Caseyan

Some Caseyan writing

The Caseyan Language (Caseyan: Кăзèйски езыкэнзy, [k​ɐˈz​ɛjski j​ɛzɨ​​k​ənzu], English transcription: Kazeysky yezykenzu, scientific transliteration: Kăzèjski jezyk​ənzu) is a constructed language spoken in eastern Antarctica — most notably Casey where it was also first observed in. It is one of the first known indigenous Antarctican languages and has official status in Casey. It's a mostly religious and poetic language. The language's vocabulary is largely derived from a plethora of languages such as Russian, Icelandic, German, Toki Pona, Ukrainian and Italian. It is written in the Caseyan alphabet.

Alphabet

Caseyan Alphabet
А а	Ă ă	Б б	Ц ц	Д д	Ð ð	Е е	È è
Э э	Ф ф	Г г	Х х	И и	Й й	К к	Λ λ
М м	Н н	О о	Ō ō	Ö ö	П п	Р р	С с
Ç ç	З з	Т т	Y y	Ÿ ÿ	В в	Ы ы	Ш ш

Caseyan is written in Caseyan alphabet (csyn. аλфавитэнзy кăзèйски alfavít​ənzu kăzèjski), a derivative from the Cyrillic, Latin and Greek scripts.
Since the last spelling reform in March 2022, the Caseyan alphabet consists of 32 letters, where 12 represent vowels — а, ă, е, è, э, и, о, ō, ö, y, ÿ, ы — and the remaining 20 represent consonants.

Phonology

Overview

Grapheme	IPA	Pronounciation in English
А а	[a]	Like the "a" in bath when you sound posh.
Ă ă	[​ɐ]	Approximately like the "u" in nut (received pronounciation).
Б б	[b]	Like the "b" in bottle.
Ц ц	[t͡s]	Like the "ts" in cats.
Д д	[d], [ɖ]	First variant: Like the "d" in dad; second variant: No English equivalent
Ð ð	[ð]	Like the "th" in that.
Е е	[e]	Approximately like the "é" in café.
È è	[ε]	Like the "e" in bed.
Э э	[​ə]	Like the "a" in about.
Ф ф	[f]	Like the "f" in friggin.
Г г	[g]	Like the "g" in get.
Х х	[x]	Like the "ch" in Scottish Loch.
И и	[i]	Like the "ea" in heat.
Й й	[j]	Like the "y" in yankee.
Λ λ	[l]	Like the "l" in letter (received pronounciation).
М м	[m]	Like the "m" in mother.
Н н	[n]	Like the "n" in no.
О о	[ɔ]	Approximately like the word awe.
Ō ō	[o]	Approximately like the "o" in or (received pronounciation).
Ö ö	[ø], [œ]	Like an exaggerated "ea" in British heard.
П п	[pʰ]	Like the "p" in people.
Р р	[r]	The "rolled"/trilled "r".
С с	[s]	Like the "sc" in scissors.
Ç ç	[θ]	Like the "th" in thing.
З з	[z]	Like the "z" in hazy.
Т т	[tʰ], [​ʈ]	First variant: Like the "t" in time; second variant: No English equivalent.
Y y	[u]	Approximately like the "u" in rude.
Ÿ ÿ	[y]	No English equivalent — like the "ü" in German Güte.
В в	[v]	Like the "v" in vase.
Ы ы	[ɨ​]	No English equivalent — somewhat like the "ÿ" from previously.
Ш ш	[​ʃ]	Like the "sh" in shade.

