Hlou-Shum languages

Xaetjeon/Lexicon

Hlou-Shum languages /ˈdɮetʃɑn/ (Hlou-Shum languages: baeychnae Xaetjeon /ˈpejxne ˈɮetʃʰɑn/) is a Talman language spoken by the Dxaetjfa people. It is a Naquic language (descendant of Naquian) inspired by Praimhín's Gussnish.

Main sources of loanwords:

• Tíogall
• Netagin
• Bênôcian
• Nurian
• Some from Naquian

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/				ng /ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	b /p/	d /t/	dz /ts/	dx /tɬ/	dj /tʃ/	g /k/
	aspirated	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	ts /tsʰ/	tq /tɬʰ/	tj /tʃʰ/	c /kʰ/
Fricative	voiceless	f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	q /ɬ/	sj /ʃ/	ch /x/	h /h/
	voiced	v /v/	dh /ð/	z /z/	x /ɮ/	zj /ʒ/	gh /ɣ/
Approximant					l /l/	y /j/	w /w/

Notes

• In casual speech, the unaspirated stops and affricates /p t ts tɬ tʃ k/ are voiced intervocalically to [b d dz dɮ dʒ ɡ].
• Depending on speaker, /l/ may be slightly retracted [l̠] or slightly velarized [lˠ].

Vowels

Hlou-Shum languages vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/		u /u/
Mid	ae /e/	eu /ə/	o /o/
Open	a /æ/		eo /ɑ/

Notes

• /ɨ/ is near-close central [ɨ̞].
• /ə/ may be pronounced [ɤ] by some speakers.

Mutations

Normal	p	f	t	th	ts	s	tq	q	tj	sj	c	b	v	d	dh	dz	z	dx	x	dj	zj	g
Lenited	f	f	th	th	s	h	q	q	sj	sj	ch	v	v	dh	dh	z	0	x	x	zj	zj	gh

Normal	m	n	ng	w	l	y
Lenited	v	n	ng	w	w	y

Prosody

Stress

In native words stress is on the first syllable, not counting prefixes. In loans, stress falls on the same syllable as in the source language.

Morphology

Nouns

-meo/-eom, -nae, -neu < ixmi, hinē, hinuoz

pa - person

	Indefinite		Definite
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	pa	pameo	panae	paneu
Vocative	fa	-	-	faneu

Possessive pronouns

The possessive pronouns are: (derived from Naquian possessive prefixes)

Possessive pronouns
	Singular	Plural
1	neu vif neu ow	meu vif meu ow
1 + 2	-	peu vif peu ow
2	sjeu vif sjeu ow	tseu vif tseu ow
3	i vif i ow	i mif i now
Interr/Indef	tae vif tae ow

Possession is indicated with third-person possessive pronouns: Ex. i vif fanae = 'the man's house' (The panae lenites since it follows a feminine noun mif.)

Adjectives

Adjectives do not take affixes. However, adjectives modifying indefinite feminine nouns (i.e. nouns that ended in a vowel in Naquian) undergo lenition.

pa seowan

a small person

mif heowan

a small house

However, the suffixes -nae and -meo (-eom is used for nouns ending in labials) always lenite the following noun:

panae heowan

the small person

mifeom heowan

the small houses

Predicative adjectives precede the subject, while attributive adjectives follow it.

Prepositions and conjunctions

• tjeo-L = and
• teo-L = at
• yae-L = to

Verbs

The word order is usually tense-subject-verbnoun-object or, when the object is a pronoun, tense-subject-object-verbnoun. A nominal direct object is lenited; in fact, any indefinite dependent noun is lenited when used after a sequence tense/head + adjunct.

• Lon teo sim = 'I'm running' (sim is a lenited form of tsim.)
• Lon teo i chaevasj = 'I'm protecting it'
• Lon teo i chaevasj vifnae = 'I'm protecting the house'
• Lon teo chaevasj vifnae = 'I'm protecting the house' (colloquial)

Copula

Present tense
	Singular	Plural
1	lon	lovae
1 + 2	-	lont
2	losj	lopeo
3	lo	loq

Numbers

Numbers 1-12: paev, tiho, natj-L, tsov, tsaweo, bael-L, oth, loseoth, bas-L, gaeyo, dav, dadheo-L (multiples of 3 lenite the following noun!)

Derivational morphology

• -asj (f): nominalizer
• -iy (f): abstract noun

Phrasebook

• Lon Dxaetjfa. = I am a Dxaetjeon person.