Conlang
Register
Advertisement

Overview

Setting

...


Orthography

Alphabet

The Viselek Alphabet consists of 34 letters. It uses the 26 standard Latin letters, as well as a, s and z circumflex (â,ŝ and ẑ), and six digraphs (cŝ, dh, gh, lh, nh and qh). All of these are treated as seperate letters, and are ordered accordingly. So for example, dhzebaw comes after duwn.

Viselek a â b c d dh e f g gh h i j k l lh m n nh o p q qh r s ŝ t u v w x y z
IPA æ a b ts d d ɛ f g ʝ h ɯ k l ʎ m n ɴ ɒ p q ç r s ʃ t ʊ v w ks j z ʒ

Other Letter Combinations

In addition to the letters of the alphabet, there are a few less-common digraphs that represent either a)rarer phonemes or b)phonemes that are more commonly represented by an letter of the alphabet. These are not counted as letters, and are ordered with their component letters.

  • iy - represents the vowel /i/. Found in words like siyeb (seven) and powriy (river).
  • uw - represents the vowel /ʌ/. Found in words like nuwn (north) and guwm (gum).
  • aw - represents the vowel /ɔ/. Fairly common, found in words like dezawna (other) and yaw (floor).
  • - represents the consonant /ʃ/ when found at the start of a word, as in hŝex (six). The 'h' is effectively silent.
  • ur - represents the vowel /œ/. Found in words like urqh (castle).

Basic Grammar

Because of the inflected nature of Viselek, nouns, adjectives and verbs come in many forms, and often whole sentences in English can be written in one or two words.

Nouns

Nouns can come in a great many forms, with suffixes being added to them to indicate possession, article, number and location.

Suffixes

Below is a table about the noun "ŝaw" meaning "horse", and the various suffixes used to indicate it's aspects. The suffixes added to ŝaw are the same used for every noun, so this is a good indication of how to put other nouns together.

Articles

suffix word meaning
[none] ŝaw horse
-an ŝawan horses
-ad ŝawad the horse
-ayetad ŝawayetad the horses
-et ŝawet a horse

Number

suffix word meaning
[none] ŝaw horse
-ayet ŝawayet horses

Possession

suffix word meaning
[none] ŝaw horse
-an ŝawan my horse
-adh ŝawadh your horse (sing.)
-ev ŝawev your horse (plur.)
-eŝq ŝaweŝq her horse
-ehek ŝawehek his horse
-enh ŝawenh our horse
-eqh ŝaweqh it's house
-uwm* ŝawuwm* [named person]'s house*
  • To say that the noun belongs to a named person, that is indicated by writing the noun with the suffix -uwm, and then the person's name. So to say "Bill's horse", you write "ŝawuwm Bill".

Location

suffix word meaning
-âbân ŝawadâbân in the horse
-uwan ŝawaduwan next to the horse
-avâq ŝawadavâq with the horse
-ewd ŝawadewd on the horse
-epit ŝawadepit to the horse
-ugwa ŝawadugwa under the horse
-opowod ŝawadopowod infront of the horse
-apozd ŝawadapozd behind the horse

Adjectives

Adjectives in Viselek come in three forms, the regular, exaggerated and superlative. The exaggerated in formed by adding the suffix "-eref", and the superlative is formed by adding the suffix "-edhef". So the adjective "vedheq" meaning "good", can be modified to become "vedheqeref" meaning "better" and "vedheqedhef" meaning "best".

To cancel the adjective, you add the word "nahâr" to the start of the sentence or clause. So for example to change "it is better" ("ghuyura vedheqeref") into "it is not better", you write "nahâr ghuyura vedheqeref", literally "not it is better".

The English word "is" is represented by the Viaskan suffix "ura", so that "she is" is written "ŝura".

Verbs

Viselek verbs are fairly easy to understand. There are suffixes added for the past, present, future, , infinitive, imperitive and gerund.

The below table shows the different forms of the verb "vowroŝ" meaning "to go".

suffix verb meaning
[none] vowroŝ to go
-ab vowroŝab will go
-eqh vowroŝeqh goes
-el vowroŝab went
-urq vowroŝurq going
-ok vowroŝok GO!
-eb vowroŝeb (has) been going

Like with adjectives, Verbs can be cancelled by adding the word "nahâr" to the start of the sentence or clause. So the sentence "Lâh vowroŝab" ("I went"), becomes "Nahâr lâh vowroŝab" ("I did not go").

Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns in Viselek are similar to those in English.

Personal Pronouns
Lhâ I, Me
Dhâ You (singular)
You (plural)
Qhâ He, Him
Ŝaa She, Her
Nhâ We, Us
Ghuy It
Fâqâr They, Them

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns are known as the "Q" words, similar to the "wh" words in English, as they all (with the exeption of "ka") begin with "q".

Viselek English
Qopâ Who
Ka What
Qdhe When
Qghâ Why
Qidâr Which
Qurd How

In a sentence, the interrogative pronoun is followed by a comma. So "What is your name?" is written "Ka, lhâradh?". Note that the Viselek suffix for "is" (the suffix "-ura") is not needed.


Dictionary

Viselek IPA
Pronunciation
English Synonyms Antonyms Notes
Balkânayet bælkanajɛt Balkans Plural form, as the singular form Balkân is not needed, and so is not used.
Bulgâriya bʊlgarijə Bulgaria
buwn bʌn good vedheq rawc, hŝan
cinciy tsɯntsi small ninâ jawd, gubâr
ctât tstat state, country
cŝer tʃɛr less mulca
cŝiwa tʃɯwə five
Danuwba dænʌbə Danube
deprenŝawka dɛprɛnʃɔkə along
dezawna dɛzɔnə other
dhâ da you used when referring to a single person, as opposed to , which refers to a group of people.
fâqâr faqar they/them
Greka grɛkə Greece
Ghurkiya ʝœkijə Turkey
ghuy ʝœj it
hŝan ʃæn bad rawc buwn, vedheq
incŝeriyât ɯntʃɛrijat border (with another nation)
jawd dʒɔd big gubâr cinciy
ka what?
kileniy kɯlɛni south nuwn
kocorsag kɒtsɔrsæg republic
lhâ ʎa I/me
mariqh mærɯç sea
Maqedoniya mæqədɒnijə Macedonia
mulca mʌltsə more cŝer
neq nɛq and
nolowqh nɒlɒwç black fekedhe
nuwn nʌn north kileniy
nhâ ɴa us/we
powriyad pɒwrijæd river
qdhe qədə when?
qghâ qʝa why?
qidâr qɯdar how?
qopâ qɒpə who?
qurd qœd which?
qhâ ça him/he
rawc rɔts bad hŝan vedheq, buwn
Rumâniya rumanija Romania
Serbiya sɛrbijə Serbia
ŝaa ʃa her/she
ŝaw ʃɔ horse
ŝewdnew ʃɛwdnɛw define
tawxâl tɔksal extent
ujerawt ʊdʒɛrɔt then.. as in "then, he went to the shop".
va you used when referring to a group of people, as opposed to dhâ which refers to a single person.
vedheq vɛdɛq good buwn hŝan, rawc
viyest vijɛst west yest
yest jɛst east viyest

Numbers

Number Viselek Word
0 naq
1 âl
2 dhe
3 tev
4 fak
5 cŝiwa
6 hŝex
7 ŝiyeben
8 otac
9 nhonnh
10 dev
11 devâl
12 devdhe
13 devtev
20 dhedev
30 tevdev
100 cinc
110 cinc-es-dev
120 cinc-es-dhedev
200 dhecinc
1000 nilân
1100 nilân-es-cinc
2000 dhenilân
2145 dhenilân-cinc-es-fakdev-cŝiwa

Example text

Viselek Bulgâriyura ctâtet Balkânayetadâbân. Ghuy incŝeriyâteqh cŝiwa dezawna ctâtayet: Rumâniya nuwnadepit (mulcala deprenŝawka Powriyad Danuwba), Serbiya neq Kocorsagad Maqedoniyâinhâ viyestadepit, neq Greka neq Ghurkiya kileniyadepit. Mariqhad Nolowqh ŝewdneweqh tawxâlad ctâtadâinhâ yestadepit.
English Bulgaria is a state in the Balkans. It borders five other countries: Romania to the north (mostly along the River Danube), Serbia and the Republic of Macedonia to the west, and Greece and Turkey to the south. The Black Sea defines the extent of the country to the east.
Advertisement