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{{Infobox language
{{Infobox language
|name          = Chlouvānem
|name          = Chlouvānem
|nativename      = chlǣvānumi dældā
|nativename      = chlǣvānumi dhāḍa
|pronunciation = [c͡ɕʰɴ̆ɛːˈʋaːnumʲi dɛɴ̆ˈdaː]
|pronunciation = c͡ɕʰɴ̆ɛːʋaːnumi dʱaːɖa
|states (state) = lands of the [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|Inquisition]] (Murkadhāni babhrām)
|pronunciation_key = IPA
|region        = Eastern third and most of the South of the continent of Greater Evandor
|creator      = User:Lili21
|created      = Dec 2016
|region        = Jahībušanā, southern Vaikēham, eastern half of Araugi, southernmost Vīṭadælteh
|ethnicity    = Chlouvānem
|ethnicity    = Chlouvānem
|speakers      = {{formatnum:1450000000}}
|speakers      = {{formatnum:1905000000}}
|date          = 3874 <small>(6424<sub>10</sub>)</small>
|date          = 3874 <small>(6424<sub>10</sub>)</small>
|setting      = [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]]
|setting      = [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]]
|familycolor  = #E4CEFA
|familycolor  = Hmong-Mien<!--This is to add the family colour! HEX codes don't work, so I chose the closest family colour to your provided Hex Code<nowiki>!</nowiki>-->
|fam1          = [[Lahob languages|Lahob]]
|fam1          = [[Lahob languages|Lahob-Imuniguronian]]
|creator      = [[User:Lili21|Lili21]]
|stand1          = Classical Chlouvānem
|created      = Dec 2016
|script        = Chlouvānem script (''chlǣvānumi jīmalāṇa'')
|script        = Chlouvānumi jīmalāṇa
|nation        = [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|lands of the Inquisition]], Brono, Fathan, <small>Qualdomailor, Gorjan (regional)</small>
|nation        = [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|lands of the Inquisition]], Brono, Fathan, <small>Qualdomailor, Gorjan (regional)</small>
|agency        = Inquisitorial Office of the Language (dældi plušamila)
|agency        = Inquisitorial Office of the Language (''dhāḍi plušamila'')
|image        = Flag of the Inquisition.png
|image        = Flag of the Inquisition.png
|imagealt      = Flag of the Inquisition
|imagealt      = Flag of the Inquisition
|notice=IPA
}}
}}
'''Chlouvānem''', natively '''chlǣvānumi dældā''' ("language of the Chlouvānem people"), is the most spoken language on the planet of [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]] (Chl.: ''Liloejāṃrya''). It is the official language of the Inquisition (''murkadhāna'') and its country, the [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|Chlouvānem lands]] (''chlǣvānumi babhrām''<ref>Commonly ''murkadhāni babhrām'' “Land of the Inquisition”, officially referred to as ''chlǣvānumi murkadhāni babhrām'' “Land(s) of the Chlouvānem Inquisition”) </ref>), the main lingua franca across vast areas of Márusúturon - most importantly Brono, Fathan, Qualdomailor, and all other countries of the former Kaiṣamā, and, due to cultural exchanges and influences in the last seven hundred years, also a well known language in Greater Skyrdagor.<br/>It is the [[Verse:Yunyalīlta|Yunyalīlti religion]]'s liturgical language.
'''Chlouvānem''', natively '''chlǣvānumi dhāḍa''' ("language of the Chlouvānem people"), sometimes also called '''naviṣidhāḍa''' (lit. "language of the [Holy] Book(s)") or '''mālnadhāḍa''' (lit. "language of the Union") by non-Chlouvānem users, is the most spoken language on the planet of [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]] (Chl.: ''Liloejāṃrya''). It is the official language of the Inquisition (''murkadhānāvi'') and its country, the [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|Chlouvānem lands]] (''chlǣvānumi babhrām''<ref>Commonly ''murkadhānāvīyi babhrām'' “Land of the Inquisition”, officially referred to as ''chlǣvānumi murkadhānāvīyi babhrām'' “Land(s) of the Chlouvānem Inquisition” or as ''chlamiṣvatrī maijuniāvyumi murkadhānāvīyi stalyāmite kailibabhrām'' "Pure Lands under Guidance of the Inquisition of the Descendants of the Chlamiṣvatrā".</ref>), the main lingua franca across vast areas of Márusúturon (according to the Chlouvānem definition all of Jahībušanā, the eastern half of Araugi, southern Vaipūrja, and far southernmost Vīṭadælteh) - most importantly Brono, Fathan, Qualdomailor, and all other countries of the former Kaiṣamā, and, due to cultural exchanges and influences in the last seven hundred years, also a well known language in Greater Skyrdagor.<br/>It is the [[Verse:Yunyalīlta|Yunyalīlti religion]]'s liturgical language.


The language currently known as Chlouvānem was first attested about 2400 years ago in documents from the Lällshag civilization, as the language of a [[Lahob languages|Lahob-speaking]] people that settled in the southern part of the Lāmiejāya-Lāmberah plain, particularly near Lūlunīkam Lake. Around year 4000 of the Chlouvānem calendar (itself an adaptation of the Lällshag one), the ''Chlamiṣvatrā'', the great Prophet of the Yunyalīlta, lived and taught her doctrine in the Chlouvānem language, paving the way for it to gain the role of most important language and lingua franca in the at the time massively linguistically fragmented lower Plain. While the Chlamiṣvatrā's language is what we now call "Archaic Chlouvānem" (''chlǣvānumi sārvire dældā''), most of the Yunyalīlti doctrine as we now know it is in the later stage of Classical Chlouvānem (''chlǣvānumi lallapårṣire dældā''), a koiné developed in the mid-5th millennium. Since then, for nearly two millennia, this classical language has been kept alive as the lingua franca in the Yunyalīlti world, resulting in the state of diglossia that persists today.
The language currently known as Chlouvānem was first attested about 2400 years ago in documents from the Lällshag civilization, as the language of a [[Lahob languages|Lahob-speaking]] people that settled in the southern part of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra-Lāmberah plain, particularly near Lake Lūlunīkam. Around year 4000 of the Chlouvānem calendar (itself an adaptation of the Lällshag one), the ''Chlamiṣvatrā'', the great Prophet of the Yunyalīlta, lived and taught her doctrine in the Chlouvānem language, paving the way for it to gain the role of most important language and lingua franca in the at the time massively linguistically fragmented lower Plain. While the Chlamiṣvatrā's language is what we now call "Archaic Chlouvānem" (''chlǣvānumi sārvire dhāḍa''), most of the Yunyalīlti doctrine as we now know it is in the later stage of Classical Chlouvānem (''chlǣvānumi lallapårṣire dhāḍa''), a koiné developed in the mid-5th millennium. Since then, for nearly two millennia, this classical language has been kept alive as the lingua franca in the Yunyalīlti world, resulting in the state of diglossia that persists today.


Despite the fact that local vernaculars in most of the Inquisition are in fact daughter languages of Chlouvānem or creoles based on it, the ''chlǣvānumi dældā'' is a fully living language as every Chlouvānem person is bilingual in it and in the local vernacular; in the last half century there have been instances where the classical language itself has been replacing some vernaculars due to internal migrations, both forced and voluntary ones. About 1,4 billion people on the planet define themselves as native Chlouvānem speakers, more than for any other Calémerian language.
Despite the fact that local vernaculars in the Inquisition are in fact daughter languages of Chlouvānem, creoles based on it, or completely unrelated languages, the ''chlǣvānumi dhāḍa'' is a fully living language as every Chlouvānem person is bilingual in it and in the local vernacular. About 1,9 billion people on the planet define themselves as native Chlouvānem speakers, more than for any other Calémerian language.


Chlouvānem (not counting separately its own daughter languages) is by far the most spoken of the [[Lahob languages]] (more than 99.98% of Lahob speakers), and the only one of the family to have been written before the contemporary era. It is, however, the geographical outlier of the family, due to the almost 10,000 km long migration of the Ur-Chlouvānem from the Proto-Lahob homeland at the northern tip of Evandor. Chlouvānem, due to its ancientness, still retains much of the complex morphology of Proto-Lahob, but its vocabulary has been vastly changed by language contact, especially after the Chlouvānem settled in the Plain, where they effectively became a métis ethnicity by intermixing with neighboring peoples. Still, it is possible to find lots of cognates between it and its distant relatives, even with the same meanings, like the words for "lake" (''gērisa'', cf. Łaȟoḇszer ''hetłi'', < PLB *gegriso) or "worm" (''tūlum'', exactly the same as PLB *tūlum, cf. Łaȟ. and Łokow ''toł'') - or even how one of the Tundra Pwaɬasd-speaking tribes is known as ''gěɬowupěn'', which has exactly the same origin (and meaning - "golden clan") as the word ''chlǣvānem''.
Chlouvānem (not counting separately its own daughter languages) is by far the most spoken of the [[Lahob languages]] (more than 99.98% of Lahob speakers), and the only one of the family to have been written before the contemporary era. It is, however, the geographical outlier of the family, due to the almost 10,000 km long migration of the Ur-Chlouvānem from the Proto-Lahob homeland at the northern tip of Evandor. Chlouvānem, due to its ancientness, still retains much of the complex morphology of Proto-Lahob, but its vocabulary has been vastly changed by language contact, especially after the Chlouvānem settled in the Plain, where they effectively became a métis ethnicity by intermixing with neighboring peoples.


→ ''See [[Chlouvānem/Lexicon|Chlouvānem lexicon]] for a list of common words grouped by theme.''
→ ''See [[Chlouvānem/Lexicon|Chlouvānem lexicon]] for a list of common words grouped by theme.''


==External History==
{{Chlouvānem sidebar}}
''Chlouvānem'' is what I - ''[[User:Lili21|lilie21]]'' - consider my main conlang, as it is the spiritual descendant of all conlangs I've created focussing the most on. Actually my earliest conlangs were not really conlangs, just some strange-sounding, often natlang-mimicking relexes of Italian; it was only when I was 17 that I found myself randomly reading about Ancient Greek online and that ignited in me the flame of love for linguistics - after a few months, I discovered conlanging sites and started making conlangs that were actually something more worthy of the name of "conlang", i.e. made starting from even the slightest hint of linguistic knowledge, and therefore not a relex (by the way, the first conlang I did this way was ''Valdimelic'', which is in some way echoed in [[Qualdomelic]]).
==Internal history==
The history of the Chlouvānem language itself is tightly linked with the one of the Ur-Chlouvānem (''odhāḍadumbhais'') and Chlouvānem (''chlǣvānem'') peoples, and is usually divided in the following periods:
* Proto-Lahob (''hūlisakhāni odhāḍa''; PLB for short)
* Pre-Chlouvānem or Ur-Chlouvānem language (''ochlǣvānumi dhāḍa'' or rarely ''chlǣvānumi odhāḍa'')
* Archaic Chlouvānem (''chlǣvānumi sārvire dhāḍa'')
* Classical Chlouvānem (''chlǣvānumi lallapårṣire dhāḍa'')
* Post-Classical (''chlǣvānumi paṣlallapårṣire dhāḍa'') and Modern (''~ amyærlairī ~'') Chlouvānem.


With time, the spiritual ancestors of Chlouvānem eventually became more and more fixed at least on certain, basic characteristics (e.g. the use of Austronesian alignment, or some 90% of the phonemic inventory), but I was refining those languages more and more every version.<br/>
===Proto-Lahob===
Chlouvānem itself is the ninth radically restructured version of [[Laceyiam]]; I started creating it in late November 2016 as I found some parts of my conworld which were too unrealistic to work - and as such by changing the whole conworld I had to change the language. I took that opportunity to change some things in the grammar that, while I liked them and they worked well, I wanted to do in some different way — mainly this arises from my love of more complex inflection patterns. As such, compared to Laceyiam, Chlouvānem has much more influences from ''Sanskrit'' and ''Lithuanian'' (which always were, together with ''Persian'', my main influences anyway); other natlangs that influenced me a lot are ''Russian'', ''Adyghe'', ''Latvian'', ''Old Norse'', ''Old Church Slavonic'', ''Proto-Indo-European'', ''(Biblical) Hebrew'', ''Latin'', and ''Japanese'', while its actual in-world use is inspired by ''Arabic''. Still it is an a priori language and, despite having much in common with all of these (particularly with the IE ones), is also strikingly different (the Austronesian morphosyntactic alignment, morphological expression of evidentiality and more broadly the particular emphasis on moods probably being the most noticeable things... oh, and the duodecimal number system, obviously). Moreover, I tried to create a language divergent from general Western European IE languages while keeping many - not so apparent - similarities, and, most importantly, I always tried not to just copy features from natlangs, but adapt them in some way, so that the influence is crystal clear but the actual feature works in a somewhat different way. I don't know if I've always succeeded in doing this, but at least this was - and still is - one of my main guidelines.<br />
[[File:Lahob languages.png|thumb|The spread of [[Lahob languages]] in Márusúturon. The Chlouvānem-speaking area is in lilac and pink.]]
The morphology of Chlouvānem is very different from Laceyiam, though many words are still the same (like ''smrāṇa'' (spring), ''junai'' (foot), ''jāyim'' (girl), ''saṃhāram'' (boy)). The name of the people in the language itself used to have ''-ou-'' too, but then I changed historical phonology just enough that it caused that to become ''-ǣ-''. Still I kept ''-ou-'' in the English name as I had used it too much and for too long in order to change it so easily.
Chlouvānem and its daughter languages' nearest sibling languages are the other [[Lahob languages]], with a speaker count in the tens of thousands and spoken in the traditional villages of the indigenous peoples of a subpolar area in northwestern Márusúturon, straddling the Orcish Straits between 55º and 70ºN, nearly 10,000 km away from the attested Chlouvānem heartlands. The most recent common ancestor between Chlouvānem and these languages is known as Proto-Lahob (''ohūlisakhāni dhāḍa''), and was spoken approximately 4000 to 3500 years before the present. The location where Proto-Lahob speakers probably lived is, for sure, neither the Chlouvānem heartlands nor the current territories of other Lahob peoples; instead, there are three hypothetical areas where it could have been spoken:
# on the western coast of the Skyrdegan Inner Sea, roughly between 40º and 45ºN (in modern day Aqalyšary and Berkutave, perhaps reaching north into modern Morufalhay) – this hypothesis is usually given along with an earlier estimated date for the proto-language;
# in the southern Ulšan Mountains, in present-day Kŭyŭgwažtov (nowadays not quite accepted as the other two);
# on the western coast of the High Ivulit (in modern Leñ-ṱef), just opposite modern Qualdomailor.
No matter which of these was the "birthplace" of Lahob peoples, the modern groups that survived are those that had migrated from the original homeland, as the spread of various other groups in the following millennia - Uyrǧan, Berko-Tarastian, Samaidulic, and most notably the Kenengyry much later - displaced and eventually assimilated the remnant groups<ref>Each of these peoples displaced the previous ones, resulting in this area of Calémere having today a dominance of Kenengyry languages, but with many minority languages in between, or of different families at its borders; the Uyrǧan family, for instance, is today composed of two sub-families 5000 km apart.</ref>.


Chlouvānem is mainly thought for my conworld, but more than any other conlang of mine it is quite on the border between an art- and a heartlang.
Reconstructed vocabulary and the current state of the Lahob peoples of the Far North makes us reconstruct the Proto-Lahob society as a non-urban civilization, possibly with rudimental agriculture only, with the only reconstructable "agricultural" terms being a root for "to plant, (cultivate?)" – ''*tɬewkj-'' – and a word for a cereal, likely "wheat" or "rye", ''*kawŋədot'' (most languages reflect it as the word for "rye", but Chlouvānem and the southernmost Core Lahob ones reflect it as "wheat"). The semi-nomadic lifestyle was prevalent, but population growth eventually proved enough to lead some tribes to migrate. Unsurprisingly, the geographical terms are consistent with a temperate, semi-arid location as those hypothesized; names of plants, trees, and animals are mostly only reconstructible from the Core Lahob languages, and if Chlouvānem has kept some they have mostly been generalized or shifted to similar elements in the Ur-Chlouvānem's new homeland.


