Baszku language

The Baszku language, or Baszkuya Hadim, is a native language spoken across Abexilas; originating from the Baszku people. It has spoken across nations including Zilatra, Sentara, Ischanor, Transaria, and more.

Consonants
The Baszku language, in its standard dialect, features at least nineteen consonants. These may vary however, entirely depending on the dialect. The consonant /w/ exclusively appears in conjunction with the consonant /k/, being represented in the grapheme/letter, becoming the labialized sound /kʷ/.

Vowels
The Baszku language features four vowel sounds, represented by four letters respectively. The language has little to no diphthongization, though in fast paced speech or in some instances the letter  may be pronounced as /eɪ/.

Orthography
To represent the 23 sounds in the language, 21 independent letters are used while two of the sounds are represented by digraphs.

Word order
The Baszku language generally follows an SVO word order. The language also uses prepositions as opposed to postpositions.

Verbs and conjugation
The verbs in the Baszku language can be generally classified into two categories, those ending in "-an" and those ending in "-in", though there are a few irregular verbs. In their default, they are in the infinitive. In order to conjugate it to a subject, the last two letters, the "-an" and "-in", and cut off and replaced with the following suffixes. For instance, the verb for "to eat" is "hin" in Baszku. If you wanted to say "I eat", you would say "hi", alternatively, if you wanted to say "we eat", you would say "hisa."

Verbs can also be conjugated into either preterite (past) and future tense. These are indicated with the following prefixes. For instance, if the verb for "to run" is "iyacan", you could conjugate it into "they (pl.) run", becoming "iyacus". Then you could conjugate that further into future tense, becoming "kiyacus", meaning "they (pl.) will run". For the tense prefixes, the second variation of the prefix ending in a vowel is only used if the word being conjugated begins with a consonant.

Negation
Any verb can be negated by adding the word "yu" prior to it as an independent word. For instance the phrase "Yu qani" would mean "I do not care", literally translating to "Not I care."

Adjectives and comparatives
Other words can be turned into an adjective with the suffix "-ya". Some adjectives use an irregular suffix and add an additional vowel before  in order to make it easier to say. For instance, the word nation is "hajat", while "hajatya" means national.

There is a system of comparative adjectives within Baszku. While the words for more ("zule"), most ("zulas"), less ("yaja"), and least ("yasi") can be used, there are also suffixes and prefixes which can be added to adjectives to do this; which is far more common. These may also convey symbolic meanings at time.

Common suffixes and word transformations

 * To make a pluralization, the plural "-aku", "-ku", or "-u" is added. For instance, the word for shrub is "zeqeb", to turn it into the word for shrubs, you would make it "zeqebaku." Specifically, "-ku" is used in all instances where the other two are not. "-Aku" is used in situations where a word ends with the consonants /b/ or /g/. "-U" is added exclusively on words that end with the consonant /k/.
 * To form a gerund, or a verb which functions as a noun, you add the suffix "-ji". For instance the verb to hike is "askan", and the word for hiking as a noun is "askanji". There are a few situations where a verb may function as a noun however, particularly in the names of animals, nicknames, and plantlife. These will not adopt the gerund suffix, but instead simply conjugate the verb into the third person plural form, for instance the verb to hibernate is "akan", while the word for "they (pl.) hiberate" is "akus". This is also the word for bear in the language. This means that the word for bear loosely means "they [who] hibernate".
 * The suffix "-li" is a diminutive, indicating something is small, the offspring of, or otherwise related to something. These are generally applied to nouns but may also be applied to verbs and especially gerunds.
 * To indicate a movement of some sort, roughly equivalent to the suffix "-ism", you would use the suffix "-gal" in Baszku. For instance the word for a king in Baszku is "sagun", while the word for monarchism is "sagungal."
 * To transform a noun or gerund into an adjective, you can apply to the suffix "-ya".
 * To transform an adjective into a noun, you can use the suffix "-ni". This is a process called nominalization.

Articles
In the Baszku language, articles are attached to what they are referencing with a hyphen. For example the phrase "A-Haczuyitebe" means "The Greatest of All", referring to a single thing that is the greatest of all. This hyphenation applies to all four articles in the language.

Pronouns
The Baszku language does not have gendered pronouns of any kind, and in order to make a pronoun reflexive, the nominative version is used and the word "abus" is used with a hyphen after it. For instance "la-abus" would mean "myself".

Numerals
In order to write certain numerals, you combine numbers using hyphens. For instance, in order to say "two hundred" you would have to say "dek-sel". In order to say "two hundred and ninety eight", you would have to say "dek-sel ul najakej-uczi". In this context, "ul" means "and".


