What follows is an introduction to my running accumulation of vocabulary in translation from Standard English to Persican and back, the Persican-English dictionary. I utilize this for my national information and roleplaying, but I invite anyone so inclined to make use of it as well, particularly when interacting directly or indirectly with Persicans. The syntax and grammar is primarily English, the number/counting system is French, and the words themselves are a proprietary blend of Scandinavian, Welsh, Latin, Russian, and gibberish!

Persican - Persikanska

Persican is the modern form of a Nordiceltic language that was first spoken between the colonial tradespeople on Persica and Atramentar and is now the lingua franca for Star Kingdom of Persica. It is an official language of the Crown and Government, protected under the Ravencrown Constitution and spoken on each of the star nation’s worlds and outposts.

Initially, the language was referred to as Nolaan, derived from combining two separate words: novii (new) and laanjja (language). This style of word compounding was most common in the earliest years of its development in the lowlands of Vanovar. Nolaan evolved as a dialect between the void-faring traders of Persica and Atramentar during the first centuries of colonization, combining Welsh, Irish, and Scottish, with Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian in an English syntax, and with a French-style numbering system. A deliberate effort was made to reduce synonyms and homophones as much as possible in order to facilitate easy learning and proficiency. Its later development into Cambrian, and its ubiquity in the Persican Cluster, was the result of efforts at common understanding and communication brought about through centuries of diplomacy and conquest.

Persican has evolved over the course of more than 800 years. Old Persican (Nolaan) spread throughout the Persican Cluster worlds and became the common language. By the time the Republic of Royce was formed in 2722, the Middle Persican language was called Cambrian, after the capital world of Nova Cambria, and heavily influenced by widespread use of Latin words and styles. Early Modern Persican began in the mid-30th century with the unification of the Star Kingdom of Persica.

There is little morphological inflection in Modern Persican, and the syntax is generally isolating. As with English, Persican relies on auxiliary verbs and word order for the expression of complex tenses, aspect and mood, as well as passive constructions, interrogatives and negation. Despite noticeable variation between the forms of Persican spoken in different world regions, Persican-speakers from around the world can communicate with one another effectively. Different accents are distinguished only by phonological and phonetic differences among speakers, whereas dialects also display grammatical and lexical differences.

THE FUTHARK

The Persican alphabet is called a futhark, derived from the first runes in the Ancient Norse languages. Modern Persican is written with classic English letters, still referred to as runes. There are twenty-seven runes in the Persican futhark: six vowels and twenty-one consonants.

Vowels

A a: short a sound, as in bat or dad; often pronounced as a schwa (ǝ) at the end of words; some regions add a fada (á) to indicate a long vowel sound.

E e: short e sound, as in bed or dead. Some regions add an umlaut (ë) to indicate a long vowel sound.

I i: short i sound, as in did or give.

O o: long o sound, as in rope or grow.

U u: short u sound, as in run or done; some regions add a circumflex (û) to indicate a long vowel sound.

Y y: long i sound, as in lie, sky, or vice.

Other Vowels Sounds

Aa aa: a Nolaan holdover that is pronounced as a short o sound. 

Ae ae: a Cambrian holdover that can be pronouced as either a long a sound or a long i sound. As a diphthong, ae is often replaced with a y.

ii: a Nolaan holdover that is pronounced as a long e sound; typically written at the ends of certain words, though it does appear in the middle of some.

Consonants

B b: as in blue, bread, and box.

C c: hard k sound, as in kick, Christmas, or kind; or soft s sound, as in sent, sister, or sat; while the rune is largely unnecessary, it is nevertheless used in some proper nouns, most notably in any version of “Cambria” and the Persican Royal House of Corvida.

D d: as in door, dark, and dull.

F f: as in front, fence, and fork.

G g: hard g sound, as in green, glass, or get; when written in the middle of some words, the Nolaan habit of using gg is still common.

H h: as in hill, hat, or hum.

J j: soft g sound, as in giant, jump, or gem.

