Eḥeiθymmen Amran

Eḥeiθymmen Amran [ɛçˈejθ.ym:.ɛn ˈam.ran]
Creator:	Daniel Quigley
Spoken in:	Amran
World:	Leaves Stories
Total Speakers:	~ 18,000,000
Basic word order:	Strict V2
Morphological Type:	Fusional
Morphosyntactic Alignment:	Ergative-Absolutive
Inspirations:	Arabic, German, Finnish, Welsh, Basque, English
Status:	In Progress
Link to full documentation:	*forthcoming*

Eḥeiθymmen Amran is an a priori artistic constructed language in development by Daniel Quigley, providing the framework for which the author’s creative works and worldbuilding are guided. Eḥeiθymmen Amran or just Eḥeiθymme or Amranū is the dominant language of the people of Amran.

Eḥeiθymme is characterized by significant word-internal sound-change, a so-called "root-and-pattern" morphology, and strict word order. Eḥeiθymme readily accepts words of non-native origin, but tends to force said loans into its morphological paradigm.

Eḥeiθymme is typologically a fusional language. Nouns, modifiers, and verbs are typically formed via a root-and-pattern triconsonantal root system, and movement between the three is highly fluid. Nouns are not inflected for number and case. These details are encoded in the definiteness marked by an article. Other modifiers, such as adverbs, are not inflected in the same way, though similarities may be found in certain contexts. Verbs entirely depend upon their construction with a positive or a negative copula, and most tenses are formed via periphrasis. Some particles are inflected for person. Eḥeiθymme is an Ergative-Absolutive aligned language, and has strict V2 word order despite the presence of extensive case marking.

Phonology

Consonants

Eḥeiθymme has five major places of articulation and six manners of articulation, and yields twenty-three consonants in total.

			Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal			m = [m]	n = [n]
Stop		unvoiced	p = [p]	t = [t]		k = [k]
		voiced	b = [b]	d = [d]		g = [g]
Affricate		unvoiced			c = [t͡ʃ]
		voiced			j = [d͡ʒ]
Fricative	sibilant	unvoiced		s = [s]	ʃ = [ʃ]
		voiced			ʒ = [ʒ]
	non-sibilant	unvoiced	f = [f]	θ = [θ]	ḥ = [ç]	x = [x]	h = [h]
		voiced	v = [v]	ð = [ð]		ɣ = [ɣ]
Lateral				l = [l]
Rhotic				r = [r]

Vowels

Eḥeiθymme 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

Eḥeiθymme has three diphthongs, all of which have length equivalent to long vowels. The diphthongs are the following: ei, ai, au. These have the following values:

• ei = [ej]
  

• ai = [aj]
  

• au = [aw]

Prosody and Stress

Syllables are determined by vowel-sounds and diphthong-sounds. There is one vowel or diphthong per syllable.

The determination of stress is understood within the bounds of the ultimate to antipenultimate syllable.

• If the word at most contains three syllables, then the first syllable is stressed.
• If the word at most contains two syllables, then the first syllable is stressed.
• If the word at most contains one syllable, then that syllable is stressed.

• If the word contains more than three syllables, then the antipenultimate syllable is stressed.
• If the word contains a diphthong or a long vowel in the ultimate, penultimate, or antipenultimate syllable, then that syllable is stressed.