Kiravic Coscivian

Kiravic Coscivian (Kiravic: Kiravirona, Kiravikoskirona) is a Cosco-Adratic language spoken primarily in the Kiravian Federacy, where it serves as the official and national language. It is the largest Cosco-Adratic language by number of speakers, both native and acquired. Originally spoken in the Mid-Oceanic area of Eastern Kirav corresponding to the United Provinces during the Viceregal Period, the Kiravic  expanded with the spread of Coscivian settlement to include most of Upper, Central, and Northwestern Great Kirav, as well as the Western Highlands, positioning it to become the dominant language of the emerging multilingual federation.

Kiravic is a highly language that encodes a great deal of grammatical and semantic information in single words through use of relational morphemes (as is evident in the formation ápniverþē, "in any other book"), and frequently derives new words through processes of compounding. It is noted for its complex array of and adpositional, as well as for its  mood. Kiravic is an in terms of morphosyntactic alignment. As in other Cosco-Adratic languages, a great deal of grammatical information that most languages communicate through verb conjugation, such as, , and is instead expressed through a large number of specific absolutive cases. Also like other Cosco-Adratic languages, Kiravic has a very high relative abundance of nouns and adjectives over verbs: By most counts, there are some 50-70 Kiravic verbs, depending on the dialect and the degree to which certain foreign loans such as gib are considered. Though unusual among world languages, this is not as extreme as in some related Cosco-Adratic languages, which have as few as 3 true verbs, and as Hizolami, which may have no verbs at all.

Genealogically speaking, Kiravic Coscivian is derived from the late variety of Iatic Coscivian (now called High Coscivian) that was used as an administrative language and lingua franca in the Coscivian colonies of the eastern seaboard. It has, especially in its various regional dialects, absorbed vocabulary from other Coscivian languages, Celtic languages, and Kirhavite Aboriginal languages, to the extent that some linguists consider it to be a formalised. There are three distinct literary registers of the language, Nohærikiravirona, Oskandikiravirona, and Ixtikiravirona, with recognisably different conventions as to vocabulary, syntax, orthography, and style.

Nouns
As in all other Cosco-Adratic languages, the most important in Kiravic is the. Nouns are the primary bearers of meaning, and most information in a typical Kiravic sentence is contained in its. Because Kiravic has few verbs compared to most languages, it relies heavily on and verb-noun constructions to approximate what many languages might express with a single, unitary verb. As such, noun morphology in Kiravic is rather complex, and the various noun cases can be used to convey a number of different meanings.

Kiravic nouns inflect for two numbers (singular/nonplural and plural) and X main cases: The absolutive, ergative, genitive, indirect, locative, lative, essive, benefactive, and instrumental. Within the absolutive case, nouns further inflect for three tenses (present/gnomic, past, future, imperative) and two aspects (simple and perfect).\

There are four general declension patterns in Kiravic, characterised by the suffixes taken in the absolutive and genitive cases:


 * Form I - Absolutive -v ⇒ genitive -l
 * Form II - Absolutive -a ⇒ genitive -á
 * Form III - Absolutive -n, -r, -m ⇒ genitive -sk
 * Form IV - Absolutive -k ⇒ genitive -idek

Grammatical cases
The two most important noun cases in sentence formation are the absolutive, which marks the object of a transitive sentence or the subject of an intransitive sentence, and the ergative, which marks the subject of a transitive sentence. At minimum, a Kiravic subject-predicate sentence comprises an absolutive noun and a verb.

Sta ruston "The person sees"

Sta rustoth fidin  "The person sees the building" The tense (past, present, future, jussive) and aspect (imperfect, perfect) of a sentence are marked on the absolutive noun.

Sta rustoth fidiste  "The person saw the building"

Sta rustoth fidistéi  "The person had seen the building"

Sta rustoth fidisti  "The person has seen the building"

Sta rustoth fidisto  "The person will see the building"

Sta rustoth fidistói  "The person will have seen the building" The jussive mood (for forming commands) is also marked on the absolutive noun.

