Ahāmatya

Introduction

Vasa Ahāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan or just Ahāmatya is the standardized, formal, and literary register of language of Mana Etjelletyandalja, in contrast to the variable vulgar dialects collectively referred to as Vasa Vrjāmatya Manan Etjelletyandaljan or just Vrjāmatya.

Ahāmatya is typologically a synthetic, fusional language. Nouns and modifiers are inflected for number and case. Other modifiers, such as adverbs, are not inflected in the same way, though similarities may be found in certain contexts. Nouns exhibit a class distinction determined by the phonology. Verbs are inflected for aspect, time, valency, and mood. Some particles are inflected for number and case. Ahāmatya is a Nominative-Accusative aligned language, and has relatively free word order because of its case-marking, though word order tends towards S-O-V.

The chief ingredients of Ahāmatya are the following: Sanskrit, Finnish, Russian, Latin, English.

Phonology

Consonants

Ahāmatya has five major places of articulation and six manners of articulation. Furthermore, there exists a distinction between palatalized consonants and non-palatalized consonants, and in the context of labials, aspirated consonants and non-aspirated consonants. Ahāmatya, then, has thirty-three consonants in total, seven of which exist as allophones (consonants in parentheses are allophones): p, ph, (b), (bh), w, m, mh, f, v, vj, t, tj, (d), (dj), r, rj, n, nj, s, sj, l, lj, y, k, kj, (g), (gj), ŋ, ŋj, x, (ɣ), h, hj.

These consonants have the following values:

Labial

• p = [p]
• ph = [p^h], underlyingly /p^j/
• (b) = [b], underlyingly /p/
• (bh) = [b^h], underlyingly /p^j/
• w = [w]
• m = [m]
• mh = [m^h], underlyingly /m^j/
• f = [f]
• v = [v]
• vj = [v^j]

Coronal

• t = [t]
• tj = [t^j]
• (d) = [d], underlyingly /t/
• (dj) = [d^j], underlyingly /t^j/
• r = [r]
• rj = [r^j]
• n = [n]
• nj = [n^j]
• s = [s]
• sj = [s^j]
• l = [l]
• lj = [l^j]

Palatal

• y = [j]

Velar

• k = [k]
• kj = [k^j]
• (g) = [g], underlyingly /k/
• (gj) = [g^j], underlyingly /k^j/
• ŋ = [ŋ]
• ŋj = [ŋ^j]
• x = [x]
• (ɣ) = [ɣ], underlyingly /x/

Glottal

• h = [h]
• hj = [h^j]

Vowels

Ahāmatya has four short vowels and four long vowels, a distinction manifested as the long vowels' sound being held twice as long as short vowels' sound.

The short vowels are following: i, e, a, u. These have the following values:

• a = [a]
  

• e = [ɛ]
  

• i = [i]
  

• u = [u]

The long vowels are following: ī, ē, ā, ū. These have the following values:

• ī = [i:]
  

• ē = [ɛ:] ~ [e]
  

• ā = [a:]
  

• ū = [u:]

Note that, when spoken, there is some variation in the actual pronunciation of /ɛ:/, and may be more accurately pronounced as [e:].

Diphthongs

Ahāmatya has six diphthongs, all of which have length equivalent to long vowels. The diphthongs are the following: ei, ai, ui, iu, eu, au. These have the following values:

• ei = [ej]
  

• ai = [aj]
  

• ui = [uj]
  

• iu = [ju]
  

• eu = [ew]
  

• au = [aw]

There are some contexts in which a vowel sequence is not a diphthong. This usually occurs when a long vowel is then appended to by a short vowel. This is represented by an acute diacritic replacing the macron over the long vowel. This has an effect of reducing the length of the long vowel to a short vowel, and both vowels in the sequence carry their own distinct syllabification. This may be seen in the following:

• āi → ái = a-i

• áu → áu = a-u