Savarian (language)
Savarian is the first language created when sentience was bestowed upon The Bismuverse. It is the language of the Savarian, the first species to roam the world with their own thoughts and feelings.
Orthography and Scriptography
The written language of Savarian focuses primarily on the use of iconic and abstract symbols used for each concept, representing the continent’s and the species’s dedication to the body and form, as well as the rules and harmony that guide them. As such, it is also a very structured language with strict and rigid linguistic rules with little if any exceptions.
With Savarians being extremely focused on the body, the Savarian language is also a manual sign language, where each written symbol also corresponds to manual gesture.
Phonology
The following sounds are typical, allowed sounds used in the Savarian language. As Savarian is the official language of Savare, many different creatures with many different speech patterns may speak it as well.
There exist two main phonologies in Savarian, both of which correspond with each other. Traditional Savarian Phonology is based on the sounds that Savarians or any mineral creature can produce. Humanized Savarian Phonology is based on the sounds that Humans can produce.
Traditional Phonology
Humanized Phonology
The glyphs in square brackets represent the glyphs used to spell them out in written language. Since Savarian is a pictural language that uses characters to represent whole words and concepts, these glyphs are used specifically and only for transcriptions of words.
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Closed | i (i) | u (u) |
| ɪ (ì) | ʊ (ù) | |
| Closed-Mid | e (e) | o (ò) |
| Open-Mid | ɛ (è) | ɔ (o) |
| æ (à) | ||
| Open | a (a) |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Dental | Retroflex | Velar | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p, b | t (t), d (d) | k (k), g (g) | |
| Fricative | ɸ (f), β (v) | s (s), z (z), θ (tl), ð (dl) | ʂ (sl), ʐ (zl) | x (h), ɣ (j) |
| Nasal | m (m) | n (n) | ŋ (c) | |
| Tap | ɾ (r) | |||
| Trill | ʙ (br, pr) | r (dr, tr) | ʀ (gr, kr) |
Semantics and Lexicon
See the link below for an incomplete table of the Savarian lexicon.
Number System
The Savarian number system is in base-12, which means it has twelve different digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B) as opposed to English, which is in base-10, and only has ten digits
The Savarian number system is based on gathering traditions. As Savarians started out as a farming people in The Rose Courts, they would go out with baskets to collect Roses and other crops they were growing. Every word for their number has an agricultural connotation to it.
- (0) GRIB (poison--if a crop is poisoned, they would bring nothing back from gathering)
- (1) MON (stick)
- (2) TAÙ (scythe)
- (3) HUÈK (basin)
- (4) MARÒN (empty basket)
- (5) PAÙK
- (6) BRÌGZ (half-filled basket)
- (7) ÈTS
- (8) DÒT
- (9) PUASL
- (A) BEL
- (B) SKERT
- (10) IK
- (100 or more) KUNZ
Syntax
Example Sentences
| Savarian | Direct Transcription | English Translation |
|---|---|---|
| ÈE? KOTS-ÈE? | WHAT? FIELD-WHAT? | What? Where am I? |
| LODÈDL! SLOK! | ATTENTION! TRAP! | Careful! There's a trap! |
| MADAJ LOD. | TREE SIGHT. | I see a tree. |
| KAL-NE. GRIB-LA | FOOD-NO. POISON-YES. | That's not food, that's poison. |
| ROZLIJ HÈA. LIJ SAVAR. | KING ME. LEADER SAVARE. | I am Radley Diamant, king of the Savarians! |