 Fidistu sta "See the building"

 Luktuvu send erú "Let them eat cake "

Kiravic has few verbs, so many actions are expressed through noun-verb couplets (compare the English examples "eat dinner" vs. "dine", "make a sale" vs. "sell"). For example, "to push" in Kiravic is va stugon (lit. "do a push"), "to welcome" is tá rædor (lit. "to give welcome"). The second, or indirect, object, which does not form part of the couplet, is marked in the indirect case, indicated by the suffix -m for Form I and Form II nouns, and -nt or -d for Form III nouns.

Rustoth stugon va vālint   /     Rustoth stugon va rukum "The person pushed the case"         /      "The person pushed the bucket"

Constructive cases
In addition to the three grammatical cases which establish the structure of a sentence, Kiravic nouns also decline for several "constructive cases" that are used to form s.


 * Genitive - Indicates possession, composition, and origin. Also forms infinitive constructions with the verbal nouns (see below).
 * Benefactive - Indicates purpose or destination.
 * Instructive - Instructive.
 * Essive (formal) - Formal essive.
 * Essive (modal) - Modal essive.

Adpositional "cases"
Kiravic nouns can also take on a number of regular adpositional suffixes indicating spatial/temporal position and motion. These are not cases per se but were traditionally treated as such by Occidental linguists, so here they are:

Proper and Indeclinable Nouns
Proper nouns are subject to the same declension rules as common nouns. By convention, one declines a Coscivian personal name by changing the surname only (e.g. "The office of Irasur Mérovin" would be adikuv Irasur Mérovisk rather than adikuv Irasursk Mérovin), with the forename treated as a. Similarly, when declining a compound geographic name such as Mount Xýzyro (Nár Xýssyrov) or the River Kiygrava (Rurin Kiygrava), only the general noun is declined while the specific appellation remains unchanged (Nárē Xýssyrov, Rurinst Kiygrava). Foreign names and brand names that cannot be readily Coscivised can be fit into the structure of a Kiravic sentence using auxiliary prepositions like áu ("of") and ōs ("as"), but most style guides for formal writing encourage using the indeclinable name as an adjunct to an appropriate Kiravic common noun. For example, "There was a fire in Gulnaz" (the capital of Kayistan) would be translated as Lé spóre sarēs Gulnaz ("There was a fire in the city of Gulnaz").

Nouns (continued)
Kiravic does not employ. is inferred from context, though in the absence of contextual clues to the contrary, nouns are generally interpreted as being definite by default. In situations where contextual clues might be ambiguous and there is a need to clarify definacy, the determiner lē- can be used to specify that a noun is indefinite, e.g. Ar koé lē-asdrárdas, tos dhé voé asdrár klesk skúl ("I spoke with a salesman, but he was not the salesman from your company").

Adjectives and Adverbs
Kiravic adjectives inflect for five degrees (indicative, comparative, superlative, excessive, abessive, and sufficient). All adjectives precede the nouns they modify, and do not agree with them in case or number.

There are four adjectivial declensions in Kiravic:

I. -ix II. -ax III. -óx IV. auxilliary

All adverbs are notionally derived from adjectives by switching the final -x to an -s (kávix ("good") → kávis ("well"), lādéx kèokrúd ("stronger than steel") → lādés kèokrúd ("more strongly than steel")).

Verbs
There are only 25-30 verbs in formal written Kiravic, a great many of which are, such as é ("be"), va ("do"), sind ("to turn, render"), kar ("make"), er ("go"), kur ("put"), and send ("take"). The range of meaning communicated by these verbs can be quite broad, and is often qualified phrasally by adverbs, nouns, and adpositions. Sta, for example, can mean "see", "hear", "feel", "taste", "smell", "perceive", "realise", or even "imagine". Verbs are not conjugated. Instead, tense, aspect, and mood are marked on nouns in the absolutive case.

Some spoken Kiravic dialects often have verbs not present in the written registers, some of which are quite versatile. Śak, used in parts of Etivéra and Niyaska, can mean "raise/lower", "steal", "work out", "jump", "damage", "bungle", or "break up/crush into pieces". However, many spoken varieties of Kiravic, especially those used by speech communities that shifted to Kiravic from another languages (e.g. Aboriginals or immigrant groups) employ markedly fewer verbs than the written registers.

