A brief manual of Izaki language, the conlang under development for Izaland.

Basically it is a language isolate, however many elements are inspired by Japanese, Korean and Finnish Languages.

Phonology - 音声学

Sounds

Izaki language has an average number of consonant sounds, and a limited number of vocalic sounds, making it a pretty easy to pronounce language.

Vowels

Izaki has 5 vowels and 2 semivowels. The 5 vowels can have a short or a long sound:

	Back	Front
Close	/i/	/u/
Mid	/e/	/o/
Open		/a/

The semivowels are /w/ and /j/, and always occur before a vowel. The only exception is the /wjV/ composition, where V is a vowel (mostly /a/), like in the compound /wja/ (業).

Consonants

Izaki has 22 consonants, as per the following phonetic chart.

↓ Manner/Place →	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n
Stop	p b		t d		c	k ɡ
Affricate			ʦ ʣ	ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant					j
Trill			r
Lateral approximant			l

Syllabes

The Izaki phonology is strictly syllable based, and the structure we are going to explain followingly is so strict that also foreign loan words must be adapted to it.

To better explain the syllable composition, we will divide the different sounds into three categories:

V: the 5 vowels, short or long (a, e, i, o, u, ā, ē, ī, ō, ū)

C: the 22 consonants (p, b, k, g, t, d, ch, j, s, z, ts, ð, sh, zh, m, n, l, r, h, f, v)

F: the syllable-final consonants (n, l, s, r, h*, kk**) - only these consonants can appear after a vowel in a syllable, or at the end of a word. However, no words end by -h.

*h: it can be found in the final position of a syllable structure, and appears between a vowel and another consonant. The following consonant will be not voiced

Example words: dahkei (cliff), zhohtan (side), nihki (coast), rihmi (county), nehkeu (too much)

**kk: the geminated /k/ is a feature of the south-west dialect, and in current Izaki language only appears in the name of the city of Kikknās (Itakiri Prefecture).

A basic syllable can be one of the following kinds:

V any vowel, short or long
CV any consonant*, any vowel
CVF

Only non sonorant consonants (k, t, p, s, ts, sh, ch) and n, l, r can be strong (doubled).

Example words: kaida (sword), miwa (water), rekki (pen), noppo (spoon), keilo (route), shihkama (whale), kamitsas (everywhere), estinden (always), jīssu (to press), yokoku (notice), jāshiki (common sense), gūnyū (milk), hākei (total), keskwa (result), wingyōn (bank), inshēs (printing)...

Writing System

Izaki language writing system is one of the most articulated writing systems, making use of the Bai characters and an original composed alphabet called askaoza (邦記, or 𖬒ᒢ𖬭ᣟᐤ𖬖𖬰).

The Bai characters and the askaoza are not alternative writing systems, but each of them has a definite role. Basically, Bai characters are used to show the semantical meaning of nouns, verb roots, adjectives etc., while askaoza complements them, allowing variable parts of the speech to be declined or conjugated accordingly. This works basically as in Japanese with kanji and kana.

In the first section of our language manual we are going to learn the basics of the askaoza.

Main features of the askaoza writing system:

One letter corresponds to one sound
All the letter are by default adjoined with the sound “/a/”. No words in Izaki can start with a double consonant, while certain consonants can follow another one, but their representation is different (see later)
The other vocalic sounds except for “a” are rendered with a diacritic symbol, on the left or on the right of the consonant.
Single vowels are shown by a “placeholder” symbol, with the value of /a/ if no other vowel diacritic is present.
The main letters are unvoiced sounds. The corresponding voiced sounds are marked by a dot on the top.

