Introduction to Sivenka - Main Characteristics

There are 13 consonants and 8 vowels in Sivenka. Much of the phonemic inventory follows a 1 to 1 sound correlation with the written representation of the letters, though there are a handful of phonological rules that change the way certain phonemes are produced.

The stress falls on the first syllable of a word and any secondary stress falls on every other syllable thereafter.

Both consonants and vowels can be contrastively long or short.

Sivenka is an SOV language and an agglutinative language. Its morphology is notable primarily in suffixation of derivational and inflectional morphemes. There are a small number of clitics and prefixes.

There is no grammatical gender.

Orthography

Alphabet

a	a	[ɑ]
á	á	[æ]
e	e	[ɛ]
é	é	[ei]
i	i	[i]
í	í	[ie]
o	o	[o]
ó	ó	[ø]
u	u	[u]
y	y	[y]
ð	d	[ð]
g	g	[g]

h	h	[h]
j	j	[j]
k	k	[k]
l	l	[l]
m	m	[m]
n	n	[n]
p	p	[p]
r	r	[ɾ]
s	s	[s]
t	t	[t]
v	v	[v]

Sivenka is written from left to right. Traditionally, each written letter was written in monospacing, and reaching the end of the writing surface did not necessarily mean reaching the end of a word or sentence. Words would simply be broken and continued on the next line. However, modern Sivenka writings prefer to keep words intact. Sivenka also used to be boustrophedon in writings, however this practice has also fallen out of popularity. Now, only religious documents preserve the boustrophedon style.

The traditional writing medium for Sivenka is vellum paper produced from the flesh of mushroom trees. The writing was made by dipping a wooden stylus into ink and transcribing onto the vellum.

Writing Conventions

There is no distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters. Nothing is capitalized.

The equivalent of quotation marks in Sivenka are handle for many situations. A quoted text is encased in a " on either side of the quotation.

Rather than spaces between words, there are dots. Between each word is a !, which acts as the visual boundary between the words.

The end of a sentence is marked by a ., which functions the same as a period.

The end of a clause or the ending of a concept is marked by a ,, which is similar to a comma.

The end of a question is marked by a ?, which functions the same as a question mark.

Space	Period	Comma	Question Mark	Quotation Marks
!	.	,	?	" "

Phonology

Sivenka has an inventory of 13 consonant phonemes and 8 vowel phonemes. The main stress of the word always falls on the first syllable, and then is on every other syllable thereafter. Intonation is always descending.

Sivenka also features a set of very restricted rules regarding consonant clustering and allowable adjacent vowels, as detailed below. No more than two consonants can compose a cluster. In cases where two disallowed consonants meet, an epenthetic i is inserted; in cases where two disallowed vowels meet, an epenthetic g is inserted (except in some dialects, where g epenthesis is eroding; see below).

All vowels and many consonants can be geminated (i.e. produced with double the articulation time), as in the words ena (above) / enna (nose) and i (handle) / ii (height). A doubled vowel will be pronounced continuously for twice the length of a single vowel.

Sivenka has vowel harmony. Within the exception of compound words, vowels { a, o, u } cannot occur in words with vowels { á, ó, y }. Vowels { e, i } can exist in words of any vowel group, but if a word is composed solely of vowels { e, i }, then the suffixes will take vowels { á, ó, y }.

Any singular consonant may occur word-initially, but consonant clusters may not occur word-initially. No consonant clusters can occur word-finally and the only singular consonants that may occur word-finally are { ð, l, n, r, s, t }.

Any vowel, legal vowel cluster, or diphthong can occur word-finally. Vowel clusters may not exceed two vowels. { é and í } are diphthongs represented in the orthography by one character and cannot occur in any other vowel clusters.

