Old High Jelbic

Old High Jelbic (OHJ:Awé Er'krnaék Jelbék (IPA: æveɪ ər̩'kr̩næeɪk jəɫbeɪk)) is the former native language of Jelbania and was spoken by a sizable proportion of its population. Pontesian and Barmenian dialects were known with subtle lexical variations and grammatical near-uniformity.

Although primarily superceded by its modern derivatives, Jelbék, Pnték and Brmék, it remains a second language to several modern speakers through its use in formal and ceremonial purposes and academic study. Old High Jelbanian is occasionally used as a lingua franca to overcome divergence in the modern Jelbic languages through external influences and the intake of loanwords.

An agglutinative language, with certain prefixes, suffixes and conjugations creating different meanings of the word, it lacks the system of honorific speech present in others.

History
The Proto-Jelbic people settled over a wide area of North-Western Majatran, extending from modern Jelbania up to Beitenyu and Pontesi, speaking an early form of the language. This region was an entity of contiguous Proto-Jelbic states until migratory tribes invaded the Vanukuese Ithysmus, separating the Jelbic peoples into two groups.

Over time, the language developed into Old High Jelbék and Old High Pnték. These two incarnations of the language were next to mutually intelligible, with minor vocabulary differences due to separate technological and cultural evolutions. The Brmék lexicon later diverged further from the Pnték, largely due to religous influences.

Orthography and Phonology
The Old High Jelbék language usually uses the Selucian alphabet, with the letters named phonetically. Occasionally it can be transliterated into the Tokundian alphabet sometimes used in modern Jelbék.

Jelbék Alphabet
The Jelbék Alphabet, derived from cave markings during the initial migration across Majatran, was used for ceremonial purposes, such as names of buildings on signs, names of people for accessories/decorations and titles in formal documents. Although it was used in some printed publications where the Luthorisation of the language was met with xenophobic disdain, this fell out of favour due to the ease with which the Luthori alphabet can be written cursively.



The Alphabet is fairly simple in design, monospaced and could be struck into stone with swift chiselling. It has five segments which are believed to relate to how each sound is projected, voiced, affricated or otherwise modified. Whilst theories differ over which segment relates to which, a unilateral consensus is held that the central horizontal segment denotes a vowel.

Grammar
The sentence structure of the language is SOV (Subject Object Verb) and uses particles to denote which case nouns in the sentence are in.

Particles
A variety of particles are used to label certain aspects of the sentence. These can depend on which case the items referred to in the sentence are in, they might be conjunctive, some modify nouns or make lists, whilst others some finish sentences to add assertions or requests.

Cases and Particles
Nominative, Topics and Accusative

For the nominative, no particle is needed. The effective copula is "ajozuo", derived from the present progressive form of ajo, the verb to be. Hence it literally means "is being", but would be more closer to the English "is".

Heiji ajozuo. - "It is Good."

Note that the verb is at the end, but the subject has been omitted. Also, the system of indefinite/definite articles (the and a/an) isn't present in Jelbék. This sentence means little without understanding what the speaker is pointing out as it has been taken out of context. Conversations need the topic defined to make sure all speakers are talking about the same thing; the topic particle "orzy" is used here, and the topic usually starts the sentence:

Esti orzy heiji ajozuo. - "Life is good"

When an action takes place, most of the time it involves doing something to something else, this something else being the object of the action. This object is in the accusative case and uses the "grzy" particle. The subject carries out the action is marked with "wrzy". The distinction is important. When romanised (written in the standard roman alphabet, like this) all nouns are capitalised.

Nka wrzy Mouzij grzy fitomojek. - "The Cat stopped the Mouse." compared to Nka grzy Mouzil wrzy fitomojek. - "The Mouse stopped the Cat."

When either of these is the topic of the sentence, "orzy" replaces "wrzy" or "grzy". The context will usually imply which one it replaced, whilst pointing out what the conversation is about still. These are the only two particles that "orzy" overwrites.

Dative, Time, Locations and the Genetive/Possession

 * Hrzy - Dative (time/destination)
 * Drzy - Location of Action/Cause
 * Firja - from
 * Timad - until/limit
 * -é - adjectival
 * -ék - possessive (-aék if already ending with k/d)

Lists, Counters and Denoting Additions

 * Trzy - Exhaustive list / with
 * Yrzy - Non-exhaustive list
 * Mrzy - Additive particle
 * Moki - More of (-ki from counter)

Conjunctions

 * Gerdzy - Comparitive
 * Hrerwa - "but, however"
 * Kri - Various actions relating to whatever Kri ("that") implies

Sentence-Finals

 * Yrzá - Exclamation
 * Nrzé - Confirmation
 * Zri - Question

Verbs

 * -jo -mo types
 * list of forms
 * explanation of forms

Adjectives and Adverbs

 * Some standard ones
 * Verbal adjectives and negatives
 * Verbal adverbs and negatives

Ordinal and Cardinal Numbers

 * Ordinals
 * Cardinals
 * Formation of larger numbers

Vocabulary
Make separate articles and link here: Verbs (sorted alphabetically by English translation) Nouns (sorted contextually then by English translation) Adjectives (sorted by English translation)

Example Text: Jelbék Prsakijsrlji Lrn
"Jelbék Prsakijsrlji Lrn" or the "Jelbanian Purple Stripe" is a nationalist anthem that has been proposed as the national anthem.

Kriertrunakaék Jelbékai / Krsyigad drzy shlajomek. / Kezji drsmojekjrza / Krjozuo, hrerwa / Shlajogad hrzy grzmojek.

Hiakaék Heiji Jelbékai / Wrntu hrzy fahmojuo. / Intrsmor trzy Nrlak / Drzy nrkmojuojetak. / Katakjinyr ajozuo. /

Jelbék Prsakijsrlji Lrn / Isre wrzy krysijozuo. / Taghe firja Jezstad timad / Jelbékai ajozuo. /

Kriwrntuakaék Jelbékai / Isrék Krsyiji Krna / Hrzy thotrmojetak. / Genjogad srlmojetak. / Azre orzy flakmojrza. /

Jelbék Prsakijsrlji Lrn / Isre wrzy krysijozuo. / Taghe firja Jezstad timad / Jelbékai ajozuo. /

Jelbék Prsakijsrlji Lrn: / Jelbékai ajozuo. /

Translation:

Yesterday's Jelbanians, / Fought to make our union. / Strongly united, / And despite some dying for the cause / They succeeded in their struggle. /

Today's righteous Jelbanians / Go forwards. / We are determined to / be intelligent and clear. / We will not tire. /

The Jelbanian Purple Stripe / Is uniting us all. / From the fields to the cities / We are the Jelbanian people. /

Tomorrow's Jelbanians / Will look back / On our union, / And inspired / They will not falter /

The Jelbanian Purple Stripe / Is uniting us all. / From the fields to the cities / We are the Jelbanian people. /

The Jelbanian Purple Stripe: / We are the Jelbanian people. /