Siangwaanian language

The **Siangwaanian language** (Siāng waanʟ bunʟ) is the native language of the Siangwaanian people, who live in the republic of Siangwaan at the eastern part of the continent of Palkyras. It was derived from a form of Daizhouvian.

## History

In the early history of Siangwaan, the people started adopting Vozonid words into their conversations as they distanced themselves from their ancestral homeland of Daizhou.

At some point in its history, a nationalist politician replaced many words with local, dialectal terms. It resulted in Siangwaanian becoming a different language from its ancestral counterpart, modern Daizhouvian.

## Dialects

Siangwaanian also has its own dialects: for example, the eastern provinces have a *bl* phoneme in some words developed from *b* or *l*, and the western provinces merge *m* and *b* in many words into *v*, which usually appears in Vozonid loanwords.

### Eastern Siangwaanian

* b or l sometimes pronounced as bl
* A handful of l-words are pronounced as "gl". For example, Heng Lao Province being locally pronounced as "Heung Glàu" (恆勞, [ħə̀ːŋ gɫâːʊ̯]).

### Western Siangwaanian

* m or b are pronounced as v
* Some words with o and aa develop an ô [ɔ] vowel

### Formalised Siangwaanian, Sarmelonised Siangwaanian

Formalised Siangwaanian, mostly used in ceremonies and in daily life among the western provinces, has a heavy Sarmelonid influence.

* Consonant clusters retained and always pronounced (especially -r, -l, -j)
* w pronounced as v

### Eikavian Siangwaanian

* Words that start with vowels may have a ng- sound at the start.
* aa pronounced as [æ]
* w pronounced as [ʋ]
* gw may be pronounced as [gʷ~ŋ(g)ʷ] instead of [kʷ]
* kw may be pronounced as [xʷ~ɣʷ] instead of [kʷ]
* a sometimes pronounced as [ɒ~ɔ] as the last syllable of a word
* Ei Kà - [ɛi̯ kʰâ] (standard); [æj kʰɒ̂(ː)] (local Ei Kavian dialect)
* l pronounced as [g͡ɫ-] in some words

### Northern Siangwaanian

* l pronounced as [g͡ɫ-] in some words
* eu pronounced as [-øl~-ol], in casual speech
	+ This developed from foreigners trying to differentiate eu from o, by adding an -l.
* un pronounced as [on]

### Krathalid, Krasalido

Mostly used among the Burrow-cities of the northwest, especially due to many of them practicing a Vozonid culture.

* Consonant clusters always retained and pronounced
* Same tone in two consequent syllables, especially in Vozonid loanwords
* Siangwaanian z may be pronounced as [d͡ʑ~t͡ɕ] instead of [t͡s], while ź is always [z] except at the end of a word or name [-s].
* Some speakers pronounce eu as [-øl~-ol], especially among Vozonid-speaking Siangwaanians.
* Some words with o and aa develop an ô [ɔ] vowel.

### Southern Siangwaanian

* Possible Josolchir influence in phonology
* aa - [æ]
	+ Except in some words, like "Siang**waan**" [siæ̌ŋwɔ̂ːn], "Siang**won**"; g**áan** [k**æ̌ʊ̯n**]. Hence the spelling of Siangwaan's name in Bujanski as "Sængvanja".
* aai - [æi̯~æj]
* aau - [æu̯~æw]
* Consonant clusters are retained more often, especially in Vozonid or foreign loanwords.

## Pronouns

* mó - I, me
* naa - thou, thee
* kúi - he/she/it, him/her/it
* móyā - we, us
* naayā - you all, ye all
* touʟ - they, them

-yā - plural

-yē is used as a genitive for pronouns and words, but it becomes -mē in mó

-zewʟ - -self

### Archaic pronouns

* ngó (吾) - I
* nio (汝) - thou
* kiò (渠) - he/she/it (common)
* ye (伊) - he/she/it (higher)

-daang (等) - (plural)

-kei (其) - genitive

## Verbal aspects

* ... zó - had finished
* ... gwo - done before
* ... sái - all done
* ... gáan - (continuous)
* ... há - still doing to now
* ... hōi - usually does