 * 1 : yega
 * 2 : dek
 * 3 : ta
 * 4 : sta
 * 5 : basz
 * 6 : gaz
 * 7 : ista
 * 8 : uczi
 * 9 : naja
 * 10 : dej
 * 20 : dekej
 * 30 : takej
 * 40 : stakej
 * 50 : baszkej
 * 60 : gakej
 * 70 : istakej
 * 80 : uczikej
 * 90 : najakej
 * 100 : sel
 * 1,000 : arij
 * 1,000,000 : taqij

Animals and creatures

 * dog : szali
 * wolf : qadus
 * cat : mali
 * ocelot : szluli
 * fish : uhet OR bela
 * sheep : ba
 * pig : uyin
 * rabbit : szkujasz
 * frog : skutus
 * cow : habatli
 * horse : edilus
 * chicken : baqaku
 * camel : hatuli
 * axolotl : tedili
 * squid : asalus
 * skeleton : teyel
 * golem : tayus
 * sniffer : uqus
 * turtle : jahadli
 * strider : haqalus

Structures

 * house : tazil
 * city : ala
 * commune : asar
 * village : kaszil
 * town : hasz
 * farm : hafe
 * street : szufi
 * road : szaf
 * avenue : cahili
 * church : czange
 * courthouse : dakatu
 * cafe : yeqamal
 * restaurant : hinumal
 * hall : divumal
 * tower : taleb

Nationalities and ethnicities
In order to make it into an adjective, i.e. someone from that country, you add the "-ya" suffix as discussed in other sections.


 * Ischanor : Gatri
 * Saezia : Cesi
 * Halge : Yalge
 * Ashai : Yasumi
 * Vukh : Vus
 * Vulpur : Vucza
 * Foxheim : Vulhe
 * Valreshiya : Vareci
 * Ostya : Usta
 * Orithia : Urica
 * Obsidios : Ubsi
 * Sentara : Setas
 * Ravenguard : Rabega
 * Marisvalor : Murisa
 * Sylvania : Luze
 * Lo'Oix : Lusz
 * Lyskyrja : Lucar
 * Kiurtrog : Kyutu
 * Kramenix : Kurama
 * Kolssonafell : Kucu
 * Kaizra : Kaca
 * Gallania : Gayal
 * Drakaes : Duraka
 * Transaria : Culusza
 * Simulami : Cimu
 * Skulfur : Cufu
 * Azcoria : Aszku
 * Adalor : Adula

Loanwords

 * bela (fish) : perha (flying fish) (Sentari origin)
 * qumu (giant) : wumbo (gigantic) (Ug origin)
 * bahal (gazelle) : baha (gazelle) (Ug origin)
 * alacza (native) : alacha (tribe) (Ug origin)
 * kalita (council) : kelitá (council) (Lo'Oi origin)
 * elduyu (eldham) : éldoxo'o (eldham) (Lo'Oi origin)
 * vyeda (poppy) : vědanica (poppy field) (Vědanican origin)
 * mahem (delta) : maahima (delta) (Hhu origin)
 * kaqada (gun) : kawaadah (gun) (Hhu origin)
 * qilu (comrade) : wi'u (coworker) (Hhu origin)
 * afule (camp) : əfoles (settlement) (Proto-Aysar origin)
 * bace (worm) : pasef (worm) (Proto-Aysar origin)

Example text

 * The first line of the Preamble to the Constitution of Zilatra: U-abusku si adel dafaku, hesztaku, ul ajeltaku - hiqus te a-marta si asarya yuta - beczus el hekan ebehe yega stale atuqus hajat aguda A-Hacaqe edulaha ugatus aha laku.
 * The first sentence of the poem "A-Iliya": Masudasa u-hadulku, madehasa el eqan u-udaszku si a-hebut gadus.
 * The first two stanzas of the song "Ihi, Iyaca!": Ihi, czacziya micza. Nisa a-hadi gaqi si A-Zilasaya. Medasa fa a-yusaya yuna duyuga ga ga. Yedula ye duhadi manu a-ayiga. Segasa a-fadaluya ul czima a-yagasu. Czidiku czidus va yasya una na na. Ihi iyaca iyaca gunsuyi fa a-suyi czuyi biya.

Dafaya
The Dafaya dialect, also called Standard Baszku, is the most common dialect of the language used, particularly in writing. It is native to the lands of Zilatra, around the capital-city of Gaszalasi from where it was popularized across the Baszku-speaking world. It is sometimes called Gaszalasiya, especially by diaspora groups.