Vowels

	Front (unrounded)	Front (rounded)	Back
High	i	y	u
Mid	ɛ	ø	o
Low	æ		ɑ

Diphthongs

	End ɑ	End ɛ	End i	End o	End u	End æ	End ø	End y
Start ɑ			ɑi		ɑu
Start ɛ			ɛi		ɛu			ɛy
Start i	iɑ	ie		io	iu	iæ	iø	iy
Start o			oi		ou
Start u	uɑ		ui	uo	iu
Start æ			æi					æy
Start ø			øi					øy
Start y			yi			yæ	yø

Consonants

	Labial	Labiodental	Interdental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Stop	p			t		k, g	ʔ
Fricative			ð	s, ʃ	ç	x, ɣ	h
Approximant		ʋ			j
Lateral				l, ɬ, ɫ
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Trill				ɾ, r̥

Voiceless Labial Stop - /p/
/p/ conditions a preceding nasal to become [m]. It may be preceded by [p], [l], [m], [ɾ], or [s]. It may be followed by [p], [l], [ɾ], or [s]. It may be geminated, and when it is, it undergoes pre-aspiration. It may not occur word-finally.
Voiceless Alveolar Stop - /t/
/t/ does not partake in any major phonological processes. It may be preceded by [t], [k], [l], [m], [n], [ɾ], or [s]. It may be followed by [t], [k], [l], [ɾ], or [s]. It may be geminated, and when it is, it undergoes pre-aspiration. It may occur word-finally.
Voiceless Velar Stop - /k/
/k/ does not participate in any major phonological processes of its own, though it conditions a preceding nasal to become [ŋ]. It may be preceded by [k], [l], [ŋ], [ɾ], [s], or [t]. It may be followed by [k], [l], [ɾ], [s], or [t]. It may be geminated, and when it does, it undergoes pre-aspiration. It may not occur word-finally.
Voiced Velar Stop - /g/
/g/ is notably the only voiced stop remaining in Sivenka, though the presence of it has begun to erode in usage. It is restricted to a word-initial position and becomes [j] or [ɣ] intervocalically. In some dialects, even the vowel medial [j] / [ɣ] has become elided in some morphemes such as -UgA (an agentive suffix). It may be preceded by [l], [m], [n], or [ɾ]. It may be followed by [l] or [ɾ]. It may not be geminated. It may not occur word-finally.
Glottal Stop - /ʔ/
/ʔ/ is a marginal phoneme restricted word-initially in words which underlyingly begin with a vowel. It is not noted in the orthography, and will not be noted in this grammar.
Voiced Labiodental Fricative - /v/
/v/ becomes [ʋ] when word medial. It may be preceded by [h], [l], [m], [l], [n], [ɾ], or [s]. It cannot be followed by any other consonants. It may be geminated. It may not occur word-finally.
Voiced Interdental Fricative - /ð/
/ð/ does not partake in any major phonological processes. It may be geminated, though it cannot be preceded or followed by any other consonants. It may occur word-finally.
Voiceless Alveolar Fricative - /s/
/s/ becomes [ʃ] when followed by a plosive or [j]. It may be preceded by [k], [l], [m], [n], [p], [ɾ], or [t]. It may be followed by [j], [k], [m], [n], [p], [r], [t], or [v]. It may be geminated. It may occur word-finally.
Voiceless Glottal Fricative - /h/
/h/ becomes [x] when following a low vowel. It becomes [ç] when following a high vowel. It may be preceded by [l], [m], [n], or [ɾ]. It may be followed by [l], [m], [n], [ɾ], [v]. It may not be geminated. It may not occur word-finally.
Voiced Palatal Approximant - /j/
/j/ does not partake in any major phonological processes. It may be preceded by [l] or [s]. It cannot be followed by any consonant. It does not tend to occur intervocalically unless in a compound word. It may not be geminated. It may not occur word-finally.
Voiced Alveolar Lateral - /l/
/l/ becomes [ɫ] when word medial. It also becomes [ɬ] when word-final. It may be preceded by [g], [h], [k], [p], or [t]. It may be followed by [g], [h], [j], [k], [p], [s], [t], or [v]. It may be geminated. It may occur word-finally.
Voiced Labial Nasal - /m/
/m/ does not undergo any major phonological processes. It may be preceded by [h] or [s]. It may be followed by [ð], [g], [h], [k], [p], [s], [t], or [v]. It may be geminated. It may not occur word-finally.
Voiced Alveolar Nasal - /n/
/n/ becomes [m] when followed by [p] and becomes [ŋ] when followed by a velar plosive. It may be preceded by [h] or [s]. It may be followed by [ð], [g], [h], [k], [p], [s], [t], or [v].
Voiced Alveolar Tap - /ɾ/
/ɾ/ becomes [r̥] when word-final. It may be preceded by [g], [h], [k], [p], [s], or [t]. It may be followed by [ð], [g], [h], [k], [p], [s], [t], or [v]. It may not be geminated. It may occur word-finally.

