Kettan language

Kettan
Nuket, Yesay
Nuk̠ettäjtäk, Jässäjänäjtäk, Jässäjk̠ytäjtäk
Kettan people circa 1915
Pronunciation	/nuçɛtːæjtæk/ /jæsːæjænæjtæk/ /jæsːæjçɘtæjtæk/
Native to	Mokhavia Safjal
Ethnicity	367,000~ Kettan people
Native speakers	321,000~ (87% of the ethnic population)
Language family
Standard forms	Southern (Mokhavia) Northern (Safjal)
Dialects	Southern Northern Taajejtak
Writing system	Latin alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet*
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kt
ISO 639-2	ktt
ISO 639-3	ktt

The Kettan language (Kettan: Nuk̠ettäjtäk, Jässäjänäjtäk, Jässäjk̠ytäjtäk) is the language of the Kettan people, it is spoken in the highlands between Mokhavia and Safjal. It's one of the indeginous languages spoken on the continent of Argis. The language is a recognized minority language in Mokhavia and Safjal.

Phonology

Consonants

Kettan has 33 native consonant sounds, as it distinguishes between consonant lenght:

	Labial		Alveolar				Palatal		Velar		Uvular
			plain		laminal
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
Nasal	m [m]	mm [mː]	n [n]	nn [nː]
Plosive	p [p]	pp [pː]	t [t]	tt [tː]					k [k]	kk [kː]	q [q]	qq [qː]
Affricate			ts [t͡s]	tts [t͡sː]	ts̠ [t͡s̻]	tts̠ [t͡s̻ː]
Sibilant Fricative	v [v]	vv [vː]	s [s]	ss [sː]	s̠ [s̻]	s̠s̠ [s̻ː]	k̠ [ç]	k̠k̠ [çː]	x [x]	xx [xː]
Lateral Fricative			ł [ɬ]	łł [ɬː]
Aproximant	w [w]		l [l]	ll [lː]			j [j]
Tap/Flap			r [ɾ~r]

Vowels

Kettan has 13 native vowels, as it distinguishes between vowel lenght:

	Front		Central	Back
	unrounded		unrounded	unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	short	long	short	long
Close	i [i]	ii [iː]				u [u]	uu [uː]
Close-mid			y [ɘ]
Open-mid	e [ɛ]	ee [ɛː]				o [ɔ]	oo [ɔː]
Open	ä [æ]	ää [æː]		a [ɑ]	aa [ɑː]
Harmony	ä			a

Grammar

Kettan builds morphologically complex words by adding suffixes. For example, oqoj is 'dog', oqojat is 'dogs', oqojataju is 'my dogs', oqojatajujo is 'from my dogs'.

Nouns

Nouns in Kettan fall under animate and innanimate, which indicate which suffixes they take, generally in the northern dialect, only the Animate suffixes remain, but the other dialects are more concervative.

Number

For Animate nouns:

• for words ending in consonants other than ⟨r, j, w⟩ the suffix -(C*)(v), with the last consonant lenghtening: k̠et (man) → k̠että (men)
• for words ending in the ⟨r, j, w⟩ consonants the suffix -(v)t: ammaj (bush) → ammajat (bushes)
• for words ending in the vowel short ⟨e⟩, the suffix -/yt: niive (fish (sin)) → niivyt (fish (plr))
• for words ending in vowels, long or short, the suffix -jt: mytä (woman) → mytäjt (women)

For Inanimate nouns:

• for words ending in consonants, the suffix -it(v): äjään (canoe) → äjäänitä(canoes)
• for words ending in the vowel short ⟨e⟩, the suffix -/ytä: kaavve (coffee (sin)) → kaavvytä (coffee (plr))
• for words ending in vowels, long or short, the suffix -jtä: meeti (comb) → meetijtä (combs)

Cases

Kettan has a system of 19 cases:

Case	Animate		Inanimate
	Affix	Example	Affix	Example
Nominative	-Ø	k̠et (man -NOM)	-Ø	saaqa (snow -NOM)
Dative	-(A)j	k̠etäj (to a man)	-(A)q	saaqaq (to snow)*
Genative	-(A)s̠	k̠etäs̠ (of a man)	-(A)s	saaqas (of snow)
Accusitive	-(A)t	k̠etät (man -ACC)	-(A)ły	saaqały (snow -ACC)
Instrumental	-(A)p	k̠etp (using a man)	-(A)p	saaqap (using snow)
Comitative	-(A)ts̠	k̠etäts̠ (with a man)	-(A)ty	saaqaty (with snow)
Comparative	-(A)l	k̠etäl (as a man)	-(A)l	saaqal (as snow)
Inessive	-(V)v	k̠etäv (in a man)	-(V)vy	saaqavy (in snow)
Adessive	-(A)r	k̠etär (neer a man)	-(A)ly	saaqaly (neer snow)
Postessive	-(A)ks	k̠etäks (behind a man)	-(A)xs	saaqaxs (behind snow)
Superessive	-(A)vAr	k̠etävär (on top/above of a man)	-(A)vAr	saaqavar (on top/above of snow)
Subessive	-(A)k̠i	k̠etk̠i (under a man)	-(A)tAr	saaqatar (under snow)
Allative	-(A)m	k̠etäm (to/towards a man)	-(A)my	saaqamy (to/towards snow)
Ablative	-(A)jo	k̠etäjo (from a man)	-(A)jo	saaqajo (from snow)
Lative	-(A)vi	k̠etävi (going in/side a man)	-(A)wnA	saaqawna (going in/side snow)
Elative	-(A)x	k̠etäx (out of a man)	-(A)xy	saaqaxy (out of snow)
Benefactial	-(A)wA	k̠etäwä (for a man)	-(A)wA	saaqawa (for snow)
Prolative	-(A)nA	k̠etänä (via a man)	-(A)n	saaqan (via snow)

A - vowel harmony

Verbs

Verbs in Kettan take a number of endings to mark tense, mood, and aspect. Auxiliary verbs are also used to modify the verb.

Syntax

Kettan is generally employs SVO and SOV word orders.

Writing system

Kettan is written in a modified Latin alphabet:

Kettan alphabet table used in schools

Kettan alphabet:

A a	Ä ä	E e	I i	J j	K k	K̠ k̠	L l	Ł ł
M m	N n	O o	P p	Q q	R r	S s	S̠ s̠	T t
Ts ts	Ts̠ ts̠	U u	V v	W w	X x	Y y

Unnoficial ways to write the special characters, seen mainly online.
Due to the fact the letter ⟨h⟩ dosen't appear in the language officially, it's usually used in combination with others:

• Ä ä → ah / ää → aah
• K̠ k̠ → kj / k̠k̠ → kkj
• Ł ł → lh / łł → llh
• S̠ s̠ → sh / s̠s̠ → ssh
• Ts̠ ts̠ → tsh / tts̠ → ttsh

Order	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Majuscule	A	Ä	E	I	J	K	K̠	L	Ł	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S	S̠	T	Ts	Ts̠	U	V	W	X	Y
Minuscule	a	ä	e	i	j	k	k̠	l	ł	m	n	o	p	q	r	s	s̠	t	ts	ts̠	u	v	w	x	y
IPA Sound	ɑ	æ	ɛ	i	j	k	ç	l	ɬ	m	n	ɔ	p	q	ɾ	s	s̻	t	t͡s	t͡s̻	u	v	w	x	ɘ

A Cyrillic script variant for Kettan was established by the Kettan Abrod Association (KAA) for Kettan people living in nations in which the script is used as primary, for ease on Electronic devices, like Computers and telephones. Cyrillic Variant:

А а	Аь аь	В в	Е е	И и	Й й	К к	Кь кь	Къ къ
Л л	Лъ лъ	М м	Н н	О о	П п	Р р	С с	Т т
У у	Ў ў	Х х	Ц ц	Ч ч	Ш ш	Ъ ъ	Ы ы	Ь ь
Ю ю	Я я	Яь яь

Generaly long consonants and vowels are written bydublicating the letter, but there are some exceptions:

• ää → ааь
• jää → яаь
• k̠k̠ → ккь
• qq → ккъ
• łł → ллъ
• tts → тц
• tts̠ → тч

In nations where the letter ⟨ў⟩, ⟨у⟩ is also used, but ⟨ў⟩ is preffered to minimalize confusion.

