Xebriken

Overview

Xebriken is the official language of the Kepek Commonwealth.

Writing System

The Xebriken alphabet is blocky, utilising lots of square shapes as it was developed with the use of low-resolution displays in mind. It is written horizontally from left to right.

Alphabet

Capitalisation

Xebriken uses a capitalisation system similar to English where the first letter of a sentence and the first letter of names of people, places and things are all capitalised. Most capital letters are shown by writing the letter out normally and then adding a dash above the letter.

However, there is a second type of letter capitalisation used explicitly for the names of people (both first names and surnames). Instead of a dash, the letter has a long T-shape above it.

This does not affect pronunciation, it is simply used to differentiate names from standard words in written Xebriken. It was felt this was required because most Kepek are named after items or objects, so when these kinds of words are used as a name, the additional type of capitalisation helps to differentiate the actual item and the name variant of the word. If a sentence starts with someone's name, the name capitalisation is still used over the standard capitalisation.

Numbers

Xebriken uses a base 14 number system

Punctuation

Phonetics

Vowels

A

E

I

U

Consonants

B	D	G	K	L
M	N	P	R	T
V	W	X	'

Non-Phonetic Elements

The Kepek use a combination of spoken language, body and facial expression, and scent in their language. Scent markers are used as an important way of conveying context or nuance in Kepeki conversation, similar to how tone of voice, emphasis or facial expression might be used in human languages. It helps to clarify the meaning of words and avoid confusion or miscommunication.

Scent Markers

The scent markers are older than spoken languages, it was theorised they developed very early in the Kepek's history, possibly long before they were even recognisable as Kepek. As such, they were only ever meant to convey primitive pieces of information such as general emotions, but when used in Xebreken (and other Kepeki languages from previous eras) the simple scent markers can be combined to create more specific meaning.
In Void Star, scent markers are conveyed using the following visual cues:

Happyness:

Calmness:

Anger:

Fear:

Sadness:

Curiosity:

Flirty:

frustration:

Embarassment:

Discust:

No Scent Marker:

It would be unusual for scent markers not to be used, in human speech it would be equivalent to speaking with flat affect with no notable expression.

Tenses

similar to English, a verb's “base” form is its future tense. To indicate past tense, “bid” is added to the end of the word. to indicate present tense “vad” is added to the end of the word.

Sentence Structure

Sentences in usually follow the basic syntax of Object, Subject, Verb (O, S, V). E.g. The phrase: "I pet the dog" becomes "the dog I pet".

Pluralisation

Xebriken has 4 types of pluralisation depending on the number of subjects.
For two, the suffix “'ve” is added For three, the suffix “'vek” added to the word For a group of 4 or more, the suffix “'uvek” is used When talking about a population of unknown or unspecified quantity, or a group or even just a general category of people, the suffix “'Avek” is used.

Adjective and Adverbs

When making an adjective from a noun, the adjectives form usually has the "gat'" at the front. likewise, adding "Aud'" at the front of an adverb

Adjective Order

Descriptor words (adjectives and Adverbs) come after the noun or verb. E.g. the phrase: I softly pet the brown dog” becomes “The dog brown I pet softly”.

Spoken by

• Bektepi