sirozu

Sirozu is a constructed language that appears in the fictional world of Siroza. In the included worldbuilding materials, it is described as a member of the Sirozoid sub-branch of a broader fictional language family, used by the inhabitants of the central river basin in that setting.

The name Sirozu derives from the river Siro and the suffix -zu, a combination that features in the language’s own toponymic and ethnolinguistic traditions. The language is said to have formed through centuries of cultural contact and regional diversification, with standardization efforts documented in the imagined history during a period of political reform.

Phonology is described as relatively conservative, with five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and about eighteen consonants. Syllables are typically CV or CVC, and stress generally falls on the penultimate syllable. The language is not described as phonemically tone-based. Sirozu is usually written with a Latin-based alphabet that includes diacritics to mark vowel length and occasional phonemic emphasis; a separate ceremonial script called Siroglyph is sometimes depicted in literary and ceremonial contexts.

Grammar is presented as largely analytic with an SVO word order. Nouns take postpositional markers to indicate case, while pronouns include inclusive and exclusive forms for the first-person plural. Verbs inflect for aspect rather than tense, and time relations are expressed through auxiliary constructions and adverbs.

Lexicon emphasizes daily life, family, nature, and civic institutions. The core lexicon shows steady borrowing from neighboring fictional languages reflecting trade and cultural exchange. In literature and media within the imagined world, Sirozu appears in poetry, legal prose, and folklore, maintaining a central role in cultural identity.

In its fictional setting, Sirozu functions as a symbol of national identity and linguistic heritage, continuing to evolve through education, media, and interregional contact.