Vozo

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...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
na ap i pê se bîdz na ˈnyellîth se mukh edz ki wiy
Pronunciation: /na ap i pɛ se bɪʣ na ˈɲeɫɪθ se mux eʣ ki wij/
Vozo word order: and stood he holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

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Vozo was the official language of the Old Actreine Empire. Citizens of the empire were not required to use Vozo as their primary language, however they were required to learn it. This was done to make trade, education, and other inter-regional pursuits easier.

Geographical Distribution

Vozo was used all over Old Actrein, as it was the official language of the empire. It was more frequently used among merchants who traveled across the empire, whereas merchants who didn't travel as much tended to use their native tongue.
Official messages from the ruling family were written entirely in Vozo, and if one was seeking audience with the ruling family they were also expected to speak in Vozo.

Phonology

Vozo uses 30 consonants and 8 vowels.
Consonants:

	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop	p b		t d			k g
Affricate			ʦ ʣ	ʤ
Fricative	f v	θ	s z	ɕ ʑ		x	h
Approximant			ɹ		j	w
Tap			ɾ
Trill			r
Lateral fricative			ɬ
Lateral approximant			ɫ l

Vowels:

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ
High-mid	e
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Near-low	æ
Low	a

Phonological rules (in order of application):

• e → æ / _P
• f → p / #_
• N → n / _#

Morphology

Derivational morphology

Noun → adjective = If ends with consonant: Suffix -ɛl
Else: Suffix -l
Adjective → noun = Suffix -a
Noun → verb = If ends with consonant: Suffix -ɔl
Else: Suffix -l
Verb → adjective = If ends with consonant: Suffix -ɛks
Else: Suffix -ks
Verb → noun = If ends with consonant: Suffix -ɔɪθ
Else: Suffix -θ Adjective → verb = Suffix -æ
Adjective → adverb = Suffix -e
One who Xs (e.g. paint → painter) = If ends with consonant: Suffix -ag
Else: Suffix -g
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with consonant: Suffix -ɛdnu
Else: Suffix -dnu
Diminutive = If ends with consonant: Suffix -eŋ
Else: Suffix -ŋ
Augmentative = If ends with consonant: Suffix -eɪ
Else: Suffix -s
Demonym = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ne
Else: Suffix -e
Quality = Suffix -ma

Syntax

Vozo's word order goes as Verb-Subject-Object. For instance, the English sentence "He handed her the book" would become "Handed the book her". Adjectives are placed after the noun they are referring to. If, for instance, you wished to describe the book in the example sentence as being old, it would become "Handed the book old her". Adpositions are positioned prepositionally.
Vozo's nouns have two classes: animate and inanimate. Animate nouns are things such as living creatures, breezes, flowing rivers, and other moving things. Interestingly enough, this also includes stars. It's believed this is because the first Actreines used the stars for navigation after being exiled and cut off from any forms of technology. Inanimate nouns are the things that do not fit as animate nouns, such as wagons or dishes. Curiously, the word for "human" is classed as inanimate, perhaps because by the time Vozo was properly formalized into a language, the last humans had died several years prior.

Nouns

Singular

	Animate	Inanimate
Definite	Suffix -ɛm ˈyizěn /ˈjizɛn/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɾ Else: Suffix -ɛɾ ˈyizěr̊ /ˈjizɛɾ/
Indefinite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ɛb ˈyizěb /ˈjizɛb/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -f Else: Suffix -af ˈyizaf /ˈjizaf/

Plural

	Animate	Inanimate
Definite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -em ˈyizān /ˈjizæn/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -g Else: Suffix -ɪg ˈyizǐg /ˈjizɪg/
Indefinite	Suffix -ɛw ˈyizěw /ˈjizɛw/	If ends with vowel: Suffix -vɔ Else: Suffix -uvɔ yiˈzuvo /jiˈzuvɔ/

Nouns have five cases:
Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence
Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog
Locative is the location of something: man goes to town

Ergative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -si Else: Suffix -esi yiˈzesi /jiˈzesi/
Absolutive	No affix yiz /jiz/
Genitive	If ends with vowel: Suffix -g Else: Suffix -ɪg ˈyizǐg /ˈjizɪg/
Dative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ke Else: Suffix -ike yiˈzike /jiˈzike/
Locative	Suffix -i ˈyizi /ˈjizi/

Articles

Vozo has different articles depending on whether the noun it is referring to is inanimate or animate.

