Utaço Síenu

Phonology

Phonetic Details

• Sienu stress is phonemic. /i/ and /u/ elongate when and only when stressed.
• When unstressed and between two voiceless consonants, /i/ is realized as /ɪ/.
• When unstressed and between two voiceless consonants, /u/ is realized as /ʏ/.
• Following any palatal or palatalized consonant, both /t/ and /k/ are realized as /c/.
• At the end of words after stressed vowels, /x/ follows. This may be realized as /h/ depending on the speaker’s dialect.
• Coda /s/ is palatalized and coda /l/ is realized as /h/.
• Sienu syllables can be described as following a (C)V(N/P/S) pattern. C may be for any consonant save /ɾ̥/, N may be any nasal consonant, P may be any plosive, and S may be any sibilant, /l/, /ɥᵝ/ or /ɾ̥/.

Grammar

Basic Information

Sienu is a rather synthetic language. It is usually head-initial, and commonly uses affixes to change words’ meanings and grammatical functions.

Sienu is Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) in word order, usually. Sienu uses SVO word order to construction questions and OVS word order in some cases where one noun is an agent in multiple independent clauses simultaneously.

Both postpositions and adjectives follow nouns. Any noun may be used as an adjective and any adjective may be used as a noun, the distinction is made only by word order.

Pronouns

In the above table's Genitive forms section, Informal refers to the Yayéko and Utasteluas registers; Formal refers to the Useúr and Liwuas registers.

Formality

Sienu ergative pronouns decline for gender, number, and four levels of formality. The four levels of formality, from least to most formal, are Yayéko, Utasteluas, Useúr, and Liwuas. The level of formality used for each pronoun depends on specific situation as well as relative social status.

Yayéko first-person pronouns are usually used in an aggressive manner towards the listener. They may also be used by someone with very low status towards someone with very high status to show reverence and modesty, but this is a fine line to walk— that between extreme modesty and mockery. They may also be used by someone with very high status towards someone of very low status in a non-conversational setting— say, in a court where the accused may not speak or in a census.

Utasteluas first-person pronouns are generally used in a familiar manner between people of equal or near-equal status in informal settings. Utasteluas is also the standard formality of first-person pronouns which a lower-status person is expected to use with a higher-status person. They must also be used in conversations between non-familiar lower-status people of equal status when in the presence of a higher-class person.

Useúr is the standard register for normal communication. Higher-class people of the same status typically use Useúr first-person pronouns to talk to each other. Lower-class people of equal status are expected to use Useúr first-person pronouns with each other if they are not familiar and no one with higher status is nearby. When the status of the person you’re talking to is unknown, this is the safest formal register to use. Useúr is the standard formality of first-person pronouns which a higher-status person must use with a lower status person.

Liwuas is rarely used. Liwuas first-person pronouns are used by royalty and divine people in formal situations. A high-status person may very easily and effectively insult another high-status person by using Liwuas first-person pronouns with them. This insult is less effective when used against lower-class people. Lower-class people can not effectively insult using Liwuas first-person pronouns, as their use would be interpreted as humorous more than anything else.

Nouns

Cases

Nouns have five cases, which they decline for formed based on gender with suffixes. These cases are the ergative, the genitive, the dative, the comitative, and the abessive. The ergative case is not marked for singular nouns.

Possession is usually expressed by the addition of a possessive suffix onto the possessor, which follows the possessee. In cases where the possessor is itself possessed, possession past the first-level possessor is marked by the insertion of a possessive pronoun between the possessor and the possessee.

To form the diminutive of a noun, append the "-çe" suffix. To make a noun vocative, follow it with the "sa" particle.

Gender

Nouns have one of three genders. Sienu has Common, Masculine and Feminine gender. The vast majority of nouns are either masculine or feminine. The common gender is typically reserved for the gerund forms of verbs, nouns primarily used as adjectives and non-binary given names.

Common nouns may follow one of two declensions, masculine nouns may follow one of three declensions and feminine nouns may follow one of four declensions. A noun's declension class and gender may be inferred from its ending.

Verbs

Conjugation

Sienu verbs conjugate for person, tense, aspect and most moods. Additionally, all verbs fall into one of three classes, each fit with its own expansive family of conjugations. These classes are simply known as the first, second and third classes.

To negate a verb:

• - If the verb begins with a consonant
• append the "Ça-" prefix.
• - If the verb begins with "a"
• append the "As-" prefix.
• - Otherwise
• append the "Ak-" prefix.

Particles

To make a verb emphatic, follow it with the "ya" particle. To form a command, conjugate the verb for the 2P.PRS and follow it with the vocative particle, "sa."

Back to top