Alpharian

**Alpharian** (Alpharian: *sAvOpYc*) is a constructed language used by SKA.

## Name

The name "Alpharian" is due to the fact that modern Alpharian was mainly developed by JEMCDLX Alpha.

## History

### Old Alpharian

Old Alpharian was the period of Alpharian before it was developed by JEMCDLX Alpha. This form of Alpharian existed before the collapse of the Agents of S and was regulated by JEMCDLX Omega. It was also the form of Alpharian that Dark Alpharian developed from.

The earliest text from this era dates back to 1125, five years after the Agents of S was founded.

### Middle Alpharian

Middle Alpharian was the form of Alpharian used in SOC and early SKA. It was developed from Old Alpharian by JEMCDLX Alpha. Some changes from Old to Middle Alpharian are:

* /aː/ becomes /ɑ/
* Palatalized consonants become consonant clusters before /u/ or /o/
* Voiced palatalized consonants become plain and voiceless ones become fully palatal
* Case endings are lost
* Short /e/ and /o/ become /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ and their long counterparts shorten
* /ei̯/ and /ou̯/ become /eː/ and /oː/
* Interrogative suffix -e is lost
* /dʒ/ becomes /ʒ/

Some archaic features that were lost in Middle Alpharian were retained in Dark Alpharian, such as case endings and palatalization.

### Early Modern Alpharian

Early Modern Alpharian was the form of Alpharian used up to 1900. Some changes from Middle to Early Modern Alpharian are:

* Adjective inflection is lost
* All adpositions become postpositions
* Interrogative word order switches from VSO to VOS
* /ə/ inserted before syllabic obstruents
* Diphthongs ending in /i̯/ are replaced with long monophthongs
* /ɛː/ is raised to /eː/
* /j/ is lost after /ʒ/
* /d/ is lost before /l/
* /l/ and /r/ merge

### Modern Alpharian

Modern Alpharian is the current form of Alpharian. Some changes from Early Modern to Modern Alpharian are:

* /ɕ/ becomes /ʃ ~ ʂ/
* /ɑ/ becomes /ɒ/
* /ʏ/ becomes /ʊ/
* Short vowels are added to break up consonant clusters
* Consonant gemination is lost
* Final /h/ is lost, lengthening vowels

## Phonology

### Vowels

 **Near-Close** | ɪ ⟨I⟩
 **Close-Mid** | e
 **Open-Mid** | ɛ ⟨E⟩
 **Near-Open** | æ ⟨Y⟩

/a/, /e/, /i/, and /u/ may be short or long.

### Stress

Alpharian words are usually stressed on the last syllable (not including suffixes). However, words are stressed on the first syllable if it contains a long vowel. Stress is not phonemic.

### Phonotactics

Consonant clusters of up to two consonants are allowed. Sonorants may be syllabic, but stops and fricatives must have the vowel /ə/ added before them. There are no diphthongs.

## Grammar

### Nouns

Nouns are inflected for two numbers. Singular nouns are unmarked and plural nouns have the suffix -'r.

### Verbs

Verbs are conjugated (mostly agglutinatively) for mood, number, person, tense, and voice. Each verb has a verb stem and many possible suffixes.

 **Second** | -'d
 **Third** | -'k

The tense suffixes are *-Ir* for past tense and *-ir* for future tense.

Passive voice is formed by treating the object like the subject and geminating the last consonant of the verb ending.

Indicative and interrogative moods have no suffixes. Additional moods are formed with the suffixes -tS (conditional), -E (imperative), -un (optative), and -T (subjunctive). Imperative verbs are not conjugated for person.

### Syntax

Basic word order in Alpharian is subject-object-verb for non-interrogative sentences and verb-object-subject for interrogative sentences.

All modifier words are placed after the main word, including articles.

Existential constructions (like "there is") use the verb *vaZ* (to have) and do not have a subject.

## Alpharian Alphabets

### Foreign Letters

The Alpharian alphabet also uses several letters to represent sounds in other languages, such as English or Skarelan.