Ji'lako
Ji'lako (fig. Sand Tongue), also known as Ji'laka (fig. Way of the Sand) is the language spoken by the Mukasa peoples in the Salt Desert. It developed almost entirely in isolation from other languages, and thus is not mutually intelligible with anything.
Understanding the Writing System
[edit]The writing system is a Reverse Abugida; each letter is composed of a left (optional) and right half, the left representing a consonant prefix and the right representing either a vowel or vowel combination sound. The letters themselves are read vertically, top to bottom, left to right. Columns of text have a contiguous vertical line running through them, even where whitespace would be. The only punctuation is a short horizontal dash, used to join words together into grammatical combinations.
Example Text
[edit]From left to right:
Ji'laka (fig. Way of the Sand)
Sa'inu'raiau (lit. Dead Fields)
Xe'woso (lit. Swordsperson)
ji
'
la
ka
sa
'
qi
nu
'
r1
q3
xe
'
wo
so
Transliterating the Writing System
[edit]There is an alternate character set for writing Ji'lako sounds in more common glyphs; it is what is in use whenever Ji'lako crops up on this wiki.
The word-joining dash is represented with an apostrophe ('). The Ji'lako writing system has no formal sense of capitalization, though it is stylistically recommended when transliterating to capitalize proper nouns, names, and the beginnings of sentences. Punctuation, though also not part of Ji'lako, can be employed for clarity as one sees fit.
Glyphs
[edit]The full set of glyphs, along with their transliterated counterparts and pronunciation, is presented here.
| Glyph | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|---|---|
a
|
A/a | a |
A
|
Ă/ă | ʌ |
e
|
E/e | ɛ |
E
|
Ę/ę | e |
i
|
I/i | i |
o
|
O/o | o |
u
|
U/u | u |
| Glyph | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|---|---|
1
|
AI/ai | ai |
2
|
AO/ao | ao |
3
|
AU/au | au |
5
|
IA/ia | jɑ |
6
|
IĂ/iă | jʌ |
7
|
IE/ie | jɛ |
8
|
IĘ/ię | je |
9
|
IO/io | jo |
0
|
IU/iu | ju |
| Glyph | Transliteration | IPA |
|---|---|---|
b
|
B/b | b |
c
|
Ç/ç | t͡ʃ |
d
|
D/d | d |
f
|
F/f | f |
g
|
G/g | g |
h
|
H/h | h |
j
|
J/j | d͡ʑ |
k
|
K/k | k |
l
|
L/l | l |
m
|
M/m | m |
n
|
N/n | n |
p
|
P/p | p |
r
|
R/r | ɾ |
s
|
S/s | s |
S
|
SH/sh | ʃ |
t
|
T/t | t |
T
|
TH/th | θ |
v
|
V/v | v |
w
|
W/w | w |
x
|
X/x | z |
z
|
Z/z | ʐ |
Grammar
[edit]Grammar in Ji'lako follows a few strict rules, but beyond that is relatively informal.
- An Adjective is like an English adjective.
- A Verb is like an English verb.
- An Adverb is like an English adverb. Adjectives can be turned into adverbs by prefixing them with "ha."
- A Conjunction is like an English conjunction.
- A Relational Adjective is an adjective like "behind,," "above," or "before."
- A Relational Adverb is like a relational adjective, but for verbs.
- A Sentence is either:
- a Noun Phrase, followed by a Verb Phrase, optionally followed by another noun phrase or a sentence,
- a Sentence, a Conjunction, and another Sentence.
- A Noun Phrase is a noun, prefixed by zero or more Relational Adjectives and zero or more Adjectives, in that order, followed by a Ra-phrase for each Relational Adjective, optionally followed by a Conjunction and another Noun Phrase.
- A Verb Phrase is a Verb, prefixed by a Tense, zero or more Adverbs, and zero or more Relational Adverbs, in that order, followed by a Ra-phrase for each Relational Adverb.
- A Ra-phrase is the special word "ra," followed by what a corresponding relational is relating to. The Nth adjective or adverb corresponds to the Nth Ra-phrase.
- A Tense is either:
- lo (past),
- na (present),
- fu (future),
- pa (perfect),
- ia (imperative),
- ge (gerund).