Delszaft language
| Delszaft | |
|---|---|
| delšaft | |
| делшафт | |
| Pronunciation | [ˈdɛɫʃaft] |
| Created by | A.R. and J.A. |
| Date | 13 February 2023 |
| Users | None; still incomplete (2023) |
| Purpose | |
| Delszaft Latin Delszaft Cyrillic | |
| Sources | A posteriori language with elements of multiple natural and constructed languages. |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Thulia |
| Regulated by | Svante Axelsson |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | ds |
| ISO 639-2 | dls |
| ISO 639-3 | dls |
Delszaft (endonym: delšaft / делшафт [ˈdɛɫʃaft]), also known as Delsjaft and DŠ, is a constructed language created by two pupils at a school in Sweden in early 2023. It is one of three official language in Thulia. It is "a constructed language inspired by Slavic languages with a touch of Germanic languages".
History
On 13 February 2023 (presumably), J.A. and A.R. created Delszaft to talk about a classmate behind their back. At this point the language had only three words; the first being the name of the classmate with the suffix -pu to indicate that the person was disliked; the second being nåbe ('to be homosexual'); and the third being delszaft. These words were the only ones that J.A. and A.R. would need to communicate in a secret way. The same day the language was created, J.A. told Svante Axelsson about the language during recess. Axelsson immediately took interest to the project and asked to be a part of it. J.A. and Axelsson had a meeting over Microsoft Teams where they developed the first version of the Latin Delszaft alphabet.
On 16 February 2023, a LibreOffice Calc spreadsheet was created to serve as a dictionary. Many other individual files have been created for grammar, phonotactics and experiments with the orthography. A version of Delszaft inspired by Esperanto was created but never used.
In early March, J.A. and A.R. had an argument and A.R. left the project. During Summer of 2023 J.A. moved and therefore left the project.
As of 31 December 2023, Delszaft has 178 words.
Writing system
Delszaft uses both the Latin and Cyrillic script. The two scripts have an own alphabet each: the Delszaft Latin alphabet (lateinē abededže / латэине абэдэджэ) and the Delszaft Cyrillic alphabet (kirilē abededže / кириле абэдэджэ). They have 30 letters each. The Delszaft Latin is the main alphabet in everyday writing. The Delszaft Cyrillic is only used on government signs in Thulia and on other special occasions.
Alphabetic order
The sort order of the lateinica (латеиница) alphabet:
- A Ā B C D DŽ E Ē F G H HZ I Ī J K L Ļ M N O Ō P R S Š T U Ū V Z Ž
The sort order of the kirilica (кирилица) alphabet:
- А Ӑ Б В Ґ Г Д ДЖ Э Е Ж З И І Й Л Љ М Н О О̆ П Р С Т У Ў Ф Х Ц Ш
| Majuscule forms (Cyrillic) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A (А) |
Ā (Ӑ) |
B (Б) |
C (Ц) |
D (Д) |
Dž (ДЖ) |
E (Э) |
Ē (Е) |
F (Ф) |
G (Ґ) |
H (Г) |
HZ (Х) |
I (И) |
Ī (І) |
J (Й) |
L (Л) |
Ļ (Љ) |
M (М) |
N (Н) |
O (О) |
Ō (О̆) |
P (П) |
R (Р) |
S (С) |
Š (Ш) |
T (Т) |
U (У) |
Ū (Ў) |
V (В) |
Z (З) |
Ž (Ж) |
| Minuscule forms (Cyrillic) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a (a) |
ā (ӑ) |
b (б) |
c (ц) |
d (д) |
dž (дж) |
e (э) |
ē (e) |
f (ф) |
g (ґ) |
h (г) |
hz (х) |
i (и) |
ī (і) |
j (й) |
l (л) |
ļ (љ) |
m (м) |
n (н) |
o (o) |
ō (о̆) |
p (п) |
r (p) |
s (с) |
š (ш) |
t (т) |
u (у) |
ū (ў) |
v (в) |
z (з) |
ž (ж) |
| IPA | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| [a] | [aː] | [b] | [t͡s] | [d] | [d͡ʒ] | [ɛ] | [eː] | [f] | [ɡ] | [h] | [χ] | [i] | [iː] | [j] | [l] | [ʎ] | [m] | [n] | [ɔ] | [oː] | [p] | [r] | [s] | [ʃ] | [t] | [u] | [uː] | [v] | [z] | [ʒ] |
| Name (Cyrillic) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a (a) |
ā; šāvā a (ӑ; шӑвӑ a) |
be (бэ) |
ce (цэ) |
de (дэ) |
dže (джэ) |
e (э) |
ē; šāvē e (e; шӑвe э) |
ef (эф) |
ge (ґэ) |
ho (гo) |
hzo (хо) |
i (и) |
ī; šāvē i (і; шӑвe и) |
jot (йот) |
el (эл) |
eļ (эљ) |
em (эм) |
en (эн) |
o (o) |
ō; šāvē o (о̆; шӑвe o) |
pe (пэ) |
er (эp) |
es (эс) |
eš (эш) |
te (тэ) |
u (у) |
ū; šāvū u (ў; шӑвe у) |
ve (вэ) |
ze (зэ) |
že (жэ) |
Ј and Й
Up until 17 December 2023, ⟨ј⟩ and ⟨й⟩ were used interchangeably in the Delszaft Cyrillic. The difference between them being that ⟨ј⟩ only appeared in the start and middle of a word and never at the end:
ј-- -ј-
-ј
The ⟨й⟩ then appearing only in the end of a word, but never in an initial position:
- й-
- -й
On 17 December, ⟨й⟩ was removed and replaced by ⟨ј⟩. ⟨й⟩ was added back on 25 August 2024.