==Variants==
Notably, a few Proto-Lahob loanwords are found in Proto-Samaidulic and Proto-Fargulyn, which means they often have cognates in other major languages such as [[Skyrdagor]], [[Brono-Fathanic]], or [[Qualdomelic]]. The main Lahob ethnonym, *ɬakʰober ("group, tribe, villabe", Chl. ''chlågbhah'' "clan, tribe, (archaic: rural village, esp. if in areas poorly suited to agriculture)"), for example, is also found in Proto-Fargulyn as *laq'obɨr, and has reached modern Skyrdagor as ''lokjur'' "farmstead". These borrowings are often cited as a point towards placement of the Lahob homeland by the High Ivulit, as the homelands of both Proto-Samaidulic and Proto-Fargulyn are also hypothesized to be in the area (even if they are also contested).
Chlouvānem as spoken today is the standardized version of the literary language of the mid-5th millennium ''Lāmiejāya'' plain, the one in which most sacred texts of the Yunyalīlta are written. Since then, the language has been kept alive for more than 1500 years and counting in a diglossic state with many descendant and creole languages developing in the areas that gradually came under Chlouvānem control, and Classical Chlouvānem is in fact [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition#Chlouvānem ethnicity|a major defining factor of Chlouvānem ethnicity]], enabling the existence of a single cultural area spread across half a continent despite the individual areas each having their own vernaculars.


[[File:Lahob languages.png|thumb|Distribution of the [[Lahob languages]] in Evandor and Márusúturon. Areas speaking Chlouvānem languages are lilac.]]
===Ur-Chlouvānem===
''Pre-Chlouvānem'', ''Proto-Chlouvānem'', or ''Ur-Chlouvānem'' (''ochlǣvānumi dhāḍa'') is the term for the unattested stage of Chlouvānem in the millennium between the end of the common Proto-Lahob period and either the settlement in the Inland Jade Coast, in the lands ultimately drained by Lake Lūlunīkam, or the first attestation of the existence of the Chlouvānem people, in a [[Lällshag]] inscription dated around 3850~3900, approximately 200 years before the lifetime of the Chlamiṣvatrā and a bit less than half a millennium before the founding of the Inquisition.


===Pronunciations===
The trek of the Ur-Chlouvānem across Márusúturon was likely carried out by a series of tribes, some of whose likely settled in places along the route; the long route most likely passed through Tiṃhayāla Pass, between present-day Maišikota and Nālaṭhirūṇa, which is one of the most important passes of the whole continent, a relatively low crossing between the plains of Līnajaiṭa and, therefore, the Little Ivulit, and the upper reaches of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra, leading to the whole Great Chlouvānem Plain. Therefore, the long trek of the Ur-Chlouvānem was, except for this pass, mainly in flat territory, facilitating their migration.
It’s not easy to define “dialects” for Chlouvānem, due to this history: all true dialects of Chlouvānem eventually developed into distinct vernaculars, and today’s regional variations are as such defined as “pronunciations” of Chlouvānem, in some cases moderately divergent from the standard one. Chlouvānem sources refer to them as ''babhrāyāṃsai'' “land-sounds”, but they do not only vary in pronunciation. Each major geographic area of the [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|Inquisition]] has its own pronunciation; present-day standard Chlouvānem is based on the pronunciation in the city of Līlasuṃghāṇa around year 6350, but the local pronunciation has somewhat diverged, so that the city where the traditional pronunciation is closest to the standard is Galiākina, some 300 km further west.
Local pronunciations are typically divided in six major groups by geographic areas:
* Jade Coast, Rainforest, and Eastern Plain (''lūṇḍhyalēnei nanayi no naleidhoyi no''), including pronunciations of the eastern part of the Lāmiejāya plain, the Jade Coast, and its interior (the main Chlouvānem heartlands and the northern parts of the rainforest). Standard Chlouvānem is one of these.
* Western Plain and Sand Coast (''samvāldhoyi chleblēnei no''), including the whole western part of the Lāmiejāya plain and the Sand Coast in the central-western Inquisition.
* Far Eastern (''lallanaleiyutei''), including the Far Eastern part of the Inquisition (both mainland and insular); the dioceses of the so-called Near East are frequently considered a transitional zone between this and the Eastern Plain pronunciation group.
* Eastern (''naleiyutei''), in the Chlouvānem East (the former Toyubeshi area).
* Northeastern (''kehamnaleiyutei''), in the Northeast of the Inquisition; note that the most remote areas (the far northern taiga and the insular part), due to continuous and relatively recent immigration, have a pronunciation still closer to Standard Chlouvānem.
* Western (''samvālyutei''), in the Western dioceses and in the coasts of the desert. As these were formerly Dabuke areas, they use distinctly more Dabuke terms than all other speakers.


Areas that do not fit in any of these groupings are often recent colonizations (or “Chlouvānemizations”), like e.g. the northern coast on the Skyrdegan Inner Sea, that do not have a truly distinct pronunciation, being a mix of speakers from different areas and tending to be very close to Standard Chlouvānem.
Linguistically, Ur-Chlouvānem was very conservative, retaining most traits of Proto-Lahob morphology. However, it did develop some traits unique to Chlouvānem, not present in the Core Lahob languages:
* the loss of gender agreement, with gapped relative clauses replacing adjective+noun constructions;
* the cliticization of some verbal forms, leading to the development of most verbal modifiers, including the interior/exterior verb forms and evidentials;
* the topic-comment syntax.
Grammatically, ablaut became less pronounced, as the ablaut class of nouns and all ablauting verbal classes except for class 2 became mostly unproductive (with a few exceptions).<br/>
Phonetically, Ur-Chlouvānem retained most consonant phonemes of Proto-Lahob, losing one point of articulation for stops (the labiovelar) but gaining a new one (the retroflex). At least one phoneme, the glottal stop, was introduced through borrowings. Vowels saw more changes, with Proto-Lahob *a  *ā and *o *ō merging into /ä/, as well as peculiar developments for vowels, leading to the emergence of front rounded vowels in the Ur-Chlouvānem stage which, however, became unrounded well before the earliest attestations, like PLB ''*hōwrar'' "summer" → UrChl. *[høʏ̯ʀaχ] → Chl. ''heirah'' "year"; these are not to be confused with the attested front rounded vowels, which are a later development, in non-Standard, Classical-era dialects, such as Lūlunīkami ''fülde'', ''fǖldöy'' [ɸyɴ̆de] [ɸyːɴ̆døʏ̯] for standard ''ħulde'', ''ħildoe'' ("to play", "game") ← PLB ''*pʰɨʕəd-ke'', ''*pʰɨːʕədõ''.


===Vernaculars===
Lexically, Ur-Chlouvānem borrowed a lot of word roots from other, otherwise unattested languages: while the grammar of Chlouvānem is unmistakeably Lahob, a lot of its vocabulary isn't, and a large number of its roots (about 25%) has not been traced to either Proto-Lahob or to any known language of the new homeland. Note, though, that this does not mean they are certainly from other languages: they may be Lahob words lacking a cognate in any surviving Core Lahob language, or borrowings from a minor language of their migration destination not attested otherwise. Such vocabulary is found in every semantic field, including animals (''yoñšam'' "donkey"; ''snīdbhas'' "bull") and general natural things or cultural products (''brāṣṭhis'' "stream", ''gurḍhyam'' "flute"), but often clearly related to an agrarian society (''nakthum'' "storage", ''vaiṣrya'' "plough").
Local vernaculars of the Inquisition (''babhrāmaivai'', sg. ''babhrāmaiva'', literally “land word(s)”) are, linguistically, the daughter languages of Classical Chlouvānem. They are the result of normal language evolution with, in most areas, enormous influences by substrata.


Actually, only a bit more than half of the Inquisition has a vernacular that is a true daughter language - most areas conquered in the last 600 years, thus since the late 6th millennium, speak a creole language, where lexicon is almost completely Chlouvānem but grammar still shows huge semplifications and analytic constructions and some traits odd for Chlouvānem and those languages that developed in the heartlands. Most of the Eastern languages, however, are thought to have origined as creoles.
===Archaic and Classical Chlouvānem===
Archaic Chlouvānem (''chlǣvānumi sārvire dhāḍa'') is the language that emerged from the métis people that formed in the inland Jade Coast in the second half of the 4th millennium through intermixing of the Ur-Chlouvānem with local peoples. In the space of a few centuries, various peoples with different origins came to form a rather culturally homogeneous mass that was further united by the birth of a common religion – the [[Verse:Yunyalīlta|Yunyalīlta]] – among them, and by the founding of their first states under the impulse of the Inquisition. Most anthropologists of Calémere are concord in considering that the Lahob heritage of the Chlouvānem is mostly limited to their language, with nearly every other aspect of their culture, and most of their genetic stock, being markedly different from the surviving Core Lahob peoples.


The main division for local vernaculars - or Chlouvānem languages - is the one in groups, as few of them are standardized and large areas are dialect continua where it is extremely difficult to determine which dialects belong to a particular language and which ones do not. Furthermore, most people speak of their vernacular as “the word of [village name]”, and always refer to them as local variants of the same Chlouvānem language, without major distinctions from the national language which is always Classical Chlouvānem<ref>It's just as if speakers of Parisian French, Florentine Tuscan and Carioca Brazilian would still say they spoke dialects of (Classical) Latin.</ref>. Individual “languages” are thus simply defined starting from the diocese they’re spoken in, so for example the Nanašīrami language includes all dialects spoken in the diocese of Nanašīrama, despite those spoken in the eastern parts of the diocese being closer to those spoken in Takaiyanta than to the Nanašīrami dialect of Līlasuṃghāṇa - which has, however, lots of common points with the Lanamilūki Valley dialects of Talæñoya to the south.<br/> Note that the word ''maiva'', in Chlouvānem, only identifies a language spoken in a certain area which is typically considered to belong to a wider language community, independent of its origin. It does not have any pejorative meaning, unlike examples like e.g. ''lingua'' vs. ''dialetto'' in Italian.
Nearly all of the Chlouvānem vocabulary for their homeland is non-Lahob in origin, with, however, some notable Lahob words in what concerns religion: ''yunya'', for example, is an inherited Lahob word (PLB ''*šjunjo''), and the compound ''lillamurḍhyā'' is entirely made of Lahob roots (the compound itself was made in Lūlunīkami, not in the dialect that became Standard Chlouvānem).


The main divisions are:
==Variants==
* Eastern Plain/Jade Coast (''naleidhoyi lūṇḍhyalēnei no maivai'') — spoken in most of the Lāmiejāya Plain, in the Jade Coast and its interior, and the northern part of the southern rainforest;
Chlouvānem as spoken today is the standardized version of the literary language spoken in the mid-5th millennium along the lower course of the ''Nīmbaṇḍhāra'' river, the one in which most sacred texts of the Yunyalīlta are written. Since then, the language has been kept alive for more than 1500 years and counting in a diglossic state with many descendant and creole languages developing in the areas that gradually came under Chlouvānem control, and Classical Chlouvānem is in fact [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition#Chlouvānem ethnicity|a major defining factor of Chlouvānem ethnicity]], enabling the existence of a single cultural area spread across half a continent despite the individual areas each having their own vernaculars.
* Western Plain (''samvāldhoyi maivai'') — spoken in the westermost parts of the Lāmiejāya Plain;
* Jungle Language (''nanaimaiva'') — spoken throughout the southern rainforest, as well as most of Vāstarilēnia diocese;
* Northern Plain (''kehaṃdhoyi maivai'') — spoken in the northern part of the Lāmiejāya Plain (the upper basin of the Lāmberah river);
* Near Eastern (''mūtiānaleiyutei maivai'') — spoken in the Near East, or the parts of the Central East west of the Kārmādhona mountains;
* Far Eastern (''lallanaleiyutei maivai'') — spoken in the Far East (east of the Kārmādhona mountains) and in the eastern islands;
* Kaṃsatsāni (''kaṃsatsāni maivai'') — spoken in the historic region of Kaṃsatsāna (the Eastern Tribunal);
* Sand Coast (''chleblēnei maivai'') — spoken on the Sand Coast (west of the Lāmiejāya plain), from Yūgarthāma and Nanyådajātia to the northernmost part of Vāstarilēnia to the south.


The other languages were all born as creoles:
The Chlouvānem-speaking world may be described, [[w:World_Englishes#Kachru's_Three_Circles_of_English|much like English]], as being divided into three circles with different speaker profiles:
* Hæligreiši-Mbusakitvi (''hæligreiši-mbusakitvi maivai'') — taking their name from the two extremes, Hæligreišijātia in the east (on the eastern coast of the Bay of Salt) and Mbusakitva diocese in the west. They share many traits with the Western creoles further west, but unlike them, which were Chlouvānem-Dabuke creoles, the Hæligreiši-Mbusakitvi arose from contact between Chlouvānem and speakers of Raina languages (ultimately related to Dabuke ones) that had colonized those coasts from Védren before them.
* The "inner circle" is the area where Chlouvānem is the only official language for intranational communication, acting as the high variant in a state of diglossia with local vernaculars. Therefore, this circle includes the whole Chlouvānem Inquisition, most of its external territories, plus a few areas with Chlouvānem majority elsewhere (parts of Qualdomailor and Kŭyŭgwažtow);
* Northeastern (''kehamnaleyutei maivai'') — various creoles spoken in the Northeast (north of the Padeikoli Gulf), excluding Kēhamijāṇa and Hokujaši and Aratāram islands, as well as the Hålvaren Plateau;
* The "outer circle" includes the whole of the former Kaiṣamā (except for Taruebus and Gorjan), where Chlouvānem had been a semi-official language during the Union and, while it is not the primary language of the majority, its use in society is too high to be described simply as a foreign language - for example, Chlouvānem is the main language (or at least has a usage comparable to the main official language(s)) in higher education and particular fields of politics.
* Hålvareni (''hålvareni maivai'') — various creoles spoken in the dioceses of the Hålvaren Plateau (Mārmalūdven, Kayūkānaki, Doyukitama, and Teliegāša);
* The "expanding circle" is the area where Chlouvānem is not official but a reasonable amount of people uses it, with adequate proficiency, for international communication. This circle includes Greater Skyrdagor and Taruebus (when the proficiency is higher and closer to outer circle areas, to the extent that Chlouvānem language teachers and professors in the West are more often Skyrdegan than actual Chlouvānem), as well as most countries aligned with the Eastern bloc in Védren and far western Márusúturon.
* Western (''samvālyutei maivai'') — creoles spoken in the West (dioceses of Ndejukisa, Makhadarīṣa, Majeatumba, Katumbunda, and Mbekalunda), with extensive Dabuke influence;
* Eirappåcīyi (''eirappåcīyi maiva'') — creole spoken in the diocese of Eirappåcīh, a series of high-altitude plateaus nestled between the mountains in the northwestern Inquisition (part of it is geographically the uppermost part of the Lāmiejāya valley). The diocese's name comes from Qualdomelic ''ejrăc pọțir'' "Crown of Snow", and in the area there are a few other Western Samaidulic languages, albeit spoken by only a few thousands of people;
* Kāyīchi (''kāyīchi maiva'') — creole spoken in the insular diocese of Kāyīchah, off the coasts of Védren. It is the least Chlouvānemized creole, as it has substantial influences both from indigenous Vedrenic languages and Cerian, due to the history of these islands, settled in part by Chlouvānem people (by the then-independent Lūlunimarti Republic) and in part by Cerians with Vedrenic slaves, and long fought between the two countries due to their strategic importance.


