Empyrean

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Empyrean is a constructed language intended to provide a means of formal or esoteric communication between enthusiasts of linguistics, literature, and related fields. While primarily influenced by English (the native language of its creator), Empyrean draws elements of its syntax, phonology, and writing system from many existing languages.

Contents 1. Classification 2. Phonology 2.1 Consonants 2.2 Vowels 3. Orthography 3.1 Alphabet 3.2 Punctuation 4. Grammar 4.1 Conjugation 4.2 Special Verbs 4.3 Monoliths 4.4 Pronouns 4.5 Verb Aspect 5. Sample text

Classification

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As a constructed language, Empyrean doesn't fall within a single classification, however is most closely associated with Indo-European languages. Much of its phonology and letter-forms are derived from this group, as well as its semantic core—this serves to facilitate learning the language for a large subset of people. Empyrean is typologically similar to English in that it follows a SVO word order with prepositions; adjective order places determiners, followed by size-related adjectives, before the nouns they describe, and places other adjectives afterwards (in a categorical order similar to English).


Phonology

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Empyrean phonology primarily consists of its main set of native phonemes, which is limited to ten consonants and six vowels. A subset of ten additional consonants is included for use with loanwords and proper nouns; alphabetical order places their representing glyphs after all native elements. Empyrean words do not use tone to modify their meanings, and stress is always placed on the second-to-last syllable.

Consonants
As can be seen below, the native phonology does not include plosives or affricates (/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/), and does not use lenis (voiced) fricatives (/v/, /z/, /ð/, /ʒ/). These specific ten consonants are represented in the extended alphabet, added for loanwords and proper nouns. This lends Empyrean a unique sound, and naturally emphasizes loanwords, names, and other proper nouns by contrast. The consonant sounds /w/ and /ŋ/ are represented by u and ng, respectively, when borrowed (see Orthography for more on the alphabet).

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n
Plosive¹/ affricate¹	fortis	p¹		t¹			k¹
	lenis	b¹		d¹			g¹
Fricative	fortis	f	θ	s	ʃ			h
	lenis¹	v¹	ð¹	z¹	ʒ¹
Approximant				l	ʁ	j

¹These consonants are used exclusively for loanwords and for proper nouns.

Vowels
All native vowel sounds are monophthongs; consecutive vowels therefore inhabit separate syllables. Diphthongs are used only in loanwords and proper nouns, which can also include vowel combinations not found in native Empyrean words that are used to approximate monophthongs (for example, ou for /oʊ/—see Orthography for more on the alphabet).

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	long
Close		iː	ʊ	uː	ɔː
Mid	ɛ
Open	æ

Orthography

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Alphabet
The Empyrean alphabet uses a one-sound-one-letter principle, and has expanded to include additional (non-native) letters used for unassimilated words and proper names. While diacritics are not used in native words, using the macron accent (ˉ) with vowels to indicate syllable stress while learning Empyrean is an accepted practice; it is also used to indicate syllable stress for loanwords and proper nouns that don't follow the standard convention.

Upper and lower case letters are shown below with their phonemic values; initial capitalization is implemented only at the beginning of a sentence or a proper name. Note that voiced consonants use the same glyphs as their voiceless counterparts, while extending below the baseline to indicate voice (i.e.: f/f → v/v).

Native alphabet

Extended alphabet¹

Number

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

Upper Case

C

N

I

H

E

X

L

A

R

U

M

O

Y

S

W

F

Q

J

Z

V

K

G

T

D

P

B

Lower Case

c

n

i

h

e

x

l

a

r

u

m

o

y

s

w

f

q

j

z

v

k

g

t

d

p

b

IPA phoneme

/θ/

/n/

/i/

/h/

/ɛ/

/ʃ/

/l/

/æ/

/ʁ/

/u/

/m/

/ɔ/

/j/

/s/

/ʊ/

/f/

/ð/

/ʒ/

/z/

/v/

/k/

/g/

/t/

/d/

/p/

/b/

Name (phonemic)

/ɛθ/

/ɛn/

/i/

/hɛ/

/ɛ/

/ɛʃ/

/ɛl/

/æ/

/ʁɛ/

/u/

/ɛm/

/ɔ/

/jɛ/

/ɛs/

/ʊ/

/ɛf/

/ðɛ/

/ʒɛ/

/zɛ/

/vɛ/

/kɛ/

/gɛ/

/tɛ/

/dɛ/

/pɛ/

/bɛ/

Keyboard Key²

¹These letters/phonemes are used exclusively for loanwords and for proper nouns.
²These keys are used with the Theolitic font families in conjunction with a standard QWERTY keyboard to type the associated letters.

