I’iantan is one of the less affluent areas of the city of Svani, East Nin. Culturally, it very much has it’s own identity, as well as its own dialect of Kardii.
Pronunciation
Phonetically, I’iantan Kardii is notable for its complete lack of a vowel length distinction (although most Kardii dialects are in fact headed in this direction), and the pronunciation of initial ‘ks’ as ‘ts’.
Vocabulary
As far as vocabulary goes, I’iantan Kardii has many words borrowed from Tasa (it should be noted that the number of Kardii/Tasa bilinguals living in I’iantan is far from insignificant). Also, while normal Kardii words describing people tend to be gender neutral (it does have suffixes that distinguish them, but uses those only when it really has to), the I’iantan dialect takes the Tasa approach and gets very descriptive when it comes to gender. The people of I’iantan have borrowed the gender specific first and second person Tasa pronouns, and will use the masculine/feminine -ru/-ree suffixes much more readily than the gender neutral -ra.
hi – you (masc.)
(From Tasa ‘chi‘)
ja – question particle (goes after the verb)
(From Tasa ‘ja‘)
eg. ‘shaavchii ja svu lo i?‘
kasaree – young woman
(From Kardii ‘kasara‘ – ribbon dancer)
ke – i (fem.)
(From Tasa ‘ke‘)
kepakira(u/ee) – loser, no-hoper, beggar
(From Kardii ‘kepaki(ra)‘ – (one who is) jealous)
ket – knife
(From Tasa ‘ket‘)
lin h’iu – hi, bye
(From Tasa ‘bwei lin (sing) chyu‘ – hello/goodbye)
mani mani – sort of, sometimes, partly
(From Tasa ‘mani – sometimes)’
n’ie – you (fem.)
(From Tasa ‘nye‘)
rrisa – bad, uncool
(From Kardii ‘rrisa‘ – fake)
tha – i (masc.)
(From Tasa ‘tha’)
tian – to make trouble for, scold, punish (something done by a figure of authority)
(From Kardii ‘tian‘ – dive/jump (into/onto))
tapena – i don’t understand, i don’t speak that language, you’re talking nonsense
(From Iilkana ‘tapena‘ – not understand)
tehenela(u/ee) – way of addressing an iilkana person
(From Iilkana ‘tehenela‘ – teacher)
tinu – clothes
(From Kardii ‘tinu‘ – scales)
vei’iana – way of speaking, manners
(From Iilkana ‘veyana‘ – voice)
eg. ‘vei’iana ki ton‘ – you’re being rude