Baphian language
This page discusses standard Baphian, which is based off of the Turku dialect. For other Baphian dialects, See Baphian dialects.
Baphian is a group of languages, usually called Baphian dialects, and are variably fairly mutually intelligible. spoken throughout most of Ukilen and Brausia. It is spoken natively by most kaneeds with the exception of those who speak Kzmr, a seperate related language group to the Baphian dialects, usually spoken by Kkzmrš. It is a part of the proto-Ukilen language family. It has around 600 million speakers, most of which are in Ukilen and are L1, with only around 5-10 million being outside of Baphia or L2.
Phonology
| Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unvoiced | Voiced | Unvoiced | Voiced | Unvoiced | Voiced | |
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ng // | |||
| Plosive | p /p/ | b /b/ | t /t/ | d /d/ | k /k/ | g /g/ |
| Sibilant | s /s/ | z /z/ | sh /ɕ/ c /tɕ/ | zh /ʑ/ j /d/ | ||
| Fricative | f /f/ | v /v/ | h /h/ | |||
| Approximant | w /w/ | |||||
Orthography
Standard Baphian uses both the Ukilen logography and Noellastani alphabet in a mix script to write the language. The logography is heavily preferred and is used the most in standard Baphian including with grammatical concepts, but it is not uncommon to see those written in the alphabet. The alphabet is used mainly with place names, onomatopoeia, and sometimes grammatical concepts.
The following table shows the Noellastani alphabet as its used in standard Baphian in alphabetic order.
| Nlls. | IPA | Rom. |
|---|---|---|
| A | a | |
| B | b | |
| G | g | |
| C | tɕ | c |
| Ź | dʑ | j |
| W | w | |
| F | f | |
| V | v | |
| E | e | |
| Z | z | |
| S | s | |
| D | d | |
| K | k | |
| I | i | |
| L | ɭ~ɹ | l |
| M | m | |
| N | n | |
| Ñ | ŋ | ng |
| J | j | y |
| O | o | |
| P | p | |
| R | ɹ~ɭ | r |
| S | s | |
| Z | z | |
| Ś | ɕ | sh |
| Ž | ʑ | zh |
| T | t | |
| H | h | |
| ; | ʔ | ' |
Ukilen logography
see main article: Ukilen logographs
The Ukilen logography is used predominantly for content words such as nouns, adjectives, and verbs. In some cases, such as modern slang, either bare radicals or the alphabet is used.
Grammar
Syntax
Standard Baphian syntax varies greatly by dialect, even within colloquial Turku Baphian and standard Baphian there are differences.
Word order
Standard Baphian word order is exclusively Subject-Object-Verb in prose, and even in poetry it is common for the word order to be SOV, but it is not rare for poetry to break this rule to allow for incredible ambiguation.
Adjectives and nouns
Standard Baphian adjectives and nouns are treated as if they're the same group of words, for example in standard Baphian, "cëzhyu" (/tɕə.ˈʑju/), red, can mean either the colour red itself or "the red one" or even "the one in red" all depending on context. This applies to nouns as well, for example "deye" (/de.ˈje/), louse, can either mean a normal ordinary louse, or "small and annoying".
One important rule about making adjectives and nouns mean more descriptive things, and treating adjectives and nouns as genuine descriptors, is that the descriptor needs to be in the vocative case by adding "mu" if its animate and "nu" if its inanimate, to the end of the word intended to be used for describing, for example, "cëzhyunu mezye" (/tɕə.ˈʑju.nu me.ˈzje/), red hair, and "deyemu bele" (/de.ˈje.mu be.ˈɺe/), an annoying small child, a crying child, or a crying baby, all of which are valid translations.
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.
One specific notable feature of Zukyu register is that all nouns and or adjectives specifically about the speaker, are almost always in plural.
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.