Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Language Structure

1. Ancient Oblivian is a mostly agglutinative language. This means that words can contain many different prefixes and suffixes to add additional meaning on. These additional meanings

2. This means that Oblivian makes use of a large number of prefixes and suffixes, all of which add further meaning to the word. Each prefix and suffix has its own specific meaning which makes it easy to tell what it means.

3. The Obivian alphabet's order is E I O A U G R D B T N F S L V K. The letters in English alphabetical order is A B D E F G H I K L N O P R S T U V.

4. Roots can be up to four syllables.

Phonetics

1. Oblivian is a largely phonetic language. This means that, for the most part, sounds are pronounced as they appear. A is “ah.” E is “eh.” I is “ee.” O is “oh.” U is “ooh.”

2. One of the main exceptions is that of diphthongs that derive from vowel combinations. It has a number of them. The sounds boil down to “aye,” “ow,” “yah,” “yay,” “yoh,” “yew,” wah,” “weh,” “wee,” “woh,” and “wu.”

3. Due to most of these diphthongs repeating their sounds, Oblivian actually includes three tones: a level tone, a rising tone, and a falling tone. These are used to differentiate when spoken as most Oblivians are illiterate. When written, the difference in tone is apparent as the spellings are unique. There is nothing in the writing to indicate these tones however.

4. AE and AÍ make up the “aye” diphthong.

5. AO and AÚ make up the “ow” diphthong.

6. EA, IÁ, and IÈ make up the “yah” diphthong.

7. EI makes up the “yay” diphthong.

8. EO and IÓ make up the “yoh” diphthong.

9. EU and IÚ make up the “yew” diphthong.

10. UA and OÁ make up the “wah” diphthong.

11. UE and OÉ make up the “weh” diphthong.

12. UI and OÍ make up the “wee” diphthong.

13. UO makes up the “woh” diphthong.

14. OU makes up the “wu” diphthong.

15. Oblivian also makes use of long and short vowels in order to help further differentiate words. These are represented as double vowels in the writing system and they can only be used after a consonant.

16. The only major derivation consonants face is the “g.” When at the beginning of a word, it is pronounced hard like in “good.” When in the middle of a word, it takes on a more z- or j-like sound. It's basically like “Jacques” in French.

Morphology

1. Words are grouped into eight different categories based upon the elements. This is similar to how many languages (like many Romance ones) make use of gendered words.

2. It is easy to tell which element a word belongs to due to the natural ending the word has.

   1. “-ba” is Earth.

   2. “-ti” is Fire

   3. “-ne” is Water

   4. “-vo” is Thunder

   5. “-ru” is Darkness

   6. “-gi” is Light

   7. “-se” is Black

   8. “-ka” is White

3. Changing words from one part of speech is quite easy. All you have to do is add a specific letter to the root with the natural ending.

   1. “-n” indicates nouns

   2. “-l” indicates adjectives

   3. “-r” indicates verbs

   4. “-v” indicates adverbs

   5. “-t” indicates postpositions

4. This means that, in theory, any word can be come any part of speech, but the theory is different than reality. Some words have only one or two forms while others have all four.

5. One curious quirk of the language is that an adjective form a a word is often used as a noun. When used in this way, it means that the person is the negative form of that particular word. For example, hiati is the root for “sell.” A hiatin is a shopkeeper or merchant. A hiatil would be a cheapskate or penny pincher.

6. An interrogative is a word which creates a question. In Oblivian, these are prefixes which are:

   1. “aevi-” (pronounced aye-vee) which refers to “who.”

   2. “aovi-” (pronounced ow-vee) which refers to “what.”

   3. “eivi-” (pronounced yah-vee) which refers to “when.”

   4. “eovi-” (pronounced yew-vee) which refers to “where.”

   5. “uavi-” (pronounced wah-vee) which refers to “why.”

   6. “uevi-” (pronounced wah-vee) which refers to “how.”

