Audapaupadopolisian Language - SCP Foundation

LANGUAGE:

Audapaupadopolisian

L1 Population: 2
Language Class: Jan-Toki1
Trigraphical Code: AUD

Introduction

Audapaupadopolisian is a linguistic isolate that was spoken in the antediluvian city of Audapaupadopolis, classified by the SCP Foundation as SCP-4840. Audapaupadopolisian was presumably spoken since the city’s founding, and continued to be used after its fall as a classical and liturgical language across antediluvian Afro-Eurasia.

Audapaupadopolisian’s status as a language is contested. While no new native speakers have been born in hundreds of thousands of years, the anomalously lengthy lives of some of the city’s inhabitants mean that there are two known native speakers in Foundation containment: SCP-073 and SCP-4840-A. In addition, multiple other entities in Foundation containment are either known to speak Audapaupadopolisian as a second language, or are presumed to be able to speak it. These include SCP-076-2, SCP-2254, SCP-6666-A, and SCP-6765-D.

Due to these surviving native speakers, Audapaupadopolisian may be considered a living, though highly endangered, language. In addition, the existence of two native speakers in Foundation containment, one of which having a near-perfect memory, has allowed for extensive surveys of the language in spite of its extraordinary age.

Audapaupadopolisian is currently the earliest human language known to the Foundation. SCP-073 and SCP-4840-A both claim it is, in fact, the first human language to ever exist. This claim remains unverifiable, as the large gap between antediluvian records and the rest of written history makes it impossible to determine whether Audapaupadopolisian indeed functioned as an ancestor to all, or any, postdiluvian languages or whether there existed other contemporary languages.

In addition, as both known native speakers are members of the Audapaupadopolisian royal family, and as literacy in the city did not extend beyond the upper classes, the only known dialect of the language is the one spoken in high society. It is unknown whether any other dialects existed, or how divergent they possibly were.

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Table of Contents

Introduction

Phonology

Consonants

Vowels

Grammar

Verbal Conjugation

Nominal Conjugation

Noun Cases

Pronouns

Syntax

The Writing System

Sample Text

Phonology

Consonants

Audapaupadopolisian features 15 consonantal phonemes, detailed in the following chart:

Labial
Alveolar
Palatal-Velar

Nasal
m
n

Plosive
p
b
t
d
k
g

Fricative
f
v
s
z
ç

Approximant

l
j

Vowels

Audapaupadopolisian vowel phonemes are significantly more unusual than their consonant counterparts. While the distinguished vowel qualities form a simple five-vowel system, there exists an additional distinction not attested in any other language, which has been termed thaumicity.

According to surviving speakers, thaumicity results from a usage of anomalous means to modify the resonances created during speech. The exact effects this creates, and the methods used to achieve it, remain unknown. For documentation purposes, thaumic vowels are marked using a cedilla2 in phonemic marking and an acute accent3 in romanization, and it is recommended to approximate them in speech using nasal vowels.

Front
Back

Close
i
i̧
u
u̧

Middle
e
ȩ
o
o̧

Open
a
a̧

While thaumic vowels are treated phonotactically fairly similarly to their non-thaumic counterparts, one exception is the fact that no thaumic diphthongs exist. Instead, Audapaupadopolisian's diphthong inventory comprises solely of the following:

a
e
o
i

a

e͡a
o͡a
i͡a

e
a͡e

o

i͡o

i
a͡i
e͡i
o͡i

u
a͡u

o͡u

Grammar

Verbal Conjugation

Audapaupadopolisian features an evidential system of mandatory verbal conjugation, as well as conjugating for both positive and negative verbs.

The Absolute conjugation is the most morphologically simple, and marks verbs that signify what is perceived by the speaker to be basic, unchangeable, universal truths.

lhf|fxfilat|pio|vhlaelaz

Láf fófilat pio válaelaz.