Example Texts

Example Text 1

Caseyan:	IPA:	Translation:
Мистер Тшèков тōрте! - Скèнэнзy поλностевйе, Кăпитан. Никтоказy есÿтно резyλткаогōга. Yрōвèнэнзy обышλи есÿтно радиациэногōрy. Ăтмосфèрэнзy ă тèрèэнзy λибэзă интерyпкаогōга. Никтоказy синказy бÿргэногōрy ō фортэногōрy, которэногōрy бyдÿтйе шè èλэнио нèкарÿтйе.	Mist​ɛr t͡ʃ​ɛkɔv tɔrt​ɛ Sk​ɛn​ənzu pɔlnɔstj​ɛvj​ɛ k​ɐpitan. Niktɔkazu esytnɔ rezultkaɔgora Uroːv​ɛn​ənzu ɔbɨ​​ʃli esytnɔ radjat͡si​ənɔgoru ​​ɐtmɔsf​ɛr​ənzu ɐ t​ɛr​​ɛnzu lib​əz​ɐ interupkaɔgora Niktɔkazu sinkazu byrg​ənɔgoru o fort​ənɔgoru kɔtɔr​ənɔgoru budytj​ɛ ​ʃ​ɛ ​ɛl​ənjɔ n​ɛkarütj​ɛ	Mister Chekov, report! - Complete scan, Captain. There are no results. Level of radiation is normal. Atmosphere and terrain free of interruptions. No signs of a settlement or a force, that could have eliminated it.
(Дшèрōм Биксбы, вèдиăкλyп: Стар Трèк СО (1968ÿг г.) С3Ф7) (Jerome Bixby, wediaklup: Star Trek TOS (1968) S3E7)

Example Text 2

Caseyan:	IPA:	Translation:
Агаэнзy есÿтно ираэнио дематэногōрy пекинкаогōга. Тyри энмазy модÿλи работÿтно менyнyма фитÿкаио, мид сапимонказy кениевно нōс йазyогōба. Коноказy вλифÿтно шèэнио, йаэнзy дешиyрÿтно нихагэнио иōтэогōрy ерсигэногōба.	Aga​ənzu esytnɔ ira̯​ənjɔ demat​ənɔgoru pekinkaɔgoga turi ​ənmazu mɔdyli rabɔtytnɔ menunuma fitükajɔ mit sapimɔnkazu keniʔevnɔ nos jazuɔgoba kɔnɔkazu vlifytnɔ ​ʃεnjɔ ja​​ənzu de​ʃjurytnɔ nixag​ənjɔ jot​ənɔgoru erig​ənɔgoba	Agriculture is the art of losing money, when you work four hundred hours a month so that people can be fed. They think, that I want their death by poison.
(Шпицхакè: Ираэнзy дематэногōрy пекинкаогōга (2022ÿг г.) вèрсказy 1–5) (Spitzhacke: Ira​ənzu demat​ənogōru pekinkaogōga (2022) verses 1–5)

Vowels

Vowels	front		central		back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	и /i/	ÿ /y/	ы /ɨ​/			y /u/
Near-close
Close-mid	е /e/	ö /ø/				ō /o/
Mid			э /​ə/
Open-mid	è /ε/	ö /œ/				о /ɔ/
Near-open			ă /​ɐ/
Open	а /a/

Diphthongs

In Caseyan, there are multiple diphthongs involving <и> and a following "second" vowel. In these diphthongs the /i/ from <и> becomes a /j/; this can be done with any vowel except /ɨ​/. Some other diphthongs can include <а> or <ă> and <э> (schwa), in which case the first vowel gets shortened (e.g. аэ: [a​ə] → [a̯​ə]). This is not allowed transsyllabically, should this encounter happen between two syllables, a glottal stop [ʔ] is inserted, c.f. нароçăэнзy [na​.ˈrɔː​​.ˌθ​ɐ​.ʔ​ən​.zu] (the people). If /​ɐ/ and /​ə/ are next to each other, the sound gets reduced to /​ə/.

Diphthong			Example
Grapheme	Phonemically	Phonetically	IPA	Orthography	Translation
аэ	[a​ə]	[a̯​ə]	[rada̯​ənənzu]	радаэнэнзy	radar
ăэ	[​ɐ​ə]	[​ə]	[​ɛpizɔd​ənzu]	èпизодăэнзy	episode
èэ	[​εə]	[​ε]	[​​ʃεnzu]	шèэнзy	that (conjunction)
иэ	[i​ə]	[j​ə]	[j​əns​az​ɐ]	иэнсазă	valuable
оэ	[ɔ​ə]	[w​ə]	[gw​əd​ənzu]	гоэдэнзy
ÿэ	[y​ə]	[ʏə]	[kreaʏ​əli]	креаÿэλи	artificial
иа	[ia]	[ja]	[f​ɛd​ɛrat͡sjaʔ​ənzu]	фèдèрациаэнзy	federation
work in progress

