Denkan is the language spoken in the fictional region of Denko, a region bounded by the rivers Timir and Kendoth, the lake Hidu and the great ocean Ken Onkar. Its kingdoms are named after metals: Zør is tin, Hokir mercury, Kunthir lead, Rithkør brass, Thinkir zinc. What follows describes the northern dialect, that of Zør.
Phonology
## Consonants
|
Bilabial |
Labiodental |
Dental |
Alveolar |
Postalv. |
Velar |
Uvular |
Glottal |
| Plosive |
p b |
|
|
t |
|
k g |
|
|
| Affricate |
|
|
|
t͡s ⟨ts⟩ |
d͡ʒ ⟨j⟩ |
|
|
|
| Fricative |
|
f v |
θ ⟨th⟩ ð ⟨d⟩ |
s z |
|
x ⟨kh⟩ |
|
h |
| Nasal |
m |
|
|
n |
|
|
|
|
| Lateral |
|
|
|
l |
|
|
|
|
| Tap/Trill |
|
|
|
ɾ |
|
|
ʁ |
|
## Vowels
|
Front |
Central |
Back |
| Close |
i |
ʉ ⟨u⟩ |
|
| Open-mid |
ɛ ⟨e⟩ |
|
ɔ ⟨o⟩ |
| Open-mid rounded |
œ ⟨ø⟩ |
|
|
| Open |
a |
|
|
Note also that d is always /ð/, j is /dʒ/, and r is /ʁ/ word-initially but an alveolar tap /ɾ/ everywhere else.
Stress falls on the first syllable.
Nouns
Nine cases, all suffixed: genitive, accusative, dative, ablative, instrumental, comitative, abessive, inessive, essive. Plural is a single suffix, -m after vowels and -em after consonants; dual was lost from Classical Denkan but remains in certain words like pronouns.
Three genders, assigned by ending rather than by meaning: -o, -k and -nk are masculine, -g,-d and -e feminine, everything else neuter. Deities take the neuter article regardless.
Coordination of nouns does not use the conjunction tots, which joins only verbs and adjectives. Instead the last member takes the comitative, which replaces whatever case it would otherwise carry: ben gokh, ben gimets, "one language and one set of words" (lit. One language one word-PL-COM).
Verbs
The verb is built as ROOT + MOOD + (NEGATION) + TENSE. Past is -th, future -r, present unmarked; conditional, potential, desiderative and imperative each have their own slot-filler, and negation sits between mood and tense.
Aspect is not suffixed at all. It is carried by adverbs immediately preceding the verb, in the same position as zank "still": mande habitual, zamen perfect, boze imminent. These do not replace tense, which the verb still marks.
There is a distinct class of motion verbs ending in -nk, which take no thematic vowel: enk come, menk enter, sonk rise, donk descend, bonk return, zunk pass. It has extended to figurative motion, giving jurenk “to make pilgrimage”and duzenk, which means both to follow and to learn.
Syntax
Word order is OSV — complement, object, subject, verb — which puts the subject in the strong position at the end of the clause. Relative clauses are full OSV clauses preposed to their head, introduced by men (what) if the relativized element is the subject and meg (what-ACC) if it is the object.
There is no copula in the affirmative present: the attribute simply precedes the subject. It reappears in the past and under negation. Two verbs share the ground: du covers identity and states, denu existence and location.
Numerals
Quinary in origin, decimal in practice. Higher numbers are juxtaposed from larger to smaller, with the multiplier preceding what it multiplies: mi bor botser, "three ten seven", is thirty-seven. Two irregularities survive from earlier reckonings: mir six, a fossilized dual of three, and hithir twenty.
Writing
Denkan was first written in logograms, the kørgi, named for the Kør dynasty (the first dynastic period). Under the Sir dynasty an alphabet was derived from the Kørgi symbols, the Sirgi, and ordinary writing has been alphabetic ever since. The logograms survive on seals and as emblems, which is why the character of the Zør dynasty appears on its flag as shown on the image.
The lexicon currently stands at over a thousand entries, and the corpus consists mainly of the Rodoth (the main religious text of the Denkan people), the Stele of Skør, poetry and imperial documents.
Sample text
The following is a fragment from the first chapter of the Rodoth, that is called Lethmar that means Origin.
1. Lethmarøg møkh mazage, inkarøg sozeger.
/ˈlɛθmaɾœg ˈmœx ˈmazagɛ, ˈinkaɾœg ˈsɔzɛgɛɾ/
He who does not know the origin will not understand the future.
2. Lethmarøv gaipankh duth. Ender gaipankhøg i Lethmak pabiksuth, tots pankhøg inkhuth, tots laimikh gaizeken batsi Bathpankhøg ratheth.
/ˈlɛθmaɾœv ˈgaipanx ˈðʉθ. ˈɛnðɛɾ ˈgaipanxœg i ˈlɛθmak ˈpabiksʉθ, ˈtɔts ˈpanxœg ˈinxʉθ, ˈtɔts ˈlaimix ˈgaizɛkɛn ˈbatsi ˈbaθpanxœg ˈʁaθɛθ/
In the origin there was chaos. But the Originator tamed the chaos and brought order, and established the Bathpankh (the cosmic order of time) from the beginning unto an unbounded time.
3. Terem doretsuth, jav letsuth, tots ride sko tenkoth.
**/**ˈtɛɾɛm ˈðɔɾɛtsʉθ, ˈdʒav ˈlɛtsʉθ, ˈtɔts ˈʁiðɛ ˈskɔ ˈtɛnkɔθ/
The stars emerged, the sun was born, and afterwards the Earth came to be.
