Vozgian

Vozgian language
Vozg.: (гўор вўозгашхы, gŭor vŭozgašchai)
Created by	Jan van Steenbergen
Date	1996 (revised in 2003)
Users	Fictional language (2025)
Purpose	* Constructed languages Planned Slavic languages North Slavic languages Vozgian language
Writing system	Cyrillic, Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Vozgian (Vozg.: (гўор вўозгашхы, gŭor vŭozgašchai)), created by Jan van Steenbergen in 1996 and revised in 2003, is the language of a fictional republic within the Russian Federation in the alternate history of Ill Bethisad, more or less in the territory of the Vologda Oblast. Inspired by the Uralic languages, especially Komi-Zyrian, and written in the Cyrillic and Latin scripts. Example: Челoвяк весекта за вярoнтјö сўöјö сліђіће дöлжіћ / Čeloväk vesekta za värontjö sŭöjö sliðiþe dölžiþ ("A man is always obliged to follow his faith").

Description

The Vozgian language is the easternmost of all the North Slavic languages. Its primary influence are the Uralic languages, especially the Komi language. This influence is much stronger than, for example, in Russian. It left its mark on the phonological development of the language (vowel harmony, resulting in front vowels such as ö and ü), but also in its grammar: where other Slavic languages have seven cases at most, Vozgian has 13 of them as a result of the postfixation of prepositions. A secondary influence is the Russian language, especially the Northern Russian dialect. A distinctive feature of Vozgian is the presence of dental fricatives in most dialects.

Along with Nasiko, Skuodian, and several other constructed languages, Vozgian plays a role in the alternate timeline of Ill Bethisad. It is spoken in the Vozgian Republic (short: Vŭozgaština), which is part of the Russian Federation. It covers a territory roughly similar to the Vologda Oblast, and its immediate neighbors are the Republic of Petrograd and Novgorod, Muscovy, and the Komi Republic.

Linguistic characteristics

Writing system and alphabet

The Vozgian language is written in the Cyrillic script, but for international and scientific use, there is an official romanization.

Cyrillic	Romanization	ASCII	IPA
А а	A a	A a	[a]
Б б	B b	B b	[b]
В в	V v	V v	[v], [β]
Г г	G g	G g	[g]
Ғ ғ	H h	GH gh	[ɣ]
Д д	D d	D d	[d̪], [d]
Ђ ђ	Ð ð	DH dh	[ð]
Е е	E e	E e	[ɛ]
Ж ж	Ž ž	ZH zh	[ʒ]
З з	Z z	Z z	[z]
І і	I i	I i	[i]
И и	Y y	Y y	[ɨ]
Й й (Ј ј)	J j	J j	[j]
К к	K k	K k	[k]
Л л	L l	L l	[l]
М м	M m	M m	[m]
Н н	N n	N n	[n̪], [ŋ]
О о	O o	O o	[ɔ]
Ö ö	Ö ö	OE oe	[ø], [ə]
П п	P p	P p	[p]
Р р	R r	R r	[r]
С с	S s	S s	[s]
Т т	T t	T t	[t̪], [t]
Ћ ћ	Þ þ	TH th	[θ]
У у	U u	U u	[u]
Ў ў	Ŭ ŭ	U u	[w]
Ф ф	F f	F f	[f]
Х х	CH ch	KH kh	[x]
Ц ц	C c	TS ts	[ts]
Ч ч	Č č	CH ch	[tʃ]
Ш ш	Š š	SH sh	[ʃ]
Ы ы	AI ai	AI ai	[ɑj]
Ю ю	Ü ü	UE ue	[y]
Я я	Ä ä	AE ae	[æ], [ə]

External links

• Grammar of Vozgian