example, the words tawi "hilltop" and tawy "hilltops, of a hilltop, of hilltops" are pronounced /tɑvɪ/ and /tɑvɨ/ respectively in Durakan, but are both pronounced /tavɪ/ in the standard dialect.
 * In the dialects of the Brizy-Rety and Shayiry Regions, /ɛ/ is realised as /e/ in stressed syllables.
 * In the Durakan dialect, /a/ is realised as [ɑ] in unstressed syllables.

Phonotactics
Vexirian syllable structure is (C)V(C), or PrV(C) where P is a plosive. Only word-initial syllables can start with a vowel, and /j/ cannot appear in syllable codas.

Syllables tend towards CV(C) structure rather PrV(C); for example, agroş "shirt" is pronounced [ˈag.roʃ] instead of *[ˈa.groʃ].

Some interjections violate normal Vexirian phonotactics, such as s /s̩/, which can be used to get somebody's attention.

Stress
Most roots are stressed on their first syllable. Most prefixes can take no stress, but some are always stressed and make all other syllables of a word unstressed. Stress is never lexically contrastive in Vexirian.

Nouns
Nouns in Vexirian decline based on definiteness, number, and several cases. They can be divided into two classes, heavy and light nouns, based on their phonological properties.

Heavy and light nouns
Most nouns which start with two consonants, such as ktom "foot" and stenet "country, land", belong to a class of nouns called heavy nouns. All other nouns are called light nouns.

Some nouns starting with two consonants are light. These consonants are always a plosive followed by /r/. However, some heavy nouns also start with a plosive and /r/, although these consonants are always split across two syllables in practice. For example, krokoz "dam" is a light noun, and tras "name" is a heavy noun. This distinction is unwritten, but can distinguish pairs of nouns. For example, drese means "color" as a light noun and "tongue" as a heavy noun, so that ny drese means "your colour" when pronounced as [ˈnɪ ˈdrɛsɛ] and "your tongue" when pronounced as [ˈnɪdˈrɛsɛ].

All heavy nouns are inalienable; they can never appear alone, and must instead follow a noun in the plural/genitive case. The two nouns in such a possessive phrase are pronounced as if they were only one word, so that, for example, the phrase Weksiry stenet "Vexiristen" is pronounced /ˈvɛksɪrɪsˈtɛnɛt/ instead of */ˈvɛksɪrɪ ˈstɛnɛt/.

Heavy nouns always use infixes, inserted between their first two consonants, instead of prefixes, and they always receive stress between their first two consonants.

Plural/genitive
Plural and genitive nouns are both formed by adding the suffix -y; if the base noun already ends in a vowel, then that vowel is removed.

Definiteness
Nouns can be marked as definite using the suffix -t; if a noun ends in a vowel, including the plural/genitive suffix -y, -et is used instead. This should come before all other suffixes excluding -y.

Nominative
The nominative case can be marked using the stress-taking prefix mas- for light nouns, or the infix -ma- for heavy nouns. Sentences with a noun in the marked nominative case always use VOS word order, instead of the default VSO.

The nominative case is not usually marked, and it is typically used only to avoid ambiguity. It is more common in writing than in speech.

In genitive phrases, it should only be marked on the first noun.

Dative
In Vexirian, the dative case indicates something affected by an action, such as a recipient or beneficiary. It is formed with the suffix -tor or -brig. -tor is used for humans, and -brig is used for everything else.

Locative
Vexirian has five different locative affixes: -sar, -kor, wi-, wih-, and -wis-. These descriptions are broad and have many exceptions, which tend to vary between dialects. For example, the noun pitir "mountain" takes the affix -kor in the standard dialect, but it takes -sar in the dialects of the Brizy-Rety and Shayiry Regions, and wi- in that of Gubadsurky Region.
 * -sar is used for large areas, such as countries, provinces/states, lakes, and geographical regions.
 * -kor is used for places, locations, and small areas, such as houses, trees, ponds, and fields.
 * wi-, wih-, and -wis- are used for other things, such as people, animals, furniture, transportation, and small items. The form -wis- is used for heavy nouns; wih- is used for light nouns beginning with vowels; and wi- is used for other light nouns.

-sar, -kor, and wih- (but not wi- or -wis-) always take stress, and de-stress all other syllables in the nouns they modify; for example, the word gurdesar "at a lake", derived from the root gurde "lake" [ˈɢurdɛ], is pronounced [ɢurdɛˈsar] instead of *[ˈɢurdɛsar].

Lative
In Vexirian, the lative case indicates motion towards, into, or onto an object or location.

The language has two lative suffixes, -got and -sil, both of which are stress-taking. These roughly correspond to the locative affixes: -got is generally used for nouns which use -sar, and -sil is generally used for nouns which use -kor, wi-, wih-, or -wis-. This is, however, by no means a hard rule, and it has many exceptions, such as kahni "road" taking the locative suffix -kor and the lative suffix -got.

Instrumental
The suffix -yoş is used for light nouns, and the infix -miz- is used for heavy nouns.

Ablative
The Vexirian ablative case is used to mark movement away from or out of objects and locations.

Three suffixes are used: -takor, -guş, and -lih. The distribution of these suffixes is not predictable, and the correct one must be memorised for each noun. -lih is the most common, followed by -takor and then -guş. Out of these suffixes, only -lih takes stress.

Pronouns
Vexirian uses first, second, and third person pronouns. Each person has two forms, called inclusive and exclusive:
 * First person inclusive pronouns ("you and me/us") include the speaker as well as the addressee.
 * First person exclusive pronouns ("me/us") include the speaker, but not the addressee.
 * Second person inclusive pronouns ("you") include the addressee only, and exclude the speaker.
 * Second person exclusive pronouns ("people like you") exclude the speaker and the addressee, but include people like the addressee, such as people with a similar age, appearance, interest, or geographical location.
 * Third person inclusive pronouns ("you and him/her/it/them") include the speaker, the addressee, and at least one other person or thing. They refer to a group which includes the addressee, but whose other members are not present or are not being spoken to, and emphasise the fact that the addressee is a part of the group.
 * Third person exclusive pronouns ("he/she/it/them") exclude the speaker and the addressee. They are the only pronouns typically used for inanimate objects.

There are six pronominal cases. Pronouns are not specified for number.


 * Where two genitive pronouns are listed in the same column in the above table, the first is used for light nouns and the second is used for heavy nouns.
 * Pronouns followed by asterisks (*) are stressed on their final syllables, and all others receive initial stress.
 * In quick or informal speech, pronouns are rarely stressed at all.
 * The pronoun nasil is nahsil in some dialects, most notably that of Durakan.

Adjectives
Adjectives decline for person and intensity, as well as whether they modify a heavy or light noun.

Adjectives can be normal, augmentative, or diminutive.

All Vexirian adjectives belong to one of five classes:
 * Class 1 adjectives mostly begin with any consonant other than t or h. This class contains around two thirds of Vexirian adjectives.
 * Class 2 adjectives mostly begin with t or h.
 * Class 3 adjectives mostly begin with any vowel other than u.
 * Class 4 adjectives mostly begin with u, or sometimes i (when it was historically /ɨ/).
 * Class 5 adjectives have no general pattern, although around half of them start with a plosive followed by r. These adjectives are the least numerous.

Word order
Vexirian primarily uses VSO word order.