Dragonrider's Ancestral Language • The Language of Kstikian

Natively known as: kstik /kstik/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
daṇ dwa rechi tid bechosta pwop daṇ tid thach nwitsmi rigb kwiyṣiyd pwe
Pronunciation: /daɳ dwa ɻeˈʧi tid beʧosˈta pwop daɳ tid thaʧ nwitsˈmi ɻig͡b kwijˈʂijd pwe/
Kstikian word order: and he stood his hat holding and his wet face turned the wind to

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d g g͡b h j k k͡p m n p s t w ɖ ɳ ɻ ʂ ʈ ʧ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ɳ
Stop	p b	t d		ʈ ɖ		k g
Affricate			ʧ
Fricative		s		ʂ			h
Approximant				ɻ	j

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Stop	k͡p g͡b
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: a e i o

	Front	Back
High	i
High-mid	e	o
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
g͡b	gb
j	y
k͡p	kp
ɖ	ḍ
ɳ	ṇ
ɻ	r
ʂ	ṣ
ʈ	ṭ
ʧ	ch

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject Object Verb (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary the door opened with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions ?

Nouns

Nouns have two cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.

Nominative	No affix atm /atm/ dog (doing the verb)
Accusative	If starts with vowel: Prefix d- Else: Prefix di- datm /datm/ (verb done to) dog

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix ha /ha/ boy	No affix mek /mek/ girl
Plural	Prefix kwo- kwoha /kwoˈha/ boys	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧa- chamek /ʧaˈmek/ girls

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	ro /ɻo/ the	thi /thi/ a
Plural	me /me/ the	ba /ba/ some

Uses of definite article that differ from English:

• Used for personal names in third person: ‘The Maria has left for school’

Uses of indefinite article that differ from English:

• Not used for non-specific countable nouns: non-specific means ‘I am looking for a (any) girl in a red dress’, whereas specific means ‘I am looking for a (particular) girl in a red dress’

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative
1st singular	ip /ip/ I	beṭ /beʈ/ me
2nd singular	pwi /pwi/ you	tosg /tosg/ you
3rd singular masc	dwa /dwa/ he, it (masc)	swaṇ /swaɳ/ his, it (masc)
3rd singular fem	mpen /mpen/ she, it (fem)	gan /gan/ her, it (fem)
1st plural	kwo /kwo/ we	mi /mi/ us
2nd plural	o /o/ you all	cho /ʧo/ you all
3rd plural masc	ṭe /ʈe/ they (masc)	gak /gak/ them (masc)
3rd plural fem	ksti /ksti/ they (fem)	he /he/ them (fem)

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	bid /bid/ my
2nd singular	mdiṇ /mdiɳ/ your
3rd singular masc	tid /tid/ his
3rd singular fem	ip /ip/ her
1st plural	gba /g͡ba/ our
2nd plural	thigb /thig͡b/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	to /to/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	he /he/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix mik /mik/ learn
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix an- Else: Prefix ani- animik /aniˈmik/ learned
Remote past	Prefix swo- swomik /swoˈmik/ learned (long ago)
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix edj- Else: Prefix edja- edyamik /edjaˈmik/ will learn

Numbers

Kstikian has a base-10 number system:
1 - isk
2 - meyk
3 - is
4 - ro
5 - igch
6 - bo
7 - egte
8 - tosts
9 - tyi
10 - ntoyd
100 - ra
1000 - gbiṇ

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If starts with vowel: Prefix oʂsk-
Else: Prefix oʂski-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -jt
Else: Suffix -ojt
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -skt
Else: Suffix -askt
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -mps
Else: Suffix -imps
Noun to verb = Prefix tje-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix km-
Else: Prefix kmo-
Tending to = Suffix -iʈ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -emp
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -ijt
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix apk-
Else: Prefix apki-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ik͡p-
Else: Prefix ik͡pi-
Diminutive = If ends with vowel: Suffix -pi
Else: Suffix -ipi
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
Else: Prefix wo-

Dictionary

4344 Words.

Common Unisex Names

Igboṇi /ig͡boˈɳi/ Rintsa /ɻintˈsa/ Ḍoṭehe /ɖoʈeˈhe/ Ṭagbo /ʈag͡bˈo/ Onsme /onsˈme/ Amgi /amˈgi/ Reṇ /ɻeɳ/ Ntipa /ntiˈpa/  Gwnitsya /gwnitˈsja/  Tichni /tiʧˈni/  Ṭṣwor /ʈʂwoɻ/  Baṭo /baˈʈo/  Kstapti /kstapˈti/  Sast /sast/  Noibden /noibˈden/  Madi /maˈdi/  Oṣne /oʂˈne/  Ksigi /ksiˈgi/  Haṣski /haʂsˈki/ Ṭiho /ʈiˈho/  Ṭibstiṇ /ʈibsˈtiɳ/ Ḍopma /ɖopˈma/  Oysok /ojˈsok/  Megboḍ /megˈboɖ/  Tonkika /tonkiˈka/  Ṇowde /ɳowˈde/ Ṭṣwis /ʈʂwis/ Thoṣṭ /thoʂʈ/ Ṇotwo /ɳoˈtwo/ Maṣṭ /maʂʈ/ Besṭaṭ /besˈʈaʈ/ Tyoṇegbi /tjoɳegˈbi/ Ksisakp /ksiˈsak͡p/ Ṭiyk /ʈijk/ Mastmi /mastˈmi/ Chtists /ʧtists/ Segti /segˈti/ Dindta /dindˈta/ Weṣna /weʂˈna/ Ṇetibi /ɳetiˈbi/ Meiyt /meˈijt/ Bammo /bamˈmo/ Ṭogba /ʈogˈba/ Tang /tang/ Ḍinkt /ɖinkt/ Ṭapko /ʈapˈko/ Ḍesbi /ɖesˈbi/ Chespi /ʧesˈpi/ Myas /mjas/ Mowsa /mowˈsa/ Chtor /ʧtoɻ/ Ṭṣwists /ʈʂwists/ Ṇiṭ /ɳiʈ/ Ntacho /ntaˈʧo/ Setsmi /setsˈmi/ Bitsdo /bitsˈdo/ Saydnints /sajdˈnints/