Bjašk

A teaser of what’s to come: Bjašk translations!

Pwelost o li flotif.
buy-PRES 1s.NOM a pie-ACC
I buy a pie.

Pweglust ked jad flotif.
buy-PST.NEG 2p.NOM the-PL pie-ACC
You all didn’t buy the pies. 

super fun, right?

alright so basically

uh

i suck at doing this in blog format

i’m working in a doc file with a lexicon in a spreadsheet

and it’s much easier

so i’ll update this blog when i finish sections

Numbers

The cardinal number system in Bjašk is highly regular. The first ten digits are assigned as follows:

• zero — pla
• one — vju
• two — žwi
• three — spe
• four — fwa
• five — klo
• six — ško
• seven — blu
• eight — tje
• nine — gwi

From these ten words, one can follow a set list of rules to derive the numbers 10 through 99. Each two-digit number is formed by selecting the two-consonant cluster from the digit in the “tens” place, and the vowel and the first letter from the word of the digit in the “ones” place. Then these four letters are concatenated to form the Bjašk word for that two-digit number. For example, to form 73, one takes the “bl” from the word for 7 (blu), then the “e” and the “s” from the word for 3 (spe). This means the word for 73 is bles. There is only one additional rule: the clusters “wu” and “ji” simplify to “u” and “i,” respectively. (That is, 12 is viž and not *vjiž and 21 is žuv and not *žwuv.)

The word for 100 is plap. (Technically, following the rules outlined above, this would imply the number “00,” but the preceding one is taken to be implied.)

[form a method for extending beyond 199. 100-199 will be “plap a [number]” where “a” is the word for “and”]

Determiners

Containing the class of articles, these words are extremely important in Bjašk, as every noun (except for proper names) are introduced by one of the following determiners. In Bjašk, nouns carry case (nominative, genitive, or accusative), but they do not carry number. Instead, the determiners carry this distinction. The determiners are classified as Count, Mass, Interrogative, or Negative. In the following examples, the Bjašk word for “pie” — flot — will be used.

Count determiner — Indefinite article: This article introduces a noun the listener has not previously experienced, or one that is not particular to the listener. It is often translated into English as “a, some.” The basic Bjašk indefinite article is li. e.g. li flot — “a pie”

Count determiner — Definite article: This article introduces a noun which the listener should be able to identify because it has already been mentioned, is unique, or has an obvious meaning from the context. It is often translated into English as “the.” The basic Bjašk definite article is ja. e.g. ja flot — “the pie”

[To be continued. plurals, partitives, negatives, interrogatives, mass, etc. explanation of the lack of possessive determiners and others like them, etc.]

wow i haven’t updated this is forever. well i’m FINALLY back around to making time for my baby bjašk

hey so if you follow this blog, i’m gonna change a few things around

watch out for:

• o and u losing their unstressed equivalents (basically it’s easy to hold back vowels the same when unstressed. a is only keeping its because the schwa is hella useful sometimes)
• zl and žl no longer being onset clusters
• second person pronoun gaining clusivity
• noun phrases (the determiners are interesting!)
• VERBS (like basically a whole lot)
• basic sentence structure
• relativation and question forming

Personal Pronouns

[Person]p[singular,plural]: nominative, genitive, accusative

1ps: o, ot, op
1pp: od, odet, odip
1pp-incl: odwī, odwet, odwip
1pp-excl: odjī, odjet, odjip
2ps: ke, ket, kep
2pp: ked, kedet, kedip
2pp-excl: kedjī, kedjet, kedjip
3ps: bi, bit, bip
3pp: bid, bidet, bidip

The first person plural: Bjašk uses three different “we”s — inclusive, exclusive, and “unmarked” (i.e., it marks clusivity). Inclusive includes the listener (you and I) while exclusive does not (my friend and I [and not you]). It’s a perfectly polite way to grammatically inform someone whether or not they are included in a “we” without rudely stating so. The unmarked form (od, etc.) is only used informally for quick speech when inclusiveness is obvious (though the use of 1pp-incl or 1pp-excl in these cases wouldn’t seem awkward either) OR it is used when inclusiveness is strictly unknowable (and its usage in a formal setting would likely draw a reader’s attention to that fact). In formality, “we” is rarely used except in the case of “we as humans” in which case one would use 1pp-incl.