   7. Adding “-d” to the end of these prefixes allows them to stand on their own for a quick question for more details.

7. A negator is a prefix that creates the opposite meaning in other words. Oblivian has only one of these prefixes which can be used with any word:

   1. “fe-”

8. A numeric is a prefix that indicates how many objects are being referred to. These prefixes are:

   1. “pe-” which refers to a singular object.

   2. “pi-” which refers to a group of 2-10 objects.

   3. “po-” which refers to a group of 11 or more objects.

9. A specifier is a prefix that indicates specific or general objects. These prefixes are:

   1. “shi-” which refers to a specific object.

   2. “sho-” which refers to a general object

10. A multiplier is a prefix which that indicates the severity of something. These prefixes are:

    1. “ku-” which refers to a very mild severity such as “somewhat angry.”

    2. “ko-” which refers to a medium degree of severity such as “fairly angry.”

    3. “ka-” which refers to a high degree of severity such as “very angry.”

    4. “ki-” which refers to the highest degree of severity such as “furious.”

    5. Not using one of these prefixes means that nothing is really out of the ordinary.

11. A locater Is a prefix that indicates where an object is in relation to the speaker. These prefixes are:

    1. “evi-” which refers to something within sight

    2. “ovi” which refers to something within sight but on the same island

    3. “-uvi” which refers to something in Oblivia on a different island

       1. This suffix also requires a location clarifier.

    4. “-avi” which refers to something outside of Oblivia or an obscure, ambiguous concept

12. A location clarifier is a prefix that goes with a locater and clarifies which island the speaker is referring to. These prefixes are:

    1. “go-” which refers to Dolce Island

    2. “givo-” which refers to Renbow Island

    3. “tiba-” which refers to Mitonga Island

    4. “ti-” which refers to Faldera Volcano

    5. “shu-” which refers to Sophian Island

    6. “vo-” which refers to Mounta Layuda

    7. “ka-” which refers to Desila Island

    8. There is no suffix for Tilikule as it has no name in ancient Oblivia. This is because they saw it as a useless strip of land.

13. A temporal is a prefix that refers to the timing of something.

14. A sitter is a prefix that refers to how far something is in relation to what it’s sitting on or inside of.

15. A relative is a prefix that refers to how close something is in relation to the speaker.

16. A possessor is a suffix which refers to if something is “mine,” “ours,” “yours,” or “theirs.” These suffixes are:

    1. “-tun(i)” which refers to an object that belongs to the speaker (mine)

    2. “-tin(i)” which refers to an object that belongs to the speaker and another party (ours)

    3. “-tan(i)” which refers to an object that belongs to a singular person that is not the speaker (yours)

    4. “-ton(i)” which refers to to an object that belongs to either a collective, somebody not present, or anybody else (theirs)

17. Coordinating conjunctions connect sentence elements that are the same. Like many other parts of Oblivian, they are suffixes which are:

    1. “-sher(i)” which is equivalent to “and”

    2. “-shen(i)” which is the equivalent to “for”

    3. “-shev(i)” which is equivalent to “nor”

    4. “-shes(i)” which is equivalent to “but”

    5. “-shed(i)” which is equivalent to “or”

    6. “-shel(i)” which is equivalent to “yet”

    7. “-shef(i)” which is equivalent to “so”

    8. “-sheg(i)” is an additional suffix that exists in Oblivian to indicate that something is part of a list. This is called the coordinator.

18. A meaning allowance is a suffix that notes the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, etc meaning of a work. It is [C]-a. The consonants are in Oblivian order: G R D B T N F S L V K.

19. A notifier is a suffix that denotes the end of a word. With how long words are in Oblivian, these suffixes can be extremely useful. They are:

    1. “-ini” for nouns

    2. “-iri” for verbs

    3. “-ivi” for adverbs

    4. “-ili” for adjectives

    5. “-iti” for postpositions

    6. These suffixes, as many others, are mostly optional. In normal, spoken speech, these are mainly used when the words begin to have many, many suffixes and prefixes added and it makes it difficult to tell when and where words end. In the written word, these are absolutely mandatory as it gives the reader clear indication where every word ends and the new one begins.

