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The tradional script of the Kashtyrian language

This public article was written by [Deactivated User], and last updated on 15 Jun 2019, 22:15.

[comments] ksyabugidascriptvowelconsonant Kashtyrian (5 articles)

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1. Kashtyrian Abugida ? ?

2. Kashtyrian grammar ? ?

3. Kashtyrian scripts ? ?

4. Kashtyrian sound changes ? ?

5. Kashtyrian sound changes (short) ? ?

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Menu 1. Introduction 2. Consonants 3. Primary vowel signs 4. Secondary vowel signs 5. Voiced consonants 6. For those who love tables

[edit] [top]Introduction

This article will explain how the traditional writing system of Kashtyrian works. That script is an abugida, and along with the other abugidas Kashtyrian has an inherent vowel which is pronounced if the consonant carries no diacritic. Instead a diacritic is needed if a consonant carries no vowel after it. But where this null vowel usually is the [ə] (Schwa) or any other letter used to write it, in Kashtyrian it is ‹ì› [ɪ].

[edit] [top]Consonants

Today Kashtyrian has 15 different consonant letters. These are almost phonetic, but some letters can be pronounced differently. For example, ‹h› is pronounced [h] at any position besides the coda where it is pronounced [ħ]. Similarly, ‹r› has the normal pronounciation [ʁ], but it is [ɹ] in the coda. Also, in a few old loan words, ‹h› is pronounced [ʔ] and some far-western dialects pronounce ‹r› as [r] or [ɾ].

Side note: ‹tc› is just a ligature that was build because the glyphs of ‹t› and ‹c› were often written alongside each other.

Abugida:	pì	tì	kì	hì	xì	cì	mì	nì	rì	sì	ì	lì	fì	jì	tcì
Latin:	p	t	k	h	x	c	m	n	r	s	-	l	f	j	tc
IPA:	p	t	k	h; ħ	x	ʃ	m	n	ʁ; ɹ	s	-	l	f	j	tʃ

The consonant ì is the null consonant. It is used if a bare vowel without any consonants before it needs to be written. Also it is used to write the second vowel in one of the two Kashtyrian diphthongs àì and àù.

[edit] [top]Primary vowel signs

The primary vowel signs show to which class of vowels it belongs. These classes are usually named after their basic vowels ì , ù , and à . These vowels are indicated by none, one or two small arcs attached to the consonant they are following. For ì nothing is attached, for ù one arc and for à two arcs.

An arc is added at the 'end' of the consonant which means both consonant part and vowel part can be written with one stroke. For t this looks like this: tì tì – tù tù – tà tà. If there is no vowel, a long arc is used which does not connect to the consonant a second time: t.

It is important that every consonant has its own direction of writing. This direction determines at which end of the consonant the arcs are attached. For example, the letters p pì and k kì in their standard form look very similar – k in its standard form got a little tail to distinguish it from p. But p is written from top to bottom and k from bottom to top, and therefore the arcs are attached at the bottom for p, but at the top for k: pù pù / kù kù – pà pà / kà kà – p p / k k.

It becomes a bit complicated because the arcs rotate with the consonant. The letter m mì has the following forms: mù mù – mà mà – m m.

There are two other letters which in their standard form look frighteningly similar: h hì and r rì. For the same reasons as at k, r got a little tail. However, if there are arcs added, there will be no tail and the direction is also the same. The difference is the side where the arcs are added: for h in the letter, for r out of it: hù hù / rù rù – hà hà / rà rà – h h / r r.

The whole process is completely regular for all letters, although in handwriting some letters are modified and more difficult to distinguish. Notable here is the vowel-less form of c (c) which many people write similar to the numeral 0.

[edit] [top]Secondary vowel signs

Everyone who looks at the vowel trapezoid above sees that two of the categories cover multiple distinct vowels. This is because at the time the arcs were created there were only three vowels in Kashtyrian which grew apart in the following centuries.

To distinguish these there are several diacritic signs. The oldest of them is the "added stroke" which today is written as a snake-like curved ending of the consonant, here with the example t: ti. It produces the vowel i [i] which was replaced by ì [ɪ] earlier but overlived in compound words.

This is the only of the secondary vowel signs which connects directly to the consonant it modifies, therefore it is sometimes considered to be a primary vowel sign. For learning the script that is irrelevant, though. All other secondary vowel signs do neither connect to their consonant nor rotate with it.

The hook (-) is used for the middle-opened vowels [e o]. It is placed under the consonant it modifies. If it is doubled (") it is simply called "double hook" and is then used for the full-open vowels [æ̤ ɔ̤].

