Imperial Kwyijaian (Kwyijaikèpad Yesared)

General Information
Imperial Kwyijaian (Kwyijaikèpad Yesared) is a language created by Aekari Tennou for his fictional world. It is the official administrative language of the Kwyijaian Empire. Imperial Kwyijaian differs from Common Kwyijaian in the following ways: 1) purity of the language has been artifically maintained by coining words for concepts with were introducto the Kwyijaian Empire by outside influences, and 2) all sounds are fully pronounced and are not reduced as they are in Common Kwyijaian.

The story in which this language is used is set in the year 5193 KESC (Kwyijaian Empire Standardized Calendar) or 4231 DSC (Deesawton Standardized Calendar).

Current Musings
Kwyijaian is written in its own native script, which is an abugida.

Orthography
The native script, an abugida, is used to write the Kwyijaian language at almost all levels of communication: official, academic, journalistic, and personal. However, when computer and electronic communication technology was introduced to the Kwyijaian Empire from the Republic of Deesawton in the year 962 KESC, lacking a method to properly communicate electronically using the Kwyijaian script, a Latin-based alphabet and script was formulated by the Kwyijaian government in order to ensure quality control and clarity of transmission in electronic correspondence. When a Kwyijaian input method was developed and made public in 966 KESC, the government attempted to ban the Latin-based script, but failed, as it had become immensely popular due to its ease of use. The government attempted to ban the script three more times, the most recent being in 5193 KESC due to the Kwyijaian Empire's declaration of war on Deesawton, the originator of the Latin-based alphabet, in response to Deesawton's own banning of the usage of Kwyijaian script within its borders. All three attempts failed, and as a compromise, the government legislated that the Latin-based script be used only in unofficial personal or non-physical electronic correspondence ; in all physical forms of communication, official or unofficial, the native script was to be used.

Merekad Yesared
Meaning "Imperial Script," this is the native script.

Merekad Disootoned
Meaning "Deesawtonian Script," this is the Latin-based script. It consists of 34 letters, of which 8 are digraphs, and 1 is a trigraph. The alphabet is presented below, in alphabetical order. Long vowels are written by doubling the vowel's letter. A doubled vowel is not considered another letter, and words that begin with a long vowel are listed under that vowel's short version in dictionaries and word lists. This article is written using Merekad Disootoned.

Consonants
Romanized orthography is indicated to the left of the IPA symbol only for those sounds whose orthographic representation does not match the IPA symbol.

Fun Romanized Orthography Stuff
C = any consonant

V = any vowel

yy = /j øˑ/

yC = /j əC/

yV = /jV/

Word Order
Kwyijaian is a neutrally Verb-Subject-Object word order language. Parts of sentences may be emphasized by inserting the word "zje" before the sentence unit which is to be emphasized, while retaining the same word order, as shown in example 1 below. It is also possible to achieve emphasis by reording the sentence so that the emphasized unit begins in the second word slot of the sentence, as shown in example 2 below. In this case, if the element to be emphasized neutrally occupies the second word of the sentence, the word "zje" must be added.

Example 1:

Neutral Sentence: Cuyevem kyyrmiu iritteraj kyyrnsy. = The man offers all things to the woman.

Subject emphasis: Cuyevem zje kyyrmiu iritteraj kyyrnsy. = The man (as opposed to someone else) offers all things to the woman.

Verb emphasis: Zje cuyevem kyyrmiu iritteraj kyyrnsy. = The man offers (as opposed to another action) all things to the woman.

Object emphasis: Cuyevem kyyrmiu zje iritteraj kyyrnsy. = The man offers all things (as opposed to some other thing) to the woman.

Indirect object emphasis: Cuyevem kyyrmiu iritteraj zje kyyrnsy. = The man offers all things to the woman (as opposed to someone else).

Example 2:

Neutral Sentence: Cuyevem kyyrmiu iritteraj kyyrnsy. = The man offers all things to the woman.

Subject emphasis: Cuyevem zje kyyrmiu irtteraj kyyrnsy. = The man (as opposed to someone else) offers all things to the woman.

Verb emphasis: Kyyrmiu cuyevem iritteraj kyyrnsy. = The man offers (as opposed to another action) all things to the woman.

Object emphasis: Cuyevem iritteraj kyyrmiu kyyrnsy. = The man offers all things (as opposed to some other thing) to the woman.

Indirect object emphasis: Cuyevem kyyrnsy kyyrmiu iritteraj. = The man offers all things to the woman (as opposed to someone else).

Morphosyntactic Alignment
Kwyijaian is a tripartite, or ergative-accusative, language. This means that the subject of an intransitive verb, the subject of a transitive verb, and the object of a transitive verb all have different forms, called the absolutive case, ergative case, and accusative case respectively. This is demonstrated below using the word "tariut" = father.

1. Kèpevem tariut. = The father speaks. (tariut in absolutive case)

2. Wyirevem tariu aikaj. = The father eats aikawa. (tariut in ergative case [tariu])

3. Damavem tabiu tarij. = The cat hits the father. (tariut in accusative case [tarij])

Nouns
There are ten noun classes in Imperial Kwyijaian, which are detailed below. Declension tables for each noun class are also given. Plurality is not marked within the noun. Instead, it is marked with a non-bound plural marker which comes before the noun. The non-bound plural marker is different for every noun class. It does not decline. As such, the plural will only be demonstrated in the first noun class.

