Suaoqden is a constructed language (conlang) used in conjunction with a world I created (Grivantia), part of a novel series I am writing based on the world, the language and its people (the Gaonz). I first began this project as a doodle while sitting in class in Jr. high over 45 years ago. Little did I know that my 'doodles' would lead to a massive life-long project which now contain many hundreds of pages which I have been working diligently (as my time permits) to transfer all my notes from paper to digital. It's very time-consuming but makes organizing and finding stuff a whole lot easier.
Alphabet (šmožvremdułosq)
Suoaqden has 36 basic letters. Each letter has four forms (Secondary [qùg], Primary [pratsna], Major [qítsa] and Terminal [frœchil]. The Suoaqden alphabetic glyph system (šmožvremdułosq) contains 50 diacriticals (mùžneq) that modify the sound of each letter they are positioned with. Diacriticals can occupy one of three (3) positions in the Suoaqden writing system: utrimcritical (above and to the right), supracritical (directly above the letter), and subcritical (directly below the letter).
Diacriticals
There are 16 utrimcriticals (always written above and to the right or the left of the eχtorv [base] glyph) that represent vowel sounds. 17 supracriticals are written directly above the eχtorv glyph and 17 subcriticals are written directly below the eχtorv glyph. These 34 supra- and sub- diacriticals all represent consonant sounds.Glyphs (characters or letters) are written on three [imaginary] horizontal lines. The eχtorv (center line), where the primary sounding glyph is always written, is twice the height of the diacritical lines located above and below.
Writing System
1. All Suoaqden words are written counter-boustrophedon[1] from the bottom of the page (right corner) to left and then upwards to the top of the page with the last line written from left to right then crossing to the left page and continuing down in a fashion on parallel horizontal grouped lines of three. Basic glyphs (eχtorv) are written on the middle line; diacritics are placed in a vertical column in the horizontal line above or below the glyph they affect. The exception being utrimcriticals.
- 2. The diacritic fills the top or the bottom space in one vertical column, but only both when used with an utrimcritical.
- 3. Utrimcriticals always fill the top column immediately to the right or the left of the glyph they modify depending upon the direction of text flow.
- 4. An utrimcritical always supersedes any supra- or sub- diacritic that could be used to modify the main glyph.
- 5. Some exceptional glyphs may extend beyond the boundary of the main (or middle) line into the supra- or sub- diacritic lines. These are generally a single case-form of each glyph rather than all four case-forms.
The Alphabet
Suoaqden or Swaacden
Fundamental structure of the alphabet (suaoqdenshq)
Numbers (lashnoq)
Grivantian numbering uses a vigesimal (base-20) system. The names are quite simple and once you get used to the pattern, it is easy to make very large numbers with very simple words (e.g., 64 million is 'zisq'). To the right of larger numbers is a column of what looks like addition problems. These represent how we would write the same numbers with Arabic numerals 0-9 to form our base-10 system of numbering. Some Earth languages like Dzongkha (Bhutan) and Nahuatl (Meso-America) use base-20 but I don't know much about them. You can learn more at the link above.
Łašnoq (Ordinal Numbers)
0 fô (foe – dento-labial ‘f’)
1 łaš (lahsh – voiceless ‘l’)
2 vŗò (vroy – rhymes with ‘boy’ – uvular ‘r’)
3 gâ (gay)
4 fí (fee)
5 bŗa (brah – uvular r)
6 zi (zih)
7 šnü (shnyoo)
8 qaˇü (kah-wee)
9 sme (smeh)
10 šnù (shnoo)
11 nô (noe)
12 gwâ (gway)
13 vö (vaw – rhymes with ‘raw’)
14 sqí (skee)
15 łar (lahr – rhymes with ‘bar’ – retroflex ‘r’)
16 an (ahn)
17 ges (guess)
18 síme (see-meh)
19 qřan (krahn – trilled ‘r’)
20 lašq (lahshk) 1+0
21 łas|łašq (lahsh-lahshk) 1+1
22 vŗò|_lašq (vroy-lahshk) 1+2
23 gâ|łašq (gay-lahshk) 1+3
24 fí|łašq (fee-lahshk) 1+4
25 bra|łašq (brah-lahshk) 1+5
40 fe| vŗò (feh-vroy) 2+0
100 fe|bra (feh-bra) 5+0
200 fe|šnú (feh-shnoo) 10+0
300 fe|łar (feh-lahr) 15+0
400 vŗòsq (vroysk) 1+0+0
800 vŗò|vŗòsq (vroy-vroysq) 2+0+0
4,000 šnù|vŗòsq (shnoo-vroysk) 10+0+0
8,000 gâsq (gaysk) 1+0+0+0
160,000 físq (feesk) 1+0+0+0+0
3,200,000 bŗasq (brahsk) 1+0+0+0+0+o
64,000,000 zisq (zihsq) 1+0+0+0+0+0+0
Cardinal Numbers
1st łašež (lah-shehzh – cf. French ‘la chaise’)
2nd vŗòž (vroyzh)
3rd gâž (gayzh)
4th fíž (feezh)
5 th bŗaž (brahzh – uvular r)
6 th ziž (zihzh)
7 th šnüž (shnyoozh)
8 th qaˇüž (kah-weezh)
9 th smež (smehzh)
10 th šnùž (shnoozh)
11 th nôž (noezh)
12 th gwâž (gwayzh)
13 th vöž (vawzh)
14 th sqíž (skeezh)
15 th łarž (lahrzh)
16 th anež (ahnehzh)
17 th gesež (geh-sehzh)
18 th símež (see-mehzh)
19 th qřanž (krahnz)
20 th lašqežq (lahsh-kehzhk)
Other Number References
Ranking & Order
Primary přaţna
Secondary qúlg
Tertiary žúlg
Quaternary (4) felg*
Quinary (5) bŗâlg*
Senary (6) zílg*
Septenary (7) šnúlg*
Octonary (8) qaòlg*
Nonary (9) smelg
Denary (10) šnolg
Duodenary (12) gwalg
Vigenary (20) přatłašnalg
…etc.
Times (Fold)
Once elaše
Twice evŗòˇe
Thrice egâˇe
Fourfold efíˇe
Fivefold ebŗaˇe
Sixfold eziˇe
Sevenfold ešnüˇe
Twelvefold egwâˇe
Twentyfold e lašqe
…etc.
Calligraphy of the Suaoqden Alphabet
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Pronunciation Key
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[1] Solitary words used in examples within this book are written from left to right for ease of English readers unless specifically otherwise noted.
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