Temple Jazeric

Temple Jazeric (jazīz şend) is a Jazero-Choigic language derived from a dialect of Classical Jazeric spoken by the monks. It is quite distinct phonologically from the Classical language however it is written using the same orthography. The temple dialect had been the standard form of the language spoken by the monks even before the 250B; many philosophical works have been written in the dialect most notably "Jilmʌʌr" which spread the art of elemental combat across the world. By 100B, Classical Jazeric fell out of use and Temple Jazeric became the de facto lingua franca of the Jazeri.

Writing System

Temple Jazeric is written traditionally written using Classical Jazeric orthography, however a modified form of the Classical Jazeric script has been made to accomodate Temple Jazeric phonology.

Writing sample

The romanization system generally follows the IPA with some differences:

unaspirated plosives are represented using characters for voiced consonants; eg. d = /t/, b = /p/
voiced plosives and affricates are written with a preceding nasal consonant; eg. nd = /d/, mb = /b/
the letter y shows that the preceding consonant is palatalized; eg. ny = /ɲ/
/tʃ/, /tʃʰ/, /dʒ/, /tɕ/, /tɕʰ/, and /dʑ/ are written c, ç, nc, cy, çy, and ncy
/ʃ/ and /ɕ/ are written ş and şy
/x/, /χ/, and /ʁ/ are written kh, qh, and g
/y/ and /ɪ/ are written ı and ǝ
/ɜ/ and /ɒ/ are written ö and ʌ
double vowels represent long vowels in monosyllabic words, but in polysyllabic words they represent historical long vowels which are not reduced

Phonology

-unaspirated plosives may become voiced in unstressed syllables
-/n/ assimilates to the place of articulation of the following consonant
-/ɹ/ becomes [ɫ] before hard vowels
-/ʋ/ becomes [w] at syllable coda and [f] before a voiceless consonant
-/ʁ/ becomes [ɢ] at word initial position -/a/ is pronounced [æ] after a palatal consonant and [ä] after a velar or uvular consonant
-long vowels are only present in monosyllabic words Certain vowels are reduced when unstressed and historically short:

/i/, /y/, /u/ > /ɪ/
/ɛ/, /ɔ/, /a/ > /ɐ/

A vowel harmony system is present, words may only contain one type of vowel (or neutral vowels):

Soft vowels = /i/, /y/, /ɛ/, /ɜ/
Hard vowels = /u/, /ɔ/, /ɒ/
Neutral vowels = /ɪ/, /a/

The loss of final consonants gives rise to a tonal system, the pitch of the syllable depends on the consonant being aspirated or voiced:

final aspirated stop = high tone
final unaspirated stop or final voiced consonant = low tone

Morphology

Nouns are declined for case using grammatical suffixes which may assimilate to the previous word. The cases are: Absolutive, Ergative, Genitive, Oblique, Ablative and Associative.

Absolutive	{unmarked}
Ergative	rǝs; tǝs¹; ǝs²
Genitive	az; ta¹; a²
Oblique	khi; ky¹; çy³
Abative	ons; ns¹
Associative	lır

¹after a word ending in a vowel
²after a word ending in a plosive
³after a word ending in a palatalized consonant or a fricative The Ergative case is used to mark the agent of a transitive verb or the subject of an intransitive verb if the action was deliberate, if it was not deliberate then the Absolutive is used. This case is also used as an instrumental case.

Verbs can be modified using a complex set of verbal affixes to give them new meaning. These affixes can be compounded to each other to further modify the verb. Most verbs are formed this way.
The following is a list of prefixes:

kı-/ku-　　Indicates movement towards the speaker
ıg-/ug-　　Indicates movement away from the speaker
ö-/ʌ-　　　Forms reflexive verbs (oneself)
iş-　　　　 Forms comitative verbs (together/with)
mi-　　　 Forms negative verbs (not)

Notice how these prefixes change to agree with the vowel harmony of the root verb. Some affixes have special attributes: kı-/ku- and ıg-/ug- cause the root verb to change vowel harmony, ıg-/ug- causes the initial consonant of the root verb to geminate and mi- does the same if the consonant is a fricative. Examples of these prefixes: co (to come) → kıce (to arrive) ; co → ıcce (to originate from) ; co → işco (to come together)

Syntax

Temple Jazeric syntax is virtually identical to that of Classical Jazeric. The primary word order is SOV with adjectives and relative clauses following the nouns they modify. In passive constructions the object is found after the verb. In possessive constructions, the noun that is possessed comes after the possessor. However, in certain contexts the reverse may be used, such as in literature. When counting, the numeral precedes the counted noun.

Root Languages