The umlaut sign (+) always stands right to its consonant. It today only occurs together with ù ù to form u [ɨ] u. This is, you guessed it, the result of an umlaut vowel change. Until the 20^th century + could also combine with o o. The umlaut represented by this, [ø], had changed to [e] centuries ago, but the spelling was kept until then. Today it is written as e e.

The "final ì curve" () has a very specific purpose: it marks the pronounciation of an ì if it belongs to the final consonant in a word. It looks like an inverted breve below it. Normally, a written final ì is silent, like in kax kaxì. To be able to write a word-final ì serves two main purposes: the transcription of foreign words and its use in several grammatical affixes. A well-known example is the imperative suffix for verbs -ì-. As kax kaxì means "to speak", kaxì kaxí means "Speak!".

If you write with this script, a word-final consonant will be written with a silent ì. To make the ì pronounced just write ì at the end of the word. In the case you want a word ending with the long arc you have to write a degree sign (°) after the last consonant. The great godness of PhoMo will do the rest for you.

[edit] [top]Voiced consonants

In its traditional form Kashtyrian had no differences in voicing. r at this time was [r] or [ɾ] and not considered as a counterpart of x. Today only a far western dialect features [ɣ], but it pronounces r as [ɾ] so there is no confusion.

Most dialects feature some degree of intervocalic voicing. Standard Kashtyrian is more conservative as only p, t, and k are voiced in a very specific environment. Generally more western dialects voice more consonants or even consonant clusters in intervocalic environment.

All voiced consonants are written by removing the circle of j jì and replacing it with a shrinked version of the voiceless consonant. As an example, as voiced version of t tì, look at d: dì.

Standard Kashtyrian only uses b bì – d dì – g gì. The most influential western dialect Uzdaradian also voices f, s, and tc: v vì – z zì – dc dcì. Even more western dialects voice c and x too. As these represent only a minority of Kashtyrian's speakers, there are no standardized latin letters for it, although the Kashtyrian letters are build as usual. Here they are written with an apostrophe ('): c' c'ì – x' x'ì.

[edit] [top]For those who love tables

Here is really big table which shows every Kashtyrian consonant (voiced, not voiced, or anything in between) carrying any vowel, vowel diacritic, or nothing. And for those who love big numbers: there are 229 different "letters" in this table.

			Voiceless								Voiced (over j)								Nothing of both
			Consonant letters
			p	t	k	x	c	s	f	tc	b	d	g	x'	c'	z	v	dc	h	m	n	r	-	l	j
Vowels	Front	ì	pì	tì	kì	xì	cì	sì	fì	tcì	bì	dì	gì	x'ì	c'ì	zì	vì	dcì	hì	mì	nì	rì	ì	lì	jì
		e	pe	te	ke	xe	ce	se	fe	tce	be	de	ge	x'e	c'e	ze	ve	dce	he	me	ne	re	e	le	je
		a	pa	ta	ka	xa	ca	sa	fa	tca	ba	da	ga	x'a	c'a	za	va	dca	ha	ma	na	ra	a	la	ja
	Back	ù	pù	tù	kù	xù	cù	sù	fù	tcù	bù	dù	gù	x'ù	c'ù	zù	vù	dcù	hù	mù	nù	rù	ù	lù	jù
		o	po	to	ko	xo	co	so	fo	tco	bo	do	go	x'o	c'o	zo	vo	dco	ho	mo	no	ro	o	lo	jo
		ò	pò	tò	kò	xò	cò	sò	fò	tcò	bò	dò	gò	x'ò	c'ò	zò	vò	dcò	hò	mò	nò	rò	ò	lò	jò
	Central-open	à	pà	tà	kà	xà	cà	sà	fà	tcà	bà	dà	gà	x'à	c'à	zà	và	dcà	hà	mà	nà	rà	à	là	jà
	Umlaut	u	pu	tu	ku	xu	cu	su	fu	tcu	bu	du	gu	x'u	c'u	zu	vu	dcu	hu	mu	nu	ru	u	lu	ju
	i		pi	ti	ki	xi	ci	si	fi	tci	bi	di	gi	x'i	c'i	zi	vi	dci	hi	mi	ni	ri	i	li	ji
	Other	none	p	t	k	x	c	s	f	tc	b	d	g	x'	c'	z	v	dc	h	m	n	r	*	l	j
	Other	pronounced ì	pì	tì	kì	xì	cì	sì	fì	tcì	bì	dì	gì	x'í	c'í	zì	vì	dcì	hì	mì	nì	rì	**	lì	jì

* This letter would be the unpronounced null consonant carrying the unpronounced no-vowel-diacritic, which means there would be nothing to pronounce. Because of that the letter does not exist.
** This letter would show that a lonely ì is pronounced. But a single ì with no consonant in front will ever be pronounced, therefore this letter does not exist too.

And this it is!
Now you can write Kashtyrian in its very own way. Have fun!

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