* ... héi séung lèi - started to do
* kiew ... - will do

### Other verbal aspects

* ... mouʟ - did not do (after a verbal aspect)
* -mauʟ - have not done
* ... de - by someone, (passive, after a verbal aspect)
* néng ... - can, able to do
* néng ... -mauʟ, ... néngmauʟ - cannot

## Basic terms

### Verbs

* zōk - to do
* āau - to have
* yēw - to want
* ngāi - to like
* shēng - to become, to be
* lúi - is, am, to be

### Directions

* hongʟ - from
* heung - to, towards
* nei - in, within
* wài - out
* mōt - on, at a place
* yüén - around, throughout
* sheungʟ - up
* ... sheungʟ - on, over
* yèuk - right
* hià - down
* ... hià - below, under
* zák - left
* lái - here
* toiʟ - there
* nwaaʟ - there (far)
* bok - north
* dōng - east
* namʟ - south
* sèi - west

### Amount

* dō - more
* ló - more, exceeding, very much
* daa - very much
* dōk - many
* dōkló - so many
* shiu - less, few
* gèndō - more than
* gènsiū - less than

### Others

* shái - yes
* bāat - no, not
* zān haiʟ - truly
* chòngmaai - never
* gōuméng (CD, 救命) - help me

### Greetings

* ket shō (doʟ naa) - hello
* dáihoʟ (CD, 带祜, now archaic) - greetings, "bring blessings"
	+ Now replaced by "ket shō" which means the same thing.
* míng sāan - welcome
* zan ché - please
* shó yē lúi ngāa - how are you
* mó lúi ong - I am fine
* mó lúi bāat ong - I am not fine
* tāng zó - thank you
* dí naa mē luan ngāa - what is your name
* mómē luan X - my name is X
* shengʟ ngōn (晨安) - good morning (before 6 am/sunrise)
* cháo ngōn (朝安) - good morning (6 am/sunrise and after)
* hán ngōn - good afternoon
* ban ngōn - good evening
* yāt ngōn (夜安) - good night
* cha giēn - goodbye
* tói naa lēi - see you again
* dou ... - certainly, surely
* dói - may there be

## Grammatical bits

### Articles

* saʟ - and
* daiʟ - or
* doiʟ - but
* wai - for
* dó - because

### Place prepositions

* mien - direction
* héung - towards
* hongʟ - from
* zoī - at, in
* wài - out
* nou - through
* de mien - ahead
* tāa - against
* hàau mien - behind
* hià mien - under
* sheungʟ mien - over
* shēung - above, over
* hongʟ - below, under

### Amount prepositions

* ... máo - a certain ...
* dāi - great
* luén - medium
* yǖt - small
* gáan - almost

### Time prepositions

* chàm - previous
* gāk leiʟ - next
* lēi - again

### Question words

* -ngaa - (interrogative)
* dí, māat yeʟ - what
* bēn gó - who
* bēn douʟ - where
* gái shi - when
* dím gáai - why
* dím ... - how
* dím shaakʟ - how much
* ... lúi māi - is ... or not?
* X Y mouʟ Y? - is X Y?
* X Y meiʟ - has X Y or not?
* hó yi ... - can ... ?

### Others

* ei niè - this
* mán niè - that
* gei - as
* yāt chái - together
* gōn chái - with (someone)
* yòng - with/using (something)
* dà ... - very
* béi - than
* sàoyoʟ - perhaps
* tià - let (someone) do ..., may there be ...
* -zé, -zá - doer
* -daʟ - doer
* -do - a person under an occupation, user of

## Numbers

Siangwaanian and Classical Daizhouvian (CD)

0; 1-10

* (S) wéi; dá, ō, lā, yè, dú, shó, tek, gaʟ, lū, zòk
* (CD) lengʟ; yāt, yeʟ, sāam, séi, ongʟ, lokʟ, chāt, bāt, giáo, shapʟ
* yáan - 20
* shuʟ (S) / bakʟ (CD) - 100
* shín - 1,000
* muōn - 10,000
	+ Referring to the number itself, or 10,000 things (like years)
* bá - 10,000 (archaic)
	+ Nowadays used for "a group of 10,000"
* yīk (CD) - million
* chiao (CD) - billion
* gíng (CD) - trillion

né ... (S) / daaiʟ ... (CD) - (ordinal)

### Classifiers

* zēung - paper
* ēi - a large animal, like a horse

## Siangwaanian alphabet

Like its Daizhouvian ancestor, Siangwaanian is mostly written with its native ideograms.

