Iberic

Iberic хэбьер̀эш йэзок
Pronounced:	Standard: /xɛ.bʲe.rɛʃ jɛ.zok/ Northern: [xɛ.bʲe.rɜʃ jɜ.zok] Coastal: [xɛ.bʲe.ʁɛʃ jɛ.zok] Southern: [xɜ.β̞ʲerʃ jzok] Inland: [ɸ̞ʲerʃ jzok], [ɸ̞ʲerʒ.‿ʒok]
Species:	Human
Spoken:	Mainly around Basque country
Total speakers:	~4,000,000
Writing system:	Cyrillic or Latin
Genealogy:	Proto-Slavic Old Iberic Iberic
Typology
Morphological type:	Fusional
Morphosyntactic alignment:	Ergative
Basic word order:	Free
Credits
Creator:	Lumi
Created:	December 11th, 2025

Iberic (Iberic: хэбьер̀эш йэзок, /xɛ.bʲe.rɛʃ jɛ.zok/) is a Slavic language spoken in Iberia, around Basque country, it is notable for the significant amount of influence it has recieved from Basque, especially the shift of the nominative/accusative system into an ergative/absolutive one.

Dialects

Iberic has two main dialect groups, Northern and Southern. Traditionally, the standards for these were based around Vitoria-Gasteiz (Northern) and Pamplona (Southern), but these have gotten less helpful as the Far Northern and Far Southern varieties have continued to diverge. The divergence of these varieties has necessitated further distinctions, so modern day linguists also list "Coastal" (Far Northern) and "Inland" (Far Southern).

Standard Iberic is based off what is spoken in Vitoria-Gasteiz.

The largest difference between Northern and Southern is pronunciation, as grammar stays relatively uniform across all varieties.

Northern

Northern (Iberic: шевэра йэзок) is spoken in the Basque autonomous region of Spain.

Northern is often considered the more prestigious dialect, especially that spoken in and around Vitoria-Gasteiz, though the far north varieties are often considered improper by those farther south, this leads to a stigma around it for some speakers, which causes them to try to use a different variety, often overcorrecting themselves.

Coastal

Also called "Far Northern"

Southern

Southern is spoken in Basque country, in the areas south of the Basque autonomous region.

Southern is known for its vowel deletion (affecting reduced /ɛ/ and /ɔ/), which leads to clusters the Northern dialects do not allow, such as [jzok] (Northern [jɜ.zok]), see the phonology section below for further information.

Inland

Also called "Far Southern"

Summary table of dialectal sound changes

	Coastal	Northern	Central	Southern	Inland
/r, ɾ/ > /r/
/r/ > /ʁ~ʀ/
/ʊ/ gained before syllabic consonants
non-high vowel reduction
[ɜ, ɞ] deletion			P	P
high vowel reduction
final /ɐ/ deletion
/ɘ, ɵ/ > /ə/
/ɨ, ʊ/ > /ʏ/
/ʊ/ > /ɤ/
/ɤ, o/ > /o/
/o, ɔ/ > /ɔ/ before a rhotic
/e, ɛ/ > /ɛ/ before a rhotic
short /ɔ/-/o/ and /ɛ/-/e/ mergers
/ɤ/ > /ʌ/
/s̻/ > /ɕ/ in clusters with palatals
intervocalic lenition of voiced stops
/β̞, ɸ̞/-/ʋ, f/ merger
/bʲ, pʲ, mʲ/ > /v, f, ṽ/
/ʋ, v/ merger
loss of word final geminates
final /t/ > /ʔ/
loss of /ʔ/
initial long vowel splitting
/ɕ/ > /ʃ/

Key: (based on percent of speakers)

Green = Above 84%

Light green = 55%~84%

Yellow = 45%~54%

Orange = 10%~44%

Red = Less than 10%

"P" = Partial

Phonology and Orthography

Phonology

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Nasal		m	n	ɲ
Plosive	Unvoiced	p	t	c	k
	Voiced	b	d	ɟ	g
Fricative	Unvoiced	f	s̻¹, s̺²	ʃ	x
	Voiced		z	ʒ
Affricate	Unvoiced		t͡s̺	t͡ʃ
	Voiced			d͡ʒ
Approximant		ʋ	ɾ³, r³	j
Lateral			l	ʎ⁴

1: May be realized as [θ] in some Southern varieties.

2: May merge with /ʃ/ or become [s] in Southern varieties.

3: In the far north, these often merge to [ʁ], which has been called the "Northern burr", after the Northumbrian burr.

4: Southern varieties may shift this to [ʝ].

