| Native name: | Skyrdagor jaskyrdagor gjalyn |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation: | [jæɧu͡ɯ˞tɒː c͡çæ͡ɑɮɤ̆n] |
| Ethnicities: | Skyrdag |
| Native speakers: | 310,000,000 |
| Language family: | Fargulyn > Lato-Skyrdag |
| Standardized forms: | Jaskyrdagtezyr gjalyn Jaskandor gj. Jagarynor gj. Jakyzberidhir gj. Jothykazor gj. Janelexyr gj. Jabajrtyltezyr gj. |
| Official language in: | Skyrdagtez Askand Garyn Kyzberidh Othykaz Nelex Bajrtyltez |
Skyrdagor (endoglossonym skyrdagor or jaskyrdagor gjalyn; IPA [ɧu͡ɯ˞tɒː], [jæɧu͡ɯ˞tɒː c͡çæ͡ɑɮɤ̆n]) is the koiné language of Greater Skyrdagtez, the major cultural area of the Skyrdag people in southeastern Jūhma. Native to the Skyrdagor Islands (siskyrdagor zlegendith) off the Juhmene mainland – today the country of Skyrdagtez – the expansion of the Skyrdagor Empire brought the language to the entire southeastern corner of the continent as well as it being a historical lingua franca along the entire southern littoral, among peoples such as the Hmruik and the Lẹẹnọ, and in southeastern Lusaṃrīte.
Skyrdagor is the most spoken native language of Jūhma, the second most spoken in the Southern hemisphere – after Dundulanyä, language of the other major Southern civilization – and ranks fifth by native speaker count and fourth by total speaker count among languages of Eventoa. It is a pluricentric language, with various national standards in the different countries of Greater Skyrdagtez, always written with a conservative etymological orthography that unifies vastly different phonology across the Skyrdagorsphere.
Skyrdagor's phonemic inventory varies between dialects, with more phonemic contrasts in certain, more conservative, dialects. In this section, unless differently specified, the referenced dialect will be standard Jaskyrdagtezyr.
Standard Jaskyrdagtezyr has a phonemic inventory of 59 consonants. Most notable is a three way contrast in plosives, all unvoiced: unaspirated (allophonically voiced), aspirated, and ejective.
The following table lists the consonant phonemes of Standard Jaskyrdagtezyr, together with their orthographical representation in bold.
| → PoA ↓ Manner |
Labials | Dentoalveolars | Alveolopalatals | Palatals | Velars | Uvulars | Pharyngeals | Glottals | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labialized | Plain | Labialized | |||||||
| Nasals | m m | n n | nʷ nw | ŋ ng | ŋʷ ngw | |||||||
| Plosives | Unaspirated | p b | t d | tʷ dw | k g | kʷ gw | ʔ ʔ | |||||
| Aspirated | pʰ p | tʰ t | tʷʰ tw | kʰ k | kʷʰ kw | |||||||
| Ejectives | p' p' | t' t' | tʷ' tw' | k' k' | kʷ' kw' | q' q' | ||||||
| Affricates | Unaspirated | t͡s dz | t͡sʷ dzw | t͡ʃ đ | t͡ʃʷ đw | |||||||
| Aspirated | t͡sʰ tx | t͡sʷʰ txw | t͡ʃʰ c | t͡ʃʷʰ cw | ɧ sk, skj | q͡χʰ q | ||||||
| Ejectives | t͡s' tx' | t͡sʷ' txw' | t͡ʃ' c' | t͡ʃʷ' cw' | ||||||||
| Sibilants | Voiceless | s x | sʷ xw | ʃ s | ʃʷ sw | ɕ k, kj | ||||||
| Voiced | z z | ʒ ʒ | ||||||||||
| Non-sibilant fricatives |
Voiceless | f f | θ th | θʷ thw | x ꝁ | xʷ ꝁw | χ ꝗ | h h | ||||
| Voiced | ð dh | ɣ ğ | ʁʷ ğw | ʁ ř | ʕ ʕ | |||||||
| Laterals | Voiceless | ɬ ls | ||||||||||
| Voiced | ɮ l | |||||||||||
| Trills | r r | ʜ ȟ | ||||||||||
| Semivowels | w v | j j | ||||||||||
Skyrdagor has seven noun classes, which are mostly arbitrary in assignment, even though there are some general patterns (classes I-III include most animate nouns, with most feminine ones being in class I, most masculine ones in class II, and most animals in class III). They are not marked on nouns, but adjectives and subject prefixes on verbs show noun class agreement.
| Noun class | Example noun | Singular prefix | Plural prefix | Example sentences |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class I | madl "woman" | j(a)- | m(a)- | madl judhex jo "the woman is clever" madlith mudhex mo "the women are clever" |
| Class II | xythe "boy" | f(o)- | xythe fecjans fo "the boy is quick" xithath mecjans mo "the boys are quick" |
|
| Class III | pov "sheep" | v(a)- | s(i)- | pov vujiz vo "the sheep is big" peves sujiz so "the sheep are big" |
| Class IV | xirk "flower" | dh(y)- | z(y)- | xirk dhygejrd dho "the flower is red" xirkith zgejrd zo "the flowers are red" |
| Class V | kups "star" | j(a)- | s(i)- | kups jitergez jo "the star is bright" kupsyth sitergez so "the stars are bright" |
| Class VI | nifta "blade" | b(a)- | nifta berthyzger bo "the blade is dangerous" nifts serthyzger so "the blades are dangerous" |
|
| Class VII | mixed "cake" | th(e)- | mixed thelestyr tho "the cake is delicious" mixedith silestyr so "the cakes are delicious" |
I do not know when I first used the name Skyrdagor in one of my maps (probably around 2010, maybe slightly later) but when I found it again I did like the sound of it – even if, predictably, I pronounced it [skirˈdaːɡor] – and when making up the overall landscape of Calémere I decided to use it for a major country, which ended up being the second major civilization of the Eastern hemisphere along with the Chlouvānem.
Despite the changed geography, Skyrdagor, now the name of the language alone or used as an adjective – the people are Skyrdag, the country Skyrdagtez – still fills the same role on Eventoa, this time as the major civilization of Jūhma. It maintains a geography superficially similar to the one it had on Calémere, as a civilization born on an archipelago and then spread to the mainland, but instead of being in a closed sea now it is at the limit of the planet's largest ocean.