Szalya
Szalya, also called Szekyaran in Traveler's Tongue, is a dialect spoken along the delta of the River Szal, named for the Baszku explorer Szal si Hala. This consists of modern regions settled by Marisvalor and Celras, specifically settlements like Esterland, Nasanheim, Prassoria, and Turtlestad.

The accent is very non-rhotic, at least in casual speech. This means the sounds produced by  are frequently omitted or pronounced differently, often as a /h/ or a /j/. Other differences include the common omission of sounds produced by the letter  when at the beginning of a word. Notably, Szalya - as well as the Gatriya dialect - both use different gerunds than the Standard Dafaya dialect. Both of these dialects use the suffix "-jil" to indicate gerunds, as opposed to "-ji", used in almost every other dialect. For instance, the word "balanji" would be rendered as "balanjil" in Szalya and Gatriya.

Tahabayali
Tahabayali, also called Ivoriyan by non-Baszku speakers, is spoken on the island of Tahaba, also called Ivoriya by the Sentaris. It is almost identical to the Akusya dialect, though is made different as the /g/ is often rendered into a /k/ sound, and sometimes as a /ɟ/ sound when surrounded by vowel sounds.

Gatriya
The Gatriya dialect, often called Kulinese by non-Baszku speakers, is a dialect spoken in modern day lands in Ischanor, specifically the areas settled into Vedanica, Lisvar, and Halge. This region was historically called Gatriya by the Baszku people, giving it the name of the dialect. This dialect is relatively similar to Szalya, using similar gerund systems, though due to the geographic separation between Gatriya speakers and those further South, it has made some remarkable differences.

Words beginning with  often have the letter  moved to the front of the word, so for instance the word "rahada" is generally written and/or pronounced as "erahada." This is also done in instances where a word begins with the sound /s/ and is followed immediately by another consonant, so for instance the word "sta", will often be rendered into "esta", and the word "skal" will be rendered into "eskal."

Also in this dialect, the second person singular pronoun, which is "czu" in most dialects, is instead "cu", rendering several other words and pronouns to be written and pronounced differently. For instance "czuku", becomes "cuku", "czuqe" becomes "cuqe", and "czuqeku" becomes "cuqeku."

Furthermore, the grapheme is pronounced as /ʊ/ as opposed to the typical pronunciation of /u/. The grapheme  is also often pronounced as /dz/ as opposed to /ts/. For this reason, speakers of other dialects will often call Gatriya "Kelegusya" or "[sounds like a] bee."

Akusya
The Aksuya dialect is spoken across the Southern section of the Akus Sea, including on the islands of Yebat, Yusaya-Kema, and in the region of Sejus-Hadul. All these territories are owned by Sentara and are called the Eastern Heartlands, Great White Isle, and Western Heartlands respectfully by non-Baszku speakers. The accent and dialect came to be centuries ago during the Baszku attempted conquests of cities along the Akus Sea.

The accent is most notable for its trilled rhotic sound, /r/, as opposed to the typical tapped rhotic sound of Standard Dafaya, which is the /ɾ/ sound. Any word beginning with an  or is surrounded by vowel sounds will be pronounced with this /r/ sound, other instances of  are pronounced with the /ɾ/ sound.

The conjugation for verbs is also slightly difference, as verbs in the preterite (past-tense), will be given the prefix "-n" or "-na", as opposed to the standard "-m" or "-ma". Suffixes to make adjectives into comparable statements is also changed, with the suffix "-etebe" or "-tebe" being altered into "-ede" or "-de", this means that a phrase like like "A-Kaqetebe tara miyacu", meaning "The fastest girl ran", would be rendered or spoken as "A-Kaqede tara niyacu."

There are also various vocabulary differences, borrowing numerous words from Sentari and Vukhmir languages.

Other dialects

 * Hatularya was spoken in the historic region of Hatular, is also sometimes called Cirionian. This rare dialect was mostly formed by Baszku traveler's who had made their way North of the Baszku homelands. It had notable influence from native languages in the North of the continent.
 * Caquzirya, or Karkarosian, was spoken on the historic island of Caquzir, today part of Karkaros. It has notable influence from many foreign languages as the area was frequented by sailors, but today is near extinct.
 * Baqigatriya was a dialect spoken across the regions of Alutar, Baqigatri, and Yedulinya, across the entire peninsula in ancient times. It is believed to be extinct today. The region where the dialect was spoken was colonized and comprised of Yummuralia, Faerico, Maraski, Antebel, and others.