Orthography

Letter	Transcription	Name	Pronunciation
			Phoneme	Coastal	North	South	Inland
А а	A a		/ɑ/	[ɑ~ä]	[ɑ~ɐ~ä]	[ɑ~ɐ~ä]	[ɑ~ɐ~ä]
Б б	B b		/b/	[b]	[b]	[b~β̞]	[b~β̞]
В в	V v		/ʋ/	[ʋ~w]	[ʋ]	[ʋ]	[v]
Г г	G g		/ɡ/	[ɡ]	[ɡ]	[ɡ~ɣ̞]	[ɡ~ɣ̞]
Ѓ ѓ	Ď ď		/ɟ/	[ɟ]	[ɟ]	[ɟ~ʝ̞]	[ɟ~ʝ̞~j]
Д д	D d		/d/	[d]	[d]	[d~ð̞]	[d~ð̞]
Е е	E e		/e/	[e]	[e~ɘ]	[e~ɘ]	[e~ə]
Ж ж	Ž ž		/ʒ/	[ʒ]	[ʒ]	[ʒ]	[ʒ]
З з	Z z		/z/	[z]	[z]	[z]	[z]
И и	I i		/i/	[i~ɨ]	[i~ɨ]	[i~ɨ]	[i~ɨ]
Й й	Y y		/j/	[j]	[j]	[j]	[j~ʝ̞]
К к	K k		/k/	[k]	[k]	[k]	[k]
Ќ ќ	Ť ť		/c/	[c]	[c]	[c]	[kʲ]
Л л	L l		/l/	[l]	[l]	[l]	[l]
Л́ л́	Ľ ľ		/ʎ/	[ʎ]	[ʎ~ʝ]	[ʝ̞]	[ʝ̞]
М м	M m		/m/	[m]	[m]	[m]	[m~v]
Н н	N n		/n/	[n]	[n]	[n]	[n]
Н́ н́	Ň ň		/ɲ/	[ɲ]	[ɲ]	[ɲ]	[ɲ]
О о	O o		/o/	[o]	[o~ɵ]	[o~ɵ]	[o~ə]
П п	P p		/p/	[p]	[p]	[p]	[p]
Р р	R r		/ɾ/	[ʁ~ʀ]	[ɾ~r]	[ɾ]	[ɾ]
Р̀ р̀	Ř ř		/r/	[ʁ~ʀ]	[r]	[r]	[r]
С с	S s		/s̻/	[s̻]	[s̻]	[s̻~θ]	[θ]
Т т	T t		/t/	[t]	[t]	[t]	[t]
У у	U u		/u/	[u~ʊ]	[u~ʊ]	[u~ʊ]	[u~ʊ]
Ф ф	F f		/f/	[f]	[f]	[f]	[ɸ̞]
Х х	H h		/x/	[x~χ]	[x]	[x~h]	[h]
Ц ц	Č č		/t͡s̺/	[t͡s̺]	[t͡s̺]	[t͡s̺]	[t͡s]
Џ џ	J j		/d͡ʒ/	[d͡ʒ]	[d͡ʒ]	[d͡ʒ]	[d͡ʒ]
Ч ч	Ć ć		/t͡ʃ/	[t͡ʃ]	[t͡ʃ]	[t͡ʃ]	[t͡ʃ]
Ш ш	Ś ś		/ʃ/	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ]	[ʃ~x]
Щ щ	Š š		/s̺/	[s̺]	[s̺]	[s̺]	[s]
Ъ ъ	Ǫ ǫ		/ɔ/	[ɔ]	[ɔ~ɞ]	[ɔ~ɞ~∅]	[ɔ~∅]
Ь ь	Y y		/ʲ/	[ʲ]	[ʲ]	[ʲ]	[ʲ]
Э э	Ę ę		/ɛ/	[ɛ]	[ɛ~ɜ]	[ɛ~ɜ~∅]	[ɛ~∅]

Allophony

• /i/ is often close to [ɨ] word initially, and always such after palatal consonants (as in "žima" - /ʒi.mɑ/ [ʒɨ.mɐ])
• /ɑ/ can be [ɐ] when following a cardinal vowel (/i, u, e, o/, /i/ includes [ɨ]), unless before a rhotic, where it is always [ä].
• /i̯, u̯/ are closer to [ɪ̯, ʊ̯] in diphthongs, and /ɑ-/ is realized closer to [ä].
• Word initial /e/ may be [je] in far north varieties, this is especially common among younger speakers.
• /s̻/, when clustered with palatals (as in /sɲ/), becomes [ɕ].
• Word finally, voiceless stops are aspirated.
• /eR, ɛR/ and /ɔR, oR/, where /R/ is a coda rhotic, are always [ɛR] and [ɔR], /uR/ is variable, [uR] is most common in Northern varieties, though the far north uses [ʊR], and the south often uses [əR] or [uR], but /ur/ is often [r̩] in all varieties.
• /xʋ/ is almost always realized as [ʋ̥].