Adpositions
In Kiravic, adpositions are typically affixed to their objects as suffixes rather than written as separate words, but can be written as such to improve clarity in particularly complex sentences. For example, while "I came here with a cake" would ordinarily be written "Kú kēdés vediƌ lúktūdas, the form "Kú kēdés vediƌ das lúktuv" is also grammatically valid.

While professional linguists, especially outside Kiravia, treat these appended adpositions as independent, in Kiravia they are thought of and taught as. The reason for this discrepancy lies in historical linguistics: When Kiravic was developing as an Iatic-based creole, the practice of appending adpositions to their objects developed as a replacement for most of Iatic's more morphologically-complex cases in order to better communicate with non-native speakers while the original Iatic syntax was kept.

Numerals
As in all other Cosco-Adratic languages, numerals exist separately as nouns (the names of numerical values) and as adjectives (used to quantify nouns). As such, all numerals have three forms: nominal, cardinal, and ordinal. Kiravic numerals follow a split vigesimal system with a base of 20 and a superbase of 100. As such, Kiravic only has distinct names for every other power of ten.

Syntax
The most common order in Kiravic is verb-subject-object, though word order can be rather free and subject-object-verb order is also common, particularly in Central and Upper Kiravic dialects. Adpositional phrases modifying verbs most often precede the verb in VSO sentences and follow it in SOV sentences. Adjectives and adverbs precede the words that they modify.

[Word order redux] [Questions & Answers] [na particle] [Recursion, Relative clauses, Dependent clauses, etc]

Case governance
An important way in which Kiravic produces a full and rich range expression with a very limited number of verbs is through case-governed constructions.

Infinitive phrases
Infinitive phrases are a subset of noun phrases that have a verbal noun as the nucleus and perform a similar function to and  in languages with more synthetic verb morphology. Nominalisation of a verb phrase into an infinitive phrase involves regular transformations of grammar and syntax.

The formula for the infinitive form of a transitive verb phrase is as follows:

[Verb] [Subject - Ergative] [Direct object - Absolutive] ⇒ [Verbal noun] [Direct object - Genitive] [Subject - Prolative]

Whereas the word order of transitive verb phrases is fairly free (see above), the word order of corresponding infinitive phrases is fairly fixed. Optionally, for longer phrases, the subject may be placed between the verbal noun and direct object. Indirect objects remain in the indirect case and are placed between the genitive direct object and the prolative subject. Other constructive nouns (e.g. benefactives) also retain their cases and are placed between the direct object (or indirect object, if present) and the subject, in the same order as they appear in the verb phrase.

If the verb is modified by an adverb, the adverb is converted to its adjectival form when nominalising.

[Adverb] [Verb] [Subject- Ergative] [Object - Absolutive] ⇒ [Adjective] [Verbal noun] [Object - Genitive] [Subject - Prolative]

The formula for the infinitive form of an intransitive verb phrase is as follows:

[Verb] [Subject - Absolutive] ⇒ [Verbal noun] [Subject - Genitive]

Lexicon
See also: Glossary of Coscivian Terms

Lexicographers divide Kiravic words into six principal categories according to their etymological journey:


 *  ("same as that") words: Words of a High Coscivian provenance that have retained their original spellings and (often) pronounciations. They include words that have been inherited from spoken Iatic Coscivian through several stages of spoken descendant languages which have survived without modification (e.g. Kiravic róva / Iatic róva, "spring"; Kiravic verþa / Iatic verþa, "book"), as well as forms borrowed directly from literary High Coscivian in more recent times (avórua, "environment"; vūroska, "rhetoric"). Words in this category can be further divided among numerous subcategories based on their internal composition, date of borrowing from High Coscivian, and previous etymological heritage.


 * Onśapurnix ("vocally ground-down") words: Words of a High Coscivian provenance that have undergone sound and spelling changes. This includes words that have changed over the course of linguistic evolution from spoken Iatic Coscivian to modern Kiravic through several intermediary stages, as well as early direct borrowings from High Coscivian that have becomed thoroughly "nativised". Onśapurnix words form a large and important share of the Kiravic lexicon, including most of the most frequently used words in the language, such as, almost all verbs, and basic concrete nouns. They are even more common in spoken and dialectal Kiravic than in the formal literary registers.