Jj jj: y sound, as in yellow, united, or fjord.

K k: as in kick, Christmas, or kind.

L l: as in lemon, ladder, or like.

M m: as in man, mint, or mother.

N n: as in north, nest, or nanny.

P p: as in park, pencil, or pint.

Q q: qu sound, as in quick, queen, or quart.

R r: as in red, rabbit, or rust.

S s: as in sent, sister, or sat.

T t: as in tart, tone, or turn.

V v: as in violet, velvet, or vase.

W w: as in went, woke, or wilt.

X x: ks sound, as in mix, fox, or toxic.

Z z: as in zero, zip, or zebra.

Consonant Digraphs

ch: as in change, check, or challenge.

dh: indicates a soft th sound.

ph: this digraph is always written with an f in Persican.

sh: as in short, ship, or fish.

th: indicates a hard th sound; in the original Nolaan futhark there was a rune for this digraph; in Cambrian and Persican, it is written with the two runes.

The Schwa

In Persican, as with some other languages, the schwa is an unstressed and toneless neutral vowel. This is not necessarily a mid-central vowel as in Standard English and usually appears toward the ends of words. A more recent development, a schwa is indicated by a lack of vowel altogether. For example, a class of frigate in CrownForce is the Caden Tristifer; in Persican, this is transcribed as: Kaedn Tristifr.

CONJUGATION AND TENSES

Adjectives

The most common adjective modifications to root words in Persican. This is by no means a complete list.

 Quality: when in English a suffix would modify a root word to indicate qualities or characteristics, Persican adds ska to the end of the word. If the word already ends in an s, that s is dropped.

Negative modifications: when in English a prefix or suffix would modify a root word to indicate a negative or opposing quality, Persican adds nûn to the beginning of the word. If the word already begins with an n, that n is dropped.

State of being: when in English a suffix would modify a root word to indicate a state of being, quality, or condition, Persican adds isk or skas to the end of the word. If the word already ends in one or more vowels, or in an s, those vowels or that s is dropped.

Other Conjugations

Adverbs: adds ‘lus to the end of the word. If the word already ends with an l, that l is dropped.

Contractions: usually just make one word of the two,  eliminating multiple vowels or consonants; ie. you’re – varosta (you are – var osta). “Are” adds osta to the end of the word; “is” adds ost; “am” adds ja, though this only occurs in “I’m” (jjaanja); “not” as in don’t or can’t adds nae (no), even though “not” is naek. There are not contractions for “will”, “would”, “did”, “have”, or “had”.

Doer: a person who performs the action in a noun, adds dor to the end of the word. If the word already ends in an d, that d is dropped. For example, “lie” is ligga, so “liar” is liggador; “sleep” is dorma, so “sleeper” is dormador. This is reflective of a Latin influence on Middle Persican as it developed in the Republic of Royce era. Some words, such as komandr (commander), do not follow this rule – a fact that can trip up non-native speakers.

-ing: adds esa to the end of the word. If the word ends in one or more vowels, they are dropped.

Past tense: adds id to the end of the word. If the word ends in one or more vowels, they are dropped.

Plural: adds en to the end of the word. If the word ends in one or more vowels, they are typically dropped. When remaining vowels resemble each other, Nolaan holdovers often resolves the conflict. For instance: thea (god) becomes thiien (gods) rather than “theen”.

Possessive: adds ‘sa to the end of the noun. Mulitple possessors adds ‘sas. For example, person’s is homi’sa, and persons’ is homi’sas.

Superlatives: while some superlatives have their own words in Persican, others add ema to the end of the adjective to indicate an improved form, and add enta to the end of the adjective to indicate its superlative form. If the word ends in one or more vowels, they are dropped. For example: “great” is maggna, “greater” is maggnema and “greatest” is maggnenta.

Diminutives: adds zii to the end of the root word, tends to be used to describe inferior, smaller, or younger versions of the original. For example, “rabbit” is kaana, so “bunny” is kaanazii.

