Proto-Rıkwictareb Language

**Proto-Rıkwictareb** (IPA: /rɪ.kwitsˈta.rɛb/; RAlph: ), known by its speakers as *Rıkwictareb*, is a language formerly spoken by the inhabitants of *Rıkučar*. Proto-Rıkwictareb, being a constructed language, was composed and created over Farogu's young life and was confirmed as the official national language at the 1st Council of Survivors at Kazenynere in 10062. Proto-Rıkwictareb was regulated entirely by Farogu and the Council of Survivors (now the Rıkučreb Senate) until the language was discontinued as an official language in the year 10521. Proto-Rıkwictareb is still spoken by the Royal Family and Royal Palace Staff on a daily basis. The overall evolution of Proto-Rıkwictareb into its descendant languages mostly followed population centers, with the Rewictob Language being spoken in urban areas, and the Rıkučreb language being spoken in rural areas (with a notable exception being the capital city of Kazenynerelux). This trend held up until the Great Drought of 10347, when mass migrations resulted in an effective reversal of ethnic makeup in certain regions, most notably the central plains.

## Phonotactics

### Allophones and Diphthongs

#### Vowels

* /ɑ/ lengthens when unstressed after sibilants in syllable coda, and when before any vowel other than [ɪ] or [u]. Does not nasalise.
	+ [ɒ] does not lengthen. Nasalises normally. Allophone of **/ɑ/** before post-alveolar and lateral approximants. Usually realized as [ɔ̞].
	+ [a] does not lengthen or nasalise. Allophone of **/ɑ/** when unstressed before plosives and stressed after semivowel.
	+ [æ] does not lengthen. Nasalises normally. Allophone of **/ɑ/** when stressed before plosives (unless after semivowel).
* /ɑɪ/ occurs anywhere.
* /ɑu/ occurs anywhere.
* /ɛ/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
	+ [e] lengthens when word-final (unless in monosyllabic word), and before any vowel other than /ɪ/. Does not nasalise. Allophone of **/ɛ/** when before any vowel other than /ɪ/, when before post-alveolar approximants, or when stressed.
* /eɪ/ occurs when /ɛ/ or [e] precedes /ɪ/, but also independently.
* /ə/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
* /ɪ/ does not lengthen or nasalise.
* /i/ lengthens when before any vowel. Nasalises before **/ŋ/**.
* /o/ lengthens when before any vowel other than /ɪ/. Nasalises normally.
	+ [ɔ] does not lengthen. Nasalises normally. Allophone of **/o/** when stressed before plosives. Usually realized as [ɔ̞].
* /oɪ/ occurs anywhere.
* /u/ lengthens before any vowel other than /ɪ/. Does not nasalise.
	+ [ʊ] does not lengthen or nasalise. Allphone of **/u/** when word-final.
* /uɪ/ occurs anywhere.

#### Consonants

* [dʒ] occurs when /ʒ/ is initial and is followed by a long vowel. This is an allophone of **/ʒ/**.
* [ɾ] occurs before a vowel unless word-initial. This is an allophone of **/r/**.

### Stress

Penultimate syllables are always stressed, unless:

* Said syllable is preceded by another syllable containing an identical vowel, in which case that syllable is stressed instead. (ex. *sap**ı**sıri*; *k**e**zkeþı*)
* The word has an odd number of syllables (5 or more), in which case the median syllable is stressed (ex. *edī**a**zıcam*)

## Writing System

Modern Rıkučreb is written by its native speakers and the government of Rıkučar using the Rıkučreb Alphabet. Transcriptions of Rıkučreb into languages that use the Latin alphabet are almost always made using the Rıkučreb Standard Latin Orthography (*RiSLO*).

## Grammar

### Gender

Gender in the Rıkučreb language functions as a noun declension. There are 3 genders: Male, Female, and Neutral. Gender is applied to any animate noun by adding a letter after the stressed vowel: "l" for masculine and "r" for feminine. Neutral nouns do not receive a modifier (ex. Dog "Lula" > Masc. "Lulla" Fem. "Lurla" Neu. "Lula". In this case, "ll" is pronounced as the letter "ll" /ɬ/)

### Articles

#### Definite Article

The singular definite article in Rıkučreb is *ı*. It occurs before the word it affects.

#### Indefinite Article

The indefinite article in Rıkučreb is *ob*. It occurs before the word it affects. It is not affected by other particles, and always precedes any particle. It is derived from Rıkučreb *obu*, meaning *one (number)*

### Nouns

Nouns are the base unit of Rıkučreb grammar. Various suffixes and prefixes are added onto the noun to form various different words. When forming count nouns, *-z* is added to the end of the root morpheme. Nouns are not declined in Rıkučreb, and concepts such as number are represented by particles (see *Particles*).

### Pronouns

Rɩkučreb has standalone pronouns. Similar to Rıkučreb verbs, pronouns exhibit clusivity.

#### Possessive

In the Rıkučreb language, the possessive contains two types of words: determiners and pronouns. Determiners are expressed by the particle "*en*", which is attached to the end of the subject via a dash "-" (ex. "Net's car" > *"Net**-en** (reze)skotru"*). Pronouns are expressed as a particle that comes before the word it affects. These particles are listed below. In cases regarding the possessive form of a personal pronoun (such as "*my*" or "*your*"), the possessive pronoun is also used (ex. "That is my car" > *"Edu oke **na** (reze)skotru"*; whereas "That car is mine" > *"Edu (reze)skotru oke **na**"*.)

 1st
 2nd
 3rd

* The exclusive 1st person plural, *ča*, is used to refer to "each one of our/ours" as opposed to "all of our/ours collectively".
* The exclusive 2nd person plural, *ba*, is used to refer to "each one of your/yours" as opposed to "all of your/yours collectively".