Order	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
Majuscule	А	Аь	В	Е	И	Й	К	Кь	Къ	Л	Лъ	М	Н	О	П	Р	С	Т	У	Ў	Х	Ц	Ч	Ш	Ъ	Ы	Ь	Ю	Я	Яь
Minuscule	а	аь	в	е	и	й	к	кь	къ	л	лъ	м	н	о	п	р	с	т	у	ў	х	ц	ч	ш	ъ	ы	ь	ю	я	яь
IPA Sound	ɑ	æ	v	ɛ	i	j	k	ç	q	l	ɬ	m	n	ɔ	p	ɾ	s	t	u	w	x	t͡s	t͡s̻	s̻	-	ɘ	◌j	ju	jɑ	jæ

Examples

Basic greetings and phrases

Kettan	Translation	Notes
Greetings
(Teelan) Västä!	(Good) morning!
(Teelan) Yva!	(Good) day!	Used on greeting and also when taking farewell
(Teelan) Mijako!	(Good) evening! lit, "Good Night"	Used on greeting and also when taking farewell
Karikkä Mijako! Karikkä! Mijako!	Good night! Night! lit, "Light Night!"
Erunäx	Hello! lit. "Be Healthy!"	Used on greeting, singular form
Ets̠irunä	Hello! lit. "Be Healthy!"	Used on greeting, plural form
Eru Xej	Hi Hey	Used on greeting
Moj! Xej xej!	Bye!	Used when taking farewell
K̠ylaamets	See you later!
K̠yvittänil	Goodbye!	Lit. "Until seeing"
K̠ytassuvittänil	Goodbye / Farewell	Used when taking farewell, and you're not going to see them soon
Perwäs Kowtät!	Nice to meet you!	Lit, "It's pleasant to me"
Neaja? Ts̠ene Matlojyv?	How are you? How's it going?	Singular form, "Ts̠ene Kamlojyv" lit, means "what is happening"
Neajta? Ts̠ene Kamlojyv?	How are you? How's it going?	Plural form
Teelan, Komikowa	Fine, thank you. Well, thank you.	Kiitos hyvää is an appropriate response to Mitä kuuluu?, whereas Kiitos hyvin is an appropriate response to Miten menee?
Teelanittatap!	Welcome!
Important words and phrases
Emittekä	Excuse me
Kok̠iitwa	Please
Komikowa, jä Ets̠im	Thank you, likewise	Lit. "thank you, and to you" (used as a response to well-wishing)
Eteelapan	You're welcome	Lit. "be good", also used when giving someone something to mean "here you are"
Ejräjyv	Certainly / yes / of course	lit, "it's understandable"
Ja	Yeah	More informal than kyllä
Ajta, Aj	Yes
Ej	No
Etalas?	Can you help?
Ala!	Help!
Kojelam	I'm sorry
Kojelamwa	I pitty you	lit, "i'm sorry to you", just "Kojelam" can be used as well, and other directions can be added.
Eväläx	Wait
Tyts̠in moment Moment	One moment
Kojyrä	I understand
Konejyrä	I don't understand
S̠avjek̠erajtmaa	Mokhavia
Nuk̠ettäjtäk Jässäjänäjtäk Jässäjk̠ytäjtäk	Kettan (language)	"Nuk̠ettäjtäk" lit, means "our people's language" "Jässäjänäjtäk" lit, means "Norhtern language" "Jässäjk̠ytäjtäk" lit, means "Northerners' language"
jässäjk̠e	Kettan (noun)	lit, "Northerner"
jässäjk̠en	Kettan (adjective)
Kojäjnäjtäsänu k̠ettäjtäk Kojäjnäjtäs Jässäjänäjtäk Kojäjnäjtäs Jässäjk̠ytäjtäk	I (can) speak Kettan	"Kojäjnäjtäsänu k̠ettäjtäk" lit, means "i can speak our people's language", so it isn't used that much
Konejäjnäjtäsänu k̠ettäjtäk Konejäjnäjtäs Jässäjänäjtäk Konejäjnäjtäs Jässäjk̠ytäjtäk	I don't/can't speak Kettan	"Konäjnäjtäsänu k̠ettäjtäk" lit, means "i can't speak our people's language", so it isn't used that much

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 Article I: 
 English: 
 All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
 
 Kettan (Latin):
 Vette k̠etänna kumajtarsa etottyn jerennä jä wintajt ets̠e mäjraj jä antejyt. Yslajanaja ets̠e ovä jä avre enaatuj tajtwiitäm ets̠e ukkamajattas̠ kamuj.
 
 Kettan  (Cyrillic):
 Ветте кьетаьнна кумайтарса етотты йереннаь яь ўинтайт ече маьйрай яь антейыт. Ыслаяная ече оваь яь авре енаатуй тайтўиитаьм ече уккамаятташ камуй.