Kirezagi

Yweza Okaniyai
(Herman Miller)

A version of this page that uses Unicode is here.

Kirezagi is the language of the Tanja , as they call themselves, or "silk fairies" (shujii), so-called because of their thin coat of fine, silky fur. The Kirezagi writing system is a complex one that bears a strong family resemblance to Japanese writing, although it can be misleading to assume that Kirezagi characters mean the same as their Chinese or Japanese equivalents. The frequently used character , for instance, pronounced ca, ja, sa, or za, sometimes does mean "tea", as in Japanese, but it can also stand for "chocolate", "fairy", or "delightful". Wrens, for instance, are called (yweza), or "delightful swallows", because of their melodious songs. My own adopted Kirezagi name, (Yweza Okaniyai), means "a long-tailed wren". And in many words, such as the name Kirezagi itself, and in the name (Texas), the character just represents the sound "sa" or "za". Foreign names and borrowed words can also be written phonetically, in a mixture of katakana and hiragana: "Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA".

Pronunciation

This is a list of Kirezagi sounds with their IPA phonetic values in brackets. (The SILDoulosIPA font and a browser that supports the non-standard "FONT FACE" extension are required to see the IPA symbols.) Each sound also has an equivalent spelling in Modified Kolagian Orthography.

i [i] as in "machine"
e [e] as in "they" (but without the "y" glide)
a [A] as in "father"
o [o] as in "so"
u [u] as in "rule"
' [/] glottal stop (like the brief pause in the word "uh-oh").
k [k] as in "keep", g [g] as in "give"
x [x] like the ch in "loch", or the name "Bach", y [j] as in "year"
yw [ē] like French "u" in "nuit"
ng [N] like "ng" in "sing"
c [tS] like "ch" in "cheese", j [dZ] as in "jet"
sh [S] like "sh" in "sheep", zh [Z] like "s" in "measure"
nh [ų] like Spanish "ñ" in "piñata"
t [t] as in "tea", d [d] as in "deer
s [s] as in "see", z [z] as in "zebra"
hl [Ā] like Welsh "ll", dl [L] the voiced equivalent
l [l] as in "leaf"
r [R] as in Spanish "para"
rh [Ø] like English "r" in "reach", but unrounded
n [n] as in "neat"
th [T] as in "think", dh [D] as in "these"
h [h] as in "heat"
p [p] as in "pink", b [b] as in "bean"
f [f] as in "fake", v [v] as in "viola"
m [m] as in "mouse"
w [w] as in "week", gh [Ö] like Arabic `ayn

Syntax

Mekay'wa peijimwebu rhicaki nakirezagi.
You are reading a web page written in Kirezagi.

Basic word order for sentences is subject - verb - object. Owls () eat () mice (): (timui theki yama), rabbits () and deer () eat grass (): (kija uhlaki theki pasha). Verbs are optionally inflected for tense: a rabbit is eating () the grass (kija thekywa pasha), I saw () a butterfly (kutikwe mozai). Notice that there is ordinarily no difference between singular and plural, but it is possible to make the distinction: (muzi) a cat, one cat, (mudaka) or (mumui) more than one cat, some cats.

Adjectives and prepositional phrases follow the nouns they modify. The town () by () the big () river (): (caka lesama xui). To say "the big town by the river", you could rearrange the phrase like this: (caka xui lesama), but it is also possible to make the adjective modify the entire phrase, "the town by the river", by adding the particle (nga): (caka lesama nga xui). This construction allows Kirezagi to distinguish two meanings, "the (big town) (by the river) " and "the big (town by the river) ", which are not easily distinguished in English.

Questions are expressed by beginning the sentence with (li), or putting it after the word in question. Do you speak Kirezagi? (li meshoni kirezagi?) Yes, I do. (ta kusai.) Can you read Chinese characters? (melaili kayu sighani?) No, I can't. (sha kulaidha.) What is your full name? (cuili ye sakiyaime?) (My full name is) Yweza Okaniyai. (ye yweza okaniyai.)

Vocabulary carazhoni

Note: See the Unicode version for the sighani (Chinese characters) used to write these Kirezagi words.

aloha: hello, goodbye
cai: tea, chocolate
caka: town
caki: write
carazhoni: vocabulary
cigai: crow
cigei: blue jay
cilu: wear (clothing)
ciri: silk
cui: what
dha: not
fili: bright
hadhai: raccoon
hayei: otter
he: after, past tense
hili: love
hlaki: deer
hliri: rain
hluli: purple
hoi: laugh
hopa: fly (v.)
hoti: fish
'i: located in or at
kaci: chestnut
kai: black
kala: walk
kani: tail
kayu: read
kei: blue
kija: rabbit
kire: language
kirezagi: the Kirezagi language
kompu: computer
ku: I, we
lai: can, be able
laka: male
le: by, next to
li: {question word}
lo: before, future tense
maya: sun
mazi: think
me: you
mi: in
mojii: silkworm
mozai: butterfly
mui: cat
munhai: tiger
na: with, using
naka: mountain
nga: of (suffix)
ngala: swallow (v.)
nha: on
nhai: fire, orange (color)
niku: short (dimension)
o: with, having
paci: kiss
pasha: grass
peiji: web page
pitsa: pizza
ranha: bad
rhai: fox
rhi: of (preposition)
sai: do
saki: name
sama: river
sarhi: color
sei: tree
seki: yellow
sha: no
shai: fur
sheni: learn
shika: sparrow
shikadai: cardinal (bird)
shoni: speak
shujii: silk fairy
shuli: spirit, fairy
shurhi, yamagaci: squirrel
shurhiyama: chipmunk
si: one, a
sighani: Chinese character, syllable
sonha: animal
suyu: moon
ta: yes
tai: red
taka: some, more than one
tani: person
tanja: fairy (especially silk fairy)
tanyei: mermaid
tazhui: fairy (in general)
teksas: Texas
tesha: female
thari: hand
thei: white
theki: eat
thivi: flower
ti: bird
tighoti: kingfisher
tiku: see
timui: owl
tizai: hummingbird
tizei: woodpecker
toki: ear
tuka: meet
u: and
wa: now, present tense
webu: World Wide Web
xaci: shout
xai: long (in dimension)
xaku: cut
xei: water
xui: big
ya: he, she, it, they
yaka: good
yama: mouse, rat
yasha: green
ye: to be
yuesei: United States
yui: small
ywedlui: purple martin
yweyi: swallow (the bird)
yweza: wren
zai: dark
zizi: sing