20. If a suffix runs into another consonant, an “i” is added inbetween them to help preserve the vowel-consonant-vowel structure the language has.

Nouns

1. The structure of nouns is [interrogative]* + [negator]* + [specifier]* + [numeric]* + [root] + [n] + [class] + [locater]* + [location clarifier]* + [possessor]* + [coordinating conjunction or coordinator]* + [notifier]*

   1. * These are optional

2. Kinship terms have their own unique structure. This is [name/pronoun] + [possessor] + [gender] + [relation] + [reduplication] + [n] + [notifier]

   1. Reduplication is what allows for terms like “grandmother” and “great-grandmother.” By repeating “mother,” it literally means “mother mother.”

   2. The unique kinship suffixes are

      1. parent: “-kaba-”

      2. child: “-kabe-”

      3. sibling: -kabi-”

      4. spouse: -”kabo-”

      5. other relative: “-kabu-”

   3. Oblivians really have no concept of extended family members such as aunts, uncles, and cousins due to the nuclear family being the heart of the culture. They are still recognised as family but they have no real concept of what said relation is. Since the relative term is so nebulous, one simply clarifies who they’re speaking of after the kinship noun is finished.

   4. Gender is derived from the pronouns.

      1. da for males

      2. ba for females

      3. na for agender individuals

      4. dai for bigender individuals identifying as male that day

      5. bai for bigender individuals identifying as female that day

3. Body parts also have their own unique structure. This is [name/pronoun] + [possessive] + [body part] + [left/right] + [number suffix] + [n] + [notifier]

   1. Body part suffixes are separated into different classes and are notified as such. (There are also more body parts than listed here, but I thought this covers most of my bases)

      1. Head

         1. Head: naba

         2. Eye: nabe

         3. Nose: nabi

         4. Mouth: nabo

         5. Lips: nabu

         6. Tongue: noba

         7. Chin: nobe

         8. Neck: nobi

      2. Torso

         1. Upper torso: nada

            • This extends from the base of the neck to the solar plexus.

         2. Lower torso: nade

            • This extends from the solar plexus to just above the genital area

         3. Genital area: nadi

         4. Hips: nado

      3. Extensions

         1. Arm: nafa

         2. Hand: nafe

         3. Finger: nato

         4. Upper leg: naka

         5. Lower leg: nake

         6. Foot: nako

         7. Toe: naki

   2. The relative body parts take are the physical within touch range, “lavabe-” and “lavale-”.

Adjectives and Adverbs

1. The structure of adjectives is [interrogative]* + [negator]* + [multiplier]* + [root] + [v] + [class] + [coordinating conjunction or coordinator]* + [notifier]*

2. The structure of adverbs is [interrogative]* + [negator]* + [multiplier]* + [root] + [L] + [class] + [coordinating conjunction or coordinator]* + [notifier]*

Postpositions

1. The structure of postpositions is [temporal] + [location] + [location clarifier] + [relative] + [sitter] + [t] + [notifier]*

Verb Conjugation

1. The structure of verbs is [interrogative]* + [negator]* + [root] + [r] + [conjugation] + [class] + [locater]* + [location clarifier]* + [coordinating conjunction or coordinator]* + [notifier]*

2. Verb conjugation in Oblivian is quite complicated. Each verb can conjugate twelve different ways and, with the eight differing categories, this means that there are 392 unique verb endings.

3. There are only five tenses in Oblivian: past, present, future, prophecy, and magic. All “perfect” and “progressive' tenses have no proper conjugation or grammatical case.

4. The way verbs conjugate is based on the caste system. Here is what the general, appropriate use of the four main classifications are:

   1. I conjugations are used when the speaker is the subject

   2. Familiar conjugations are used for when the subject is in the same or a lower caste than the user. This is also used when referring to inanimate objects or plants.

   3. Formal conjugations are used when the subject is up to two castes above speaker.

   4. Honorable conjugations are used when the subject is three or more castes higher than the speaker. This is also used when referring to Pokemon.

