The Language of Sarvara

Last updated Nov 3, 2024

# Overview

Sarvaran was a Morellic language spoken in the Sarvaran civilisation during the Minikin bronze-age. It was polysynthetic, head-final, and head-marking, with an SOV word order.

# Chronology

Sarvaran descended from Proto-Morellic, which was spoken by the Early Morellic nomads in the southern half of Tseireph during the Early Morellic Period.

Through Old Sarvaran and Middle Sarvaran, it developed into its Classical form, which was spoken during the Sarvaran Golden Age. It was during this time that the majority of the language’s poetic works, songs, and prose were composed.

Eventually, it developed into Vulgar Sarvaran, its more colloquial register. And after the Sarvaran Collapse, it developed during the Morellic Dark Ages into Stonechild Imperial. This language was spoken in the Empire of the Petrified Child, while Classical Sarvaran was kept as a liturgical, artistic language, by the time of the Morellic Renaissance Period.

# See Also:

[Proto-Morellic]
[Stonechild Imperial]
[Modern Morellic]

# Examples

# Phonology

# Consonants

Consonants		Labial	Labiodental	Dental	Coronal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular
Nasals	Plain	m			n	ɲ <ny>	ŋ <ng>
Plosives	Plain	p		t̪ <t>		t͡ʃ <tc>	[k] <k>	q
	Voiced	b		d̪ <d>		d͡ʒ <dj>	g
Fricatives	Plain	[ɸ] <ph>	f	[θ] <th>	s	ʃ <c>		χ <qh>
	Voiced	[β] <bh>	v	ð <dh>		ʒ <j>	[ɣ] <gh>
Sonorants	Plain	w			r	j <y>
	Devoiced				[r̥] <rh>
Laterals	Approximant				l	ʎ <ll>
	Fricative				[ɬ] <lh>
There are many allophonic rules in Sarvaran, owing to the language’s historical forms and sound changes. One such rule is that voiced obstruents devoice when not proceeded by a voiced phone, exept when at the beginning of a word. Another is that oral occlusives and alveolar liquids lenite in coda position, like thus:

Plain	Lenited
p	ɸ <ph>
b	β <bh>
t̪	θ <th>
d̪	ð <dh>
t͡ʃ	ʃ <c>
d͡ʒ	ʒ <j>
q	χ <qh>
g	ɣ <gh>
r	r̥ <rh>
l	ɬ <lh>

# Vowels

Sarvaran features 7 basic vowels. This is essentially a 5 vowel system, with rounded /y/ and unrounded /ɯ/, as seen in the following (simplified) graph of Sarvaran vowels:

Vowels		Front	Back
High	Unrounded	i	ɯ
	Rounded	y	u
Mid		e	o
Low		a	[ɑ]*
* Allophone of /a/ before uvulars and back vowels

More precisely, Sarvaran can be said to contain 52 vowel phonemes, due to the many ways in which the vowels evolved over time, including the development of pitch accent, nasalisation, and diphthongisation.

Vowels		Front	Back	Front	Back
Plain		Stressed		Unstressed
High	Unrounded	í	ɯ́ <i̋>	ɪ <i>	ə <ï>
	Rounded	ý <ű>	ú	ʏ <ü>	ʊ <u>
Mid		é	ó	e <e>	o <o>
Low		á	[ɑ́] <á>	ɐ <a>	[ɑ] <a>*
Nasalised
High	Unrounded	ĩ́ <į́>	ɯ̃́ <į̋>	ɪ̃ <į>	ə̃ <į̈>
	Rounded	ỹ́ <ų̋>	ṹ <ų́>	ʏ̃ <ų̈>	ʊ̃ <ų>
Mid		ẽ́ <ę́>	ṍ <ǫ́>	ẽ <ę>	õ <ǫ>
Low		ã́ <ą́>		ɐ̃ <ą>