However, many people in Siangwaan commonly write Siangwaanian with an alphabet. That alphabet, the Common script, is commonly used everywhere in the region. Particularly, the archaic letters ѧ and ѫ are official letters in the Siangwaanian alphabet, representing the sounds "aa" (a light a) and "eu".

A phonetic alphabet based on parts of ideograms is also used to transcribe languages, and casually to write Siangwaanian, Kjongkjong, and Vozonid. It is known as "Shu Ko", the Hundred Scratches.

People in the Vozonised western provinces of Siangwaan often write Siangwaanian in the Sarmelonid alphabet, with extra letters for sounds not present in the Sarmelonid language.

* А - a - [a]
* Б - b - [p]
* (В - v - [v])
* Г - g - [k]
* Гў - gw - [kʷ]
* (Ґ - gh - [ɣ~h], [j] before i)
* Д - d - [t]
* Е - e - [e]
* Ж - z - [t͡s]
	+ also used for ź in Gauvajut loanwords for its similar pronunciation
* (Җ - zh - [ʐ~ʑ])
* (З - ź, zz - [z])
* І - i - [i]
* Ѵ - y - [j]
	+ used as the Siangwaanians wanted their alphabet to look different from those of their neighbours
* К - k - [kʰ]
* Кў - kw - [kʰʷ]
* Λ - l - [l]
	+ written as in nearby Josolchir instead of Л
* (Λ̧ - lh - [ɭ~l(w)])
* М - m - [m]
* Н - n - [n]
* Ң - ng - [ŋ]
* О - o - [o]
* (Ѡ - ô - [ɔ])
* П - p - [pʰ]
* (Ҁ - q - [q~k])
* (Р - r - [r]
* (Р̧ - rh - [tr~dr~rw])
* С - s - [s]
* Т - t - [tʰ]
* У - u - [u]
* Ў - w - [w]
* (Ф - f - [f])
* Һ - h - [h]
* (Х - kh - [x]
* (Ц - ts - [t͡s])
* Ч - ch - [t͡ɕʰ]
	+ [t͡ʂ~t͡ɕ] in foreign words
* (Џ - dzh - [d͡ʐ~d͡ʑ])
* Ш - sh - [ʂ~ɕ]
* Ъ - ü - [y~ɯ]
* (Ѳ - th - [θ~s]
* Ѧ - aa - [ɐ]
* Ѫ - eu - [ø]

* (Бп - bp - [b]
* (Гк - gk - [g]
* (Дт - dt - [d]

* ао - ao - [aw]
* еу - ew (not eu, Ѫ) - [ɛw]
* ју - yu - [ju]
* јѵ - yü - [jy~jɯ]

* а - level [ā]
* а́ - rising [ǎ]
* а̀ - falling [â]
* а̄ - high [á]
* аʟ - low [à]

## Trivia

* The author based Siangwaanian on his native language, Cantonese. The addition of *sh* and the distinction between *eu* and *ew* were from his dissatisfaction with how the language has changed.
* The author made the modern Siangwaanian writing a Cyrillic alphabet because he liked its letters, and he wanted to used the obsolete letters Ѧ and Ѫ (here they are used for aa [ɐ] and eu [ø]).
* Vozonid languages and others on the continent of Palkyras used Siangwaanian as their reference for Daizhouvian and Chinese names. For example, the city of "Luoyang" is read in Vozonid as "Lokijongaz" or "Lokjenngaz" (lok-yeung).
* The Siangwaanian pronunciation of Vozonid words and names were inspired somewhat by Thai and Japanese transcriptions of Sanskrit words.