Punctuation
Punctuation essentially follows the same rules as in English, however many of the punctuation marks themselves either differ in appearance or resemble different marks used in other languages. Key differences include:

• Quotation mark (")—English uses opening/closing (opposing) variations, while Empyrean uses the same symbol (doesn't differentiate)
• Exclamation mark (!)—As in Spanish, opposing opening/closing marks are used at initial and final positions
• Question mark (?)—As in Spanish, opposing opening/closing marks are used at initial and final positions

	English	Empyrean
Comma	,	,
Period	.	.
Semicolon	;	;
Colon	:	:
Ellipsis	…	…
Quotation mark	“█”	"█"
Exclamation mark	█!	¡█!
Question mark	█?	¿█?

Grammar

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Almost all Empyrean words are derived from a root and "conjugated" into up to thirteen variations and parts of speech. With the exception of a short list of special verbs and the cardinal and ordinal numerals, all roots end with a consonant by rule. Empyrean roots themselves are not actually words with definitions, but simply serve as the basis for conjugation. Other words (those that don't stem from a root) vary, but may not end with e—this suffix is reserved for infinitive verbs. Possessiveness in Empyrean (like appending ''s' in English) is achieved by prepending 'ha-', for example "Mary's"→"ha-Mari".

Conjugation
Empyrean roots can be conjugated into nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. Conjugable nouns are categorized as uncountable, countable, and actor nouns, with the two latter classes also having plural varieties. Conjugable verbs are categorized as infinitive, present, or past verbs, with the latter two classes extending to related adjective forms and a related adverb form. As can be seen below, pluralization is achieved by appending 'ya' (/jæ/); it only applies to nouns and pronouns.

Conjugation	Rule	English example	Empyrean example
→v. inf.	+e	(to) become	cim→cime
→v. pres.	+i	(I) become, (he) becomes, (is) becoming	cim→cimi
→v. past	+u	became	cim→cimu
→n. uncount.	(unch.)	(deep) thought, (deep) thinking	acox→acox
→n. count.	+ec	(a) thought	acox→acoxec
→n. count. pl.	+rcya	(some) thoughts	acox→acoxecya
→n. actor	+ex	(the) thinker	acox→acoxex
→n. actor pl.	+exya	(many) thinkers	acox→acoxexya
→adj. act. pres.	+in	(the) playing (children)	nolc→nolcin
→adj. act. past	+un	(the) played (game)	nolc→nolcun
→adj. qual.	+ar	playable (equipment)	nolc→nolcar
→adj. quan.	+ax	(a) playful (puppy)	nolc→nolcax
→adv. qual.	+arc	visibly (happy)	fres→fresarc

Special Verbs
Twelve of the most commonly-used verbs are considered "special"—they come from very short roots that can't be conjugated on their own into usable words. For these roots, 'ey' (/ɛj/) is appended to the root prior to conjugation into a noun, adjective, or adverb; verb conjugation rules are unchanged. For example, 's' (root for the concept of doing) is conjugated "se" ("(to) do", v. inf.) and "sey" ("doing", n. uncount.). The following table shows the twelve special roots with their conjugations into infinitive verbs; also note 'to be', using the 'empty' root.

Verb	Root	→v. inf.
(to) be		e
(not to) be	n	ne
(to) put	l	le
(to) do	s	se
(to) happen	x	xe
(to) have	c	ce
(to) use	f	fe
(to) set	ny	nye
(to) get	m	me
(to) let	h	he
(to) go	y	ye
(to) make	r	re

Monoliths
Empyrian possesses six words that are comprised of only a single consonant; these are the only words without vowels. When pronounced, a shortened mid-vowel /ᵊ/ is epenthesized for articulation purposes, however this feature is elided before a word beginning with a vowel. For example, compare the phrase "do not", "n se" (/nə sɛ/), with the phrase "to you", "s wl" (/sʊl/, rather than /sə ʊl/).

This has also resulted in the integrated contractions "ne", "ni", and "nu", origianting from negations of "(to) be" ("e")—i.e. "n e"→"ne", much like "is not"→"isn't"; this represents a "negative copula". There are no other examples of contractions in Empyrean.

