HEZDEL

LANGUAGE FAMILY: SAU-SERIB
# SPEAKERS / WORLD RANKING: 8.075M / #4
SPOKEN IN: Del - 5M / Azon - 1.8M / Sau-Hezib - 600K / Draksineon - 350K / Arlos - 200K / Chalornok - 100K / Kaul - 25K
PERIOD OF USE:
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: shís míˈbaz ˈmáaz ché shíˈíbac dö́g shís séˈdaz ché ˈfúbac mǘch ˈyǘrgáüv bí
Pronunciation: ʃís míˈbaz ˈmáaz ʧʰé ʃíˈíbac tɵ́ɡ ʃís séˈtaz ʧʰé ˈfʊ́bac múʧ ˈjúrɡáuv bí

Hezdel word order: and stood holding hat his he and turned his face wet the wind to

Modern Abjad

Read top to bottom and right to left, in the traditionally vertical "Tree" orientation. "Snake" orientation is a more recent development, in which the script is read right to left, horizontally, mimicking Eastern alphabets, e.g. Draksi.

Ancient Abjad

Based on the game of Succulthagac.

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b f j kʰ m n nʲ r s t tʰ w wʲ x xʲ ɡ ɮ ɮʲ ʃ ʦ ʦʰ ʧ ʧʰ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal	m		n nʲ
Stop	b		t tʰ			kʰ ɡ
Affricate			ʦ ʦʰ	ʧ ʧʰ
Fricative		f	s	ʃ		x xʲ
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral fricative			ɮ ɮʲ

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w wʲ

Vowel inventory: /a e i u ɔ ɵ ʊ/
Tones: ́

	Front	Central	Back
High	i		u
Near-high			ʊ
High-mid	e	ɵ
Low-mid			ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: No fixed stress
Word initial consonants: b, bɮ, f, j, kʰ, kʰtʰ, m, n, ntʰ, nʲ, r, s, t, tʰ, x, ɡ, ʃ, ʦ, ʦʰ, ʧ, ʧʰ
Mid-word consonants: ff, j, m, mn, ms, mt, mɡ, mʧ, mʧɮ, n, ns, nt, nts, nx, nɡ, nʦʰ, r, rs, rsɡ, rt, rtɮ, rtʰ, rw, rx, rɡ, rɮ, rʃ, rʦʰ, rʧʰ, s, sn, sr, ss, stʰ, sɡ, sɮ, t, tn, tr, tw, tɡ, tɮ, tʰ, tʰɡ, tʰɮ, w, ws, wtʰ, wx, wɮ, wʃ, wʦʰ, wʧʰɮ, x, xn, xt, xɡ, xɮ, ɡ, ɡs, ɡt, ɡts, ɡtʰ, ɡɮ, ɡʃ, ɡʧ, ɮ, ɮb, ɮs, ɮt, ɮtw, ɮtʰ, ɮtʰtʰ, ɮtʰɡ, ɮx, ɮɡ, ɮɮ, ɮʦʰ, ɮʧ, ɮʧʰɮ, ʃ, ʦ, ʦr, ʦʰ, ʦʰs, ʧ, ʧʰ, ʧʰs
Word final consonants: b, kʰ, kʰtʰ, m, mʧ, n, nt, nx, r, rt, rtʰ, rʧʰ, s, stʰ, t, tʰ, w, ws, wʧʰ, wʲ, x, xʲ, ɡ, ɡtʰ, ɡʃ, ɡʦʰ, ɡʧ, ɡʧʰ, ɮ, ɮs, ɮtʰ, ɮʧ, ɮʲ, ʃ, ʦ, ʦʰ, ʧ, ʧʰ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• u → o / _Ca
• n → ∅ / _s
• a → æ / _(C)e
• j → ð / V_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ɡ	g
w	b
t	d / !_ʰ
tʰ	t
ʧʰ	ch
ʧ	ch
ʦʰ	c
ʦ	c
kʰ	k
ɮ	l
ʃ	sh
ɔ	o
ɵ	ö
pʰ	p
u	ü
ʊ	u
j	y
ʲ	∅

Grammar

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

Nouns

Nouns have three cases:

• Nominative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man.
• Accusative is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog.
• Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man.

Nominative	No affix ˈsómüv /ˈsɔ́muv/ doɡ (doinɡ the verb)
Accusative	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɡ Else: Suffix -áɡ sóˈmüvág /sɔ́ˈmuváɡ/ (verb done to) doɡ
Genitive	Suffix -ɔ́mʧ sóˈmüvómch /sɔ́ˈmuvɔ́mʧ/ doɡʼs

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix ˈyínbac /ˈjínbac/ man	No affix ˈdíüv /ˈtíuv/ woman
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -úm ˈyínbacǘm /ˈjínbacúm/ men	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɡ Else: Suffix -úɡ díˈüvǘg /tíˈuvúɡ/ women

Articles

Definite	mö́s /mɵ́s/ the
Indefinite	ní /ní/ a, some

Pronouns

	Nominative	Accusative	Genitive
1st singular	fón /fɔ́n/ I	má /má/ me	dö́l /tɵ́ɮʲ/ mine
2nd singular	ntö́n /ntʰɵ́n/ you (masc)	náb /náw/ you	mú /mʊ́/ yours
3rd singular masc	dö́g /tɵ́ɡ/ he, it	chéd /ʧʰét/ him, it	yǘm /júm/ his, its
3rd singular fem	yí /jí/ she, it	gǘ /ɡú/ her, it	yé /jé/ hers, its
1st plural	mǘ /mú/ we	ínx /ínx/ us	bá /bá/ ours
2nd plural	fú /fʊ́/ you all	ní /ní/ you all	yó /jɔ́/ yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	áb /áw/ they (masc)	á /á/ them (masc)	sú /sʊ́/ theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	chö́s /ʧɵ́s/ they (fem)	bí /bí/ them (fem)	mö́g /mɵ́ɡ/ theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	yód /jɔ́t/ my
2nd singular	yǘb /júw/ your
3rd singular masc	ché /ʧʰé/ his
3rd singular fem	dú /tʊ́/ her
1st plural	sóm /sɔ́m/ our
2nd plural	gǘ /ɡú/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	yóm /jɔ́m/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	mí /mí/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix yáˈaz /jáˈaz/ learn
Past	Suffix -íw yáˈazíb /jáˈazíw/ learned
Remote past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -w Else: Suffix -áw ˈyáazáb /ˈjáazáw/ learned (lonɡ aɡo)

Hezdel uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: já - yá ˈyáaz /já ˈjáaz/ will learn

Perfect aspect
The perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’, which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.
Hezdel uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

If ends with vowel: Suffix -ɮs Else: Suffix -ɔ́ɮs ˈyáazóls /ˈjáazɔ́ɮs/ have learned

Numbers

Hezdel has a base-10 number system:
1 - yíd
2 - mó
3 - ít
4 - ché
5 - íb
6 - gǘs
7 - íd
8 - yúb
9 - yǘ
10 - sǘ
11 - sǘ shís yíd “ten and one”
100 - yíd míd “one hundred”
101 - yíd míd yíd “one hundred one”
200 - mó míd
1000 - yíd ˈmámá “one thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -n Else: Suffix -ín
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ím
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -r Else: Suffix -ɵ́r
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʧ Else: Suffix -úʧ
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -és
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ém
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -wʲ Else: Suffix -úwʲ
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʦʰ Else: Suffix -áʦʰ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = Suffix -ú
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -m Else: Suffix -ím
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -í
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ʊ́t
Diminutive = Suffix -íʦ
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -áb

Dictionary

4460 Words.