Phonology
Consonants
/r/ and /l/ can be syllabic, with the former very rarely appearing as nucleus in words like prt ('part') [ˈpr̩t] and Anglmehz ('w:England') [ˈaŋɡl̩mɛχ]
⟨dž⟩ /d͡ʒ/ was pronounced /ɖ͡ʐ/ until 11 December 2023, when the sound was changed in favor of the former. ⟨š⟩ /ʃ/ also underwent this change, changing from /ʂ/.
Sounds as the voiceless uvular fricative /χ/ and the voiced palatal lateral approximant /ʎ/ were originally though of by J.A. as letters ⟨hz⟩ and ⟨ļ⟩ respectively.
Vowels
| Latin script | Cyrillic script | IPA | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| a | а | /a/ | open front unrounded | ļam ('light') |
| e | е | /e/ /ɛ/ |
mid front unrounded /e/ open-mid front unrounded /ɛ/ |
ekekti ('to recycle') ekekti |
| i | и | /i/ /ɪ/ |
close front unrounded /i/ near-close near-front unrounded /ɪ/ |
latinij ('Latin') rehzti ('to count') |
| o | о | /ɔ/ | open-mid back rounded | odis ('bird') |
| u | у | /u/ | close back rounded vowel | Ukrajina ('Ukraine') |
Morphology
Nouns
Delszaft is, like one of its primary sources Interslavic, an inflecting language. Only pronouns have gender, distinguishing masculine and feminine from each other.
The plural ending of both nouns and adjectives is always -i, fruši iditi '(the) frogs walk', alui jati limi '(the) people are small', ješi jidžati delšaftaļ '(the) hedgehogs speak Delszaft'. If a word ends in a vowel, the vowel gets replaced by the -i, migla 'mist' becomes migli 'mists'. However if the word ends in -u, the plural marker gets added to the word, alu 'person, man' becomes alui 'men' instead of ali.
Verbs
Delszaft has seven tenses (present, past, future, supine, pluperfect, present participle and past participle). Verbs are used in two moods (indicative and imperative). They are not conjugated after person, instead all verbs are the same. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person plurals get the -i added to them, dži jati 'we are', vi jati 'you are (plural)', ji jati 'they are'. Depending on if the stem ends in a consonant or a vowel, the suffix added to it differs. The stem of jidžati 'to speak' is jidža-, therefore the suffix for the present tense is -t instead of the usual -at. In plural it is -ti. The infinitive forms of verbs are formed by adding -ti to the stem of a word, oštu becomes oštuti 'to teach'.
Pronouns
Pronouns in Delszaft are influenced by both Slavic (ti, dži, vi) and Germanic (ehz from German ich). The object form and genitive form of the personal pronouns are obtained by adding the accusative suffix -al, -aļ, -ļa and the genitive suffixes -v, -ov to the end.
Personal pronouns
The personal pronouns are ehz 'I', ti 'you, thee', hza 'he', ma 'she', dži 'we', vi 'you (plural)' and ji 'they' in nominative (subject).
The accusative (object) forms are ehzaļ, tiļa, hzaļa, maļa, džiļa, viļa and jiļa.
The dative forms are ehzdž, tidž, hzadž, madž, džidž, vidž and jidž.
The genetive forms are ehzov, tov, hzav, mav, dživ, viv and jiv.
Sample text
The king and the god (Delszaft: Kālālu i hzūt; Proto-Indo-European: H₃rḗḱs dei̯u̯ós-kwe) is the first text translated into Delszaft, on 14 April 2024.
Latin alphabet:
Jānteit jahz hzāl. Hzā jahz nīthzeļī.
To hzāl perehzo irti laile.
Hzā prāvhzo sovē hzūtāle: ”Agīr laile cemu do mane!”
Hzūtālu jihz hzālu: ”Prāv hzūtu Džīv.”
Hzāl prāvhzo hzūtu Džīv: ”Ēša man māta Džīv!”
Džīv cerhzo uz lege i jihz: ”Hzā perez ti irti?”
”Ehz pere irti lailu.”
”Je voleti tāt,” jihz ļāmī hzūt Džīv.
Hzālov hāle, hzālova, duohzo laile.
Cyrillic alphabet:
Йӑnтэит йaх хӑл. Хӑ йaх nітхэљі.
Тo хӑл пэpэхo иpти лaилэ.
Хӑ пpӑвхo сoвe хўтӑлэ: ”Aґіp лaилэ цэму дo мanэ!”
Хўтӑлу йих хӑлу: ”Пpӑв хўту Джів.”
Хӑл пpӑвхo хўту Джів: ”Eшa мan мӑтa Джів!”
Джів цэpхo уз лэґэ и йих: ”Хӑ пэpэз ти иpти?”
”Эх пэpэ иpти лaилу.”
”Йэ вoлэти тӑт,” йих љӑмі хўт Джів.
Хӑлoв гӑлэ, хӑлoвa, дуoхo лaилэ.
English:
Once there was a king. He was childless.
This king wanted a son.
He asked his priest: "Let a son to me be born!"
The priest said to the king: "Pray to the god Džīv."
The king prayed to the god Džīv: "Hear me mother Džīv!"
Džīv came down from heaven and said:
"What do you want?"
"I want a son."
"Let it be so," said the bright god Džīv.
The king's lady got a son.