5. The direct verb forms are relatively straightforward:

   1. You refers to whoever the speaker is addressing.

   2. Us is a group of individuals that include the speaker. This takes into consideration the highest-ranked member of the group. The speaker must use the Familiar, Formal, or Honorable depending on the highest-ranked member.

   3. They is for a group of people, objects, or Pokemon that does not include the speaker. Similarly to the above, the speaker must use the correct Familiar, Formal, or Honorable. However, it can also refer to a singular object, person, or Pokemon so that makes it even more context-based.

6. The twelve conjugation forms are

   1. Low I, Mid I, High I

   2. Familiar You, Formal You, Honorable You

   3. Familiar Us, Formal Us, Honorable Us

   4. Familiar They, Formal They, Honorable They

7. Here is the proper use of each verb form:

   1. Low I is for people in the lowest castes of society. These include outsiders, merchants, runaways, heretics, eternal children, and peasants.

   2. Mid I is for people in the priestly castes from Earth Priests to Light Oracles.

   3. High I is for people above the priestly castes: the Temple Captains, the royal family, and the legendaries.

   4. Familiar You is used by people that know each other extremely well. They are usually in the same caste when they're friends. This is also used when somebody in a higher caste is speaking to a lower one. It's just an accepted part of the society and not seen as demeaning. Another use for this is cross-caste, pre-married couples. This particular conjugation can only be used behind closed doors or on certain holidays as it carries the connotation of being on equal grounding public.

   5. Formal You is used in everyday speech when the subject is one or two castes higher than the speaker.

   6. Honorable You is used when the subject is three or more castes higher in society. The main exception is when speaking to the Temple Captains, royalty, or legendaries.

   7. Familiar Us is used for a group that is of the same caste as the speaker.

   8. Formal Us is for a group of people within one or two castes of the speaker.

   9. Honorable Us is used for a group of people where the highest-ranked member is three or more castes higher than the speaker.

   10. Familiar They refers to a singular or group of objects, plants, or a person/group of people the same caste or lower as the speaker.

   11. Formal They refers to a singular or group of people up to two castes above the speaker.

   12. Honorable They is used when referring to a singular person or group of people three castes or higher than the speaker. This is also used for Pokemon.

8. There are no irregular verbs. This might seem impossible, but this is because of the strict regulations the Oblivian Grammatical Council runs. People are expected to speak a certain way and any dissent from that will not be tolerated. People that speak differently are reprimanded and corrected by others essentially instantly.

G reetings, Departures, Apologies, Agreement

Saying hello, goodbye, thank you, sorry, agreement, disagreement, and being grateful for something all share the same simple structure.

Structure

1. The basic structure is [root] + [multiplier*] + [formality marker] + [feeling marker*]

2. While the feeling marker is technically optional, it’s seen as rude to not include it. If you’re hiding your feelings, it’s seen as rather disingenuous. Of course, many people hide behind their feelings and lie about what they’re feeling.

3. Multipliers are turned from prefixes to suffixes. They are not always used because people don’t always feel powerful emotions when expressing themselves.

4. Low is for people in the lowest castes of society. These include outsiders, merchants, runaways, heretics, eternal children, and peasants.

5. Mid is for people in the priestly castes from Earth Priests to Light Oracles.

6. High is for people above the priestly castes: the Temple Captains, the royal family, and the legendaries.

Syntax

Normal Speech

1. Ancient Oblivian uses an OVS (Object-Verb-Subject) word order.

2. Adjectives are placed after the noun.

3. Adverbs are placed after what they modify.

4. Postpositions come after what they’re referring to.

Prophecy

1. Prophets use an SOV word order.

Magic

1. Magic spells use a VOS word order.

Pronouns

1. Pronouns are very interesting in Oblivian. They convey a number of things and are considered integral to the language as a whole. While the structure of the language allows them to be omitted, it would be considered rude beyond words to not use them, so they're used even if, logically, they don't have to be.

