Ldon

Ldon /ldo̞n/ is a language spoken in Ldon Źama.

Phonology

p t k b d v s z ś ź h c ć m n l j a e i o u /p t k b d v s z ʃ ʒ h ts tʃ m n l j a e i o u/

Phonotactics

The acceptable initial consonant clusters are lp, lb, lt, ld, lk, sm, sn, sv, sj, zm, zn, zv, zj, tm, kn, pn, tv, kv and dv.

Hiatus is allowed, e.g. poap = oblique I form of poc 'son'

Morphophonology

Consonant gradation

Ldon has a process of consonant gradation which works with certain suffixes, as in Finnish. The rules are:

• p -> v
• b, m -> l
• t -> z
• d, n, ć -> ź
• k -> c
• c disappears
• ź, z -> j
• s -> l

Morphology

Ldon nouns come in four cases: direct, oblique I, oblique II and vocative.

• Both subjects and objects of transitive verbs are in the direct case. When used with locative prepositions, it implies location.
• The oblique I case is used for subjects of intransitive verbs. When used with locative prepositions, it implies motion towards an object. It is marked with -(a)p and may cause stem vowel changes.
• The oblique II case is used with non-locative prepositions. When used with locative prepositions, it implies motion away from an object. It has practically merged with the vocative in the modern language.
• The vocative case is marked with -a.

Examples: znam (field); oblique I form znalap; oblique II/vocative znama

svelek (rainbow; the final k is from *-tk); oblique I form svelecap, oblique II/vocative form sveleka

gulu (mite); oblique I gulup, oblique II gulua