Baphian language

Baphian (BAFIBafi tilye [ba.ˈfi tiɭ.ˈje]) is a dialectal continuum spoken throughout much of Ukilen and Brausia and the rest of the world. It is the majority and official language in Baphia, as well as being official minority languages in Union, Cring, and Jkawi. It is also an unofficial minority language in Sunteria, Kgokkonitlag, and Azkali.

In most ways, especially academic, Turku Baphian is considered the standard.

History

The history of Baphian is several millennia long and widely debated. Few things are agreed upon in its history - those being that the dialects are very old, and came from a shared proto-language, Proto-Ukilen. Most languages on Ukilen are related to Proto-Ukilen, with few exceptions.

Phonology

Baphian syllables are CVC with the only exception being /j/, /w/, and /ɺ/, which can go after the first consonant.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e	ə	o
Open	a		ɑ

Baphian has 7 vowels and phonemic vowel length in some words of newer origin.

Consonants

	Labial	Coronal	Dorsal	Laryngeal
Nasal	m	n	ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d	k g	ʔ
Affricate			tɕ dʑ
Fricative	f v	ð	x	h
Silibant		s z	ɕ ʑ
Approx.	w	ɺ, ɭ	j

Orthography

Baphian is near exclusively written in Ukilen logographs and rarely mixed with Noellastani alphabet. Noellastani alphabet is usually only used for grammatical constructions, names, both of places and people, and onomatopoeia, but even in some cases the logography covers these.

Romanisation

IPA	NLS	Latin
m	M	m
n	N	n
ŋ	Ñ	ng
p	P	p
b	B	b
t	T	t
d	D	d
k	K	k
g	G	g
ʔ*	;	'
ɕ	Ś	sh
ʑ	ZH	zh
tɕ	C	c
dʑ	JH	j
f	F	f, ph*
v	V	v
ð	DH	dh
x	X	kh
h	H	h
s	S	s
z	Z	z
w	W	w, v
ɭ, ɺ	L R	l, r
j	J	y

Romanization

IPA	NLS	Latin
i	I	i
e	E	e
a	A	a
u	U	u
o	O	o
ɑ	Á	ah
ə	Ë	ë

Grammar

Noun/Adjective Structure

1	2	3	4
Stem	Case	Number	Definitive

The Baphian dialects are unique in that they do not treat adjectives and nouns differently, as in nouns can be adjectives and adjectives can be nouns. for example; cëzhyu (/tɕə.ˈʑju/) can be used as 'the red one' or be used to describe something as red as in 'cëzhyumu mezye' (/tɕə.ˈʑju.ˈmu me.ˈzje/), red hair, or nemuk (/ne.ˈmuk/), stick, being used to describe something narrow or just a plain tree branch.

Verb Structure

1	2	3	4	5		B
Mood	Stem	Negative	Tense	Aspect/Voice		Conditional

Syntax

Baphian has theoretically free word order, although the most common one in both colloquial and formal speech is Subject-Object-Verb. Possessors precede possesses, and adjectives are before the noun they modify. These traits have been inherited from Proto-Ukilen.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Baphian can be pretty much any word, with incredibly few exceptions, as long as it as the vocative marker ending, for example diŋ.ˈgje.mu dʑaŋ.ˈhan, meaning something like the beast-like soul or cat-like soul.

Vocabulary

Baphian has 2 major sources of non-native vocabulary that can be directly attested, a lot of colloquial words are from Jkawi due to the huge influence from both the language and Shidamism, as well as from Jyosti, due to cultural significance of both the language and islands of Jyosti. There are minor borrowings from Kzmr, Azkali and Loremese as well, usually only dialectally. For example, Turku Baphian has many borrowings from Azkali due to the large influence from both the language and culture of the city, while Bongsibon Baphian has many Loremese borrowings due to trade.

Word Formation

Baphian forms new words fairly easily due to it being an agglutinative language, but there are some rules.

The definitive

The definitive in Baphian is a fairly new development, past 100-200 years ago, and mostly only in areas where Azkali is spoken a lot (Turku, Bongsibon, Near the Azkali border, etc.). It is most certainly a borrowing, being the suffix "na", from Azkali's definitive circumfix "a...na". It is fairly controversial due to speciesism towards Azkali and Kali's in general, but is still widely accepted nonetheless.

Registers

Registers are different for every Baphian dialect, but there are consistently at least 3, those being: Zukyu, "Expectation", or service/work register, Shipmu haste, "Fear of illness", or religious register, and Cëyasmu shinzang, "Jackal-like heart", or the High register, used by those mostly in positions of power.

Zukyu

The Zukyu register is usually used by those in the service sector, like restaurants and stores. Usually, people speaking Zukyu use more polite, indirect and broad language, they also tend to never use the first person pronoun, unless admitting fault. It is theorized that Zukyu developed from the speech of concubines from as far back as the Bongsibon raid era.

Shipmu Haste

Shipmu haste is usually spoken by priests or religious people, and is pretty much used by everyone of every religion. It is widely considered the liturgical register of Baphian and all translations of religious materials are in this register. Shipmu haste is different mostly with vocabulary and how it treats syntax. Speakers of Shipmu haste are widely considered to sound like a lunatic, and speaking Shipmu haste outside of religious settings is usually considered to make you sound pedantic, uptight, and crazy. It is widely agreed that Shipmu haste came from a heavily mistranslated version of Shidamist and Saulist texts, giving Shipmu haste its heavy use of Jkawi and Loremese words. It's also widely agreed that because of the register's origin, the name itself comes from a mistranslation from a saulist text that was something like "Speak like me or die of sickness".

Cëyasmu Shinzang

Cëyasmu shinzang is usually spoken by politicians and those of higher classes.

Codes

BPH-BPH	Standard code for Standard Baphian
BPH-TRK	Standard code for Turku Baphian, not Standard Baphian
BPH-NB	Standard code for North Baphian
BPH-HLI	Standard code for Hallei
BPH-YMH	Standard code for Yamahat
BPH-JYS	Standard code for Jyosti Baphian, not Jyosti
BPH-KZM	Standard code for Kzmr Baphian, not Kzmr
BPH-JKA	Standard code for Jkawi Baphian, not Jkawi
BPH-UNI	Standard code for Union Baphian