Consonants

Consonants	Bilabial		Labiodental		Dental		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Retroflex		Palatal		Velar		Glottal
	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd	vcl	vcd
Plosive	п /p/	б /b/					т /t/	д /d/			т /ʈ/	д /ɖ/			к /k/	г /g/	ʔ
Nasal		м /m/		м /ɱ/				н /n/
Trill								р /r/
Tap/Flap								р /ɾ/
Fricative			ф /f/	в /v/	ç /θ/	ð /ð/	с /s/	з /z/	ш /​ʃ/						х /x/
Approximant														й /j/
Lateral Approximant								λ /l/

Grammar

The Caseyan grammar is inspired by slavic languages and therefore highly inflecting. In inflecting languages the appearance of a word is changed according to grammatical categories by the means of the addition of affixes or the changing of the word stem. Caseyan only utilizes the former but does this intensively. That is why word endings are usually made up of two or more parts. Caseyan de facto lacks grammatical gender, as every inanimate object and non-human lifeform is male by default. The grammatical gender only changes with humans and named animals/pets according to the biological gender (sexus). If a person's sexus is unknown, they are considered neuter.

In Caseyan nouns, adflecatives/adjectives and verbs are almost always derived from a part of speech, that is unique to Caseyan: the Inflecative. An Inflecative usually has at least three meanings that can be expressed by inflecting the Inflecative accordingly, i.e. adding the nominal/verbal/adjectival ending to the Inflecative. For example: дōм (house, to live in sth., inhabited) → дōмэнзy (the house); йа дōмÿтно (I live); дōмλи/дōмзă (inhabited).

Declination

Nouns, adjectives and pronouns are declined to the corresponding case, number and level of comparison (if needed). Caseyan has two numbers: Singular and Plural, which are represented by the -эн- and -ка- infix respectively. Comparing adjectives has three forms: the positive with no dedicated ending, the comparative (ending -кио) and the superlative (ending -çö) in ascending order. Caseyan has eight cases, which are represented differently across different parts of speech:

Case	Nouns / Pronouns	Adjectives	Question
Nominative	–зy	–зă	Who?
Accusative	–ио	–их	Whom?
Locative	–огōрт	–ōера	Preposition + whom? (e.g. under whom?/on whom?) or Where?
Orginative	–огōиаλ	–ōеаиа	From where?
Directative	–oгōиоλ	–ōеōиō	To where? / Whereto? / Whither?
Instrumentative	–огōба	–ōебö	By/with/through what?
Possessive	–огōрy	–ōерy	Whose?
Totalitive	–огōга	–ōега	On/of what?

Conjugation

Caseyan verbs are conjugated according to the genus verbi (active/passive) and the tense (tempus). Unlike many other languages, Caseyan only distinguishes between three tenses: Present tense (Прèсèнс), Past tense (Прèтèритyм) and Future tense (Фyтyр). Conjugation into a corresponding person does not take place, instead another word (e.g. a pronoun) is added in front of the verb. To form the imperative, -те is added to the inflecative in active and -евте in passive.

Proper names

Proper are roughly declined like nouns, except that they dont have any singular or nominative ending. In Nominative Singular the word stays the same and in every Singular form only the case ending is added.

Syntax

Casey is highly inflecting, so every declined/conjucated form of a word is usually unique and matches with only one grammatical category. Because of this, the word order in sentences is not as important as in English. While the standard word order is Subject-Verb-Object, this order is often changed for emphasis, lyrical rhythm or ease of rhyme-finding. This only really works without difficulties in short sentences though, as certain multi-clause sentences require a specific word order. When saying "Bernhard loves Jessica" in English, the meaning of the sentence can be changed by simply shuffling around the words, so "Jessica loves Bernhard" would change the sentence's semantics drastically, because the proper names Bernhard and Jessica don't have any features that indicate whether they are subject or object, although this could technically be resolved by using stress in spoken language. All of this does not apply to Caseyan. In the sentence "Бèрнхард λиyбÿтно Дшèсикăио" Bèrnkhard liubütno Džèsikaio ("Bernhard loves Jessica") the ending –ио indicates that Дшèсикă is the object in this sentence. This allows the speaker to change the word order to e.g. "Дшèсикăио λиyбÿтно Бèрнхард" Džèsikaio liubütno Bèrnkhard ("Jessica loves Bernhard"). This easily works in simple sentences like this, however in longer sentences the speaker might be somewhat limited, for it must be clear what noun is responsible for what verb. The only way to figure this out is intuition.