Phonological Rules at a Glance

[g] becomes [j] / [ɣ] intervocalically.
[v] becomes [ʋ] word-medially.
[s] becomes [ʃ] preceding a plosive or [j].
[h] becomes [x] following a low vowel.
[h] becomes [ç] following a high vowel.
[l] becomes [ɫ] word-medially.
[l] becomes [ɬ] word-finally.
[n] becomes [m] preceding [p].
[n] becomes [ŋ] preceding a velar plosive.
[ɾ] becomes [r] word-finally.
Any consonant can occur word-initially.
Any short vowel can occur word-initially.
Any long vowel can occur word-initially.
Any diphthong can occur word-initially.
No consonant clusters can occur word-initially.
Word-medial consonant clusters can not exceed 2 consonants.
Vowel clusters can not exceed 2 vowels.
The following consonants undergo pre-aspiration when geminated: p, t, k.
Only these consonants can occur word-finally: ð, l, n, r, s, t.
Any short vowel can occur word-finally.
Any long vowel can occur word-finally.
Any diphthong can occur word-finally.

Vowel Clusters at a Glance

	End a	End e	End i	End o	End u	End á	End ó	End y
Start a	aa		ai		au
Start e		ee			eu
Start i	ia		ii	io	iu	iá	ió	iy
Start o			oi	oo	ou
Start u	ua		ui	ou	uu
Start á			ái			áá		áy
Start é
Start í
Start ó			ói				óó	óy
Start y			yi			yá	yó	yy

Consonant Clusters at a Glance

	End ð	End g	End h	End j	End k	End l	End m	End n	End p	End r	End s	End t	End v
Start ð	ðð
Start g						gl				gr
Start h						hl	hm	hn		hr			hv
Start j
Start k					kk	kl				kr	ks	kt
Start l		lg	lh	lj	lk	ll			lp		ls	lt	lv
Start m	mð	mg	mh		mk		mm		mp		ms	mt	mv
Start n	nð	ng	nh		nk			nn	np		ns	nt	nv
Start p						pl			pp	pr	ps
Start r	rð	rg	rh		rk				rp		rs	rt	rv
Start s				sj	sk		sm	sn	sp	sr	ss	st	sv
Start t					tk	tl				tr		tt
Start v													vv

Syllabic Structure

The accepted syllables are as follows:

Open syllables
cv
cvv
v
vv

Closed syllables
cvc
cvvc
vc
vvc
vcc

Common syllabic groupings:

cvc.cv
cvv.cv
cv.cv
cvvc.cv
vc.cv

Morphology

Sivenka is an agglutinative language and as such makes extensive use of affixation for both inflectional and derivational morphological change. Most affixing occurs in the suffixation of words, though there are a small amount of prefixes. Nouns, adjectives, and verbs are the most susceptible to undergoing affixation.

Due to strict phonological rules, an epinthetic i will be inserted between the morphological boundary where illegal consonant clusters are formed. Likewise, an epinthetic g will be inserted between the morphological boundary where illegal vowel clusters are formed.

Personal Pronouns

Pronouns are either singular or plural. There are 4 alignments to the pronouns, being 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th person. Additionally, there is an inclusive and exclusive form for the word 'we', which can either include or exclude the listener. The pronouns in their stem (nominative) form are as follows:

Singular			Plural
1st Person	mo mo	I	me/mes me/mes(inclusive/exclusive)	we
2nd Person	so so	you	ses ses	y'all
3rd Person	hod hod	he/she/it/they (sg)	hed hed	they (pl)
4th Person	nin nin	one	nen nen	many

Because verbs in Sivenka indicate person and number in their inflection, it's not always required to use pronouns and they are often omitted in colloquial speech.

