Burcadian Language

The **Burcadian Language** is the language of the Burcadians. It is not commonly spoken nowadays except by scholars.

## Phonology

### Alphabet

The Burcadian alphabet is 19 letters long.

* Aa (/a/)
* Bb (/b/)
* Dd (/d/)
* Ee (/e/)
* Gg (/g/)
* Hh (/h/)
* Ii (/i/)
* Kk (/k/)
* Ll (/l/)
* Mm (/m/)
* Nn (/n/)
* Oo (/o/)
* Pp (/p/)
* Rr (/r/)
* Tt (/t/)
* Uu (/u/)
* Ww (/w/)
* Yy (/j/)
* ' (/ʊ/)

### Diphthongs

Vowels diphthongs are always followed by i or u unless they're the same. Then they are pronounced the same but longer. As well as this, they can be followed by a semivowel such as l and r or a nasal like m, n and ng. This makes 38 vowel diphthongs.

* Aa
* Ai
* Al
* Am
* An
* Ang
* Ar
* Au
* Ee
* Ei
* El
* Em
* En
* Eng
* Er
* Eu
* Ii
* Il
* Im
* In
* Ing
* Ir
* Iu
* Oi
* Ol
* Om
* On
* Ong
* Oo
* Or
* Ou
* Ui
* Ul
* Um
* Un
* Ung
* Ur
* Uu

The six plosive consonants can be followed by an "h" (which will make them fricatives), a "y", a "w", an "r" or an "l". The nasal diphthong ng also counts. This makes 31 different consonantal diphthongs possible.

* Bh
* Bl
* Br
* Bw
* By
* Ph
* Pl
* Pr
* Pw
* Py
* Dh
* Dl
* Dr
* Dw
* Dy
* Th
* Tl
* Tr
* Tw
* Ty
* Gh
* Gl
* Gr
* Gw
* Gy
* Kh
* Kl
* Kr
* Kw (sometimes spelt as Qu)
* Ky
* Ng (as in sing)

All in all, the amount of consonant sounds possible (46) multiplied by the number of vowel sounds possible (68) makes 3128 syllabic morphemes.

### Triphthongs

There are 25 triphthongs.

* Aal
* Aam
* Aan
* Aang
* Aar
* Ail
* Aim
* Ain
* Aing
* Air
* Aul
* Aum
* Aun
* Aung
* Aur
* Eel
* Eem
* Een
* Eeng
* Eer
* Eil
* Eim
* Ein
* Eing
* Eir
* Eul
* Eum
* Eun
* Eung
* Eur
* Iil
* Iim
* Iin
* Iing
* Iir
* Iul
* Ium
* Iun
* Iung
* Iur
* Oil
* Oim
* Oin
* Oing
* Oir
* Ool
* Oom
* Oon
* Oong
* Oor
* Oul
* Oum
* Oun
* Oung
* Our
* Uil
* Uim
* Uin
* Uing
* Uir
* Uul
* Uum
* Uun
* Uung
* Uur

## Grammar

### Pronouns

Each of the pronouns contains one syllable, starting with a voiceless consonant and ending in an a. Burcadians don't distinguish between male and female.

 2nd Person
 3rd Person

### Nouns

Burcadian nouns are pluralised and dualised like pronouns are, by adding an "i" or a "u" to the word's final syllable. Burcadian words don’t have articles

Most syllables represent one noun and go with other nouns to make new nouns. The Burcadian word “litho” which gives us Lithomancy, is made up of the roots “li”, meaning magic and “tho” meaning stone. Literally, “magic stone”.

The word Burcadia (or Burkeidi’a as spelt in Burcadian) is made up of “Bur” meaning farmer, “ke” meaning field (and pluralised into fields), “di” meaning “to tend” and “a” being a suffix indicating a location. Literally, “where the farmer tends fields”.

The end of roots will decide most of the word's meaning. For example, take the word "bu", meaning "to farm".

* Bui - makes the verb plural, "they farm"

* Bul - makes the verb an adjective "the farm-related object"

* Bum - makes the verb an active participle "the farming man"

* Bun - makes the verb a passive participle "the farmed fields"

* Bung - makes the verb a gerund "farming is an art"

* Bur - makes the verb a person who does the thing "a farmer"

* Buu - makes the verb dual "the two of them farm"

### Verbs

Verbs are conjugated in terms of tense and number.

### Syntax

Sentence structure is usually subject-object-verb unless the object is a pronoun, which makes it subject-verb-object.

Conjunctions such as "And" or "or" follow the two words they are describing instead of coming between. For example, "Dya ma yel" (sun and moon).

Adjectives come before the noun and do not decline.

Prepositional phrases can come anywhere in the sentence. For example, "I teach about magic" could translate as "wilikawon", "kawiliwon" or "kawonwili", and would all mean the same thing.

Adverbs, like adjectives, precede the verb. Adjectives and adverbs don't differentiate between each other. "Pol", for example, could mean "dark" or "darkly" depending on the context.

## Translation Errors

Some wizards translate "wi" as "wee" so it can be more easily read in the Common Tongue. This is seen in The Book of Dragons. The same is done with the word Burkeidi'a, becoming Burcadia. This is because Common is stupid and irrational.