### Pronunciation

* aa - [ɐ]
* b - [p]
* bp - [b], also spelled as b
* ch - [t͡sʰ~t͡ɕʰ]
* d - [t]
* dt - [d], also spelled as d
* eu - [ø]
* ew - [eu] (e-u becomes this)
* g - [k]
* gk - [g], also spelled as g
* k - [kʰ], [-k]
* ng - [ŋ]
* p - [pʰ], [-p]
* sh - [ɕ]
* t - [tʰ], [-t]
* y - [j]
* z - [t͡s]; [z], [-s] in Vozonid loanwords
* a - middle tone
* á - rising tone
* ā - high tone, long vowel in foreign languages
* à - falling tone
* aʟ - low tone

## Samples

See also: Samples of Siangwaanian

Mó tói dá zēung tokʟzí.

I see a map.

**Bāat hōi pā. Niè-basʟ yé móyā, sa móyā kiew dazitʟ.**

[pɐ́t hói pʰá ɲêpàs jě mǒjá sa mǒjá sa mǒjá kʰiɛu tat͡sìt]

*No afraid. Heaven with we, and we will triumph.*

Do not be afraid. The Gods are with us, and we will prevail.

**Naa chāng ong zōi nuè chēung shàa, lóiyo!**

[nɐ t͡ɕʰáŋ oŋ t͡sói nwɛ̂ t͡ɕǿŋ ɕɐ̂ lǒijo]

*Thou perform good in jousting charge, fellow!*

You did well in your jousting charge, dude!

**Gōn chái Lu-ri-sha-yē yaangʟ, tià mó shāau mómē yún-yā. Tià mó zaauʟ mómē hǜt-yā, sa léi shēung mómē hòu-yā!**

[kón t͡ɕʰǎi luriɕajé jɐ̀ŋ tʰiâ mǒ ɕɐ́u mǒmé jǔnjá tʰiâ mǒ t͡sɐ̀u mǒmé çỳtjá sa lɛ̌i ɕǿŋ mǒmé hôujá]

*By Lurisha-GEN light, let I burn my fear-PLU. Let I destroy my weakness-PLU, and rise above my sorrow-PLU!*

By the light of Lurisha, let me burn my own fears. Let me destroy my own weakness, and rise over my sorrow!

**Мо́ һѐѵо́ң, нѧ ʌа́і гўо.**

[mǒ hêjǒŋ nɐ lǎi̯ kwo]

**Mó hèyóng, naa lái gwo.**

I wish, thou here PAST.

I wish you were here.

**Бе̄н доуʟ нѧ дѧ̀і ме ңѧ? Мо̄т туо̀ та́т?!**

**Bēn douʟ naa daai me ngaa? Mōt tuò tát?!**

*Bēn douʟ-naa-daai me-ngaa? Mōt-tuò tát?!*

[pɛ́n tòu̯ nɐ tɐi̯mɛ ŋɐ mót tʰʷô tʰǎt]

*Where thou train INTERR? On farm?!*

Where did you train? On a farm?!

**Baʟworʟnòrtar Siāngwaanʟ gáan!**

Standard: [pà wò(rò) nô(ro) tʰa(rə) siáŋ wɐ̀n kɐ̌n]

Southern: [bàwòr(i)ˈnór(y)tʰàr(a) siæ̂ŋwɔ̂ːn kæ̌ʊ̯n]

Eikavian, Capital: [bàʋʊrˈnóːrutar ˈsjæ̂ŋwòn kæn]

Bawornortar (capital of the Vozonid Empire) is Siangwaan! (a mocking slogan in sports matches when Siangwaan wins against Vozonid countries' teams)

## Gallery

"Mo heyong, naa lai gwo" (I wish you were here) - Teraxari"Bēn douʟ naa daai me ngaa? Mōt tuò tát?!" (Where did you train? On a farm?!) - General Zod"Bakʟ Hó Sháang" (White Tiger/Bak Ho Province)"Wai Bo Bi" (For Bobby)
## See also

* Siangwaanian glossary
	+ Siangwaanian slang
	+ Siangwaanian Vozonid words
* Siangwaanian calendar
* Bujanski language, another language influenced by Sarmelonid.
* Heronoi language
* Josolchir language
* Daizhouvian loanwords in Wonao languages