Demonstrative, Relative, and Other Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns
Singular		Plural
jyk jyk	this	jykit jykit	these
jak jak	that	jakit jakit	those

Interrogative Pronouns
Sivenka	English
jukko jukko	who
mikko mikko	what
rukko rukko	which

Relative Pronoun
Sivenka	English
jyká jyká	that/who

Reflexive Pronoun
Sivenka	English
tíd tíd	self + relevant possessive suffix on noun, omitted in colloquial speech

Other Pronouns/Psuedo-pronouns
Sivenka	English
nai nai	every, each
nai ahmo nai ahmo	everyone, everybody, each person
ena ena	some
ny ny	any
nyimi nyimi	someone, something, anyone, anything
pái pái	both
ettynyimi ettynyimi	no one, nobody, nothing
mis mis	few
jemis jemis	everything
pas pas	many
anes anes	other
masvis masvis	same

Nominal Morphology

Nouns undergo a variety of changes due to Sivenka's robust case morphology. Nouns will take endings that indicate whether they are singular ( sg ) or plural ( pl ), animate ( an ) or inanimate ( in ), and what case they are. There is no grammatical gender, but animacy which functions similarly when inflecting the nouns. There are no definite or indefinite articles. Adjectives will agree with their associated nouns in case, number, and animacy. All nouns follow associated adjectives.

There are ten cases in Sivenka: nominative ( nom ), accusative ( acc ), partitive ( prt ), genitive ( gen ), inessive ( ins ), ablative ( abl ), adessive ( ads ), allative ( all ), abessive ( abs ). Many of the noun cases correspond to various prepositions when translated into English.

Cases
Case	an sg an pl	in sg in pl	English	Example	Meaning
Nom	- - t	- - t	subject	myy, myy t ðalu, ðalu t	tree, trees house, houses
Acc	- n - An	- n - en	whole object	myy n , myy gán ðalu n , ðalu gen	tree, trees house, houses
Prt	- kA - kiA	- ke - kehA	partial object	myy ká , myy kiá ðalu ke , ðalu keha	tree, trees house, houses
Gen	- nA - niA	- ne - nehA	's	myy ná , myy náát ðalu ne , ðalu neet	tree's, trees' house's, houses'
Ins	- ððA - ððiA	- ððe - ððehA	in	myy ððá , myy ððiá ðalu ððe , ðalu ððeha	in a tree, in trees in a house, in houses
Abl	- hlA - hliA	- hle - hlehA	from	myy hlá , myy hliá ðalu hle , ðalu hleha	from a tree, from trees from a house, from houses
Ill	- rA - riA	- re - rehA	into	myy rá , myy riá ðalu re , ðalu reha	into a tree, into trees into a house, into houses
Ads	- vvA - vviA	- ve - vehA	at/on	myy vvá , myy vviá ðalu vve , ðalu vveha	on a tree, on trees on a house, on houses
All	- lgA - lgiA	- lge - lgehA	to	myy lgá , myy lgiá ðalu lge , ðalu lgeha	to a tree, to trees to a house, to houses
Abs	- mmA - mmiA	- mme - mmehA	without	myy mmá , myy mmiá ðalu mme , ðalu mmeha	without a tree, without trees without a house, without houses

Nominative
This case is the most basic form of the noun. It typically marks the subject/agent of the sentence.
Accusative
This case marks the direct object of a sentence, but only if it is a whole object. For example, if one was painting a house and intended the entirety of the house to be painted, accusative would be used for house. However, if only a portion of the house was to be painted, then the partitive would be used instead.
Partitive
This case marks a partial direct object of a sentence. It can employ many uses, but the most common way to utilize it is to denote a sense of incompleteness.
Genitive
This case marks possession. It is typically the possessor.
Inessive
This case is a form of locative that indicates the state of being inside/in something. The concept of what space can contain something 'within' it is not entirely the same as in English, and as such should be noted when necessary where differences occur.
Ablative
This case can be a form of locative that indicates the state of transition from one place to another. It also serves other functions grammatically, such as to indicate qualitative information.
Illative
This case is a form of locative that indicates the state of transition from an external place to an interior space. It can also indicate the cause of something and can roughly mean 'due to _' or 'because of _'.
Adessive
This case is a form of locative that indicates the state of being on top of or in close proximity to a place. In English, it can be translated as 'at' or 'on'. Notably, it also indicates possession by fulfilling the purpose of the 'to have' verb. It can also indicate an occurence of time, as in 'on Friday' in English.
Allative
This case is a form of locative that indicates the state of transitioning from one place to another. It can function similarly to the dative case when not being used as a locative.
Abessive
This case marks something as being 'without'. It is commonly attached to the infinitive verb form as well.