People are born equal.

láf fófil -at pio -∅ ∅ -válae-z

into equality-DAT person-NOM ABS-born -POS

The Common conjugation marked statements considered commonly known facts, though variable or otherwise not as basic as Absolute-conjugated verbs.

fei|fhsaez|niovhlg|trlrpalaz|umalwmioz

Fei fásaez nioválg télépalaz umalúmioz.

The saiga can run fast.

fei fa̧sae-z niova̧lg-∅ tȩlȩp-al -az u -ma -lu̧mio-z

in speed-DAT saiga -NOM run -INF-POS NFUT-COM-able -POS

The final two realis conjugations, the Firsthand and the Indirect, respectively mark statements directly experienced by the speaker to be true or statements the speaker thinks are true but were not directly experienced by them.

pia|oufiav|utigoiz

Pia oufiav utigoiz.

I drank water.

pia-∅ oufia-v u -ti -goi -z

1S -NOM water-ACC NFUT-FIR-drink-POS

tai|oufiav|ulagoiz

Tai oufiav ulagoiz.

She (told me/I inferred that she) drank water.

tai-∅ oufia-v u -la -goi -z

3S -NOM water-ACC NFUT-IDR-drink-POS

The Potential conjugation was used for verbs which are likely or unlikely to happen (in the positive or negative, respectively), but whose reality is not certain.

tai|oufiav|uzagoiz

Tai oufiav uzagoiz.

She likely drank water.

tai-∅ oufia-v u -za -goi -z

3S -NOM water-ACC NFUT-POT-drink-POS

Finally, the Infinitive marks nonfinite verbs:

tai|oufiav|goilaz|utilwmioz

Tai oufiav goilaz utilúmioz.

She is able to drink water.

tai-∅ oufia-v goi -l -az u -ti -lúmio-z

3S -NOM water-ACC drink-INF-POS NFUT-FIR-able -POS

The six conjugations mentioned above further conjugate for both the positive and the negative (e.g. naelaz "to happen" and naelag "to not happen"), and some for the future and non-future tenses, as detailed in the following chart:

Positive
Negative

Realis
Potential
Infinitive
Irrealis
Potential
Infinitive

Absolute
Common
Firsthand
Indirect
Absolute
Common
Firsthand
Indirect

Non-Future
ROOT(a)z
umaROOT(a)z
utiROOT(a)z
ulaROOT(a)z
uzaROOT(a)z
ROOT(a)laz
ROOT(e)g
umaROOT(e)g
utiROOT(e)g
ulaROOT(e)g
uzaROOT(e)g
ROOT-(a)lag

Future
amaROOT(a)z

alaROOT(a)z
azaROOT(a)z
amaROOT(e)g

alaROOT(e)g
azaROOT(e)g

Positive

Realis
Potential
Infinitive

Absolute
Common
Firsthand
Indirect

Non-Future
ROOT(a)z
umaROOT(a)z
utiROOT(a)z
ulaROOT(a)z
uzaROOT(a)z
ROOT(a)laz

Future
amaROOT(a)z

alaROOT(a)z
azaROOT(a)z

Negative

Irrealis
Potential
Infinitive

Absolute
Common
Firsthand
Indirect

Non-Future
ROOT(e)g
umaROOT(e)g
utiROOT(e)g
ulaROOT(e)g
uzaROOT(e)g
ROOT-(a)lag

Future
amaROOT(e)g

alaROOT(e)g
azaROOT(e)g

Non-Future
Future

Realis
Absolute
ROOT(a)(z/g)4

Common
umaROOT(a)(z/g)
amaROOT(a)(z/g)

Firsthand
utiROOT(a)(z/g)

Indirect
ulaROOT(a)(z/g)
alaROOT(a)(z/g)

Potential
uzaROOT(a)(z/g)
azaROOT(a)(z/g)

Infinitive
ROOT(a)la(z/g)

Nominal Conjugation

Noun Cases

Audapaupadopolisian nouns conjugated for four noun cases - the nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative, each marked with a suffix. Each case suffix could further be marked for positive or negative. For example, the positive:

pia|oufiav|utigoiz

Pia oufiav utigoiz.

I drank water.

pia-∅ oufia-v u -ti -goi -z

1S -NOM water-ACC NFUT-FIR-drink-POS

As opposed to the negative, marked with the additional suffix -am:

pia|oufiavam|utigoiz

Pia oufiavam utigoiz.

I drank no water.

pia-∅ oufia-v-am u -ti -goi -z

1S -NOM water-ACC-NEG NFUT-FIR-drink-POS

The full range of case and negation suffixes is as follows:

Nouns did not take the genitive case when attached with the adposition /el/, "of".

Nominative
Accusative
Genitive
Dative

Positive

-(e)v
-(a)p
-(a)t

Negative
-(a)kam
-(e)vam
-(a)pam
-(a)tam

Pronouns

Pronouns in Audapaupadopolisian conjugated for number, person, and clusivity in the plural 1st and, remarkably, 2nd person. In addition, pronouns take on the appropriate case endings.

1st Person
2nd Person
3rd Person

Singular
pia-
mae-
tai-

Plural
Inclusive
çet-
ju̧l-
nok-

Exclusive
çeku-
ju̧lu-

Syntax

The basic word order in Audapaupadopolisian is SOV, though because of its grammatical cases, the order may be changed to OVS if the object is the topic of conversation. The language operates head-finally, with the exception of relative clauses, which follow the head, and of the traditional format of names, where the head (the personal name) is always initial.

Genitive relationships can be marked in Audapaupadopolisian both through the genitive case as well as through amalgamation. For example, the following two phrases both mean "child of (the) father":

Paupap vemb

Paupavemb

When amalgamated, words drop their genitive case ending as long as it is not negated. For example, the amalgamated form of the phrase "child of no father" would be:

Paupapavemb5

The Writing System

The writing system of Audapaupadopolisian is a remarkably conventional alphabet, with one letter for each consonant and vowel. The creation of this system is credited to SCP-073, who claims to have invented it after two months of iteration, in order to assist in the administration of Audapaupadopolis.

Phoneme
Letter

m
m

n
n

p
p

t
t

k
k

b
b

d
d

g
g

f
f

s
s

ç
c

v
v

z
z

l
l

j
j

a
a

e
e

i
i

o
o

u
u

a̧
h

ȩ
r

i̧
y

o̧
x

u̧
w

Words are separated by the symbol | .

Sample Text

Asked by Project PARAGON researchers to provide a sample of Audapaupadopolisian for analysis, SCP-073 provided the following text and its translation:

kain|el|adam|pia|dopol|is|vemb|adam|el|asem|gou|liopea|zapaelio|umasumaz|el|tei|lilit|gou|fia|taijoap|el|meina|umasumaz|el

piav|utivendaz|dopol|is|zapaeoania|vae|néb|nis|vae|edekump|vae|audapaupadopolis|fau|pia|eibelev|el|adam|fóks|liojou|tei|setev|el|adam|vembap|naivimbemb|utinuvidaz

Kain el Adam pia dopol is vemb Adam el Asem gou liopea zapaelio umasumaz el tei Lilit gou fia taijoap el meina umasumaz el.

Piav utivendaz dopol is zapaeoania vae néb nis vae edekump vae Audapaupadopolis fau pia Eibelev el Adam fóks liojou tei Setev el Adam vembap naivimbemb utinuvidaz.

I am Cain el Adam, firstborn of Adam el Asem, who was called the Golden Sun of Man, and of Lilith, who was called the Mother of Nations.

I was born of the first union of Man, high on Eden's hill in Audapaupadopolis, and was the elder brother of Able el Adam, the Sun's Left Hand, and Seth el Adam, son of the Daughter of Paradise.

Footnotes

1. The language depends on anomalous means to be used, but is itself non-anomalous.

2. A diacritic mark shaped as a hook beneath the letter.

3. A diacritic marked shaped as a right-leaning line over the letter.

4. "Z" for the positive, and "G" for the negative.

5. The final consonant of the case suffix is deleted so as to not create an illegal cluster with the first consonant of the following root.