 * Dheśtravundix ("internally/natively composed") words: Compounds and morphological derivations newly composed in Kiravic from High Coscivian and other classical roots according to Kiravic morphological rules. A related class are the duîsovisíndix ("pseudo-Sovisíndix") words that were newly composed in Kiravic using High Coscivian (or other classical) morphological rules, in order to resemble an authentic sovisíndix direct borrowing. Duîsovisíndix words are very common in the Ixtikiravirona or "High Kiravic" literary register (see below), uncommon in Nohæric Kiravic, and traditionally proscribed in Standard Kiravic.


 * Dheśtraguamix or Vūlidheśtrax ("native-born/truly native") words: Words that were neither inherited from an ancestral language or borrowed from another language, to include native coinages,, , derivations from proper names, and elevated slang and colloquial terms. Some lexicographers also assign natively-formed compounds constructed by nonstandard morphological rules - such as , blends, truncations, and syllabic abbreviations - to this category, even if they include classical or foreign roots. The minor "Open Kiravic" register and the experimental "Recorded Kiravic" style of writing, which both seek to emulate contemporary spoken Kiravic more than the major literary registers do, make much more extensive use of native-born words than their competitors.


 * Manitovix ("accreted") words: Words of non-classical and non-native provenance that are not considered "foreign" in origin. The membership and subdivision of this category is a matter of some contention among Kiravic linguists, but by its broadest definition includes loanwords of non-classical origin borrowed into post-classical spoken ancestors of Kiravic from other languages in the Coscivian cultural sphere and words morphologically derived therefrom, and direct borrowings into Kiravic from other modern Coscivian languages and languages in the Coscivian cultural sphere.


 * Velśix ("foreign") words: All words borrowed from outside the Coscivian cultural sphere, including "near-foreign" loans from Aboriginal Kiravite, Finno-Kiravite, and Celtic languages, and "far-foreign" loans from all other languages.

Kiravic has a rich and copious lexicon so replete with synonyms and terms with very subtle yet profound distinctions from one another in meaning, register, tone, and connotation that there exists an entire class of reference works, termed îhadsomethingforthis-shite-uv, that serve to help writers navigate the nuances of the language to maximal rhetorical or artistic effect by providing detailed explanations of relationships between various words with extensive cross-references that go far beyond the offerings of a typical English thesaurus. The overlarge vocabulary of literary Kiravic is attributable in large part to the semi-independent development of different literary registers in the pre-modern and early modern periods, and to the diffusion of words across dialectal boundaries.

The bulk of Kiravic Coscivian vocabulary is either inherited from High Coscivian or newly synthesised from High Coscivian roots. Much of this High Coscivian patrimony is ultimately derived from other languages that provided loanwords to High Coscivian as far back as pre-Imperial times, including Iathei Coscivian, Stairovix Coscivian, Thygiastran Coscivian and [that non-Coscivian one]. A great deal of words have entered Kiravic from the various vernacular languages of ethnic communities living in Kiravia, particularly major ones such as Taństan Coscivian and Great Antaric Coscivian. The lexicon continues to grow with a steady stream of new coinages and borrowings.

Scientific Terminology
In the modern era, Kiravic has avoided directly borrowing scientific and technical terms from Latin, Ænglish, and other Western languages. The writing guides most commonly followed by Kiravian scientific journals all discourage direct borrowings, and prescribe formulas for translating Western terms into Kiravic, most often by. Professional institutions such as the Kiravian Astronomical Academy (Kiravix Iselrakeniax Lárutovarum) and the Kiravian Chemical Society (Kiravix Ɣislokeniax Askola) play an important role in formally defining Kiravic scientific nomenclature and creating paradigms to derive new words as needed.

A significant number of Kiravian scientific terms, however, are original coinages, some of which predate Western discoveries. For example, the phenomenon of, known as télar in Kiravic and High Coscivian, has been known to Coscivian civilisation for millennia. The Kiravic word for, śgrulva, is attested in writing as early as 20542 (1362), and occurs frequently in common parlance.