Numerals

The cardinal numbers are represented by their own characters in writing. When specifying the quantity of something, they must come after the thing they are modifying.

They are often written without the ! character between them and the noun.

Nouns that are modified by any numeral above 1 take their plural forms. The numeral itself always remains singular, but it agrees in case and animacy otherwise.

Adjectives

Adjectives always agree in number, case, and animacy with their nouns. An adjective will always be inflected in the same way as the noun it modifies. It will always precede the noun it is modifying.

Adverbs

The most common way to form an adverb is by adding the suffix -prU to the stem of a word. They do not need to be inflected for case, as they modify verbs rather than nouns. They will always preced the verb they modify as a result. Adverbial phrases, such as those of time, however, have more syntactic flexibility.

Possessive Suffixes

A noun with a possessive suffix is frequently paired with a possessor genitive noun. The genitive will mark the possessor and the possessive ending marks the possessed. The genitive noun always precedes the possessed noun. The possessive suffix always follows after any case endings.

Possessive Suffixes
Person	Singular Suffix	Plural Suffix
1st	- nul	- mun /- muten
2nd	- nuð	- nuððen
3rd	- nut	- nuhren
4th/zero	- nuu	- nuunen

Comparative and Superlative

Both the comparative and the superlative are formed with prefixation rather than suffixation. As adjectives, they agree with the nouns they modify, and any case endings necessary will still become suffixes to these forms.

The comparative is formed by prefixing mU - to a noun.

The superlative is formed by prefixing mUsi - to a noun.

Sivenka	English
hiva hiva	good
muhiva muhiva	better
musihiva musihiva	best

General Derivational Morphology

There are numerous productive morphemes in Sivenka's lexicon. Here is a quick reference of the most common ones:

Result	Affix
adjective of quality	- vin
adjective of qualification	- Oil
adverb	- prU
verb	- mA
noun	- s
agentive	- UgA
patientive	- Us
diminutive	- iil
comparative	mU -
superlative	mUsi -
interrogative	- kkO
negation	etty -
causative	- jU
past participle	- r
augmentative	- ehan
instrumental	- llAs
being at a loss of	- nOOl

Here is a quick reference of common prepositions and how they are used in Sivenka, whether by case formation or as individual words:

English	Case	Sivenka
above	-	enivvá enivvá
across	-	uhli uhli
after	-	jóil jóil
against	-	mó mó
along	-	vitaksu vitaksu
around	-	ul ul
at	adessive	- vvA , - vviA / - vve , - vvehA
atop	adessive	- vvA , - vviA / - vve , - vvehA
away	-	lais lais
behind	-	vuor vuor
below	-	umde umðe
beneath	-	umde umðe
beside	-	raikta raikta
between	-	tau tau
beyond	-	uhli uhli
by	-	raikta raikta
down	-	palgi palgi
for	-	var var
from	ablative	- hlA , - hliA / - hle , - hlehA
in	inessive	- ððA , - ððiA / - ððe , - ððehA
inside	inessive	- ððA , - ððiA / - ððe , - ððehA
into	illative	- rA , - riA / - re , - rehA
near	-	raikta raikta
next to	-	raikta raikta
off	ablative	- hlA , - hliA / - hle , - hlehA
on	adessive	- vvA , - vviA / - vve , - vvehA
over	-	enivvá enivvá
out	ablative	lais lais
than	-	ta ta
through	-	sunni sunni
to	allative	- lgA , - lgiA / - lge , - lgehA
toward	allative	- lgA , - lgiA / - lge , - lgehA
under	-	umde umðe
until	-	veelon veelon
with	-	tassed tasseð
without	-	etttytassed ettytasseð

A note on adposition:
Where English might use a preposition and Sivenka doesn't take a suffix, then a postposition is used. Postpositions function similar to English prepositions, but they follow the noun they are modifying rather than precede it. In a postpositional phrase, the noun will most likely be in ablative, allative, or genitive. This will be discussed more in the syntax portion of this guide.