#### Personal Pronouns

Rıkučreb has no subject pronouns. However, there are object pronouns, which also serve as reflexive pronouns. The personal pronouns used in Rıkučreb are listed below.

 1st
 2nd
 3rd

* The exclusive 1st person plural, *čaz*, is used to refer to "each one of us" as opposed to "all of us collectively".
* The exclusive 2nd person plural, *baz*, is used to refer to "each one of you" as opposed to "all of you collectively".

#### Possessive Pronouns

 1st
 2nd
 3rd

### Affixes

#### Causative

The causative form of a verb is represented by the affix *kre* (although this may better be described as a clitic). It occurs before the word it affects, and is attached to the word via a dash "*-*".

### Particles

#### Exhortative

The Exhortative particles signal the speaker's avid encouragement toward the addressee's bringing about the proposition of an utterance.
Exhortative constructions can only be used in second person singular and plural utterances.
It is represented by *ga!* (ex. "You should drink this, it's so good!" *"Notoki eto, oke ezu jannev ga!"*.)

#### Erotic

The erotic particle, *go*, is a concept unique to the Rıkwictareb Languages. It is used to imply or invoke sexual arousal, and is usually used in familiar conversation. When in formal conversation, one will often use the non-juiscal definition of a word or an entirely different word that cannot be made juiscal. The juiscal particle occurs before the word it affects, and is attached to the word via a dash "*-*".

### Adjectives

Adjectives are formed by adding the suffix *-nev* to the end of a noun. When conjugating into the degrees of comparison, the adjectival suffix is shortened to *-n*, thus forming the adjectival root. The comparative suffix is then placed onto the end of the adjectival root.

### Adverbs

Adverbs are formed by adding the suffix *-gev* to the end of a noun. When conjugating into the degrees of comparison, the adverbial suffix is shortened to *-g*, thus forming the adverbial root. The comparative suffix is then placed onto the end of the adverbial root.

### Degrees of Comparison

The Rıkučreb language uses 6 Degrees of Comparison, as opposed to the 2 used in English.
The prefixes that are added onto the adjectival or adverbial root when using the Degrees of Comparison are listed in the chart below.

Degrees of Comparison in Rɩkučreb
 Proclivitive
 Contrary
 Comparative
 Superlative
 Hyperlative

Comparatives and Contraries do not use "e" before them unless the subject uses it anyways (ex. "The better man" > *"**I** jannezlu kın"*). All other degrees of comparison **do** use "ı" unless they are referring to a possessive (ex. "My best friend" > *"Na jannezlug jıtubu"*.)

The comparative degrees that are unique to Rıkučreb are described in detail below.

1. The **Contrary** is the opposite of the Comparative, and is used to represent the shortage of something or the lack of a certain quality.
2. The **Proclivitive** is the opposite of the Superlative, and is used to represent the complete absence of a thing or quality.
3. The **Hyperlative** and the **Inferlative** refer to the absolute most or least amount of something possible, respectively (ex. "The best possible thing" *"I jann**ezlugy** eþëbi"*). These forms can also be used in exaggerations (ex. "The best day ever!" *I jann**ezlugy** norvë!"*).

#### Adverbs of Comparison

The *Adverbs of Comparison* correspond to "so" and "not so [much]" or "very" and "not as" in the English language. They are, respectively, *ezun* and *ezonen*.

#### Quantity

When referring to an amount of something, the adjective *Enev* and its comparisons are used. (ex. "I have more." *"Dofen* en**ezlu***."*).

### Verbs

Verbs are formed by adding the infinitive *-ri* to the end of a mass noun, if there is a corresponding mass noun. In the Rɩkučreb language, all plural persons, as well as the singular 3rd person, exhibit clusivity. Verbs are conjugated into the following conjugation table.

* The exclusive third person can also be used in any tense when relaying a message to a 3rd party that is absent at the time but will be present at a time that you and your group are absent. In this case, the absent 3rd party is referred to in the direct plural 2nd person. (ex. "We are sorry that we were not able to attend, but we gifted you this." *"O**če** laubeþwinev nedas ba o**ča** erbēnev rojuburi, oze do**če** ıǯıjiregezŵa **l**az edo ."*)

#### Perfect Aspect

The perfect aspect is created by conjugating *Dori* and adding that before the past participle of the verb in question. Dori is conjugated into the Past Indicative to form the Present Perfect, Present Indicative to form the Pluperfect, Future Indicative to form the Future Perfect, and the Conditional to form the Conditional Perfect.

#### Continuous Aspect

The continuous aspect is created by conjugating *Ori* and adding that before the gerund of the verb in question. Ori follows the same conjugation procedure as Dori follows when conjugated into the Perfect. However, Ori is only conjugated into the Indicative, and therefore the Continuous only has 3 tenses.

### Syntax

Rıkučreb is a head-initial language, and all modifiers precede the words the modify. It has the basic word order Subject-Verb-Object. Rıkučreb is a null-subject language.

## Example text

This is the entry for constructedlanguages's Conlang Challenge on deviantART, which was to translate the preamble of the United States Declaration of Independence into one's conlang.

### Rikučreb

*Nidu tapa ı jazıkuz au kınnev sapısızkë, natemteke bupukenev čusi sapu kınıtkë uburi ı lesoısnev jasbuzkë netak dof čebedeŵo maz neþe obosaıedu, ōu natemtri tabneþe ı lapnulkë au ı Eči, ı regeronev ōu wezonev kıgerhesâb es neda ı Grenkë au Ečiat ōu au Ečiat-en God jırebfe maz, ob nupukenev ıčılaupacë es ı altabazke au kın čatık nedas ēgem nuparızri ı greduzkë netak talugife maz es ı regero.*

### English

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.