Æ

Æ/Lexicon

Æ (natively jạrˀ Æ [jɑ̈˨˩˨ˀ ʔe˧˧], lit. 'Æ sound'; in English /ɛ/ eh) is an Angaian monosyllabic tonal analytic language inspired by Danish and Vietnamese (and the name is inspired by the real-world E language). It belongs to the Rieng-Chrâtt language family.

Æ natively uses a fanqie (initial and rime)-based orthography.

Diachronics sketch

Old Æ -ång/k -ong/k -ůng/k -> Modern Æ -æ̊m/vˀ -øm/vˀ -ym/vˀ

Broad phonology

Initials

b d bl gl g f s fl sl t h m n ng l r v j 0 /p t pl tɬ k f s fl ɬ ts h m n ŋ l ʁ v j ʔ/

Medials

-r- /ʁ/ Since this lowers the vowel, the exact phonetic values of rV combinations must be learned. Tentatively only allowed after b d g f s t h m n ng v.

Vowels

Æ has 13 nuclei: i y ŭ u ů e ø o æ æ̊ ă a å /i y ɨ ɨ: u e ø o ɛ œ æ æ: ɔ/

Finals

-0 -j -v -d -r -n -m -ˀ -jˀ -vˀ -dˀ -rˀ -nˀ -mˀ /-0 -j -w -ð -ɐ̯ -ŋ -ŋ͡m -ʔ -jʔ -wʔ -ðʔ -ɐ̯ʔ -ŋʔ -ŋ͡mʔ/

Origins of finals

• -0 comes from older -0 (tone A), -ʔ (tone B), -h (tone C), -k (tone D)
• -v comes from older -w (tone A), -wʔ (tone B), -f (tone C), -p -wə(final stop) (tone D)
• -j comes from older -j (tone A), -jʔ (tone B), -ç (tone C), -c -jə(final stop) (tone D)
• -d comes from older -ð -l (tone A), -ðʔ -lʔ (tone B), -þ (tone C), -t -ðə(final stop) -lə(final stop) (tone D)
• -r comes from older -r (tone A), -rʔ (tone B), -s (tone C), -q -rə(final stop) (tone D)
• -n from -n -ɲ sometimes -ŋ (add ʔ or final fric as necessary for tones B or C), -nə(final stop) -ɲə(final stop) -ŋə(final stop) (tone D)
• -m from -m sometimes -ŋ (add ʔ or final fric as necessary for tones B or C), -mə(final stop) -ŋə(final stop) (tone D)

(Posttonic syllables after nonresonants are lost without a trace)

Tones

8 tones, 2 of which have stød

Tone box

Vietnamese tone diacritics are used to indicate the abstract etymological origin of the tone (The precise tone values are TBD)

	A (null/voiced coda)	B (glottal stop coda)	C (fricative coda)	D (voiceless stop coda)
Modal initial	a	á	ả	áˀ
Breathy initial	à	ạ	ã	ạˀ

Narrow phonology

Steal from Danish narrow phonology as much as possible

Initials

Initials are close to their broad transcriptions in Standard Æ.

Rimes with no -r- medial

		Nucleus
		/æː/	/æ/	/ɛ/	/œ/	/ɔ/	/e/	/ø/	/o/	/i/	/y/	/u/	/ɨː/	/ɨ/
Coda	/0/	[ɛː] a	-	[eː] æ	[œ̝ː] æ̊	[ɔ̽ː] å	[e̝ː] e	[øː] ø	[o̝ː] o	[iː] i	[yː] y	[uː] ů	[ɨː] u	-
	/j(ʔ)/	[ɛːj] aj	[ɑ̈j] ăj	-	-	[ɒ̽ːj] åj	-	-	[oːj] oj	-	-	[uːj] ůj	[ɨːj] uj	[əj] ŭj
	/w(ʔ)/	[ɛːw] av	[æw] ăv	[eːw] æv	[œːw] æ̊v	[ɔ̽ːw] åv	[e̝ːw] ev	[øːw] øv	-	[iːw] iv	[yːw] yv	-	[ɨːw] uv	[əw] ŭv
	/ð(ʔ)/	[ɛːð̠˕ˠ] ad	[æð̠˕ˠ] ăd	[eːð̠˕ˠ] æd	[œ̝ːð̠˕ˠ] æ̊d	[ɔ̽ːð̠˕ˠ] åd	[e̝ːð̠˕ˠ] ed	[øːð̠˕ˠ] ød	[o̝ːð̠˕ˠ] od	[iːð̠˕ˠ] id	[yːð̠˕ˠ] yd	[uːð̠˕ˠ] ůd	[ð̩˕˗ˠː] ud	[əð̠˕ˠ] ŭd
	/ɐ̯(ʔ)/	[ɑ̈ː] ar	[ɑ̈ː] ăr	[eːɒ̯̽] ær	[œːɒ̯̽] æ̊r	[ɒ̝ː] år	[e̝ːɒ̯̽] er	[øːɒ̯̽] ør	[o̝ːɒ̯̽] or	[iːɒ̯̽] ir	[yːɒ̯̽] yr	[uːɒ̯̽] ůr	[ɨːɒ̯̽] ur	[əɒ̯̽] ŭr
	/ŋ(ʔ)/	[ɛ̃ː] an	[ãː] ăn
	/ŋ͡m(ʔ)/	[ɛ̃ːw̃~ɛːw̃] am	[æ̃w̃~æw̃] ăm
	/ʔ/	[ɛːʔ] aˀ	[æʔ] ăˀ

Grammar

Polar questions

Yes-no questions either use the A-not-A form or put the appropriate negative word at the end.

Mæ̣rˀ húd med blảj Æ? / Mæ̣rˀ húd blảj Æ med?

2 COP NEG.COP human Æ / 2 COP human Æ NEG.COP

Are you Æ?

Poetry

Lục bát (with the same rules as in Vietnamese lục bát) is the most common poetic form