Inanimate

Definite

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bus	bes
Genitive	bait	xuk
Dative	pit	vez
Locative	but	dez

Indefinite

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	muzh	muzh
Genitive	nozh	dony
Dative	xov	dom
Locative	box	bip

Animate

Definite

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	viat	veit
Genitive	vet	xizh
Dative	mezh	xēzh
Locative	dizh	kep

Indefinite

	Singular	Plural
Nominative	biaw	biz
Genitive	bial	tr̂op
Dative	baul	tr̂ip
Locative	beip	kil

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	me /me/ I	na /na/ me	kif /kif/ my, mine	dzo /ʣɔ/ to me	do /dɔ/
2nd singular	r̊a /ɾa/ you	xǐk /xɪk/ you	yin /jin/ your, yours	i /i/ to you	zidz /ziʣ/
3rd singular masc	se /se/ he, it	tsǐs /ʦɪs/ him, it	wǐf /wɪf/ his, its	zi /zi/ to him	ka /ka/
3rd singular fem	yik /jik/ she, it	tho /θɔ/ her, it	ux /ux/ her, hers, its	uk /uk/ to her	hā /hæ/
1st plural	mut /mut/ we	ñe /ɲe/ us	mědz /mɛʣ/ our, ours	bǐk /bɪk/ to us	dǐz /dɪz/
2nd plural	le /ɫe/ you (all)	e /e/ you (all)	jaf /ʤaf/ your, yours (all)	dzǐt /ʣɪt/ to you (all)	gě /gɛ/
3rd plural	thā /θæ/ they	r̊āz /ɹæz/ them	nan /nan/ their, theirs	ě /ɛ/ to them	wǐk /wɪk/

Verbs

Future tense is indicated with the word:

Future particle

r̊i /ɹi/ future tense particle

Present	No affix ˈpothyab /ˈpɔθjab/
Past	Suffix -ek poˈthyabek /pɔˈθjabek/
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -xa Else: Suffix -exa ˌpothyaˈbexa /ˌpɔθjaˈbexa/

Dictionary

4321 Words.

Common Phrases

ˈjer̊eg dāg ˌnyoiˈdiāb [name].

"My name is [name].". Lit. "mine name be [name]" This is the more formal kind of greeting, such as greeting a superior or greeting someone you wish to impress.

r̊̂āˈbāma es r̊̂āˈwadzi?

"How much is it?". Lit. "how many gold?" A common phrase to be heard in markets or among merchants.

ˌnyoiˈdiāb bîk ya?

"Who are you?". Lit. "are you who?" Some speakers dropped the verb, although this is viewed as impolite or crass.

dzîˈgewo liˈdzîpuz bîkt.

"May the stars guide you." Lit. "guide stars you." Can either be a parting phrase or a wish of wellness for the other person.

ˌnyoiˈdiāb bîk liˈdzîpên dāg.

"You are my star." Lit. "are you star mine." A term of endearment, used both among family and lovers.

ẑoj d̂aj uw ˈzisîg.

"You're looking short in the ear." Lit. "looking short in the ear." A grave insult, insinuating that the other person is not an Actreine but rather a human.

Spelling rules: /j/ - y
/r/ - r̊
/æ/- ā
/ŋ/- ng
/ɔ/ - o
/ɕ/ - ch
/ɕ/ - sh
/ɛ/ - ē
/ɛ/ - ě
/ɪ/ - ī
/ɪ/ - ǐ
/ɫ/- l
/ɫ/ - l̥
/ɬ/ - ć
/ɬ/ - l
/ɲ/ - ny
/ɲ/ - ñ
/ɹ/ - r
/ɾ/ - r
/ɾ/ - r̂
/ʑ/ - zh
/ʣ/ - d́
/ʤ/ - j
/ʦ/ - ś
/θ/ - th