2. The list of pronouns can work as reflexive, personal, direct, or indirect pronouns.

   1. When referring to an inanimate object, the lowest neuter pronoun (nashep) is used.

   2. When referring to a Pokemon, the highest neuter pronoun (nalep) is used.

   3. When a group of people is being referenced, the highest-ranking person is used. So if a group had a peasant, Earth Priest, Darkness Priest, and Thunder Pacifist Oracle, the Thunder Pacifist Oracle neuter (navuep) would be used.

Word Classes

Word classes are an interesting beast. They streamline and clean up the Oblivian system to make it relatively to understand. In theory, any word can be any class, but it’s not the truth in practice.

There are seven distinct classes in Personal, Place, Action-Place, Collective, Tool, Abstract, and Diminutive. There are five unique classification markers in Physical, Spiritual, Magical, Emotional, and Metaphorical.

Classes are relatively straight forward and self-explanatory based on their label. Personal is “a person who does.” Place is a static location. Collective refers to many of something. Tool refers to if something can take the form of being used for the subject word. Abstract refers to any abstract or metaphorical interpretations for the subject word. Action-Place is the only one that is a little difficult to understand. It refers to a designated area something actively takes place at. For example, tree is a root and forest would be a place with trees. A mill would be a place where trees are specifically grown to be cut down.

The classification markers are also relatively straight forward. Physical refers to the physical object. Spiritual refers to things of a spiritual nature. Magical is exclusively reserved for spellwork. Emotional refers to things of an emotional nature. Metaphorical refers to things of a metaphorical nature.

Meanings

One more unique quirk of ancient Oblivian is the way meaning is delegated to words. Like any other language, many words can be used for multiple meanings. However, Oblivian delegates and differentiates between these meanings. It’s through the part after the root. It takes on the form of “(h)__ku”. The H is only used if the root ends in a vowel to preserve the diphthong sound. Meaning one is notated by AE (aye). Meaning two is notated by AO (ow). Meaning three is notated by EA (yah). Meaning four is notated by EI (yay). Meaning five is notated EO (yoh). Meaning six is notated by EU (yew). Meaning seven is notated by UA (wah). Meaning eight is notated by UE (weh). Meaning nine is notated by UI (wee). Meaning ten is notated by UO (who). Meaning eleven is notated by OU (wu).

To Make A Word

• 1. Take the root
• 2. Meaning delegation (if applicable)
• 3. Use the proper natural ending
  • A. “-ba” for Physical
  • B.“-ka” Magical and Spiritual
  • C. “-vo,” for Emotional
  • D. “-ne” for Metaphorical.
• 4. Use the proper grammatical ending
  • A. “-ni” for nouns
  • B. “-ti” for adjectives
  • C. “-vi” for verbs
    • Add in the conjugation afterward
  • D. “-ri” for adverbs
• 5. Use the proper Class ending.
  • A. Person: fene
  • B. Place: fina
  • C. Action-Place: fana
  • D. Collective: feni
  • E. Tool: fonu
  • F. Abstract: funo
  • G. Diminutive: fane
• 6. Use the proper Order ending.
  • A. Physical: da
  • B. Spiritual: bi
  • C. Magical: su
  • D. Emotional: ro
  • E. Metaphorical: pe

Rules

Unlike many other affixes in Oblivian, these are absolutely non-negotiable. To change “” to “” causes a massive shift in meaning. Even though both are of the Personal class, they are in entirely different classifications.

As every word can take all classes, they must be in agreement. Physical and Personal takes Physical and Personal. Spiritual and Place takes Spiritual and Place. Any sort of disagreement simply can’t be done. This can mean that a word that normally doesn’t take these specific markers will be forced to even if it’s unusual. It’s simply a grammatical issue for the sake of consistency.

For the most part, all words follow this system due to the simple consistency it creates. There are some special cases, though. Oblivian has natural endings for all elements though they tend to go unused due to this system. The only time they’re used and this system is dropped completely is for special words that demand to be noticed. These are mostly titles for important figures like the legendaries and rulers, but there are a few culture concepts like othane bonds which are so closely tied to the heart of the culture that the people would e offended if anybody treated them like normal words. These are holdouts from a much more ancient form of Oblivian that used all elements, but regularisation took over when the class system began to be favored.