Many other areas, most notably the former Skyrdegan and Bronic lands (dioceses of Hivampaida and Maichlahåryan), the far Northeast (the Hokujaši and Aratāram islands and Kēhamijāṇa), and the Northwest do not have a local vernacular, due to Chlouvānem presence there being recent (especially for Hivampaida and Maichlahåryan) and those areas being either previously almost uninhabited (the far Northeast and the Northwestern deserts) or with lots of different ethnicities (the coastal Northwest). The main vernaculars that are actually languages that do not have Chlouvānem origin (and are commonly referred to as ''dældā'' instead of ''maiva'') are:
===Pronunciations===
* Basaumi (''Bazá''), the most spoken, in the ethnic diocese of Tūnambasā, the westernmost on the mainland, where it is the native language of 78% of all inhabitants. Also the official language in the neighboring country of Ênêk-Bazá;
All true dialects of Chlouvānem eventually developed into distinct vernaculars, so that the diatopical variation of contemporary Chlouvānem are referred to as '''pronunciations''' (in Chl. ''babhrāyāṃsai'', sg. ''babhrāyāṃsa'', literally "land-sound"), a somewhat misleading term given that they do not just vary in pronunciation (with prosody being often the main point of divergence), but even more in vocabulary.<br/>
* Hūnakañumi (''Huwən-aganь-sisaat''), in the mountainous areas of Hūnakañjātia ethnic diocese in the Near East (note that most of the diocese, including the city of Līlekhaitē, 10th largest in the Inquisition, mostly speaks the local Near Eastern language, derived from Chlouvānem)
Pronunciations are grouped in broad areas which more or less overlap with the cultural macroregions (the administrative Tribunals) and with the distribution of the subgroupings of the Chlouvānem ethnicity. Local pronunciations are generally not tied to a specific ethnic group, only to the area they're spoken in, and they show significantly less variation than vernaculars.
* Tumidumi (''sokaw y ee-tumið''), in the ethnic diocese of Tumidajātia in the Near East - mostly spoken in the hills and mountains;
* Kotayumi (''kotaii šɔt''), in a few mountain villages in Kotaijātia ethnic diocese, Southern Far East;
* Tendukumi (''tənduk sisod'') in Tendukijātia ethnic diocese, Southern Far East — by percentage of people in its native area, it is the third most spoken (after Bazá and Tapirumi), being the native language of 29% of people there, though it is the least populated diocese in that area;
* Niyobumi (''niyyube sesath'') in the mountains and hills of the ethnic diocese of Niyobajātia, Southern Far East.
* Tanomali (''nzɛk pɔb'') on Tanomaliē island, the southernmost of the Eastern Islands;
* Nalakhojumi (''üj nolomħoj'') in the western half of the ethnic diocese of Nalakhoñjātia, Eastern tribunal. Notably, the main urban area, the city of Lānita, is almost entirely Chlouvānem-speaking;
* Halyaniumi (''üš hælyaney'') in most of the ethnic diocese of Halyanijātia, Northern tribunal. Note that the southermost part of this diocese has never been Halyaniumi-speaking;
* Kūdavumi (''kowdao hüüj'') in the ethnic diocese of Kūdavīma, Northern tribunal;
* Cathinumi (''čathinowtawkow'') in the ethnic diocese of Seikamvēyeh, Northern tribunal - also the official language in the bordering country of Nēčathiwēyē as well as in Čiwēynac;
* Daheliumi (''dæhæng pop'') in the ethnic diocese of Dahelijātia, Northern tribunal, mostly in rural villages. It is only the third most spoken language in the diocese, after Chlouvānem and [[Skyrdagor]];
* Kūliamumi (''kūlyam ɣozár'') in the ethnic diocese of Kūliambārih, Near West;
* Tapirumi (''tafhirengguk'') in the northern part of the diocese of Tapirjātia, Northwest. It is especially common in the northern part, in and around the city of Imēla and by the Maëbian border (note that Tapirumi and the Maëb language are mutually intelligible), but almost nonexistant in the southern part, including the capital, Tohailena;
It should be noted, however, that all of these languages except for Tanomali are spoken in ethnic dioceses and are in official use there, with a number of L2 speakers far greater than natives due to diocese-wide teaching of them during most school years in all but a few schools.


Note that this list does not include more limited minority languages, such as the use of [[Evandorian languages]] in Northwestern dioceses, like [[Cerian]] in Ārūpalkvabī, [[Nordulaki]] in Yultijātia and [[Auralian]] in Tapirjātia - all of them mostly used by urban older speakers only. There are also completely foreign languages spoken by immigrants; studies show that ''Hālʾọgbi'', a Spimbrionic language from the continent of Ogúviutón, has nearly a million speakers (L1 or other L2 Ogúviutónians) in the Inquisition.
Chlouvānem pronunciations are generally grouped as follows:
* Jade Coastal, Eastern Plain, and Southern (''lūṇḍhyalimvi naleidhoyi no nyuvyuñci no''), broadly corresponding to the tribunals of the Jade Coast, Southern Plain, the South, the Eastern Plain, the Līrah River Hills, and parts of the Northern and Central Plain. Standard Chlouvānem is based on one of these pronunciations;
* Western Plain (''samvāldhoyi''), corresponding to the tribunals of the Western Plain, parts of the Northern and Central Plain, and the Inland Southwest;
* Southeastern (''talehiyuñci''), used in the tribunals of the Near East, the Southern Far East, and the Southeastern Islands;
* Eastern (''nalejñuñci''), used in the Northern Far East and in the East;
* Northeastern and Hålvarami (''helaṣyuñci hålvarami no''), used in the Northeast and in the Hålvaram plateau;
* Sand Coastal (''chleblimvi''), including the pronunciations of the Coastal Southwest, small parts of the Inland Southwest, and the eastern part of the Western tribunal;
* Western (''samvālyuñci''), in most of the West and in the Far West (the eastern part of the historical Dabuke areas).


===Historical dialects===
The remaining areas are those of more recent Chlouvānemization, and aside from not having a distinct subgroup of the Chlouvānem ethnicity, they also don't have distinct pronunciation features, being closer to Standard Chlouvānem. Many of these areas also don't have a general Chlouvānem-derived vernacular and so in urban areas the standard language is used even in the most informal contexts. These areas include Hokujaši and Aratāram island as well as Kēhamijāṇa in the Northeast; the Hivampaida and Måhañjaiṭa in the North; virtually all of the Northwest; and the two island groups not part of any tribunal: the Kāmilbausa islands due south of the Western tribunal and the Kāyīchah islands off the eastern coast of Védren.<br/>Chlouvānem as spoken in countries of the former Kaiṣamā (and especially Kŭyŭgwažtow) is sometimes included in this category, although the prominence of contact with the local official languages has rendered those variants quite distinct in vocabulary and sometimes in the phonemic inventory too.


==Phonology - Yāṃstarlā==
===Vernaculars===
Chlouvānem is phonologically very conservative from Proto-Lahob as it has not had a lot of changes - however, those few it had have had the effect of strongly raising the total number of phonemes, developing a few distinctions that, while not rare themselves, are rarely found all together in the same language. For example, the combination of the distinction between /Cʲ/ and /Cj/ and between /CV CʱV CV̤ CʱV̤/ means that the following sequences are all potentially contrastive: /da dʱa da̤ dʱa̤ dʲa dʲʱa dʲa̤ dʲʱa̤ dja dʱja dja̤ dʱja̤/.
Most local vernaculars of the Inquisition (''babhrāmaivai'', sg. ''babhrāmaiva'', literally “land word(s)”) are, linguistically, the daughter languages of Classical Chlouvānem. They are the result of normal language evolution with, in most areas, enormous influences by substrata.


===Consonants - Hīmbeyāṃsai===
Actually, only a bit more than half of the Inquisition has a vernacular that is a true daughter language - most areas conquered in the last 600 years, thus since the late 6th millennium, speak a creole language, with an almost completely Chlouvānem lexicon and a grammar which shows simplifications and Chlouvānem-odd traits uncommon to languages of the heartlands. It is however widely agreed on that the Eastern Chlouvānem languages, despite being considered true daughter languages, have a large and long creolization history.
Chlouvānem has a large consonant inventory, with 48 different consonants, divided into seven categories: labials, dentals, palatalized dentals, retroflexes, palatals, velars, and laryngeals. The Chlouvānem term for "consonant" is ''hīmbeyāṃsa'', a compound of ''hīmba'' (colour) and ''yāṃsa'' (sound). The following table organizes consonants by their behaviour - thus, for example, the treatment of the phonetic affricates /c͡ɕ(ʰ) ɟ͡ʑ(ʱ)/ as stops.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |
|-
! rowspan=2 colspan=2 | → PoA <br/> ↓ Manner !! rowspan=2 | Labials<br/><small>''hærṣoke''</small> !! colspan=2 | Dentals<br/><small>''aṣṭrūke''</small> !! rowspan=2 | Retroflexes<br/><small>''āḍhyāsūke''</small> !! rowspan=2 | Palatals<br/><small>''dehāṃlūdvyūke''</small> !! rowspan=2 | Velars<br/><small>''bhyodilūdvyūke''</small> !! rowspan=2 | Laryngeals<br/><small>''diṇḍhūke''</small>
|-
! <small>Plain<br/>''pūdre''</small> !! <small>Palatalized<sup><small>1, 2</small></sup><br/>''pindehāṃlūdvyūke''</small>
|-
! colspan=2 | Nasals<sup><small>3</small></sup><br/><small>''mantaiyai''</small>
| '''''m''''' m<br/>'''''mь''''' mʲ || '''''n''''' n<sup><small>4</small></sup> || '''''nь''''' nʲ || '''''ṇ''''' ɳ || '''''ñ''''' ɲ || ''l'' [ŋ~ɴ]<sup><small>5</small></sup> || '''''ṃ''''' ɴ<sup><small>6</small></sup>
|-
! rowspan=2 | Stops<br/><small>''aspṛšē''</small> !! <small>Unvoiced<br/>''uṣmąlkai''</small>
| '''''p''''' p<br/>'''''ph''''' pʰ || '''''t''''' t̪<br/>'''''th''''' t̪ʰ || '''''tь''''' tʲ<br/>'''''thь''''' tʲʰ || '''''ṭ''''' ʈ<br/>'''''ṭh''''' ʈʰ || '''''c''''' c͡ɕ<br/>'''''ch''''' c͡ɕʰ || '''''k''''' k~q<br/>'''''kh''''' kʰ~qʰ || '''''ɂ''''' ʔ<br/>'''''ġ''''' ʡ<sup><small>7</small></sup>
|-
! <small>Voiced<br/>''lāmąlkai''</small>
| '''''b''''' b<br/>'''''bh''''' bʱ || '''''d''''' d̪<br/>'''''dh''''' d̪ʱ || '''''dь''''' dʲ<br/>'''''dhь''''' dʲʱ || '''''ḍ''''' ɖ<br/>'''''ḍh''''' ɖʱ || '''''j''''' ɟ͡ʑ<br/>'''''jh''''' ɟ͡ʑʱ || '''''g''''' ɡ~ɢ<br/>'''''gh''''' ɡʱ~ɢʱ ||
|-
! colspan=2 | Fricatives<br/><small>''kāvubuñjñē''</small>
| || '''''s''''' s || '''''sь''''' sʲ || '''''ṣ''''' ʂ || '''''š''''' ɕ ||  || '''''h''''' ɦ<br/>'''''ħ''''' ħ<sup><small>8</small></sup>
|-
! colspan=2 | Approximants<br/><small>''taberdīyai''</small>
| '''''v''''' ʋ<sup><small>9</small></sup> || ||  || || '''''y''''' j ||  || '''''r''''' ʀ<sup><small>10</small></sup><br/>'''''rь''''' ʀʲ<br/>'''''l''''' ɴ̆<small><sup>11</sup></small><br/>'''''lь''''' ɴ̆ʲ
|}
Table notes:
# The orthographic palatalization marker is transliterated as '''i''' before vowels and '''ь''' before consonants or at the end of a word.
# All consonants which have a non-palatalized/palatalized phonemic pair are always palatalized before /i iː i̤/, thus the contrast is neutralized there.
# All nasals except /ɴ/ may be said to be a single phoneme /N/ when preceding another consonant (except /j/), as they assimilate to the following consonant's PoA.
# Realized as [ŋ] word-finally after high monophthongs (/i iː i̤ u uː ṳ/) and as vowel nasalization after the others, including diphthongs.
# The realization of the sequences orthographically marked as '''lk lkh lg lgh''' varies regionally and, therefore, the '''l'''-phoneme can in these contexts be realized as either [ŋ] or [ɴ]. In most local Chlouvānem pronunciations, these sequences are [ŋk(ʰ) ŋɡ(ʱ)] but, in areas including notably Līlasuṃghāṇa, most of the southern Jade Coast, and the South, they are [ɴq(ʰ) ɴɢ(ʱ)].
# /ɴ/ contrasts with other nasals only before non-labial voiced stops, where it is realized as nasalization of the preceding vowel.
# Traditionally treated as the aspirate version of /Ɂ/, despite varying behaviour (e.g. in reduplication)
# /ɦ/ and /ħ/ do not contrast word-finally, and word-final '''h''' represents /ħ/. In the Chlouvānem script, word-final '''h''' is actually a different glyph, even if considered a variant of normal, /ɦ/-representing, '''h'''.
# /ʋ/ may be realized as [f] before voiceless consonants; this is <small>NOT</small> reflected orthographically.
# /ʀ/ is often realized as [ʁ] after consonants, especially after coronal stops, and as [ɽ] or [ɻ] adjacent to retroflex consonants. In coda it is usually vocalized to [ɐ̯], except when before a retroflex consonant.
# /ɴ̆/ is the conventional representation for this sound, which may also be transcribed as a prenasalized uvular [ᴺɢ̆] or epiglottal [ᴺʡ̆] flap.


Another classification of consonants is by active point of articulation. There are five such points for Chlouvānem consonants:
The main division for local vernaculars - or Chlouvānem languages - is the one in groups, as few of them are standardized and large areas are dialect continua where it is extremely difficult to determine which dialects belong to a particular language and which ones do not. Furthermore, most people speak of their vernacular as “the word of [village name]”, and always refer to them as local variants of the same Chlouvānem language, without major distinctions from the national language which is always Classical Chlouvānem<ref>It's just as if speakers of Parisian French, Florentine Tuscan and Carioca Brazilian would still say they spoke dialects of (Classical) Latin.</ref>. Individual “languages” are thus simply defined starting from the diocese they’re spoken in, so for example the Nanašīrami language includes all dialects spoken in the diocese of Nanašīrama, despite those spoken in the eastern parts of the diocese being closer to those spoken in Takajñanta than to the Nanašīrami dialect of [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition/Līlasuṃghāṇa|Līlasuṃghāṇa]] - which has, however, lots of common points with the Lanamilūki Valley dialects of Talæñoya to the south.<br/> Note that the word ''maiva'', in Chlouvānem, only identifies a language spoken in a certain area which is typically considered to belong to a wider language community, independent of its origin. It does not have any pejorative meaning of stigmatization, unlike examples like e.g. ''lingua'' vs. ''dialetto'' in Italian.
* ''diṇḍha'' "larynx, throat" — all laryngeal consonants
* ''jeltālǣca'' "tongue root" — all velar consonants
* ''jeltārašan'' "tongue surface" — all palatal and palatalized consonants plus /s/ and /n/, i.e. laminal consonants
* ''jeltāthiḍa'' "tongue tip" — dental stops and retroflex consonants, i.e. apical consonants (retroflex ones are actually subapical)
* ''šuhærṣūlaukas'' "lower lip" — all labial consonants


