Yajjuc*

LANGUAGE FAMILY: ISHADIC
PERIOD OF USE:
Vernacular language of the First Empire from a small region outside of Enk'Ishr, in Sekh Anoob. Contemporary with Ithudic*, the classical language of the First Empire. No written texts containing Yajjuc survive, and how knowledge of such an unassuming language has managed to circulate is something of a mystery.
SCRIPT USED:
PARENT LANGUAGE:
DESCENDANT LANGUAGES:

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"...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind..."
Translation: uɾ so amhou ɛt͡sʰhou ’ɔ dhɔsif uɾ yua̯hou ’ɔ mel’o kaif zɛ anif
Pronunciation: uɾ so amˈhou ɛt͡sʰˈhou ʔɔ ˈðɔsif uɾ jua̯ˈhou ʔɔ ˈmelʔo ˈkaif zɛ ˈanif
Yajjuc word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /b d dˤ f h j k kʰ l m n pʰ q r s sˤ t tʰ tˤ t͡s t͡sʰ w x z ð ðˤ ħ ŋ ɣ ɾ ʃ ʔ ʕ ʤ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	pʰ b			t tˤ tʰ d dˤ			k kʰ	q		ʔ
Affricate					ʤ
Fricative		f	θ ð ðˤ	s sˤ z	ʃ		x ɣ		ħ ʕ	h
Approximant						j
Tap				ɾ
Trill				r
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /a aa̯ ae̯ e ia̯ o u ua̯ ue̯ ɔ ɛ/
Diphthongs: aa̯, ae̯, ia̯, ua̯, ue̯

	Front	Back
High		u
High-mid	e	o
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: Custom defined
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable Word initial consonants: b, d, dˤ, f, h, j, k, kn, l, m, n, q, qh, r, s, sˤ, t, tˤ, w, x, z, ð, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʤ, θ Mid-word consonants: b, bb, d, dd, dˤ, f, h, j, jj, k, kr, l, ll, lʔ, m, mm, n, nd, nt, ntˤ, nð, q, qq, r, rb, rr, s, sˤ, t, tl, tʤ, tˤ, tˤtˤ, w, ww, x, ð, ðˤ, ħ, ɣ, ʃ, ʔ, ʕ, ʕl, ʕt, ʕtˤ, ʤ, θ Word final consonants: b, h, j, k, kʰ, l, m, n, pʰ, s, t, tʰ, t͡s, t͡sʰ, x, ŋ, ɾ, ʃ, ʔ
Phonological changes (in order of application):

• ja → je / #_
• k → c / V_V
• u → o / _k#
• ʔ → ∅ / C_

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
ʔ	’
θ	th
ʤ	j
x	kh
ð	dh
ʃ	sh
sˤ	ş
dˤ	ḑ
tˤ	ţ
ʕ	ʻ
ɣ	gh
ħ	ḩ
aː	ā
iː	ī
uː	ū
j	y

Grammar

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

Nouns

Singular

	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -t͡sʰ Else: Suffix -ue̯t͡sʰ soifue̯t͡sʰ /soˈifue̯t͡sʰ/ the man	If ends with vowel: Suffix -ʃ Else: Suffix -ɔʃ qae̯iwash /qae̯ˈiwaʃ/ the woman
Indefinite	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -us soifus /soˈifus/ a man	Suffix -u qae̯iwau /ˌqae̯iˈwau/ a woman

Plural

	Masculine	Feminine
Definite	Suffix -ɔ soifɔ /soˈifɔ/ the men	Suffix -am qae̯iwaam /ˌqae̯iˈwaam/ the women
Indefinite	Suffix -uɾ soifuɾ /soˈifuɾ/ some men	If ends with vowel: Suffix -l Else: Suffix -el qae̯iwal /qae̯ˈiwal/ some women

Articles

Yajjuc encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	le /le/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	a /a/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	so /so/ he, him, his, it, its
3rd singular fem	bɛ /bɛ/ she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural	’ɔ /ʔɔ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	bua̯ /bua̯/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural masc	gha /ɣa/ they (masc), them (masc), theirs (masc)
3rd plural fem	ʻɛm /ʕɛm/ they (fem), them (fem), theirs (fem)

Possessive determiners

1st singular	wa /wa/ my
2nd singular	zɛ /zɛ/ your
3rd singular masc	’ɔ /ʔɔ/ his
3rd singular fem	yutʰ /ʤutʰ/ her
1st plural	ḩu /ħu/ our
2nd plural	dokʰ /dokʰ/ your (pl)
3rd plural masc	ma /ma/ their (masc)
3rd plural fem	knu /knu/ their (fem)

Verbs

Present	No affix khekʰhou /xekʰˈhou/ learn
Past	Suffix -et khekʰhouet /ˌxekʰhoˈuet/ learned
Remote past	Suffix -a khekʰhoua /ˌxekʰhoˈua/ learned (long ago)

Yajjuc uses a standalone particle word for future tense:

Future

Particle before the verb: ax - akh khekʰhou /ax xekʰˈhou/ will learn

Progressive aspect
The ‘progressive’ aspect refers to actions that are happening at the time of speaking, such as I am learning.
Yajjuc uses a standalone particle word for progressive:

Progressive

Particle before the verb: ðɛpʰ - dhɛpʰ khekʰhou /ðɛpʰ xekʰˈhou/ is learning

Habitual aspect
The ‘habitual’ aspect refers to actions that happen habitually, such as I learn (something new every day), as opposed to actions that happen once (I learned something).
Yajjuc uses an affix for habitual:

Habitual

Suffix -ae̯t͡s khekʰhouae̯t͡s /ˌxekʰhoˈuae̯t͡s/ learns

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.
Yajjuc uses an affix for the perfect aspect:

Perfect

Suffix -ue̯ khekʰhouue̯ /ˌxekʰhoˈuue̯/ have learned

Numbers

Yajjuc has a base-10 number system:
1 - a
2 - shoŋ
3 - gha
4 - e
5 - qhae̯
6 - ʻo
7 - fɛbeh
8 - dhɔ
9 - knu
10 - mu
11 - mu uɾ a “ten and one”
100 - bɛɾ “hundred”
101 - bɛɾ a “hundred one”
200 - shoŋ bɛɾ
1000 - ɛmmu “thousand”

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Suffix -ɔpʰ
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -os
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Suffix -a
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -j Else: Suffix -ia̯j
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Suffix -ɛj
Noun to verb = If ends with vowel: Suffix -h Else: Suffix -ae̯h
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Suffix -ia̯l
Tending to = If ends with vowel: Suffix -ŋ Else: Suffix -ua̯ŋ
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t Else: Suffix -ua̯t
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = Suffix -otʰ
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Suffix -o
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = If ends with vowel: Suffix -b Else: Suffix -ua̯b
Diminutive = Suffix -ɔ
Augmentative = If ends with vowel: Suffix -t͡s Else: Suffix -ɛt͡s

Dictionary

4449 Words.