Roman alp.	Character	IPA	Roman alp.	Character	IPA
清音 (seion) - unvoiced			濁音 (takuon) - voiced
K	𖬭	/k/	G	𖬭𖬰	/g/
P	𖬡	/p/	B	𖬡𖬰	/b/
S	𖬖	/s/	Z	𖬖𖬰	/z/
T	𖬮	/t/	D	𖬮𖬰	/d/
F	𖬌	/f/	V	𖬌𖬰	/v/
CH	𖬥	/ʧ/	J	𖬥𖬰	/ʤ/
SH	𖬔	/ʃ/	ZH	𖬔𖬰	/ʒ/
TS	𖬪	/ʦ/	Đ	𖬪𖬰	/ʣ/
			H	𖬨	/h/
			N	𖭑	/n/
			M	𖬊	/m/
			L	𖬠	/l/
			R	𖬬	/r/

Vowels and consonant joints

Let’s take the first letter in Izaki alphabetical order, the “ka”: 𖬭 As it is now, we would read it /ka/, and not “k”, since in Izaki consonants are not stand-alone, and the default value is /ka/.

What if we want to give it the sound /ke/? In this case we need to add on the right (as this is the rule of the “E”) the necessary diacritic, called, in Izaki, tenkun: 𖬭ɭ

Thus we know that “𖬭ɭ” will be read as /ke/; “𖬭𖬭ɭ” will be /kake”/ and “𖬭ɭ𖬭” shall be /keka/

In the same way, we can write either ki, ko, and ku:

𖬭ᛁ the “i” sound is made by adding a vertical bar

𖬭ᐤ the “o” sound is made by adding a small circle on the top-right

𖬭𐐢 the “u” sound is rendered by an umbrella handle shaped element

Thus we can have these possible combinations:

𖬭𖬭ᛁ (kaki), 𖬭ᐤ𖬭𐐢 (koku), 𖬭ᛁ𖬭𐐢 (kiku) etc…

Let’s take a view to the main Izaki consonants with the 5 simple vowels:

Consonant	A	E	I	O	U
-	𖬒 a	𖬒ɭ e	𖬒ᛁ i	𖬒ᐤ o	𖬒𐐢 u
K	𖬭 ka	𖬭ɭ ke	𖬭ᛁ ki	𖬭ᐤ ko	𖬭𐐢 ku
P	𖬡 pa	𖬡ɭ pe	𖬡ᛁ pi	𖬡ᐤ po	𖬡𐐢 pu
S	𖬖 sa	𖬖ɭ se	𖬖ᛁ shi	𖬖ᐤ so	𖬖𐐢 su
T	𖬮 ta	𖬮ɭ te	𖬮ᛁ ti	𖬮ᐤ to	𖬮𐐢 tu
F	𖬌 fa	𖬌ɭ fe	𖬌ᛁ fi	𖬌ᐤ fo	𖬌𐐢 fu
CH	𖬥 cha	𖬥ɭ che	𖬥ᛁ chi	𖬥ᐤ cho	𖬥𐐢 chu
SH	𖬔 sha	𖬔ɭ she	𖬔ᛁ shi	𖬔ᐤ sho	𖬔𐐢 shu
TS	𖬪 tsa	𖬪ɭ tse	𖬪ᛁ tsi	𖬪ᐤ tso	𖬪𐐢 tsu
H	𖬨 ha	𖬨ɭ he	𖬨ᛁ hi	𖬨ᐤ ho	𖬨𐐢 hu
N	𖭑 na	𖭑ɭ ne	𖭑ᛁ ni	𖭑ᐤ no	𖭑𐐢 nu
M	𖬊 ma	𖬊ɭ me	𖬊ᛁ mi	𖬊ᐤ mo	𖬊𐐢 mu
L	𖬠 la	𖬠ɭ le	𖬠ᛁ li	𖬠ᐤ lo	𖬠𐐢 lu
R	𖬬 ra	𖬬ɭ re	𖬬ᛁ ri	𖬬ᐤ ro	𖬬𐐢 ru

Here are the derived consonants with the different vowel combinations:

Consonant	A	E	I	O	U
-	𖬒 a	𖬒ɭ e	𖬒ᛁ i	𖬒ᐤ o	𖬒𐐢 u
G	𖬭𖬰 ga	𖬭𖬰ɭ ge	𖬭𖬰ᛁ gi	𖬭𖬰ᐤ go	𖬭𖬰𐐢 gu
B	𖬡𖬰 ba	𖬡𖬰ɭ be	𖬡𖬰ᛁ bi	𖬡𖬰ᐤ bo	𖬡𖬰𐐢 bu
Z	𖬖𖬰 za	𖬖𖬰ɭ ze	𖬖𖬰ᛁ zi	𖬖𖬰ᐤ zo	𖬖𖬰𐐢 zu
D	𖬮𖬰 da	𖬮𖬰ɭ de	𖬮𖬰ᛁ di	𖬮𖬰ᐤ do	𖬮𖬰𐐢 du
V	𖬌𖬰 va	𖬌𖬰ɭ ve	𖬌𖬰ᛁ vi	𖬌𖬰ᐤ vo	𖬌𖬰𐐢 vu
J	𖬥𖬰 ja	𖬥𖬰ɭ je	𖬥𖬰ᛁ ji	𖬥𖬰ᐤ jo	𖬥𖬰𐐢 ju
ZH	𖬔𖬰 zha	𖬔𖬰ɭ zhe	𖬔𖬰ᛁ zhi	𖬔𖬰ᐤ zho	𖬔𖬰𐐢 zhu
Ð	𖬪𖬰 ða	𖬪𖬰ɭ ðe	𖬪𖬰ᛁ ði	𖬪𖬰ᐤ ðo	𖬪𖬰𐐢 ðu

Diphthongs

Besides the main 5 vowels, Izaki language also has s certain number of diphthongs, or gliding vowels, a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable.

Let’s take a look at some examples: 𐭘𖬭 kya, 𐩪𖬌 fwo, 𐩬𖬖 swa

There are 8 main diphthongs, rendered in roman alphabet with “y” (/j/) and “w” (/w/), and in askaoza these semivocalic sounds are shown by a diacritic on the left of the corresponding consonant.

Let’s see how it works with the consonant 𖭑 (n):

	A	E	I	O	U
Y	𐭘𖭑 nya	𐐑𖭑 nye		ᛚ𖭑 nyo	𐐓𖭑 nyu
W	𐩬𖭑 nwa	𐩧𖭑 nwe	𐐊𖭑 nwi	𐩪𖭑 nwo

Example words and sounds:

𖭑ᛁ𐩬𖭑ɭ niswae

𖬒ᐤ𐐓𖬬𖬒 oryua

𐩧𖬭𖬬ᛁ kweri

𐐓𖬒𖬪ᐤ yutso

𐭘𖬨Ꮀ𐐊𖬭 hyaakwi

𐐑𖬒ᛁ𖬖ᐤᐡ yeison

𖬌𐐢𐐑𖬬 furye

𖬪𐩬𖬒 tsawa

𖬖𐩪𖬒𖬨ᛁ sawohi

𐩪𖬭𖬨ɭ kwohe

𖬊ᛁ𐩧𖬖Ꮀ miwee

ᛚ𖬒𖬊 yoma

𐐓𖬊Ꮀ𖬨 myuuha

ᛚ𖬮𖬖𐐢 tyosu

Double Consonants

The double consonant is shown by a diacritic positioned before the syllable containing the consonant to be doubled.

𖬮𖬭 taka vs 𖬮ⲅ𖬭 takka

𖬨ᛁ𖭑ᐡ hinan vs 𖬨ᛁⲅ𖭑ᐡ hinnan

𖬥ᛁ𐩪𖬭 chikwo vs 𖬥ᛁⲅ𐩪𖬭 chikkwo

Long vowels

In Izaki language, vowels can be short or long. This feature has a distinctive value, so it is important to notice when a vowel is short or long.

In the official Sanotari-Idanos romanization system, long vowels are written with a macron: ā ī ē ō ū, while in the less used Tagenas romanization system, they are just left as a couple of vowels: aa, ii, ee, oo, uu.

In the askaoza alphabet, to mark a long vowel, the diacritic “Ꮀ” is placed on the right of the long vowel syllable.

Let’s take a look at some examples: 𖬭Ꮀ kā, 𖬌ᛁᎰ fī, 𖬮ᐤᎰ tō

There are cases of long vowel in a CVC syllabe. In this case, the diacritic must be placed before the final consonant one: 𖬪ᐤᎰᐡ tsōn, 𖬬𐐢Ꮀᒢ rūs, 𖬨ɭᎰᣘ hēr