Some allophonic variations not proper of standard Chlouvānem but widespread in many areas:<br/>
Main local vernaculars by macroarea (Tribunal):
/j/ and /ʋ/ are often deleted before /i iː i̤/ or /u uː ṳ/ respectively, e.g. in ''yinām'' /jinaːm/ [inaːm] (protection, refuge) or ''vurāṇa'' /ʋuʀaːɳa/ [uʀaːɳa] (a kind of small-sized reptile)<ref>Many pronunciations, including the common Līlasuṃghāṇi and Galiākñi ones, keep /ʋ/ word-initially in words like ''vurāṇa''. It does however fall in other widespread pronunciations like in most of the Far East, including Cami, as well as parts of the Jade Coast like in Līlta and Ilēnimarta.</ref>. This also leads to phonetic hiatuses, like in ''Kāyīchah'' /kaːjiːc͡ɕʰaħ/ [kaːiːc͡ɕʰaħ] (an insular diocese between Mārṣūtram and Vedren) or the common given name ''Martayinām'' /maʀtajinaːm/ [maɐ̯ta.inaːm].<br/>
* '''Jade Coast, Eastern Plain, Northern Plain, parts of the Central Plain'''
Pronouncing /ʀʲ/ as [ʐ] or [ʑ] is also a fairly common thing across the East and Northeast; it is nearly universal among young people and in certain areas (most notably the area of the Padeikoli Gulf, including most of the diocese of Padeikola, coastal areas of Lågnemba, and the northern third of Hachitama) it is the norm, with [ʀʲ] being found only as a gerontolectal feature. The palatalized stops are also often pronounced with a noticeable sibilant release, especially in the eastern part of the Jade Coast among younger speakers.
** Eastern Plain and Jade Coast dialect continuum (''naleidhoyi lūṇḍhyalimvi no maivai'') — spoken in the eastern half of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, the Jade Coast (littoral and interior), and the northern part of the rainforest. If Chlouvānem itself is not counted as being spoken natively, then this dialect continuum constitutes Calémere's most spoken language by number of native speakers.
** Northern Plain dialect continuum (''kehaṃdhoyi maivai'') — spoken in the northern Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, in the foothills of the Camipāṇḍa mountains. It has traits of both the Eastern Plain and the Western Plain continua, but also has its odd features common throughout the area but lacking in the other two groups. However, due to internal migration, the linguistic border is rather odd, especially the one with the Eastern Plain continuum: the contemporary vernacular of Mamaikala, the largest city of the Northern Plain, as well as nearby areas on the mid-Lāmberah river, is undoubtedly Eastern, despite being well into Northern-speaking territory.<br/>The areas from the Namaikaheh eastwards beyond the Līrah river were, in South Márusúturonian Antiquity, the heartlands of civilizations speaking Dayleshi languages: Ancient Namaikahi, Nenesic, and Pyotic. While these were written administrative languages at the time, and kept being used alongside Chlouvānem in the first centuries of Chlouvānemization, they left no descendants. While the amount of Dayleshi loanwords into Classical Chlouvānem is negligible, Dayleshi substrata have been identified for nearly the entirety of the Northern Plain dialect continuum<ref>The toponym ''Namaikaheh'' for the Northern Plain (most of the Lāmberah valley) is itself borrowed from the Lällshag adaptation of the original Ancient Namaikahi word.</ref>.
* '''Western Plain, Inland Southwest, parts of the Central Plain'''
** Western Plain dialect continuum (''samvāldhoyi maivai'') — spoken in the western half of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, including the majority of the Inland Southwest.
** Southwestern Plain dialect continuum (''māħimdhoyi maivai'') — spoken in the southwestern part of the plain and small parts of the Inland Southwest. Unlike other Chlouvānem-origin dialect continua, these are the daughter languages not of Chlouvānem (indigenous - as in the Jade Coast - or introduced), but of the closely related Western Ancient Chlouvānem.
* '''South and Coastal Southwest'''
** Jungle language (''nanaimaiva'') — term for the Chlouvānem daughter language spoken across most of the South, including nearby islands. Due to the historical importance of Hālyanēṃṣah and Lūlunimarta in the Chlouvānem Age of Discovery, the ''nanaimaiva'' is sometimes considered one of the most prestigious vernaculars and, almost uniquely for a Chlouvānem vernacular, it has contributed quite a few words to foreign languages. A number of dialects derived from Lūlunimarti known by the name of ''Kaikhūñi'' are spoken in various linguistic islands on the coast of the Far East, in historic trading posts of the Lūlunimarti Republic.
** Many inland villages in the rainforest have their own local language, often not related to Chlouvānem. Large parts of the area are therefore trilingual, with the local language being spoken alongside Classical Chlouvānem and a local ''nanaimaiva'' dialect - often described as being "Hālyanēṃṣah-type", "Kælšamīṇṭa-type", or "Lūlunimarta-type" from its similarity to the three main dialects.
** Sand Coast dialect continuum (''chleblimvi maivai'') — spoken across the Sand Coast, i.e. the Coastal Southwest tribunal. The dialects of Vāstarilīmva, at the southwesternmost tip of the main subcontinental body, have mixed Sand Coastal and ''nanaimaiva'' traits.
* '''Near East'''
** Near Eastern dialect continuum (''mūtyānalejñutei maivai'') — a dialect continuum spoken in the Near East, the area roughly between Āgrajaiṭa and Yambrajaiṭa in the west and the Cāllikāneh mountains in the east.
** Rǣrumi (''ræ:æron u xæræž''; Chl.: ''rǣrumi dhāḍa'') — the Fargulyn language (distantly related to [[Skyrdagor]]) of the historically nomadic Rǣrai, which were settled in Kaiṣamā times in a hilly area between the Near East and the Northern Far East, nowadays the semi-ethnic diocese of Rǣrajāṇai.
** Kanoë-Pulin languages (''kanoyēpulin ga dhāḍai'') — a language family mostly spoken in the Kahaludāh mountains and hills in Yarañšūṇa, Tumidajaiṭa, and parts of Kotaijaiṭa and Naitontā. Tumidumi (''sokaw y eetumið''; Chl. ''tumidumi dhāḍa''), spoken by the Tumidai people of the ethnic diocese of Tumidajaiṭa, is by far the most spoken.
** Kotayumi (''kotaii šot''; Chl. ''kotayumi dhāḍa'') — a Yalikamian language (likely distantly related to the Kanoë-Pulin family) spoken by the Kotayai, indigenous people of the ethnic diocese of Kotaijaiṭa.
** Kitaldian languages (''kitaludumi dhāḍai'') – historically spoken in southern Pēmbajaiṭa, in the Rǣrajāṇai, and in most of western and northern Lakṝṣyāṇa; this remains their present-day distribution, but mostly in rural and mountainous areas.
* '''Southern Far East and Southeastern islands'''
** Katamadelī (''katamadelī maivai'') — dialect continuum of Chlouvānem daughter languages spoken on the western coast of the Far East and its interior, from far southern Pēmbajaiṭa up to the southeasternmost tip near Ehaliħombu. ''Katamadelē'' is a traditional, pre-Chlouvānem name for today's Lakṝṣyāṇa diocese, later extended to the whole area.
** Naleilimvi (''naleilimvi maivai'') — the dialect continuum of Chlouvānem daughter languages spoken - as the name says - on the eastern coast (''naleilimva'') of the Far East, from Torašitā in the north to Daihāgaiya in the south.
** Hūnakañumi (''huwănaganь sisāt''; Chl. ''hūnakañumi dhāḍa'') — the Yalikamian language of the Hūnakañai, the indigenous people of the ethnic diocese of Hūnakañjaiṭa; as with many Near- and Far Eastern languages, it belongs to the Yalikamian languages. It is however spoken only in sparsely populated hilly areas, and the diocese is predominantly Chlouvānem, including the macroregional metropolis and tenth-largest city of the Inquisition, Līlekhaitē.
** Tendukumi (''tănduk sisod''; Chl. ''tendukumi dhāḍa'') — a Yalikamian language spoken by the Tendukai people of the ethnic diocese of Tendukijaiṭa. By percentage of speakers in its native area, it is one of the most spoken languages among officially recognized ones in ethnic diocese, with about 41% of people in Tendukijaiṭa speaking it. The diocese, however, is the least populated in the tribunal.
** Niyobumi (''niyyube sesaϑ''; Chl. ''niyobumi dhāḍa'') — a Yalikamian language spoken in the hilly areas of Niyobajaiṭa ethnic diocese.
** other Yalikamian languages (''yalikamyumi dhāḍai'') – thirteen indigenous languages in Yamyenai as well as Kondabumi, which is however often considered a transitional dialect continuum between Hūnakañumi and Tendukumi.
** Kaldaic languages (''kaldani dhāḍai'') – before Chlouvānemization, the main language family spoken on the littoral from central-eastern Lakṝṣyāṇa to Daihāgajña; in most of Hūnakañjaiṭa it was first replaced by Hūnakañumi, whose speakers came from inland. Today a few of these languages remain, in non-contiguous areas, including far eastern Lakṝṣyāṇa and the southeastern Rǣrajāṇai, eastern Hūnakañjaiṭa, the Ṭilva mountains of Yayadalga, as well as the insular part of that diocese, and insular and coastal western Daihāgajña.
** Maty languages (''matū ga dhāḍai'') – spoken in insular Lakṝṣyāṇa and Hūnakañjaiṭa, with outliers in the Korabi islands and the northern coast of Kumilanai; these areas were already its pre-Chlouvānem distribution.
** Toiban languages (''tåyumbumi dhāḍai'') – historically spoken in Āturiyāmba, Jaṣmoeraus, inland Yayadalga, and northern Daihāgajña; today consisting of seven languages, the most spoken of whose is Kaɂapumi (''kaɂapumi dhāḍa''), spoken in central Jaṣmoeraus.
** Ninat-Yowgi languages (''ninatuyovugi ga dhāḍai'') – historically spoken in Ājvajaiṭa, coastal Niyobajaiṭa, and central and southern Torašitā; was already being displaced from the latter area before Chlouvānemization by Toyubeshian speakers; today, they mostly remain in rural central and western Ājvajaiṭa.
** Kumilanāyi (''kumilanāyi maiva'') — a Chlouvānem language spoken on Kumilanai and neighboring islands.
** Tātanībāmi (''etek tatănibåŋ''; Chl. ''tātanībāmi dhāḍa'') — the main language spoken on the island of Tātanībāma, in most of the other islands in the Haichā group, and on Tahīɂa. Most languages of the Leyunakā islands - commonly known as Northern Leyunakī and Southern Leyunakī - are also related to Tātanībāmi, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility.
** Tandameipi (''nzɛk pɔb''; Chl.: ''tandameipi dhāḍa'') — the indigenous language of Tandameipa island, the southernmost of the Southeastern archipelago. It belongs to the Litoic branches of Outward Melau, itself a sub-branch of the Nduagaz languages mostly spoken in Queáten; the Nduagaz homeland itself is in southern Púríton, which makes these Outward Melau branches in Márusúturon the only Calémerian languages that before the age of colonization were spread between the Old and the New World.
** Kaŋbo (''tūs kaŋbo''; Chl.: ''kalbo ga dhāḍa'') – a Heiga language (a branch of Outward Melau) spoken by three thousand people on Kaŋbotu island, the southernmost of the Leyunakā group.
** Nukahucī (''ăŋkahisi phū''; Chl.: ''nukahucī dhāḍa'' or ''nukahucē ga lanāyān dhāḍa'') – a Litoic language spoken in the remote Nukahucē atolls, which constitute the smallest and least populous diocese of the Inquisition.
* '''Northern Far East'''
** Kaitajaši (''kaitajaši maivai'') — a dialect continuum spoken in most of the Northern Far Eastern tribunal, the historically Toyubeshian lands.
** Modern Toyubeshian (''úat Vyānxāi'', ''úat Từaobát'', ''úat Xợothiāp'' or other names; Chl.: ''tayubešumi tāvyāṣusire dhāḍa'') — a koiné language for the dialects widely spoken in the inland areas of the former Toyubeshian lands. The common name is actually misleading, as it is not a daughter language of Toyubeshian (the former courtly language the loans in Chlouvānem and most local placenames came from), but of a related language<ref>The geographical name "Từaobát" [tˢɯː˥˩.aw˧.baθ˨˥], used by Modern Toyubeshian speakers from Hirakaṣṭē and eastern Moyukaitā for their land, is however a cognate of "Toyubeshi", from reconstructed Proto-Toyubeshian *təwjow bæsɨ. Both Toy. ''toyu'' and Modern Toy. ''từao'' mean "person"; Toy. ''beshi'' means "kingdom", but there is no Modern Toy. *bát, as it was most likely displaced by the Chlouvānem word (''púgakxalibána'' from ''pūgakṣarivāṇa'').</ref>: Classical Toyubeshian formed its own branch of the Tabian languages, while Modern Toyubeshian is part o the Tabi-Konashi branch. Due to the common koiné it is considered a single language; however, dialects on the eastern and western ends on the area are for the most part mutually unintelligible. Still, the varieties of Šimatoga and Hachitama constitute a sister branch, the Ki-Konashi languages, and are therefore often excluded. Counting together all of its varieties (and even when excluding Ki-Konashi), it is the most spoken non-Chlouvānem language of the Inquisition.
** languages of the Outlying Islands of Haikamotē: vernaculars of the insular part of otherwise Chlouvānem-dominated Haikamotē, they are the only living descendants of Classical Toyubeshian.
** Kowtic languages (''kotyumi dhāḍai'') – third branch of the Tabian languages, historically spoken in Naitontā and the northern coast of Torašitā. With the territory having been also settled and conquered by Toyubeshians, Kanoë-Pulin speakers in the far western part, and the Chlouvānem, today they include two mutually unintelligible languages spoken by about twenty thousand people in southern Naitontā.
* '''East and Northeast'''
** Hachitami-Šimatogi (''hachitami šimatogi no maivai'') — the Chlouvānem language spoken in most of the Eastern dioceses of Hachitama, Šimatoga, Utsunaya as well as northern Šiyotami and rural Padeikola. Often considered the northwesternmost extent of the Kaitajaši dialect continuum.
** Northeastern creoles (''helaṣyuñci maivai'') – a family of related Chlouvānem-based creoles spoken as vernaculars across most of the Eastern and Northeastern tribunals.
** Nalakhojumi (''üj nolomħoj''; Chl.: ''nalakhojumi dhāḍa'') — a Nahlan language spoken in most of the ethnic diocese of Nalakhoñjaiṭa by the Nalakhojai people. The city of Lānita, main urban area of the diocese, however, is almost entirely Chlouvānem-speaking.
** Halyañumi (''üš hælyaney''; Chl.: ''halyañumi dhāḍa'') — a Nahlan language spoken by the Halyanyai people in the ethnic diocese of Halyanijaiṭa. Usage is highest in the northern part of the diocese and lowest in the metropolitan area of Īdisa, the largest inland metropolitan area of the Northeast.
** Kūdavumi (''kowdao hüüj''; Chl.: ''kūdavumi dhāḍa'') — a Nahlan language spoken in the ethnic diocese of Kūdavīma by the Kūdavai people. While having only a small number of speakers, some words from it are common in the vernaculars of all of the Northeast, likely due to the historically nomadic nature of the Kūdavai.
** Čathísǫ̃́g (''tłę́mí Čathísǫ̃́gbud''; Chl.: ''chandisēkumi dhāḍa'') — main vernacular in the ethnic diocese of Jįveimintītas. It is one of only two official languages of ethnic dioceses - together with Bazá - which is official in other countries, in this case it is the national language in the bordering country of Gwęčathíbõth as well as in the latter's northern neighbour C′ı̨bedǫ́s.
* '''North'''
** Hålvarami (''hålvarami maivai'') — a family of Chlouvānem-based creoles spoken in the dioceses of the Hålvaram plateau (Mārmalūdven, Doyukitama, Taibigāša, Kayūkānaki).
** Dahelyumi (''dæhæng pop''; Chl.: ''dahelyumi dhāḍa'') — a language isolate (often subject to controversial classification theories) spoken by the Daheliai people of the ethnic diocese of Dahelijaiṭa, Northern tribunal, mostly in rural villages.
** Qorfur (''ekişen ti qorfur''; Chl. ''kharpuryumi dhāḍa'') — a Balmudic language, part of the Fargulyn family and hence distantly related to Skyrdagor (Karaskyr branch) and the non-Chlouvānem Hålvarumi languages, spoken by the Qorfur people of the diocese of Vaskuvānuh (''Wask-wanu'' in Qorfur). Most Qorfur live, however, in the bordering country of Qorfurkweo or as the extremely large Qorfur diaspora, very numerous across Greater Skyrdagor.
** Saṃhayoli (''saṃhayoli maiva'') — a Chlouvānem-based creole spoken in the diocese of Saṃhayolah and parts of Maichlahåryan.
** [[Brono-Fathanic|Moamatemposisy]] (''ta fewåwanie ta mwåmahimbušihy''; Chl.: ''måmatempuñiyi dhāḍa'') — a variant of Brono-Fathanic spoken as a vernacular in the northern part of the diocese of Hivampaida. It is a triglossic area, as for official purposes, aside from Chlouvānem, Standard Bronic is also used.
** In the whole North there are various pockets of [[Skyrdagor]] speakers due to the vicinity of Greater Skyrdagor, especially in Maichlahåryan (which was a part of Gorjan until the Kaiṣamā era). Skyrdagor varieties spoken here are mostly similar to Gorjonur, the variant spoken in the Greater Skyrdegan country of Gorjan.
* '''Northwest'''
** Luspori (''nmụñu Lụspori''; Chl. ''lyušparumi dhāḍa'') — the main vernacular of northern Srāmiṇajāṇai, a Maëbic language which is also the most spoken language of the neighboring country of Maëb and is also spoken natively in parts of Péráno, Aréntía, and Mašifúk to the west, as well as by seminomadic groups further west; it is a trade language in all countries of the southern shore of the Carpan Sea. The dialect spoken in Srāmiṇajāṇai is of the same variants of the Maëb Coast, which is the most spoken and most homogeneous dialectal group; however, there are obvious differences in what concerns the different political structures and dominant languages of Maëb and the Inquisition.