Verbal Morphology

Every verb in Sivenka undergoes the same type of conjugation. The verb stem doesn't undergo any dramatic changes, though an epinthetic g or i may be inserted between disallowed clusters. There are only two irregular verbs that break this rule, those being ólly (to be) and etty (to not). Their conjugation will be listed below for reference.

Tense

In sivenka, there are 3 verb tenses: present, past, and future.

Present tense: The present tense relates to the present time. It is neither past nor future. It can be translated into English as 'I read' or 'I am reading'. It can also be used in the habitual meaning.
Past tense: The past tense can be translated as both the perfect and imperfect. It encompasses all events that have happened in the past. This can be habitually or one-time. It can be a completed action or an incompleted action. Extra information can be provided in the sentence to clarify what sort of past event this verb links to.
Future tense: The future tense relates to any event not yet undertaken. It also implies the intention of doing a future task in the way that English often uses 'will' or 'shall' to convey a future intent of action.

Voice

There are 2 verb voices: active and passive.

Active voice: The active voice denotes that the subject of the sentince is the active actor. The subject is doing the activity.
Passive voice: The passive voice denotes that something is being done to the subject of the sentence. The subject is taking a patientive role.

Mood

There are 2 verb moods: indicative and imperative.

Indicative mood: This is the most commonly used mood, given that it is the mood used for questions and general statements.
Imperative mood: This is the command form of verbs. It will always be in the present tense, though it can either be passive or active.

Infinitive

There is only one infinitive in Sivenka. It is morphologically the same as the gerund form of the verb.

Regular Verb Tenses - puvua puvua (to speak)
voice + tense + mood	suffix	example
infinitive	- A	puvua puvua
active present imperative	- Vt	puvuut puvuut
active present indicative	-	puvu puvu
active past indicative	- i	puvui puvui
active future indicative	- ða	puvuda puvuða
passive present imperative	- het	puvuhet puvuhet
passive present indicative	- he	puvuhe puvuhe
passive past indicative	- hi	puvuhi puvuhi
passive future indicative	- ðe	puvude puvuðe

Personal Verb Endings

There are 4 persons, either singular or plural that can take action in a verb.

1st person: Singular is translated as 'I', plural is translated as 'we'. Sivenka uses an inclusive 'we' when pertaining to the speaker plus all listeners and an exclusive 'we' when pertaining to the speaker but not the listener being addressed in the statement or question. It can be visualized as 'we but not you'.
2nd person: Singular is translated as 'you', plural is translated as 'you all' or 'y'all'.
3rd person: Singular is translated as 'he/she/it/they(singular)', plural is translated as 'they(plural)'.
4th person (zero person): This can be compared to English constructions that make a general statement without knowing the agent of the sentence, such as 'One can hope' or 'you' when making suggestion statements. It is similar to the German 'man' and hits the same goal. It is often used in writing idiomatically or poetically.

The personal endings come after the voice/tense/mood suffix.

Singular Person	Suffix	Plural Person	Suffix
1st	- l	1st inclusive/exclusive	- mi - mi /- mit - mit
2nd	- d - ð	2nd	- d - ðit
3rd	- t - t	3rd	- hrit - hrit
4th/zero	- n - n	4th/zero	- nnit - nnit

Negation Verb

Where in English, one would use the word 'not', in Sivenka there is a negative verb instead. It is conjugated as the main verb with the action being negated left to its stem + voice/tense/mood.

etty etty negation + puvua puvua to speak
Person	Singular Negation	Plural Negation
1st	el!puvu el puvu	emi!puvu emi puvu / emit puvu emit puvu
2nd	ed puvu eð puvu	edit puvu eðit puvu
3rd	et puvu et puvu	ehrit puvu ehrit puvu
4th/zero	en puvu en puvu	ennit puvu ennit puvu

To Be Verb (irregular)

ólly
Person	Singular	Plural
1st	ól ól	ólmi ólmi / ólmit ólmit
2nd	óyd óyð	ódit óðit
3rd	óyt óyt	óhrit óhrit
4th/zero	óyn óyn	ónit ónit

Syntax

While subject-object-verb is the most common word order in Sivenka, and is the standard form in written documents, the language itself is a bit more flexible, especially in colloquial usage. When forming questions, the word order is strictly verb-subject-object, however. As the complexity of a clause increases, certain adpositions must be adhered to. Adjectives always precede nouns, and adverbs always precede verbs. Overall, any colloquial flexibility comes down to what the speaker wants to emphasize in a sentence.