 * Kōstrúlôstum - "Blood plasma", from kōstrum (blood) + lôstum (broth)
 * Dharnagrám - Translation of both "" and "", from dharna (brick) + grám (supporting structure)
 * Ɣámpraxuruv -, from ɣámpra (womb) + xuruv (cloud)
 * Sirrúréstor -, from sirrum (rain) + réstor (conduction, fomentation)

Foreign Loans
For historical and cultural reasons, Kiravic lexicographers often distinguish between culturally "foreign" loanwords and loanwords from other Cosco-Adratic languages or languages within the Coscivian cultural sphere. Different literary registers and stylistic forms of Kiravic vary in their commitment to, with some being more welcoming of foreign loans than others. Nonetheless, as Kiravian society has never been isolated from other cultures, words with ultimately non-Coscivian etymologies can be found in most strata of the Kiravic lexicon.

is without a doubt the language that has contributed the largest number of loandwords to Kiravic. Most basic ecclesiastical terminology has come to Kiravic through Gaelic, such as Æglasta ("church", from Gaelic eaglais) Avrenn ("Mass", from aifreann), and Þíarna ("God", "the Lord", from Thíarna). In many Kiravic dialects, Gaelic loans have displaced many common words of Coscivian origin, such as práta ("potato", versus Coscivian ēln), portán ("crab"), and fovar ("autumn", from fomhar). Práta and fovar in particular have gained currency nationwide and are acceptable in most literary forms of Kiravic.

Other important loandwords to Kiavic from Ixnayan languages include mestiśuv ("person of mixed Coscivian and non-Coscivian descent", from mestiço), gipklé ("cede territory under the threat of force", from Lebhan gib clay), and bola ("bomb", from Hekuvian Latin pyrobola).

Written Registers
There are three main literary registers of Kiravic. While all are mutually intelligible, they differ substantially in vocabulary, lexico-morphological rules, orthography, and style. Usage of one register or another varies by region as well as by context.


 * Literary Kiravic (Kiravic: Vénakirrona) or Nohæric emerged from conventions established during [time period] by traditional rhetorical schools in the Kir lands when they began teaching rhetoric in the vernacular instead of solely in High Coscivian, and went on to evolve organically with the flowering of Kiravic literary culture. Nohæric is the, and is used in the majority of long-form literature and , most newspapers and mid- and upmarket magazines, and polished correspondence. Native speakers prefer Literary Kiravic for most purposes, and in states where Kiravic is the prevailing language (as well as Æonara and the Overseas Regions), Literary Kiravic is the only register taught in schools.
 * Standard Kiravic (Kiravic: Oskandikiravirona), also known as teléuverþarona ("schoolbook language") was developed by the Kiravian Union Directorate of Education to promote the adoption of Kiravic as the unified national language in accordance with the programme of the Kirosocialist Party. It was the result of reforms intended to rationalise, modernise, and simplify the language in order to facilitate its acquisition by non-native speakers, and also to "proletarianise" the written language to make it more accessible to the masses. Today, Standard Kiravic is the predominant register used in federal government documents (and lower-level government documents in Kiravic from non-Kiravic-speaking regions), business documents and correspondence,, and technical writing. In provinces outside the native range of Kiravic, Standard Kiravic is the register taught in schools, though Literary Kiravic vocabulary is often taught in the upper forms.


 * High Kiravic (Kiravic: Ixtikirrona) is a conservative form of Kiravic modelled closely on the stylistic conventions of Traditional High Coscivian and replete with lexical borrowings from older and more arcane recensions of High Coscivian. Certainly the least commonly used of the three main registers, High Kiravic is encountered in many of the greatest Kiravic literary works, a growing number of higher-brow periodicals, and in some recent works of popular nonfiction (especially on historical or political topics). The language of legal documents and proceedings most closely resembles High Kiravic, earning it the informal appellation áldarona ("legalese"). A great deal of personal correspondence among the middle- and upper-classes during the 15th-19th centuries was written according to High Kiravic conventions, including the letters circulated among the founding fathers of the Republic, which are widely studied and recited today.

Note that the unqualified name of the language itself - Kirrona in Literary and High Kiravic, Kiravirona in Standard Kiravic - reflects each register's origins, with the former developing organically from the ethnic language of the Kir people, and the other having been designed and proliferated to be the common language of the entire nation.

There are several minor literary registers used among smaller communities, most of which adhere to style guides published by a particular literary society, university, or other institution. Today, it is often difficult to definitively say that a particular document is written in one register or another, though it is usually easy to identify which register's conventions it leans more toward.