The area around Lūlunīkam Lake, including both Līlasuṃghāṇa and Ilēnimarta (except gerontolectally) is also known for shifting /g/ to semivowels in coda position - the aforementioned diocese of Lågnemba is pronounced as [ɴ̆ɔʊ̯nẽ(m)ba] there; the country of Ênêk-Bazá (''enægbasā'' in Chl.) is [enɛɪ̯basaː].
''[West to be added]''


/ɴ̆/'s realization is usually uniform across the Chlouvānem-speaking world. However, in the Near and Southern Far East, it is often denasalized to [ɢ̆] after stops. The occurrence of this process varies even for a single speaker, but it's more common in the area around Līlikanāna.
Some areas of the Inquisition do not have a major, local vernacular aside from the use of Classical Chlouvānem. The reason for all of these is that they were only recently (in the last two centuries) annexed to the Chlouvānem world and often there was no single local dominant language, so that there has been an often radical shift to Chlouvānem; some of these areas had also been Western colonies before being annexed by the Chlouvānem. These areas are:
* all of the Northwest with the exception of the Luspori-speaking northern half of Srāmiṇajāṇai diocese. This includes the densely populated areas of Tārṣaivai and Līnajaiṭa, but also the virtually uninhabited deserts of Samvālšaṇṭrē and Ūnikadīltha.
* the Nukahucē atoll chain, uninhabited before Chlouvānem settlement
* the Kāmilbausa islands, also previously uninhabited
* the far northern islands of Hokujaši and Aratāram as well as the inland taiga of Kēhamijāṇa, whose original inhabitants mostly shifted to Chlouvānem. Hokujaši island is however notable for the emergence on it of a peculiar koiné dialect of the Eastern Plain-Jade Coast continuum, as most of its original Chlouvānem settlers came from that area. This dialect, however, has been shrinking for decades and is today only spoken by a few people in rural areas, and many Hokujašeyi people do not even know of its existence.


===Vowels - Camiyāṃsai===
===Historical dialects===
The vowel inventory of Chlouvānem is fairly large too, consisting of 24 phonemes: 15 monophthongs, 7 diphthongs, and 2 syllabic consonants.<br/>
Phonetically, there are also nasal vowels, but they are phonemically /Vɴ/ or (word-finally) /Vn/ sequences. On the contrary, breathy-voiced vowels may phonetically surface as [Vh] or [Vχ] in some contexts (most notably before stops) in some pronunciations — e.g. ''tąkis'' /tɑ̤kis/ (a kind of herb) pronounced in Cami as [taxkʲis].


The term for vowel is ''camiyāṃsa'', from ''cami'' (great, large, important) and ''yāṃsa'' (sound), as these sounds are necessary in building syllables.
==Phonology - Yāṃstarlā==
 
: ''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Phonology|Chlouvānem phonology]]''
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" |
|-
! colspan=2 | → Backness <br/> ↓ Height !! Front !! Central !! Back
|-
! rowspan=2 | High !! <small>Oral</small>
| '''''i''''' i<br/>'''''ī''''' iː || || '''''u''''' u<br/>'''''ū''''' uː
|-
! <small>Br.-voiced</small>
| '''''į''''' i̤ || || '''''ų''''' ṳ
|-
! rowspan=2 | High-mid !! <small>Oral</small>
| '''''e''''' e<br/>'''''ē''''' eː || ||
|-
! <small>Br.-voiced</small>
| '''''ę''''' e̤ || ||
|-
! colspan=2 | Low-mid
| '''''æ''''' ɛ<br/>'''''ǣ''''' ɛː || || '''''o-å'''''<sup><small>1</small></sup> ɔ
|-
! rowspan=2 | Low !! <small>Oral</small>
| || '''''a''''' ä<sup><small>2</small></sup><br/>'''''ā''''' äː<sup><small>2</small></sup> ||
|-
! <small>Br.-voiced</small>
| || || '''''ą''''' ɑ̤
|-
! rowspan=2 | Diphthongs !! <small>Oral</small>
| '''''ai''''' aɪ̯<br/>'''''ei''''' eɪ̯ || '''''oe''''' ɔə̯ || '''''au''''' aʊ̯
|-
! <small>Br.-voiced</small>
| '''''ąi''''' a̤ɪ̯<br/>'''''ęi''''' e̤ɪ̯ || || '''''ąu''''' a̤ʊ̯
|-
! colspan=2 |  Syllabic consonants
| colspan=3 | '''''ṛ''''' ʀ̩<br/>'''''ṝ''''' ʀ̩ː 
|}
Table notes:
# In modern Chlouvānem, the distinction between '''o''' and '''å''' is purely orthographical.
# Chlouvānem '''a''' is a central vowel and is better transcribed as [ä]. However, for simplicity's sake, it will always be transcribed, phonemically and phonetically, as /a/ [a] hereafter.


Chlouvānem vowels have very little allophony, always having values pretty close to their IPA representations' usual positions in the vowel trapeze. As Chlouvānem (and most of its descendants, which are the true native languages for the majority of Chlouvānem speakers) is a syllable-timed language, and stressed and unstressed syllables are barely (if at all) distinguished, unstressed vowel reduction is basically nonexistent.<br/>The most notable instances of vowel allophony are:
Chlouvānem is phonologically very conservative from Proto-Lahob as it has not had a lot of changes - however, those few it had have had the effect of strongly raising the total number of phonemes, developing a few distinctions that, while not rare themselves, are rarely found all together in the same language. Chlouvānem has a large inventory in both consonants and vowels, and a fair amount of active morphophonemic saṃdhi processes.<!-- ===Phonological history===
* /ɛ ɛː/ lower to [æ æː] before /ʀ/ - e.g. ''kauchlærīn'' [kaʊ̯c͡ɕʰɴ̆æʀʲiːŋ] "professor";
* /ɔ/ is realized as a mid or, for some speakers, high-mid vowel ([o̞] or even [o]) when preceding any of '''l lь r rь c ch j jh''' - e.g. ''jålkha'' [ɟ͡ʑo̞ɴ̆qʰa~ɟ͡ʑo̞ɴ̆kʰa] "cold". It is also realized as [oː] (high-mid and long) word-finally. This is, however, rare, mostly only found in borrowings or Eastern toponyms - e.g. ''Paramito'' [paʀamʲitoː] (a city in the Far East);
* /u/ is moderately fronted - usually to [ʉ] - after palatalized consonants and /j/ (explaining why /y/ or similar vowels are usually borrowed as /ju/ or /ʲu/) - e.g. ''yutia'' [jʉtʲa] "area, direction"
 
The variants of Chlouvānem spoken by the Chlouvānem minorities in Kŭyŭgwažtov, Soenyŏ-tave, and other countries of the former Kaiṣamā have acquired, through language contact, the front rounded vowels /y ø/ - they are present in loans from the majority languages of those areas (cf. in Kŭyŭgwaž Chlouvānem ''köndegura'' /køndeguʀa/ "mountain road", ''nüvka'' /nyʋka/ (a typical dish) < Kŭy. ''köndŭgŭr'', ''nüvŭk''; the latter is known as ''niuvka'' /nʲuʋka/ in the Inquisition), as well as in peculiar sound changes from the standard pronunciation (Kŭy.Chl. /y/ for standard /ju/ and /ʲu/, e.g. ''yutia'' "area, direction" /(j)ytʲa/).
 
===Phonological history===
Chlouvānem is, phonologically, very conservative when compared to Proto-Lahob, even if there is a reconstruction bias due to the fact that Chlouvānem was attested more than 2000 years earlier than all other Lahob languages of other branches.
Chlouvānem is, phonologically, very conservative when compared to Proto-Lahob, even if there is a reconstruction bias due to the fact that Chlouvānem was attested more than 2000 years earlier than all other Lahob languages of other branches.


Line 213: Line 177:
Labial stops are mostly unchanged, except for original *pʰ being reflected as '''ħ''', presumably through the intermediate stages */pʰ/ > */ɸ/ > */hʷ~χʷ~xʷ/ > /ħ/ (the same fate was followed by PLB *pw). Chlouvānem '''ph''' arises from PLB *kʷʰ.
Labial stops are mostly unchanged, except for original *pʰ being reflected as '''ħ''', presumably through the intermediate stages */pʰ/ > */ɸ/ > */hʷ~χʷ~xʷ/ > /ħ/ (the same fate was followed by PLB *pw). Chlouvānem '''ph''' arises from PLB *kʷʰ.


Labiovelar stops are the only ones that show the most changes: the aspirates have become true labial aspirates (*kʷʰ > pʰ; *ɡʷʱ > bʱ), while the plain ones have backed to /ʡ/ '''ġ'''.
Labiovelar stops are the only ones that show the most changes: the aspirates have become true labial aspirates (*kʷʰ > pʰ; *ɡʷʱ > bʱ), while the plain ones have backed to /ʡ/ '''ƾ'''.


PLB *l, *ŋ, *ŋʷ, and *ʕ (conventional representation for a laryngeal sound) all merged into /ɴ̆/ '''l'''.
PLB *l, *ŋ, *ŋʷ, and *ʕ (conventional representation for a laryngeal sound) all merged into /ɴ̆/ '''l'''.
Line 229: Line 193:


Some examples of stress placement:
Some examples of stress placement:
* ''dilṭha'' "desert" [ˈdʲiɴ̆ʈʰa]
* ''dilṭha'' "desert" [ˈdiɴ̆ʈʰa]
* ''upānāraḍa'' "seminary" [upaːˈnaːʀaɖa]
* ''upānāraḍa'' "seminary" [upaːˈnaːʀaɖa]
* ''ñulge'' "to crawl (monodirectional)" [ˈɲuŋge]
* ''ñulge'' "to crawl (monodirectional)" [ˈɲuŋge]
Line 235: Line 199:
* ''ñuganāja'' "we crawled" [ˌɲugaˈnaːɟ͡ʑa]
* ''ñuganāja'' "we crawled" [ˌɲugaˈnaːɟ͡ʑa]
* ''driturkye'' "[I've been told that] (it) was done against you" [ˈdʀʲituˤkje]
* ''driturkye'' "[I've been told that] (it) was done against you" [ˈdʀʲituˤkje]
* ''švaghṛṣṭrausis'' "tunnel" [ˌɕʋagʱʀ̩ˈʂʈʀaʊ̯sʲis]
* ''švaghṛṣṭrausis'' "tunnel" [ˌɕʋagʱʀ̩ˈʂʈʀaʊ̯sis]
* ''švaghṛṣṭraustammikeika'' "tunnel railway station" [ˌɕʋagʱʀ̩ʂʈʀaʊ̯sˌtammʲiˈkeɪ̯ka]
* ''švaghṛṣṭraustammikeika'' "tunnel railway station" [ˌɕʋagʱʀ̩ʂʈʀaʊ̯sˌtammiˈkeɪ̯ka]


Words with unpredictable stress often have regional variations. For example, ''tandayena'' "spring (season)" is stressed as [tandaˈjena] in most of the East and Northeast but as regular [tanˈdajena] almost anywhere else (in this particular case, the irregular stress is actually closer to the etymology, as it is a borrowing from a Toyubeshian compound word).
Words with unpredictable stress often have regional variations. For example, ''tandayena'' "spring (season)" is stressed as [tandaˈjena] in most of the East and Northeast but as regular [tanˈdajena] almost anywhere else (in this particular case, the irregular stress is actually closer to the etymology, as it is a borrowing from a Toyubeshian compound word).


====Intonation====
====Intonation====-->


===Phonotactics===
==Writing system - Jīmalāṇa==
The maximum possible syllable structure is <sup>「</sup>[((C1)C2)C3]<sub>」</sub>(j)V<sup>「</sup>(C4(C5))<sub>」</sub>.
[[File:Chlouvānem-script-parts.png|thumbnail|The word ''chlǣvānem'' in the language's native script, with the parts colour-coded according to function.]]
 
Chlouvānem has been written since the early 5th millennium in an abugida called ''chlǣvānumi jīmalāṇa'' ("Chlouvānem script", the noun ''jīmalāṇa'' is actually a collective derivation from ''jīma'' "character"), developed with influence of the script used for the [[Lällshag|Lällshag language]]. The orthography for Chlouvānem represents how it was pronounced in Classical times, but it's completely regular to read in all present-day local pronunciations.<br/>
The nucleus is formed by '''V''' - which can be any vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant - and an optional preceding /j/.<br/>
The Chlouvānem alphabet is distinguished by a large number of curved letter forms, arising from the need of limiting horizontal lines as much as possible in order to avoid tearing the leaves on which early writers wrote. A few glyphs have diagonal or vertical lines, but in pre-typewriting times there was a tendency to have them slightly curved; however, horizontal lines are today found in the exclamation and question marks (which are early modern inventions) and in mathematical symbols; the ''priligis'', or inherent-vowel-cancelling sign, is also nowadays often represented as a horizontal stroke under the consonant, following the most common handwriting styles; however, formerly it was (and formally still is) written as a subscript circumflex.
The onset may contain up to three consonants: '''C3''' is notated differently because phonetically there always is one, as phonemically vowel-initial syllables are always pronounced with a preceding [ʔ]. Any consonant bar /N/ can appear in this position; '''C2''' can be any other consonant except aspirated or breathy-voiced stops (with a single exception) or /ʔ/, but, if C3 is a stop, no stop can be in this position. If C3 is /ɴ̆/ , then C2 may be /c͡ɕʰ/. C1 may be a sibilant, /ʋ/, or a nasal agreeing in PoA with the following consonant. Note that '''ss-''', '''vv-''', '''ll-''' and '''lьl-''' are all valid onsets under these rules.
 
In codas, '''C4''' may be may be any consonant except /ʔ c͡ɕ ɟ͡ʑ/ or all aspirated or breathy-voiced stops. '''C5''' may be /n m s/, or also one of /t d k g/ if C4 is one of /ɴ̆ ʀ/.


In absolute word-final position, only C4 is possible, and the only possible consonants are /m n nʲ p t tʲ ʈ k s sʲ ħ ʡ ɴ̆ ɴ̆ʲ/. Interjections are an exception, as some other consonants are found there, e.g. ''hār!'' "ouch!" [ɦaːɐ̯] /ɦaːʀ/.
Being an abugida, vowels (including diphthongs) are mainly represented by diacritics written by the consonant they come after (some vowel diacritics are actually written before the consonant they are tied to, however); '''a''' is however inherent in any consonant and therefore does not need a diacritic sign. Consonant clusters are usually representing by stacking the consonants on one another (with those that appear under the main consonant sometimes being simplified), but a few consonants such as '''r''' and '''l''' have simplified combining forms. The consonant '''ṃ''' is written with diacritics and can't appear alone. There are also special forms for final '''-m''', '''-n''', '''-s''', and '''-h''' due to their commonness; other consonants without inherent vowels have to be written with a diacritic sign called ''priligis'' (deleter), which has the form of a subscript circumflex or, most commonly, subscript horizontal stroke, or as conjunct consonants.<br/>
The combinations ''lā vā yā ñā pā phā bhā'' are irregularly formed due to the normal diacritic ''ā''-sign being otherwise weirdly attached to the base glyph. There is, furthermore, a commonly used single-glyph abbreviation for the word ''lili'', the first-person singular pronoun.