For Coastal, disregard all vowel reduction, as Coastal fully lacks it.

Grammar

Morphology

Roughly speaking, Iberic is a fusional language with ergative/absolutive alignment, though the system is far more in depth than that.

Nouns

Nouns have six cases, those are: Ergative, Genitive, Dative, Absolutive, Instrumental, and Locative. Some elder speakers may retain a vocative, but it has often merged with the ergative form-wise.

As the ergative/absolutive alignment was a new innovation, the dictionary form is the ergative, not the absolutive.

Nouns have several patterns, they are:

Short o — From Proto-Slavic's O stems.

Short o, plain — From Proto-Slavic's Hard O stem.

Short o, palatal — From Proto-Slavic's soft O stem.

ę — From Proto-Slavic's Soft O stem

Long ę — Formed from a contraction, acts like an irregular form of the ę stem

ǫ — From Proto-Slavic's Hard O stem

a — From Proto-Slavic's A stems

i — From Proto-Slavic's I stems

(list not complete)

The following is a set of tables to display the noun inflections.

агн́эт (Short o, plain)

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Ergative	агн́эт	агн́эда	агн́эдэже
Genitive	агн́эда	агн́эбу	агн́эт
Dative	агн́эбу	агн́эдъма	агн́эдъм
Absolutive	агн́эт	агн́эда	агн́эдо
Instrumental	агн́эдъмь	агн́эдъма	агн́эдо
Locative	агн́эдэж	агн́эбу	агн́эдэжэ

-тэшэ (ę) Singular Dual Plural Ergative -тэшэ -тэйа -чѐ Genitive -тэйа -чеву -тэшэ Dative -чеву -тэ̀ма -тэ̀м Absolutive -тэшэ -тэйа -тѐйэ Instrumental -тэ̀мь -тэ̀ма -чѐ Locative -чѐ -чеву -чѐ

-э̀ (Long ę) Singular Dual Plural Ergative -э̀ -йѝ -эйа Genitive -эйа -йиво -йе Dative -йиво -э̀ма -э̀м Absolutive -э̀ -йѝ -эйа Instrumental -э̀мь -э̀ма -йѝ Locative -йѝ -йиво -йѝ

Pronouns

The pronouns inflect for the same categories as nouns, with the addition of possessive forms distinct from the genitive.

Standard Iberic personal pronouns

			Erg	Abs	Gen/Loc	Dat	Instr	Poss
Singular	1st		йа̀з	мьэи	мэинэ	мэн́э	мъневъ	ме
	2nd		тоу	чэи	тэибэ	тэбьэ	тъбевъ	пе
	3rd	M	ън		ънъмь	ънъмо	ън́емь	ъне¹
		F	ъна	ъмъ	ънейа	ън́э	ъневъ
		N*	ънъ		ънъмь	ънъмо	ън́емь
Dual	1st		йэи	на̀	нэво	нама		наш
	2nd		ва̀		вэво	вама		ваш
	3rd	M	ъна		ъневу	ън́ема		ън́аш¹
		F	ън́э
		N*
Plural	1st		моу	ноу	нас	нам	намье	наш
	2nd		воу		вас	вам	вамье	ваш
	3rd	M	ън́е	ъно	ън́э	ън́ем	ън́емье	ън́аш¹
		F	ъно
		N*	ъна
Reflexive			—	шэи	сэибэ	сэбьэ	събевъ	фе

* The neuter is extremely rare outside formal speech, mostly only appearing in set phrases, in the North, the masc/fem distinction is animate/inanimate under Basque influence.

1: This is limited to casual speech, as it is a modern formation.

Coastal

A major feature of Coastal Iberic is the development of clitic pronouns, the clitics decline just as pronouns, though some cases are used differently.

• Absolutive: The usage of this is the same as usual, except it has suffixed to the verb.
• Genitive/Locative: This is used differently than usual, meaning "from" or "at", largely determined by context, and is affixed to nouns, thus "шеврмен" (śevrmen) is "I (am) from/at (the) north".
• Dative: This retains its usual meaning.
• Instrumental: This is usually used as a marker of who used the instrument, when saying someone is the instrument, the independent pronoun is used.
• Possessive: These work like the possessed forms in languages like Finnish.

Proclitic ergative pronouns do exist, but are rarer, they're mostly used to distinguish verb forms that are identical or highly similar.

The reason the clitic pronouns developed is unknown, though they're thought to come from, at least in part, the reduction and eventual affixation of the independent pronouns
This theory is rejected by some linguists, with alternate theories including some kind of outside influence, but this is extremely unlikely, as Iberic has had no known contact with a language that uses enclitic pronouns.

(table will be made later)