Diphthongs	Front		Back		Front		Back
	Stressed				Unstressed
Plain	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Rounded	Unrounded	Rounded
Mid	éi̯ <éi>			óu̯ <óu>	ei̯ <ei>			ou̯ <ou>
Low	ái̯ <ái>	áy̯ <áü>	ɑ́ɯ̯ <áï>	ɑ́u̯ <áu>	ɐi̯ <ai>	ɐy̯ <aü>	ɑɯ̯ <aï>	ɑu̯ <au>
Nasalised
Mid	ẽ́ĩ̯ <éį>			ṍũ̯ <óų>	ẽĩ̯ <eį>			õũ̯ <oų>
Low	ã́ĩ̯ <áį>	ã́ỹ̯ <áų̈>	ɑ̃́ɯ̯̃ <áį̈>	ɑ̃́ũ̯ <áų>	ɐ̃ĩ̯ <aį>	ɐ̃ỹ̯ <aų̈>	ɑ̃ɯ̯̃ <aį̈>	ɑ̃ũ̯ <aų>

# Phonotactics

The syllable structure of Sarvaran is (s)C(S)V(V/S)(C), and most roots are monosyllabic or disyllabic.

# Grammar

Sarvaran grammar is head-final, head-marking, polysynthetic, featuring a unique, gender-like pronoun system, and incorporation of the direct object. Sarvaran also lacks the definite article.

# Pronouns

In sarvaran, pronouns almost never appear alone, they are always accompanied by a head, to which they depend or modify. They are attached onto adpositions, verbs, and possessed nouns.

Pronouns	Singular	Plural	No Number
`1`	san- / są-	ey(a)-
`2`	n(i)-	ul-
`3` / `3.OTH`			m(u)-
`3.ANML`			ell(a)-
`3.PLNT`			yon- / yǫ-
`3.DEI`			l(i)-
Pronouns feature 4 gender-like versions of the 3rd person pronoun, which lack number, unlike the 1st and 2nd person pronouns. The pronoun `3` (3rd person other) is mostly used for people and abstract concepts, but refers to anything within the 3rd person. The pronoun `3.ANML` refers to animals and animate natural processes, such as rivers or weather. The pronoun `3.PLNT` refers to plants and inanimate objects, such as buildings or geological formations. The pronoun `3.DEI` refers to deities and celestial beings, such as watchstones, the Angels, and the Judges.

# Possession

Possessive phrases in Sarvaran are achieved by attaching the pronominal prefix of the possessor onto the possessed noun and optionally including the possessor noun before the possessed.

Heads do not include the pronominal agreement affix in the 3rd person singular other form. Only including it in situations where there is either no nominal subject, or to classify the dependent as referring to a concept previously mentioned. For example:

Example san-isyar-uqella-qa 1-companion-animal-PAU ‘Some of my pets’

Example n-aluq-ith widrilh qelh mu-san-olwanay-u. 2-dream-PL terrify_STV and 3-1-upset-PST ‘Your dreams are terrifying and they scare me.’

Example abiyǫ yon-owir-ith tree 3.PLNT-leaf-PL ‘A tree’s leaves’

# Adpositions

Similarly to genitive phrases, adpositional phases also feature the adposition succeeding the noun they modify, and agreeing with the noun’s gender with a pronominal prefix.

Example dwarq-ith yǫ-sï branch-PL 3.PLNT-on ‘On the branches’

Example ni-qelh 2-with ‘With you’

# Verbs

Verbs are the most morphologically dense aspect of Sarvaran, featuring polypersonal agreement, noun incorporation, many tenses, aspects, and moods, and the inclusion of adverbial morphemes.

Subject Pronoun	Direct Object Pronoun / Incorporated Noun Stem	Indirect Object Pronoun	Negative Particle	Adverb Stem	Verb Stem	Tense	Aspect	Mood

Example san-owir-offurü 1.SG-leaf-read ‘I am reading a book.’

Example ul-sarqïtwarą-yürą-wa qassudh eya-mu-feyų-wa-s sï 2.PL-Sarqitwara-eat-PST day 1.PL-3-meet-PST-PFV on ‘You all were eating Sarqitwaras on the day we met.’

Example mu-per-sawag-mos áuqï m-iyaqhru-mos-eyę 3-NEG-survive-FUT.PRES if 3-fall-FUT.PRES-COND ‘They aren’t going to survive if they fall.’

🪨 If Only You Set Me Free