===Morphophonology===
The romanization used for Chlouvānem avoids this problem by giving each phoneme a single character or digraph, but it stays as close as possible to the native script. Aspirated stops and diphthongs are romanized as digraphs and not by single letters; geminate letters, which are represented with a diacritic in the native script, are romanized by writing the consonant twice - in the aspirated stops, only the first letter is written twice, so /ppʰ/ is '''pph''' and not *phph.
====Vowel alternations====
=====Ablaut=====
Chlouvānem morphology uses a system of ablaut alternations in its vowels, most notably for some verbs, for the ablauting declension of nouns (5h), and for many derivations. Every normal ablaut pattern has a base grade (the one given in citation forms), a middle grade, and a strong grade.<br/>
The patterns of regular ablaut are the following:
* ''i-ablaut'': base '''i''' or '''ī''' — middle '''e''' — strong '''ai'''
* ''u-ablaut'': '''u'''/'''ū''' — '''o''' ('''ą''') — '''au'''
** ''u>i-ablaut'': '''u'''/'''ū''' — '''i''' — '''au'''
* ''ṛ-ablaut'': '''ṛ''' — '''ar''' — '''ār'''


A few roots have the so-called ''inverse ablaut'', where the vowels get simplified in the middle grade, and there is no strong grade:
Romanization table in native alphabetical order:
* ''i-type inverse ablaut'': base '''ya''' (or '''ьa''') — middle '''i'''
{| class="redtable lightredbg" align="center" style="text-align: center; width: 40%" |
** ''ei-type inverse ablaut'': base '''ei''' — middle '''i'''
* ''u-type inverse ablaut'': base '''va''' — middle '''u'''
 
=====Lengthening=====
Lengthening alternations, which originate in Proto-Lahob, substitute a vowel with its lengthened form. There are many apparently irregular cases, due to the huge vowel shifts that happened between Proto-Lahob (PLB) and Chlouvānem. Note that PLB *î represents /ɨ/ or /ɨ̯/.<br/>Lengthening as a type of vowel alternation is the so-called ''diachronic lengthening'', as the results are largely determined by what those vowels were in PLB:
* '''a''' → '''ā'''
** '''a''' → '''ū''' (PLB *o → *ō)
* '''i''' → '''ī'''
** '''i''' → '''æ''' (PLB *ej → *ēj)
** '''i''' → '''au''' (PLB *aî → *āî)
* '''u''' → '''ū'''
* '''e''' → '''ьa''' (PLB *e → *ē)
** '''e''' → '''ai''' (PLB *aj → *āj)
* '''o''' → '''au''' (PLB *aw → *āw)
** '''o''' → '''ei''' (PLB *ow → *ōw)
* '''æ''' → '''ьau''' (PLB *ew → *ēw)
* '''oe''' → '''ai''' (PLB *oj → *ōj)
* '''ṛ''' → '''ar'''
 
Another, different type of lengthening, is ''synchronic lengthening'', which is a saṃdhi change; it only applies to '''a''', '''i''', '''u''', '''ṛ''', '''æ''', and '''e''', turning them into '''ā''', '''ī''', '''ū''', '''ṝ''', '''ǣ''', and '''ē''' respectively.
 
=====Vowel saṃdhi=====
Vowel saṃdhi in Chlouvānem is often fairly logical, though sometimes the results are influenced by Proto-Lahob phonology.<br/>
Similar vowels (thus /a i e u ʀ̩/ only diverging in quantity or phonation) merge in these ways:
* short + short = long (e.g. ''a'' + ''a'' → ''ā'')
* long + short = long (and viceversa) (e.g. ''ā'' + ''a'' → ''a'')
* oral + breathy-voiced = breathy-voiced (''a'' + ''ą'' → ''ą'')
* breathy-voiced + oral = /VɦV/, written with the breathy-voiced character followed by the oral one (e.g. ''ą'' + ''a'' → ''ąa'')
The only exception to this pattern is the sequence '''ē''' + '''e''' which becomes '''ege'''.
 
Dissimilar vowels merge in these ways. '''ṛ''' and '''ṝ''' become semivowels wherever needed, and '''i''' and '''u''' become '''y''' and '''v''' before other vowels; '''ī''' and '''ū''' turn to ''iy'' and ''uv'' respectively.<br/>Other changes are:
* '''e''' and '''o''' always continue PLB *aj and *aw regardless of etymology, so when followed by vowels the results are ''ayV'' and ''avV'' respectively. Similarly, with '''ai''' and '''au''' the results are ''āyV'' and ''āvV'';
* '''æ''' and '''ǣ''' both become '''ev''' and '''oe''' becomes '''en''' when followed by another vowel;
* All other ones simply turn their second element into the corresponding semivowel (e.g. '''ei''' → '''ey''').
* '''a''': ''a-i'' → '''e''' ; ''a-u'' → '''o''' ; ''a-e'' → '''ai''' ; ''a-o'' → '''au'''
* '''ā''': ''ā-i'' and ''ā-e'' → '''ai''' ; ''ā-u'' and ''ā-o'' → '''au'''
* '''a''' or '''ā''' and a following long vowel (or '''æ''' or '''å''') get an epenthetic '''y''' (before ''ī'', ''ē'', ''æ'') or '''v''' (before ''ū'', ''å'').
* When preceded by ''a'', other diphthongs get a prothetic ''y'' if their first element is front and a prothetic ''v'' if it is back. '''æ''' turns to '''ya'''.
 
Vowel saṃdhi in vowel-ending verbal roots has a few extra rules — see [[Chlouvānem/Morphology#Vocalic_stems|Chlouvānem morphology § Verbs § Vocalic stems]].
 
====Consonant alternations====
=====Palatalizations=====
Palatalization in morphemes (noted as '''ь''') produces different results depending on the preceding consonant:
* If the preceding consonant has a phonemic palatalized counterpart, the result is the palatalized consonant (e.g. /t/ + ''ь'' → /tʲ/)
* Velars shift to palatals (e.g. ''k'' + ''ь'' → ''c'');
* ''h'' + ''ь'' → ''š''
* '''ɂ''' and '''ġ''' remain unchanged;
* All other consonants get a /j/ glide (written '''y''').
 
=====Internal saṃdhi=====
''Note:'' for simplicity, '''ь''' will be treated as a stand-alone consonant in all the following examples.
 
Saṃdhi assimilations are fairly straightforward, and usually it’s the second consonant in a row the one that matters. The most basic rules are:
* Nasals assimilate to the PoA of any following consonant except for '''y''' (no assimilation occurs) and '''s''' (all become '''ṃ''', phonetically realized as vowel nasalization).
* All stops assimilate in voicing to a following stop; if the first one is aspirated, then aspiration shifts to the second one. Dentals also assimilate to adjacent (preceding or following) retroflexes.
 
In stop saṃdhi, a few further changes apart from basic voicing and retroflex assimilation occur. Note that any such combination also applies to aspirated stops and, for dentals, palatalized ones. In voiceless stops:
 
-'''pṭ'''- → -'''ṭṭ'''- ; -'''pc'''- → -'''ṃc'''-<br/>
-'''tc'''- → -'''cc'''- ; -'''tk'''- → -'''kt'''-<br/>
-'''ṭp'''- → -'''ṭṭ'''- ; -'''ṭc'''- → -'''cc'''- ; -'''ṭk'''- → -'''kṭ'''-<br/>
-'''cp'''- → -'''cc'''- ; -'''ct'''- → -'''kt'''- ; -'''cṭ'''- → -'''ṣṭ'''- ; -'''ck'''- → -'''šk'''-<br/>
-'''kp'''- → -'''pp'''- ; -'''kc'''- → -'''cc'''-<br/>
Doubled stops and the combinations -'''tp'''-, -'''pt'''-, -'''pk'''- , -'''kt'''-, and -'''kṭ'''- remain unchanged.
 
Voiced stops mostly mirror voiceless assimilations (doubling saṃdhi already applied - all nasal + stop clusters are underlyingly a geminate stop):
 
-'''bḍ'''- → -'''ṇḍ'''- ; -'''bj'''- → -'''ṃj'''- ; -'''bg'''- → -'''lg'''-<br/>
-'''dj'''- → -'''ñj'''- ; -'''dg'''- → -'''gd'''-<br/>
-'''ḍb'''- → -'''ṇḍ'''- ; -'''ḍj'''- → -'''ñj'''- ; -'''ḍg'''- → <small>-''-gḍ''- → </small> -'''rḍ'''-<br/>
-'''j''' + any other stop, also aspirated ones → -'''jñ'''-<br/>
-'''gb'''- → -'''mb'''- ; -'''gḍ'''- → -'''rḍ'''- ; -'''gj'''- → -'''ñj'''-<br/>
Doubled stops become a nasal+stop sequence; -'''db'''-, -'''bd'''-, and -'''gd'''- remain unchanged.
 
''-d(h)n-'' and ''-ḍ(h)ṇ-'' from any origin further assimilate to '''-nn-''' and '''-rṇ-''' respectively.
 
'''h''', wherever it is followed by a consonant (apart from '''ь'''), disappears, leaving its trace as breathy-voiced phonation on the preceding vowel (e.g. ''maih-leilē'' → ''mąileilē''). Vowels change as such:
* '''i''', '''ī''' → '''į'''
* '''u''', '''ū''' → '''ų'''
* '''e''', '''ē''', '''æ''', '''ǣ''' → '''ę'''
* all other monophthongs, or '''oe''' → '''ą'''
* '''ai''', '''ei''', '''au''' → '''ąi''', '''ęi''', '''ąu''' respectively.
 
Sibilants trigger various different changes:
* Among themselves, '''-s s-''' remains '''ss''' (but simplified to '''s''' if the latter is followed by a consonant other than ''y'' or ''ь''), but any other combination becomes '''kṣ''' (e.g. ''naš-sārah'' → ''nakṣārah'').
* '''ṣ''', if followed by a dental stop, turns it into '''ṭ''' or '''ṭh''' according to aspiration (e.g. ''paṣ-dhvakām'' → ''paṣṭhvakām'').
* '''s''' or '''š''' plus any voiced stop, or '''ṣ''' followed by any non-dental/retroflex voiced stop, disappear but synchronically lengthen the previous vowel (e.g. ''kus-drāltake'' → ''kūdrāltake'').
* Dental stops followed  by '''ṣ''' or '''š''' result in a palatal affricate (e.g. ''prāt-ṣveya'' → ''prācveya'').
Note that the two roots ''lih-'' and ''muh-'' behave, before consonants (with a few exceptions, e.g. the verbal infinitive), as if they were *lis- and *mus-.
 
If the first sound which undergoes saṃdhi is already part of a cluster, a few more assimilations may occur. In a nasal-stop + stop sequence, usually the first stop gets cancelled, but nasals do not assimilate entirely to the stop:
* '''m''' becomes '''ṃ''';
* Other nasals do not assimilate at all.
Note that the combinations -'''mpt'''-, -'''mpk'''-, -'''lkt'''-, -'''lkṭ'''-, -'''mbd'''-, -'''lgd'''-, and -'''lgḍ'''- all remain unchanged; doubled stops are degeminated (like -''mpp''- > -''mp''-).
 
If the sound before the stop sequence is '''l''' or '''r''', nothing happens and assimilations are normal. If the  sound is a sibilant (note that they cannot precede voiced stops), assimilations are as usual.
 
Note that a few roots may have internal clusters that would not be permitted in internal saṃdhi. Many of these are part of scientific lexicon and all of them are ultimately borrowings, for example ''Līšabgin'' - the name of the sixth planet of the star system Calémere is in.
 
=====Doubling saṃdhi=====
In a few cases of consonant doubling due to saṃdhi, there are irregular results:
* ''-y y-'' → '''-jñ-'''
** Note that */ajj/ and /aɪ̯j/ are different, as the latter is permitted.
* ''-v v-'' → '''-gv-'''
* ''-r r-'' → '''-rl-'''
* any doubled voiced stop (also due to assimilation of other stops) → homorganic nasal + voiced stop (e.g. ''-b b-'' → ''-mb-'')
 
=====Epenthetic vowels=====
Epenthetic vowels are usually discussed together with saṃdhi. They are often used in verbal conjugations, as no Chlouvānem word may end in two consonants. The epenthetic vowel used depends on the preceding consonant:
* '''u''' is inserted after labials;
* '''a''' is used after retroflexes (except '''ṣ'''), '''ɂ''', and '''h''';
* '''i''' is used after all other consonants, including all palatalized ones.
 
Note that '''y''', '''v''', and '''r''' in these cases turn into the corresponding vowels '''i''', '''u''', and '''ṛ'''.
 
==Writing system - Jīmalāṇa==
[[File:Chlouvānem-script-parts.png|thumbnail|The word ''chlǣvānem'' in the language's native script, with the parts colour-coded according to function.]]
Chlouvānem has been written since the early 5th millennium in an abugida called ''chlǣvānumi jīmalāṇa'' ("Chlouvānem script", the noun ''jīmalāṇa'' is actually a collective derivation from ''jīma'' "character"), developed with influence of the script used for the ancient Kūṣṛmāthi language. The orthography for Chlouvānem represents how it was pronounced in Classical times, but it's completely regular to read in all present-day local pronunciations.
The Chlouvānem alphabet is distinguished by a large number of curved letter forms, arising from the need of limiting vertical lines as much as possible in order to avoid tearing the leaves on which early writers wrote. Straight vertical or horizontal lines are in fact present in a few letters (mostly the rarer ones, such as independent vowels) but they have been written as straight lines only since typewriting was invented. Being an abugida, vowels (including diphthongs) are mainly represented by diacritics written by the consonant they come after (some vowel diacritics are actually written before the consonant they are tied to, however); '''a''' is however inherent in any consonant and therefore does not need a diacritic sign. Consonant clusters are usually representing by stacking the consonants on one another (with those that appear under the main consonant sometimes being simplified), but a few consonants such as '''r''' and '''l''' have simplified combining forms. The two consonants '''ṃ''' and '''ь''' are written with diacritics, as they can't appear alone. There are also special forms for final '''-m''', '''-s''', and '''-h''' due to their commonness; other consonants without inherent vowels have to be written with a diacritic sign called ''priligis'' (deleter), which has the form of a dot above the letter.<br/>
The combinations ''lā vā yā fā ñā pā phā bhā'' are irregularly formed due to the normal diacritic ''ā''-sign being otherwise weirdly attached to the base glyph. There is, furthermore, a commonly used single-glyph abbreviation for the word ''lili'', the first-person singular pronoun.
 