-tion: adds jin to the beginning of the word. If the word already begins with an n, that n is dropped. For example, “associate” is sosit, so “association” is jinsosit.

Trans-: adds chaas to the beginning of the word. If the word already begins with an s, that s is dropped. For example, “form” is ferm, so “transform” is chaasferm.

*Vocabulary Note: Where a noun and verb are the same word in Standard English, they are also often the same word in Persican, though not always. For example, “love” is both noun and verb in English, as lûva is in Persican. However, where “lie” is both noun and verb in English, in Periscan lagga means to lie down and ligga means to tell an untruth.

NUMBERS

The French-style counting system for Persican is one of number-building with prefixes and suffixes: one through ten, then ten-one, ten-two, ten-three, and so on.

1 – vaan

2 – tii

3 – tor

4 – fen

5 – faer

6 – sif

7 – sajja

8 – aet

9 – naen

10 – taav

Ten drops the v for four and five.

11 – taavaan

12 – taavtii

13 – taavtor

14 – taafen

15 – taafaer

16 – taavsif

17 – taavsajja

18 – taavaet

19 – taavnaen

Twenty is two ten, thirty is three ten, written as one word.

20 – tiitaav

21 – tiitaavaan

22 – tiitaavtii

23 – tiitaavtor

24 – tiitaafen

30 – tortaav

40 – fentaav

50 – faertaav

60 – siftaav

70 – sajjataav

80 – aetaav

90 – naentaav

One hundred adds “ta” to the end and is separated from the rest of the number.

100 – taavta

101 – taavta vaan

102 – taavta tii

103 – taavta tor

110 – taavta taav

111 – taavta taavaan

112 – taavta taavtii

125 – taavta tiitaafaer

154 – taavta jaaltaafen

188 – taavta aetaavaet

Similar to the teen numbers, multiple hundreds are written as a single word, and then separated from the rest of the number.

200 – tiitaavta

300 – tortaavta

500 – faertaavta

739 – sajjataavta tortaavnaen

Similar to the hundreds; one thousand adds “tana”, multiple thousands are written as a single word, and then separated from the rest of the number.

1000 – taavtana

1001 – taavtana vaan

1100 – taavtana taavta

1110 – taavtana taavta taav

1111 – taavtana taavta taavaan

1250 – taavtana tiitaavta faertaav

2345 – tiitaavtana tortaavta fentaafaer

6543 – siftaavtana faertaavta fentaavtor

Ten thousand is number-thousand, then the number as above. 

10,000 – taav-taavtana

20,000 – tiitaav-taavtana

55,000 – faertaafaer-taavtana

87,358 – aetaavsajja-taavtana tortaavta faertaavaet

100,000 – taavta-taavtana

187,358 – taavta-aetaavsajja-taavtana tortaavta-faertaavaet

416,873 – fentaavta-siftaav-taavtana aetaavta-sajjataavtor

1,000,000 – vaan-miila

2,000,000,000 – tii-biila

3,000,000,000,000 – tor-triila

7,000,000,000,000,000 – sajja-qadriila

USEFUL PERSICAN PHRASES

Welcome: kroso
Hello: aavâ (formal), hae (informal)
How are you?: Vor osta var?
I am good/fine/well: Jjaanja bena
Please and thank you: plaes na taak var
You’re welcome: Varost kroso
What is your name?: Vaad ost vara nomis?
My name is…: Majja nomis ost…
Where are you from?: Vojja osta var ex?
I am from…: Jjaanja ex…
I am pleased to meet you: Jjaanja plaesid bis konagr var
Good morning: bena korvalûma
Good day: bena dii
Good evening: bena strixalûma
Good night: bena nix
Goodbye: 
Yes: ajja
No: nae
I don’t know: Jjaan tûnae siio
Do you speak Persican?: Tûn var loqa Persikanska
Excuse me: 
I love you: Jjaan lûva var
Stop: halt
Where is the toilet?: