Hantza

Hantza is pronounced natively as /ˈhant͡sa/ (phonetically [ˈħ̝änt͡sɐ]) and may be Anglicised to /ˈhænt͡sə/.

I have yet to even begin to imagine the world that this language belongs to. However, as it is 99% of the time with me, it will most likely be a modified version of the real world, not an a priori fantasy world.

Phonology

Main article: Hantza phonology

Consonants

There are eighteen consonant phonemes in Hantza.

	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m	n		ŋ
Plosive	p b	t d		k	ʔ
Fricative	f	s			h
Affricate		t͡s d͡z
Approx.			j	w
Liquid		r l

In Hantza, /s/ is typically realised as the retracted [s̠] and, for many speakers, it is realised as [ɕ] before /i/. Similarly, /ts/ may become [tɕ] before /i/.

The glottal fricative /h/ is realised differently depending on the vowel that follows it. These allophones are given in the table below:

	Before /a/	Before /e, i	Before /o, u/
Intervocalic	[ɦ̝]	[ç]	[ɦ̝ʷ]
Word-final	[x ~ χ]
Elsewhere	[ħ̝]	[ç]	[ħ̝ʷ]

The single rhotic in Hantza /r/ also has a great many realisations but these differ according to dialect: [ɾ ~ ɹ ~ r ~ ʀ ~ ʁ ~ χ ~ x]. It is also often labialised before /o, u/.

The lateral /l/ is realised as a dark [ɫ] when followed by /k, h/ and as a clear [l] elsewhere.

Vowels

Hantza's vowel inventory is a simple five-vowel system, similar to that of many modern languages, such as Greek and Swahili. Vowel length is not phonemic in Hantza and there are no diphthongs.

	Front	Back
Close	i	u
Mid	e	o
Open	a

With the exception of /a/, vowels do not undergo reduction when unstressed; /a/ is phonetically [ä] when stressed and [ɐ] when unstressed. The remaining four vowels /i, u, e, o/ are usually realised as [ɪ, ʉ, ɛ, ɔ].

Orthography

With the exception of those listed below, all consonant and vowel phonemes are represented orthographically as in IPA.

• /ŋ/ is written <ng>
• /ts/ is written <tz>
• /dz/ is written <zz>
• /j/ is written <y>
• /ʔ/ is represented by a grave accent on the preceding vowel

Phonotactics

• The basic phonotactic template is (C)(C)V(C)
• Word-initial consonants: only /dz/ is disallowed
• Permitted word-initial clusters: any plosive + /j, w, r, l/ or /s/ + /p, t, k/
• Permitted word-final consonants: /m, n, ŋ, t, d, k, ʔ, s, h, ts, r, l/
• Word-final clusters: none allowed
• Word-final and word-initial vowels: all are allowed
• Medial clusters: any combination involving /dz/ is not permitted
• /ʔ/ can only occur syllable-finally

Morphological processes

elision, lenition, reduplication, metathesis

Morphophonology

Morphophonology needs to go here!

Prosody

Stress

As with Czech and Hungarian, the primary stress of a word falls on its first syllable. Secondary normally falls on the first closed syllable thereafter or, failing that, the third syllable of a word. Evidently in disyllabic word the secondary stress is placed on the second syllable.

Stress is not distinctive and is also relatively weak, unlike that of, for example, Russian. It is not indicated in the orthography.

Rhythm

Hantza is a syllable-timed language, that is to say that the duration of every syllable is equal.

Intonation

Intonation is the variation pitch indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker, signalling the difference between statements and questions, between different types of question, focusing attention on important elements speech and helping to regulate conversational interaction.

Typology

• Morphology: heavy on the verbal morphology, minimal on the nominal
• Morphosyntactic alignment: nom-acc?
• Agency, animacy
• No gender
• Verbs: polypersonal agreement
• No case marking
• Relational nouns?
• Inalienable possession, possessive prefixes
• Plurals only for animates
• Default word order: VSO
• Non-configurational (new news before the verb (often definite), old news after the verb (often indefinite))
• Head-marking
• Topic-comment/thème-rhème & focus
• How are adjectives got rid of?
• Infixes?

Morphology

Broadly speaking, there are three parts of speech in Hantza: nouns, verbs and particles.

Nouns

Pronouns act identically to common nouns

Nouns are not marked for case

Verbs

Verb paradigm is prefixing

Hantza modes combine tense, aspect and mood:

• Imperfective (unmarked)
• Iterative
• Delimitative
• Perfective
• Retrospective
• Future
• Inchoative
• Cessative
• Irrealis
• Optative
• Cohortative
• Imperative
• Jussive

Fastidious with transitivity and valency

Hantza verbs mark for subject, direct object and indirect object:

• 1sg
• 2sg
• 3sg/pl animate
• 3sg/pl inanimate
• 4sg/pl aka obviative
• indefinite
• reflexive
• reciprocal

Hantza is pro-drop

There is a mediopassive voice

Evidentiality is marked on the verb

Verb phrases can be nominalised

Particles

Adverbs, demonstratives and postpositions come under "particles".