The second person singular: Bjašk makes no distinction between formal and informal pronouns. Either speaking to a friend or a teacher, ke is appropriate. If a speaker wishes to be polite, instead of a special pronoun, one might employ a title (Teacher, Sir or Madame, Father or Mother, etc.).

The second person plural: 2pp carries clusivity, much like 1pp. [FINISH LATER]

The third person series: Bjašk uses a variable-assignment method in the third person. The first i in each pronoun in the above example can be replaced with any other stressed vowel (e, a, o, or u, often in that order) to refer to a different subject. The third person carries no gender nor animacy. He, she, or it can be assigned to bi, be, ba, bo, or bu. In this way, Bjašk can keep up with five different third person subjects all while maintaining pronouns. Compare: Ron invited Bob to Jim’s party. -> ?* He invited him to his party. Ron invited Bob to Jim’s party. -> Bi [invited] bep [to] [party] bat.

Note the multiple similarities among these pronouns: ‘d’ often means ‘plural’. -(e)t denotes the genitive (recall that Bjaškets is the genitive of Bjašk) while -(i)p denotes the accusative (we will see that Bjaškipf is the accusative of Bjašk). The irregular pronouns to remember are 1pp-incl and 1pp-excl — in the nominative they take the -ī ending (the /i/ sound without the syllable stress). This ending is dropped to add the -et and -ip endings. Note that for the accusative the -ī is removed and -ip is added, a different ‘i’ (as unstressed and unmarked, it will be pronounced /ɪ/).

Bjašk is not a pro-drop language — verbs do not inflect for the full subject.

Bjašk Alphabet (Paaga Bjaškets)

Pp Bb Xx Ww Ii Ff Vv Ee Tt Dd Aa Ss Zz Ll Oo Šš Žž Jj Uu Kk Gg
pa ba xe we i if iv e ta da a is iz le o iš iž je u ka ga

This is “alphabetical” order for Bjašk. The alphabet is 21 letters (š and ž are definitely separate entities — notice their placement away from s and z). The Bjašk word for alphabet is paaga [ˈpɑːˌgə]. It comes from the first (pa), middle (a), and last (ga) letters of the alphabet. It used to be pronounced with a glottal stop [pɑʔəgə], but it was simply dropped over time and paʔa- became a sustained paa-. Bjaškets [ˈbjɑʃˌkɛts] is the genitive of Bjašk.

Orthographical Stress

Standard:

• Monosyllabic - stress…
• Disyllabic - stress first syllable…
• Polysyllabic - stress antepenultimate syllable…

…unless otherwise marked

Diacritics:
( ´ ) - acute accent on any vowel - stress this syllable instead and change pronunciation accordingly.
( ¯ ) - macron on a, i, or e - use “stressed” vowel sound, but the syllable isn’t stressed. The stressed syllable retains its stressed vowel sound.
( ` ) - grave accent on any vowel - don’t stress this monosyllabic word and use the unstressed vowel sound if applicable (often poetic, never required, and never used to differentiate between different words)

Doubled letters: Lengthen the sound but do not change stress. This is a significant hold, like the /n/ in English ‘pen knife’

Basic Orthography and Phonology

Basics:
Orthographical representation [phonological actualization], [unstressed counterpart] (alternative orthography)
a [ɑ], [ə]
b [b]
d [d̪]
e [e], [ɛ]
f [f]
g [g]
i [i], [ɪ]
j [j]
k [k]
l [l]
o [o]
p [p]
s [s]
š [ʃ] (sh)*
t [t̪]
u [u]
v [v]
w [w]
x [ʍ]
z [z]
ž [ʒ] (zh)*

Consonant clusters:
Onset-only: pw, pj, pl, bw, bj, bl, tw, tj, dw, dj, kw, kj, kl, gw, gj, gl, fw, fj, fl, vw, vj, vl, sw, sj, sl, zw, zj, šw, šj, šl, žw, žj
Coda-only: pf, ts
Either: sp, st, sk, šp, št, šk

*Only to be used if the ˇ is impossible to form in that situation (e.g. Never in writing, but often in URLs such as this blog’s).