The romanization used for Chlouvānem avoids this problem by giving each phoneme a single character or digraph, but it stays as close as possible to the native script. Aspirated stops and diphthongs are romanized as digraphs and not by single letters; geminate letters, which are represented with a diacritic in the native script, are romanized by writing the consonant twice - in the aspirated stops, only the first letter is written twice, so /ppʰ/ is '''pph''' and not *phph. <!-- The following table contains the whole Chlouvānem alphabet as it is romanized, following the native alphabetical order:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
| '''Letter''' || '''m''' || '''p''' || '''ph''' || '''b''' || '''bh''' || '''f''' || '''v''' || '''n''' || '''t''' || '''th'''
! '''''m''''' !! '''''p''''' !! '''''ph''''' !! '''''b''''' !! '''''bh''''' !! '''''v''''' !! '''''n''''' !! '''''t''''' !! '''''th''''' !! '''''d''''' !! '''''dh''''' !! '''''s'''''  
|-
|-
| '''Sound''' || /m/ || /p/ || /pʰ/ || /b/ || /bʱ/ || /f/ || /ʋ/ || /n/ || /t̪/ || /t̪ʰ/
| {{IPA|/m/}} || {{IPA|/p/}} || {{IPA|/pʰ/}} || {{IPA|/b/}} || {{IPA|/bʱ/}} || {{IPA|/ʋ/}} || {{IPA|/n/}} || {{IPA|/t̪/}} || {{IPA|/t̪ʰ/}} || {{IPA|/d̪/}} || {{IPA|/d̪ʱ/}} || {{IPA|/s/}}
|-
|-
| '''Letter''' || '''d''' || '''dh''' || '''s''' || '''''' || '''''' || '''ṭh''' || '''''' || '''ḍh''' || '''''' || '''ñ'''
! '''''''''' !! '''''''''' !! '''''ṭh''''' !! '''''''''' !! '''''ḍh''''' !! '''''''''' !! '''''ñ''''' !! '''''c''''' !! '''''ch''''' !! '''''j''''' !! '''''jh''''' !! '''''š'''''  
|-
|-
| '''Sound''' || // || /d̪ʱ/ || /s/ || /ɳ/ || /ʈ/ || /ʈʰ/ || /ɖ/ || /ɖʱ/ || /ʂ/ || /ɳ/
| {{IPA|/ɳ/}} || {{IPA|/ʈ/}} || {{IPA|/ʈʰ/}} || {{IPA|/ɖ/}} || {{IPA|/ɖʱ/}} || {{IPA|/ʂ/}} || {{IPA|/ɲ/}} || {{IPA|/c͡ɕ/}} || {{IPA|/c͡ɕʰ/}} || {{IPA|/ɟ͡ʑ/}} || {{IPA|/ɟ͡ʑʱ/}} || {{IPA|/ɕ/}}
|-
|-
| '''Letter''' || '''c''' || '''ch''' || '''j''' || '''jh''' || '''š''' || '''y''' || '''k''' || '''kh''' || '''g''' || '''gh'''
! '''''y''''' !! '''''k''''' !! '''''kh''''' !! '''''g''''' !! '''''gh''''' !! '''''ṃ''''' !! '''''ɂ''''' !! '''''h''''' !! '''''ħ''''' !! '''''r''''' !! '''''l''''' !! '''''i'''''  
|-
|-
| '''Sound'''  || /c͡ɕ/ || /c͡ɕʰ/ || /ɟ͡ʑ/ || /ɟ͡ʑʱ/ || /ɕ/ || /j/ || /k/ || // || /g/ || //
| {{IPA|/j/}} || {{IPA|/k/}} || {{IPA|//}} || {{IPA|/ɡ/}} || {{IPA|/ɡʱ/}} || {{IPA|/ɴ/}} || {{IPA|/Ɂ/}} || {{IPA|/ɦ/}} || {{IPA|/ħ/}} || {{IPA|/ʀ/}} || {{IPA|/ɴ̆/}} || {{IPA|/i/}}
|-
|-
| '''Letter''' || '''''' || '''ɂ''' || '''h''' || '''r''' || '''l''' || '''ь<ref>Romanized as '''i''' before vowels</ref>''' || '''i''' || '''ī''' || '''į''' || '''u'''
! '''''ī''''' !! '''''į''''' !! '''''u''''' !! '''''ū''''' !! '''''ų''''' !! '''''e''''' !! '''''ē''''' !! '''''ę''''' !! '''''o''''' !! '''''æ''''' !! '''''ǣ''''' !! '''''a'''''
|-
|-
| '''Sound'''  || /ɴ/ || /ʔ/ || /ɦ/ || /ʀ/ || /ɴ̆/, [ŋ] || /ʲ/ || /i/ || // || // || /u/
| {{IPA|/iː/}} || {{IPA|/i̤/}} || {{IPA|/u/}} || {{IPA|//}} || {{IPA|//}} || {{IPA|/e/}} || {{IPA|//}} || {{IPA|//}} || {{IPA|/ɔ/}} || {{IPA|/ɛ/}} || {{IPA|/ɛː/}} || {{IPA|/ä/}}
|-
! '''''ā''''' !! '''''ą''''' !! '''''ai''''' !! '''''ąi''''' !! '''''ei''''' !! '''''ęi''''' !! '''''oe''''' !! '''''au''''' !! '''''ąu''''' !! '''''å''''' !! '''''ṛ''''' !! '''''ṝ'''''
|-
|-
| '''Letter'''  || '''ū''' || '''ų''' || '''e''' || '''ē''' || '''ę''' || '''o''' || '''æ''' || '''ǣ''' || '''a''' || '''ā'''
| {{IPA|/äː/}} || {{IPA|/ɑ̤/}} || {{IPA|/aɪ̯/}} || {{IPA|/a̤ɪ̯/}} || {{IPA|/eɪ̯/}} || {{IPA|/e̤ɪ̯/}} || {{IPA|/ɔə̯/}} || {{IPA|/aʊ̯/}} || {{IPA|/a̤ʊ̯/}} || {{IPA|/ɔ/}} || {{IPA|/ʀ̩/}} || {{IPA|/ʀ̩ː/}}
|-
|}
| '''Sound'''  || // || /ṳ/ || /e/ || /eː/ || /e̤/ || /ɔ/ || /ɛ/ || /ɛː/ || /a/ || //  
|-
| '''Letter''' || '''ą''' || '''ai''' || '''ąi''' || '''ei''' || '''ęi''' || '''oe''' || '''au''' || '''ąu''' || '''å''' || '''ṛ'''
|-
| '''Sound'''  || /ɑ̤/ || /aɪ̯/ || /a̤ɪ̯/ || /eɪ̯/ || /e̤ɪ̯/ || /ɔə̯/ || /aʊ̯/ || /a̤ʊ̯/ || /ɔ/ <sub><small>(see below)</small></sub> || /ʀ̩/
|-
| '''Letter''' || '''ṝ''' || || || || || || || || ||
|-
| '''Sound'''  || /ʀ̩ː/ || || || || || || || || ||
|-
|} -->
 
Some orthographical and phonological notes:
Some orthographical and phonological notes:
* /n/ [ŋ] is written as '''l''' before '''k g kh gh n'''. Note that in many local varieties '''lk lkh lg lgh''' are actually [ɴq ɴqʰ ɴɢ ɴɢʱ], with the stop assimilating to '''l''' and not vice-versa, and thus analyzed as /ɴ̆k ɴ̆kʰ ɴ̆g ɴ̆gʱ/.
* {{IPA|/n/ [ŋ]}} is written as '''l''' before '''k g kh gh n'''. Note that in many local varieties '''lk lkh lg lgh''' are actually {{IPA|[ɴq ɴqʰ ɴɢ ɴɢʱ]}}, with the stop assimilating to '''l''' and not vice-versa, and thus analyzed as {{IPA|/ɴ̆k ɴ̆kʰ ɴ̆g ɴ̆gʱ/}}.
* {{IPA|/ɴ̆ː/}} may be written as either '''ll''' or '''ṃl'''; the latter is used when compounding two morphemes, the first of which ends in any nasal consonant except for '''l''' itself.
* Vowels do not have non-diacritical forms; when word-initial, they are written on the glyph for '''ɂ'''. In Classical Chlouvānem and in many modern pronunciations, word-initial vowels are actually always preceded by an allophonic glottal stop. Such glyphs are, however, romanized simply as e.g. ''a'', not *ɂa.


Letter names are formed with simple rules:
Letter names are formed with simple rules:
* All consonants apart from '''l''', '''r''', and aspirated stops form them with CaCas, e.g. '''s''' is ''sasas'', '''m''' is ''mamas'', '''b''' is ''babas'' and so on. '''ɂ''' is written ''aɂas''.
* All consonants apart from '''l''', '''r''', and aspirated stops form them with CaCas, e.g. '''s''' is ''sasas'', '''m''' is ''mamas'', '''b''' is ''babas'' and so on. '''ɂ''' is written ''aɂas''.
* Aspirated stops form them as CʰeCas, e.g. '''bh''' is ''bhebas'', '''ph''' is ''phepas'', and so on.
* Aspirated stops form them as CʰeCas, e.g. '''bh''' is ''bhebas'', '''ph''' is ''phepas'', and so on.
* '''l''' is ''lǣlas'' and '''r''' is ''rairas''. '''ṃ''' is, uniquely, ''nālkāvi'' and the palatalizing sign is called ''hærūñjīma''.
* '''l''' is ''lǣlas'' and '''r''' is ''rairas''. '''ṃ''' is, uniquely, ''nālkāvi''.
* Short vowels are VtV*s, where the second V is ''a'' for '''æ''' (''ætas''), ''i'' for '''e''' (''etis''), and ''u'' for '''o''' (''otus'').
* Short vowels are VtV*s, where the second V is ''a'' for '''æ''' (''ætas''), ''i'' for '''e''' (''etis''), and ''u'' for '''o''' (''otus'').
* Long vowels are vowel + ''-nis'' if unrounded (''īnis'', ''ēnis'', ''ānis''), but '''ū''', being rounded, is ''ūmus''. Oral diphthongs all have diphthong + ''-myas'' (''aimyas'', ''eimyas''…); '''å''' is counted as a diphthong and as such it is ''åmyas''.
* Long vowels are vowel + ''-nis'' if unrounded (''īnis'', ''ēnis'', ''ānis''), but '''ū''', being rounded, is ''ūmus''. Oral diphthongs all have diphthong + ''-myas'' (''aimyas'', ''eimyas''…); '''å''' is counted as a diphthong and as such it is ''åmyas''.
* Breathy-voiced vowels are vowel + /ɦ/ + vowel + s (''įis'', ''ąas'', ''ųus'', but ''ęas''). Breathy-voiced diphthongs are diphthong + /ɕ/ + ''as'' (''ąišas'', ''ęišas'', ''ąušas'').
* Breathy-voiced vowels are vowel + {{IPA|/ɦ/}} + vowel + s (''ihis'', ''ahas'', ''uhus'', but ''ehas''). Breathy-voiced diphthongs are diphthong + {{IPA|/ɕ/}} + ''as'' (''ąišas'', ''ęišas'', ''ąušas'').


===o and å===
===o and å===
In today's standard Chlouvānem, the letters '''o''' and '''å''' are homophones, being both pronounced /ɔ/: their distribution reflects their origin in Proto-Lahob (PLB), with '''o''' deriving from PLB *aw and *ow, and '''å''' from either *a umlauted by a (lost) *o in a following syllable, or, most commonly, from the sequences *o(ː)wa, *o(ː)fa, *o(ː)wo, or *o(ː)fo.
In today's standard Chlouvānem, the letters '''o''' and '''å''' are homophones, being both pronounced {{IPA|/ɔ/}}: their distribution reflects their origin in Proto-Lahob (PLB), with '''o''' deriving from PLB *aw and *ow, and '''å''' from either *a umlauted by a (lost) *o in a following syllable, or, most commonly, from the sequences *o(ː)wa, *o(ː)fa, *o(ː)wo, or *o(ː)fo.


Most Chlouvānem sources, however, classify '''å''' as a ''diphthong'': Classical Era sources nearly accurately describe it as /ao̯/, later monophthongized to /ʌ/ or /ɒ/ and merged with /ɔ/ - in fact, most daughter languages have the same reflex for both '''o''' and '''å'''. A few grammarians think that '''å''' was originally the long version of '''o''', but this hypothesis is disputed as '''å''' does not pattern with the other long vowels (e.g. '''o''' does not lengthen into it because of synchronic lengthening; also it is grouped with diphthongs in the alphabetic order instead of coming just after '''o''', as other long vowels do). Some kind of distinction in the pronunciations of Classical Chlouvānem must have been preserved until early modern times, as both are found in adapting foreign words - usually '''å''' transcribes more open vowels than '''o''' - cf. the two [[Holenagic]] loanwords ''Hålinaika'' (Holenagica) - with '''å''' for [ɔ] - and ''lopyun'' (ṅoifṅ, a vodka-like Holenagic spirit) - with '''o''' for [o].
Most Chlouvānem sources, however, classify '''å''' as a ''diphthong'': Classical Era sources nearly accurately describe it as {{IPA|/ao̯/}}, later monophthongized to {{IPA|[ʌ]}} or {{IPA|[ɒ]}} and merged with {{IPA|/ɔ/}} - in fact, most daughter languages have the same reflex for both '''o''' and '''å'''. A few grammarians think that '''å''' was originally the long version of '''o''', but this hypothesis is disputed as '''å''' does not pattern with the other long vowels (e.g. '''o''' does not lengthen into it because of synchronic lengthening; also it is grouped with diphthongs in the alphabetic order instead of coming just after '''o''', as other long vowels do). Some kind of distinction in the pronunciations of Classical Chlouvānem must have been preserved until early modern times, as both are found in adapting foreign words - usually '''å''' transcribes more open vowels than '''o'''.


A spelling-based pronunciation distinction (with '''å''' being [ɔ] and '''o''' being [o(ː)]) has been recently spreading among young speakers in the large metropolitan areas of the Jade Coast.
A spelling-based pronunciation distinction (with '''å''' being {{IPA|[ɔ]}} and '''o''' being {{IPA|[o(ː)]}}) has been recently spreading among young speakers in the large metropolitan areas of the Jade Coast.


===Notes on romanization===
===Notes on romanization===
The romanization here used for Chlouvānem is adapted to English conventions, with a few adjustments made to better reflect how written Chlouvānem looks on Calémere:
The romanization here used for Chlouvānem is adapted to English conventions, with a few adjustments made to better reflect how written Chlouvānem looks on Calémere:
* Even if the Chlouvānem script uses scriptio continua and marks minor pauses (e.g. comma and semicolon) with a space between the sentences and a punctuation mark with following space, every word is divided when romanized, including particles. The only exceptions to this are compound verbs, which are written as a single word nevertheless (e.g. ''yųlakemaitiāke'' "to be about to eat" '''not''' *yųlake maitiāke). English punctuation marks are used in basic sentences, including a distinction between comma and semicolon. In longer texts, particularly in the "examples" section, ''':''' will be used to mark a comma-like pause (a space in the native script) and '''।।''' will be used for a full-stop-like pause (written very similarly to ।। in the native script).
* Even if the Chlouvānem script uses scriptio continua and marks minor pauses (e.g. comma and semicolon) with a space between the sentences and a punctuation mark with following space, every word is divided when romanized, including particles. The only exceptions to this are compound verbs, which are written as a single word nevertheless (e.g. ''yųlakemaityāke'' "to be about to eat" '''not''' *yųlake maityāke). English punctuation marks are used in basic sentences, including a distinction between comma and semicolon. In longer texts, particularly in the "examples" section, ''':''' will be used to mark a comma-like pause (a space in the native script) and '''।।''' will be used for a full-stop-like pause (written very similarly to ।। in the native script).
* As the Chlouvānem script does not have lettercase, no uppercase letters are used in the romanization, except to disambiguate cases like ''lairē'' (noun: sky, air) and ''Lairē'' (female given name), and for proper nouns written in isolation.
* As the Chlouvānem script does not have lettercase, no uppercase letters are used in the romanization, except to disambiguate cases like ''lairē'' (noun: sky, air) and ''Lairē'' (female given name), and for proper nouns written in isolation.
===Abbreviations===
: <small>''In this section, pure transcriptions are used. Superscript letters mark vowel diacritics; subscript letters mark conjoined consonants; a mid dot after the consonant (for '''m''', '''s''', and '''h''' only) marks a special final form; a dash marks the deletion mark of inherent vowels, and a tilde marks the abbreviation mark.''</small>
The Chlouvānem script has a specific, tilde-shaped, mark called ''aniguṃsṛṣūs'' which used to mark an abbreviation. In most cases, only the first and the last consonant (in some cases, the first two and the last, or the first one and the last two) of a word are written (including those normally written as part of a conjunct), without vowels, with the abbreviation sign written on top of the last letter. For example, the word ''dirūnnevya'' (grammatical case), written normally as '''d<sup><small>i</small></sup>r<sup><small>ū</small></sup>n<sub><small>n</small></sub><sup><small>e</small></sup>v<sub><small>y</small></sub>''', is abbreviated to '''dỹ''' or '''drỹ''', less commonly to '''dvỹ'''; ''nūlastām'' (money), '''n<sup><small>ū</small></sup>ls<sub><small>t</small></sub><sup><small>ā</small></sup><sub><small>m</small></sub>''', is abbreviated to '''nm̃''' or '''nlm̃'''.<br/>
Cases are typically written without vowels (which means many of them are not differentiated at all).
Exceptions to the above include:
* Many officially sanctioned abbreviations, which are made of different consonants or even consonant-vowel combinations. Examples include all three-letter-codes for dioceses (e.g. ''Nanašīrama'' diocese, '''nnš<sup><small>ī</small></sup>rm''', abbreviated as '''nnš̃'''), and all measurement units (e.g. ''brujñam'' (fathom; ~2.5975 m), '''b<sub><small>r</small></sub><sup><small>u</small></sup>j<sub><small>ñ</small></sub>m·''', abbreviated as '''br̃<sup><small>u</small></sup>'''). Measurement units are written with the abbreviation mark when inside sentences, without it otherwise.
* Syllabic abbreviations, which are not treated as abbreviations but as regular words, complete with regular internal saṃdhi changes, and are in fact an extremely common reality in daily life in the Inquisition (e.g. ''mugada'' ← '''''mu'''rkadhānāvīyi '''ga'''ltarlīltumi '''da'''rañcamūh'' "Inquisitorial Railway Group"; ''mugišca'' ← '''''mu'''rkadhānāvīyi '''giṣ'''ṭarumi '''ca'''mūh'' "Inquisitorial Youth Union", i.e. the Chlouvānem Komsomol).