Noun Phrases

Noun phrases can serve as a sentence's subject, object, adverbial, prepositional complement, or prepositional compliment. When a noun phrase is the subject, it will always come first in the sentence, and when a noun phrase is the object, it will always come after the subject. Noun phrases taking the subject position will nearly always be in the nominative case. Noun phrases that act as objects of prepositions or otherwise prepositional complements typically take partitive case.

Nouns act as the head of noun phrases.

As part of a noun phrase the following will agree in case and number with the nouns they are attached to: pronouns, adjectives, numerals.

Adjective Phrases

Adjectives act as the head of adjective phrases

Adjective phrases typically function as modifiers for nouns. They will agree in case and number with the head noun of the noun phrase that they modify.

Verb Phrases

Verb phrases always come last in a sentence.

Verbs act as the head of noun phrases.

Verb phrases will be conjugated to match the action of a sentence.

Other Phrases

Prepositional phrases can be embedded within a phrase, and occasionally can come at the start of the sentence. Adverbial phrases can come at the start of a sentence as well.

Prepositions act as the head of prepositional phrases, while adverbs act as the head of adverbial phrases.

Noun phrases within prepositional and adverbial phrases will often take partitive case. Adverbs typically modify verbs while prepositions typically modify nouns.

Clauses

In Sivenka, there are various types of declarative clauses, interrogative clauses, and imperative clauses. Declarative clauses will be in SOV ordering. Interrogative clauses will either be Interrogative-SOV or VSO. Imperative clauses are also VSO, but they distinctly lack the interrogative suffix that a typical interrogative clause would have (when also not having an interrogative pronoun).

Intransitive

Subject Only:
Alkuasit digahrit.
Alkuas it ðigahrit.
Birds sing.

Subject and Adverbial: EXAMPLE
Subject and Complement: EXAMPLE

Transitive

Subject and Object: EXAMPLE
Subject, object, and Adverbial: EXAMPLE

Other Types

Imperative: EXAMPLE
Possessive: EXAMPLE
Existential: EXAMPLE
Result: EXAMPLE
Quantified: EXAMPLE

Personal pronouns are often dropped in casual speech, thus the grammatical subject can occasionally be omitted from the declarative clause.

Omitted Pronouns: EXAMPLE
Omitted Passive/4th Person: EXAMPLE
Subjectless Phenomenon: EXAMPLE

Negative Clauses

Negation in Sivenka is expressed by the negation verb, which agrees with the subject of the sentence. The negation verb is combined with the verb being negated in its stem form plus any inflection for mood and tense.

Negative Intransitive: EXAMPLE
Negative Transitive: EXAMPLE

Interrogative Clauses

There are either questions that can be answered with yes/no , which are formed by using the interrogative suffix, or questions that are formed by using question words. In cases where the interrogative suffix is used, then the word being suffixed is almost always the verb, but can be other parts of speech too, depending on what is being asked or emphasized in the question.

Suffix: EXAMPLE
Suffix: EXAMPLE
Suffix: EXAMPLE
Suffix: EXAMPLE
What: EXAMPLE
Which: EXAMPLE
What kind of: EXAMPLE
Where: EXAMPLE
From where: EXAMPLE
Where to: EXAMPLE
How: EXAMPLE
When: EXAMPLE
Who: EXAMPLE

Complex Clauses

By combining different types of clauses, such as dependent and independent clauses, main and subordinating clauses, etc, complex sentences can be made.

Subordinating Conjunctions

That: EXAMPLE
If: EXAMPLE
Because: EXAMPLE

Auxiliary Verbs/ Finite + Infinitive

Many verbs that would take an auxiliary position in English are handled as relative clauses in Sivenka.

Can: EXAMPLE
May: EXAMPLE
Might: EXAMPLE
Must: EXAMPLE
Would: EXAMPLE
Want: EXAMPLE
Try: EXAMPLE