Core Dialects

 * Kandan Kiravic is native to the parts of upstate Kiygrava surrounding the city of Evira, as well as communities of ethnic Kandan populations in other parts of Northern Kirav and the Colonies.


 * Læran Kiravic - Spoken in southeastern Etivéra.


 * White Kiravic (Thasikirrona) - Spoken across most of Kastera and parts of neighbourign states by the White Kir.


 * Kandan Kiravic' or Red Kiravic' (Hūrikirrona) - Spoken across the upper hemiboreal belt of Great Kirav by the Kandan Kir, as well as pockets of Upper Kirav.


 * Xúsran Kiravic is spoken mainly in the state of Hiterna.

Peripheral Dialects

 * Svéaran Kiravic - Native to the Svéa Coast and its hinterlands, over parts of Kiygrava and Harma, as well as most of Bissáv, this dialect was spread to the Cape, Paulastra, the Saxalins, and part of Cartadania as a disproportionately large number of traders, sailors, whalers, and early emigrants hailed from the Svéa Coast. Svéaran is notable for its atypical nominative-accusative morphosyntactic alignment (attributed to a Anderan substrate), and for the strong Taństan influence on its phonology and vocabulary.


 * Urban Northeastern Kiravic dialects are spoken in large, multi-ethnic urban areas in traditionally Taństan-speaking Northeastern states, such as Béyasar. Kiravic displaced Taństan as the main language of daily life and inter-ethnic communication in these cities during the Kirosocialist era. Formed on a foundation of written Standard Kiravic as taught in schools, its spoken form reflects the influence of Taństan (for example, having a ) as well as diverse lexical influences from the ethnic languages of its speakers, including Gaelic and other Levantine languages spoken by the substantial Levantine-Kiravian communities in these cities.


 * Upper Kiravic is spoken in north-central and northwestern Great Kirav, and borrows extensively from Central and North Coscivian languages. It has a rather singsong cadence and always distinguishes for animacy in third-person pronouns.


 * Highland Kiravic is spoken in the general region of the Eastern Highlands, as well as overseas colonies settled by emigrants from this region. It borrows heavily from Celtic and Aboriginal languages and is notable for its nasal vowels and distinct cadence.


 * Telmarine Kiravic is spoken in and around Telmar, Ventarya. Kalvertan Coscivian is the prevailing language of the surrounding area, but was supplanted by Kiravic after the city became the operational hub of the Kiravian Navy. Although it is located far south of the Southern Kiravic dialect belt, Telmarine Kiravic is in fact an outlying Northern dialect, reflecting the influence of the many navy yard workers relocated from Valēka. It is also heavily influenced by Svéaran Kiravic and by Maritime Coscivian.


 * Xirayic is spoken in Xirya, where it is formalised and used for official purposes. One notable feature is the pronunciation of the adjectival -x suffix as -s, erasing any phonetic distinction between adjectives and adverbs. This is causes mild to moderate confusion for speakers of other dialects.

Usage
In the Kiravian Federacy, Kiravic is the sole official and working language of the Federal government. It is the language in which all laws are written, as well as all original copies of official documents. Most federal subjects, with a few exceptions, use Kiravic as their language of governance either officially or unofficially. While all territories, intendancies, and governments-general use Kiravic as their official language by default, the more self-governing mainland states and chartered colonies are free to designate their own official languages, and several retain Kiravic only in a secondary or auxiliary capacity.

In Kiravia, Kiravic is the language of interethnic communication, business, and mass media. From the Kirosocialist period until the late 21190s all public secondary (and most public primary) education was conducted in Kiravic, and while some states (such as Sydona) have since made local languages the standard medium of instruction, most secondary education nationwide is still in Kiravic, while higher education is conducted mainly in High Coscivian. Kiravic is spoken competently by 66% of the Kiravian population, by 42% as a native language, and by 33% as their sole native language. Most Kiravic speakers are fluent, either natively or non-natively, in one or more ethnic vernacular languages.

Due to Kiravian political and economic influence overseas, especially in Ixnay, Kiravic is often studied as a foreign language abroad, especially in the Cape, Paulastra, and Caphiria.