Monolith	English
f	for
x	so
m	at
s	to
n	not
l	the

Pronouns
Pronouns in Empyrean do not have gender. The main pronouns are divided into groups: first person; second person; third person (animate)—used for living things; third person (inanimate)—used for objects; and indefinite. Additionally, pronouns do not have different forms for subject and object—thus first person "I" and "me" ("es") use the same word, just as second person "you" ("wl") already does in English. Finally, possessive pronouns don't use different forms for dependence and independence; thus "my" and "mine" ("esei") use the same word as well.

Person	Number	Subject/ Object		Possessive		Reflexive
First	Singular	I, me	es	my, mine	esei	myself	esenei
	Plural	we, us	esya	our, ours	eseiya	ourselves	eseneiya
Second	Singular	you	wl	your	wlei	yourself	wlenei
	Plural		wlya		wleiya	yourselves	wleneiya
Third (animate)	Singular	he, him, she, her	eri	his, her, hers	erei	himself, herself	erienei
	Plural	they, them	eriya	their, theirs	ereiya	themself, themselves	erieneiya
Third (inanimate)	Singular	it	eli	its	elei	itself	elienei
	Plural	they, them	eliya	theirs	eleiya	themself, themselves	elieneiya
Indefinite	Singular	one	is	one's	isei	oneself	isenei

Other pronouns in Empyrean function much the same way as in English. Some examples:

Demonstrative		Relative		Indefinite		Interrogative
this	el	who	mei	one, oneself	is, isenei	who	mei
these	elya	what	rei	something, nothing	icel, exuel	what	rei
that	ac	which	cei	anybody, everyone	wliis, iciis	which	cei
those	acya	that	ac

Verb Aspect
Verb aspect, tense, and mood are somewhat simplified when compared with other languages. With the exception of the imperative case, verbs always use an auxiliary verb; as can be seen below, the equivalent of forms of "(to) be" are used exclusively in places where, in English, they are interchangeable with "(to) do".

Tense	Aspect	Example	Translation	Form²
Past	Simple	I jumped…	Es u exolu…	[Subject] u [V. Past] …
Past	Progressive	I was jumping…
Past	Perfect	I [would]¹ have jumped…	Es fie ce u exolu…	[Subject] [V. Modal] ce u [V. Past] …
Past	Perfect Progressive	I [would]¹ have been jumping…
Present	Simple	I jump…	Es i exoli…	[Subject] i [V. Pres.] …
Present	Progressive	I am jumping…
Present	Perfect	I have jumped…	Es ce u exoli…	[Subject] ce u [V. Pres.] …
Present	Perfect Progressive	I have been jumping…
Future	Simple	I [would]¹ jump…	Es fie e exoli…	[Subject] [V. Modal] e [V. Pres.] …
Future	Progressive	I [would]¹ be jumping…

¹"Would" is used as a particular example here, but represents any of eight modal verbs: can, may, might, must, could, would, should, and will/shall.
²This represents proper sentence structure as shown in the example.

Negation in aspect is achieved by substituting the negative copula, for example "u"→"nu" ("was"→"was not"). In other cases, the adverb "n" ("not") functions smilarly to English.

Tense	Aspect	Example	Translation	Form²
Past	Simple	I did not jump…	Es nu exolu…	[Subject] nu [V. Past] …
Past	Progressive	I was not jumping…
Past	Perfect	I [would]¹ not have jumped…	Es fie ce nu exolu…	[Subject] [V. Modal] ce nu [V. Past] …
Past	Perfect Progressive	I [would]¹ not have been jumping…
Present	Simple	I do not jump…	Es ni exoli…	[Subject] ni [V. Pres.] …
Present	Progressive	I am not jumping…
Present	Perfect	I have not jumped…	Es ce nu exoli…	[Subject] ce nu [V. Pres.] …
Present	Perfect Progressive	I have not been jumping…
Future	Simple	I [would]¹ not jump…	Es fie ne exoli…	[Subject] [V. Modal] ne [V. Pres.] …
Future	Progressive	I [would]¹ not be jumping…

¹"Would" is used as a particular example here, but represents any of eight modal verbs: can, may, might, must, could, would, should, and will/shall.
²This represents proper sentence structure as shown in the example.


Sample Text

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English:

Empyrean:

See also: Empyrean Syntax Test Cases

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