1. Masculine - This class consists of living things which are visually identifiable as biologically male. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-iut." The plural marker is "jyt." Examples: Wanjiut (the head god of the Kwyijaian pantheon), kyyrmiut (man), tariut (father).

2. Feminine - This class consists of living things which are visually identifiable as biologically female. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-syt." The plural marker is "ket." Examples: Yesaatsyt (empress), kyyrnsyt (woman), tarsyt (mother).

3. Animate Small - This class consists of living things or non-living things which can be made to move or operate (machinery, etc.) which are small in size. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-syt." Although the nominative case ending is shared with the Feminine class, the declension paradigm is different. The plural marker is "tit." Examples: hamsyt (beetle), jootsyt (rabbit), wyenisyt (electric fan).

4. Animate Large and Medium - This class consists of living things or non-living things which can be made to move or operate (machinery, etc.) which are large or medium in size. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-aan." The plural marker is "yon." Examples: tsemaan (elephant), eenyaan (human), korosjjimkaan (crane [machine]).

5. Inanimate Small - This class consists of non-living things which cannot in general be made to move or operate which are small in size. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-kus" when the root ends in a consonant, or "-ks" when the root ends in a vowel. The plural marker is "pai." Examples: ajjurkus (pencil), limaks (bullet), jetsoks (cup).

6. Inanimate Large and Medium - This class consists of non-living things which cannot in general be made to move or operate which are large or medium in size. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-kus" when the root ends in a consonant, or "-ks" when the root ends in a vowel. Although the nominative case ending is shared with the Inanimate Small class, the declension paradigm is different. The plural marker is "bai." Examples: appyyks (skyscraper), lososkus (wardrobe), tamajjèks (projector screen).

7. Food and Drink - This class consists of things which are edible or drinkable. Nouns in this class possess one of the following nominative endings: "-awa" (after consonants), "-wa" (after vowels), or "-kyol." The plural marker is "sjje." "Examples: kahewa (water), matawa (matawa fruit), aikawa (chicken meat), anyekyol (anyekyol - national delicacy of Kwyijai made from matawa, beef, various spices, peppers, and rice).

8. Abstract or Intangible - This class consists mostly of things which are abstract or intangible, such as ideas, thoughts, etc. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-ad". The plural marker is "koi." Examples: kèpad (language), akèsad (prayer), erad (idea), kolymad (religion).

9. People/Things related to People/Parts of Animatable Objects - This class consists mostly of things which are related to animate or animatable objects, such as body parts, machinery parts, etc. Nouns in this class possess the nominative ending "-hau." The plural marker is "qet." Examples: ebahau (head), tèskèhau (screw), ylihau (tail).

10. Miscellaneous - This class consists mostly of, but is not restricted to, things which do not fit in the categories above. Nouns in this class do not decline and therefore do not have an explicit nominative case ending. The plural marker is "ofte." Examples: irurma (country), jirge (greatness), yesarja (empire), yosers (prophet), airusya (military), qodtya (darkness).

Adjectives
There are five classes of adjectives in Kwyijaian which are divided in a way similar to noun classes. They are as detailed below. These modify nouns based on the noun's attributes and have declension paradigms which differ from noun paradigms. Adjectives come after the noun they modify. Like nouns, they do not have a plural form. They also do not have an inherent marker, as the plural marker comes from the noun.

1. Animate Human - This adjective class modifies human nouns that belong to noun classes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9. Adjectives in this class end with the suffix "-idt" if the noun is actual feminine, and "-oj" in all other cases. Examples: Wanjiut irilsikhoj (almighty Wanjiut), tarsyt jiridt (great mother), eenyaan iritteroj (common human), ebehau bacesoj (large head).

2. Animate Non-Human - This adjective class modifies living non-human nouns that belong to noun classes 1, 2, 3, 4, and 9. Adjectives in this class end with the suffixes "-ra" (after a vowel) or "-ura" (after a consonant). Examples: tabiut atsurura (tall male cat), tabsyt atsurura (tall female cat), jootsyt iksjjara (quick rabbit), tsemaan kwyalura (young elephant), ylihau bamura (long tail).

3. Inanimate-Animatable - This adjective class modifies non-living nouns that can be made to move or operate that belong to noun classes 3 and 4. Adjectives in this class end with the suffix "-jja." Examples: wyenisyt markrèjja (loud electric fan), koroshimkaan bacesèjja (large electric crane).

4. Inanimate-Unanimatable - This adjective class modifies non-living nouns that cannot be made to move or operate that belong to noun classes 5, 6, and 7. Adjectives in this class end with the suffix "-nya." Examples: ajjurkus tamanya (broken pencil), appyyks atsurènya (tall skyscraper), aikawa fenya (delicious chicken meat).

5. Abstract - This adjective class modifies nouns that belong to noun classes 8 and 10. Adjectives in this class end in with the suffix "-ed" (after consonants) or "-ved" (after vowels). Examples: kèpad yesared (imperial language), yosers aditived (wise prophet).