===Writing===
===Writing===
The Chlouvānem script is almost entirely composed of curved lines as, initially, it was written on leaves with reeds (''ħålka'', pl. ''ħålkai'') or brushes (''lattah'', pl. ''lattai''). With the invention, in the late 5th millennium, of paper (traditional Chlouvānem paper or ''mirtah'' is handmade by fibres from various types of wooden bushes; traditional papermaking is still important today as formal handwritten documents are usually written on traditional paper), the use of reeds or brushes often became region-dependant; the reeds of the ''ñagala'' plant became the dominant writing tool in most of the plains, as this plant abundantly grows by the river shores; in the Jade Coast, brushes (whose "hair" are actually fibres of wetland plants such as the ''jalihā'') were preferred.<br/>
The Chlouvānem script is almost entirely composed of curved lines as, initially, it was written on leaves with reeds (''ħålka'', pl. ''ħålkai'') or brushes (''lattah'', pl. ''lattai''). With the invention, in the late 5th millennium, of paper (traditional Chlouvānem paper or ''mirtah'' is handmade by fibres from various types of wooden bushes; traditional papermaking is still important today as formal handwritten documents are usually written on traditional paper), the use of reeds or brushes often became region-dependant; the reeds of the ''grāṇiva'' plant became the dominant writing tool in most of the plains, as this plant abundantly grows by the river shores; in the Jade Coast, brushes (whose "hair" are actually fibres of wetland plants such as the ''jalihā'') were preferred.<br/>
Today, pens (''titeh'', pl. ''titiai'') are the main writing tool together with graphite pencils (''bauteh'', pl. ''bautiai''). Non-refillable dip pens were the first to be introduced - an Evandorian invention that was "seized" by the Chlouvānem during the early 7th millennium occupation of Kátra, a Nordûlaki colony on Ogúviutón - and with the advent of industrial papermaking they became more and more popular; fountain pens were evolved from them first in Nivaren, and in 6291 (3785<sub>12</sub>) the first fountain pen manufacturer in the Inquisition opened. Ballpoint pens are, on Calémere, a much recent invention, and first appeared in the Inquisition about forty years ago. They are still not used as much as fountain pens when writing on normal paper.<br/>
Today, pens (''titeh'', pl. ''tityai'') are the main writing tool together with graphite pencils (''bauteh'', pl. ''bautyai''). Non-refillable dip pens were the first to be introduced - an Evandorian invention that was "seized" by the Chlouvānem during the early 7th millennium occupation of Kátra, a Nordûlaki colony on Ovítioná - and with the advent of industrial papermaking they became more and more popular; fountain pens were evolved from them first in Nivaren, and in 6291 (3785<sub>12</sub>) the first fountain pen manufacturer in the Inquisition opened. Ballpoint pens are, on Calémere, a much recent invention, and first appeared in the Inquisition about forty years ago. They are still not used as much as fountain pens when writing on normal paper.<br/>
The traditional ''ħålkai'' and ''lattai'' have not disappeared, as both are still found and used - even if only with traditional handmade paper. Both are commonly used for calligraphy as well as in various other uses: for example, [[w:Banzuke|banzuke]] papers for tournaments of most traditional sports are carefully handwritten with reed pens, as are many announcements by local temples (written with either reed pens or brushes); a newer type of brush pen (much like Japanese [[w:Fudepen|fudepen]]s) has proven to be particularly popular even in everyday use (both with traditional and modern industrial paper) in the Jade Coast area - many Great Inquisitors from there, including incumbent Hæliyǣšavi Dhṛṣṭāvāyah ''Lairē'', have been seen writing official document with such kind of pens.
The traditional ''ħålkai'' and ''lattai'' have not disappeared, as both are still found and used - even if only with traditional handmade paper. Both are commonly used for calligraphy as well as in various other uses: for example, [[w:Banzuke|banzuke]] papers for tournaments of most traditional sports are carefully handwritten with reed pens, as are many announcements by local temples (written with either reed pens or brushes); a newer type of brush pen (much like Japanese [[w:Fudepen|fudepen]]s) has proven to be particularly popular even in everyday use (both with traditional and modern industrial paper) in the Jade Coast area - many Great Inquisitors from there, including incumbent Hæliyǣšavi Dhṛṣṭāvāyah ''Lairē'', have been seen writing official document with such kind of pens.


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==Morphology - Maivāndarāmita==
==Morphology - Maivāndarāmita==
 
: ''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Morphology|Chlouvānem morphology]]''
''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Morphology|Chlouvānem morphology]]''


Chlouvānem morphology (''maivāndarāmita'') is complex and synthetic, with a large number of inflections. Five parts of speech are traditionally distinguished: nouns, verbs, pronouns, numerals, and particles.<br/>
Chlouvānem morphology (''maivāndarāmita'') is complex and synthetic, with a large number of inflections. Five parts of speech are traditionally distinguished: nouns, verbs, pronouns, numerals, and particles.<br/>
Most inflections are suffixes, with stem-internal vowel apophony also playing a role. Prefixing inflections are almost exclusively reduplications, though there is a large number of derivational prefixes which play a major role in the language.
Most inflections are suffixes, with stem-internal vowel apophony also playing a role. Prefixing inflections are almost exclusively reduplications, though there is a large number of derivational prefixes which play a major role in the language.


==Syntax==
==Syntax - Kilendarāmita==
===Constituent order===
: ''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Syntax|Chlouvānem syntax]]''
Like most other Lahob languages, the preferred word order in Chlouvānem is SOV, and the language is almost completely head-final. The word order could however be better defined as ''topic-comment'', but in less common styles it is perfectly possible, thanks to case inflections, to greatly deviate from this standard order.<br/>
Note that Chlouvānem terminology typically distinguishes topics as ''aplidra caṃginutas'' vs. ''gu aplidra caṃginutas'' (or also ''tadgerenei aplidra caṃginutas'' or ''daradhāve aplidra caṃginutas''), translated here as "explicit topic" and "unmarked topic" (or "voice-marked topic" or "verb-marked topic") respectively. Explicit topic (''aplidra caṃginutas'') is understood as a topic marked by the particle ''mæn''.


The '''subject''' - whatever agrees with the verb - is usually the topic, but there can be an explicit topic which gets precedence on the subject (i.e. the "unmarked topic" triggered by the verb), as in the third of the following examples:
Chlouvānem is a mostly [[w:Synthetic language|synthetic]], [[w:Topic-prominent language|topic-prominent]], and almost exclusively head-final language. It has an [[w:Austronesian alignment|Austronesian-type morphosyntactic alignment]] and a topic-comment word order, with OSV or SOV syntax being chosen according to how the topic itself is marked.
* ''yąloe lį ulguta'' - The food has been bought by me. (food.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. buy.<small>PERF</small>-<small>3SG.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>.)
* ''lili yąlenu ulgutaṃte'' - I have bought food. (<small>1SG.DIR</small>. food-<small>ACC.SG</small>. buy.<small>PERF</small>-<small>1SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>.)
* ''liliā ñæltah mæn yąloe lį ulguta'' - My sister, I bought the food [for her]. (<small>1SG.GEN</small>. sister.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. food.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. buy.<small>PERF</small>-<small>3SG.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>.)


The ''topic-comment'' structure of Chlouvānem sentences is an analysis that derives from the fact that, in normal speech, the subject always comes first in the sentence except for unmarked topics, or temporal complements topicalized through word order, as in:
==Vocabulary==
: ''flære prājamne lili lārvājuṣom pīdhvu.''
Due to the history and the present status of Chlouvānem, its vocabulary draws from a wide range of sources and is characterized by a large number of geosynonyms, a consequence of its role as a Dachsprache on a very large area with many different historical substrata and vernaculars.
: yesterday. evening-<small>LOC.SG</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. temple-<small>DAT.SG</small>. go.<small>MULTIDIR.PAST-IND.1S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>.
: Yesterday [in the] evening I went to the temple.
 
====Use of the topic====
The '''topic''' is explicitely marked with ''mæn'' if it does not coincide with the subject and does not have any syntactical role in the sentence. Some common structures where explicit topics are always used rank among the most basic sentences:
* ''lili mæn māmimojendeh liven'' "I am 21 (19<sub>12</sub>, Chlouvānem age)/20 years old (English age)"<ref>Chlouvānem age reckoning counts the number of the ongoing year, not how many years have passed - thus a newborn is in its first year, and a 20-years-old is in its twenty-first year.</ref>, glossed: <small>1SG.DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. nineteenth<sub>12</sub>.<small>DIR.SG</small>. go.<small>MONODIR-IND.PRES.3S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>.
* ''lili mæn ñæltion jali'' "I have two sisters", glossed <small>1SG.DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. sister-<small>DIR.DUAL</small>. be-<small>IND.PRES.3D.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>. — the verb "to have" is always translated by this construction.
* ''lili mæn kite dvārmi tītya [jali]'' "in my house there are eight rooms", glossed <small>1SG.DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. house-<small>LOC.SG</small>. room-<small>.GEN.SG</small>. eight. [be-<small>IND.PRES.3P.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>.]
 
Two different topics are also commonly used in contrasts:
* ''rūdakis mæn tadadrā lili mæn yąlē'' "[my] husband has cooked, but I eat" - husband.<small>DIR.SG</small>.<small>TOPIC</small>. prepare<small>.IND.PERF.3S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. eat-<small>IND.PRES.1S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>. <br/>Note how neither "husband" nor "I" agree with the verbs, and note how different formulations change meanings:
** ''rūdakis mæn tēt tadadrā lili mæn yąlē'' - main interpretation: "as for the husband, he [=someone else, could be the husband's husband] has cooked for him, but it is me who eats" // other possible interpretation: "as for the husband, he [=as before] has cooked him, but it is me who eats / and I eat him [=either of them]".
** ''rūdakis mæn tadadrā sama lili yąlute'' "[my] husband has cooked, and I eat" - unlike in the sentence where "lili" is the topic, here it's explicit that the husband cooked for the speaker. The sentence ''lili mæn rūdakei tadadrā sama yąlute'' may be interpreted with the same meaning, but the topics are different: with the previous one, the conversation is supposed to continue about the husband; in the second one, it's all about the speaker. Note that the agent-trigger voice in the second verb is of vital importance: the sentence ''lili mæn rūdakei tadadrā sama yąlu'' means "it is me my husband has cooked, and [now] he eats me".
*** Another possible interpretation of ''lili mæn rūdakei tadadrā sama yąlute'' is "[my] husband has cooked for me, and now I eat", which is the same as ''lili rūdakei takædadrā sama yąlute'', but the latter is a plain neutral statement.
 
Topics also mark context: as a good example, the Chlouvānem translation of Schleicher's fable begins as: ''yanekai mæn bhadvęs udvī emibe voltām mišekte, ūtarnire cūllu khuliu, sūrṣire ūtrau dumbhivu no, lilu kimęe dumbhivu no''. Here "horses" is the topic and has no syntactical role in the sentence, as the subject is the agent ''voltām'' (sheep) and the three objects are the patients ''khulias'' (the pulling one) and two different ''dumbhivas'' (the carrying one). The topic makes it clear that these latter are nouns referring to horses - it would still be grammatical to use [...] ''khuliu yaneku, sūrṣire ūtrau dumbhivu yaneku no, lilu kimęe dumbhivu yaneku no'', but the sentence would sound strange to Chlouvānem ears - compare the possible English translation "[...] a sheep saw one horse that was pulling a heavy wagon, one horse that was carrying a big load, and one horse that was carrying a man quickly".
 
As such, topics usually avoid repetition and anaphora, acting much like folders where different paper sheets (= the sentences) are contained, e.g. ''nāmñē mæn švai chlǣvānumi maichleyutei, jariāmaile lilah, soramiya mušigērisilīm tora bu sama ñikumi viṣam haloe līlas vi. nenēhu līlasuṃghāṇa ga camimarti haloe gṇyāvire'' - "talking about nāmñai<ref>A kind of tropical seal, iconic and sacred in Chlouvānem culture.</ref>, [they're] animals of the Southern [part of the] Chlouvānem lands, [they] live in seawater but sometimes [they can be found] in tidal lakes too, and another name for [their] cubs is "līlas". From this [name] comes the name of the capital, Līlasuṃghāṇa."
 
Finally, certain sentences act as answers for different questions due to different implications depending on whether there's an explicit topic or not:
* ''lili mæn lunai tadarē'' "I'm preparing tea", topicalized, clearly answers a question like ''yananū ejulā darire?'' "what's going on here?".
* ''lili lunāyu tatedaru'' "I'm preparing tea" answers ''yavita lunāyu tatedarē?'' "who is preparing tea?", with the meaning of "no one but me is preparing tea".
* With a question like ''yananū sąi darē?'' "what are you doing?", both become synonyms as they introduce the new topic ''lili'' (due to the previous one being ''yananū?'' because of patient-trigger voice); the same question in agent-trigger voice, ''sāmi yananūyu darite?'', would be answered with the non-topicalized form.
 
====Definiteness====
A topicalized argument, whether explicitely marked (i.e. with ''mæn'') or not, is always understood to be definite. On the contrary, this is not the case for non-topic arguments, whose definiteness, in most cases, has to be understood by context (obviously, this does not apply to words that are semantically definite - e.g. pronouns or proper names).<br/>
Common strategies to mark definiteness are:
* Simply adding information to the word (e.g. ''luvai'' "(a) market" → ''saṃryojyami lātimi ubgire ṣarivāṃluvai'' "the state department store on the approach to central Saṃryojyam"). Again, some ambiguity may still remain;
* Using a determiner - distal ''nanā'' "that" is perhaps the most common definiteness marker to resolve ambiguity;
* Explicitely topicalizing the ambiguous argument (not always possible);
* A different solution is to mark indefiniteness: this is commonly done by using either ''emibe'' "one" or, in colloquial speech, ''sorasmā'' "some kind of".
 
Chlouvānem as spoken in the area around the mid-course of the Lāmiejāya river (the central Plain: roughly the whole of the diocese of Raharjātia, most of Jolenītra, Daikatorāma, Vādhātorama, and Namapleta, and parts of Mūrajātana, Perelkaša, Ryogiñjātia and far northern Sendakārva) does have a definite article used with non-topicalized arguments, which is actually the repurposed archaic demonstrative ''ami'' (still used as "this" in Archaic Chlouvānem). It declines for case, but not number, mostly following the pronoun declension (that is, exactly as ''tami'' without the initial ''t-'' except for the accusative (''amu'') and ergative (''amye'')).
 
===Noun phrase===
====Non-triggered arguments====
Non-triggered arguments require a specific case to distinguish their role when they're not triggered by the voice:
* ''Patient'' → <small>(transitive verbs)</small> accusative case; <small>(intransitive and interior verbs)</small> essive case
* ''Agent'' → ergative case
* ''Benefacted'' → direct + '''nali'''
* ''Antibenefacted'' → direct + '''fras'''
* ''Location'' → locative case
* ''Instrument'' → instrumental case
* ''Dative argument'' → dative case


====Stative cases as nominal tense====
The percentages of various sources depend on the definition, particularly for what concerns the Lahob stock. If roots are counted, Lahob-inherited roots may be as low as 30 to 35% of the total vocabulary, but Lahob vocabulary constitutes a much higher percentage due to the very high productivity of verbal roots (mostly of Lahob origin) with the various derivational prefixes and suffixes.<br/>
The three stative cases of Chlouvānem (translative, exessive, essive) express nominal tense in certain situations, most notably in copulative sentence, where the translative case conveys a future meaning and the exessive a past one:
Non-Lahob roots are traditionally classified in the following way, depending on their geographical origin:
* ''lili rahēllilan'' — I am a will-be-doctor = I am studying in order to become a doctor
* Words from pre-Inquisitorial indigenous languages of the Plain and of the Jade Coast (''dhoyi olelų maivai''), most of them sparsely attested such as Ancient Yodhvāsi, Tamukāyi, Laiputaši, Old Kāṃradeši, and Aṣasṝkhami. possibly forming the majority of roots. Early Chlouvānem, soon after the Ur-Chlouvānem settled in the lower Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, was enriched by a very large number of roots taken from local languages. Such words are found in all semantic fields, and are particularly numerous in words for the family, plants, animals, and the earliest artifacts and practices of settled civilization.
* ''liliā kaleya mæn gu ninejñairau ša nanū aveṣyotārire lallāmahan camimurkadhānan gīti'' — as for my best friend<ref>''kaleya'' actually is a "spiritual friend", which has a religiously charged meaning</ref>, I could not believe it, that she was the Great Inquisitor-elect <small>(note the use of the highly respectful (not translated) formula "Her Most Excellent Highness, the Great Inquisitor")</small>.
* Lällshag words (''lælšñenīs maivai'') – divided in two large groups, that is, words that were borrowed from Lällshag in ancient times, pertaining to many semantic fields but mostly early technology (the Lällshag people were the first urban civilization in that area of the world) or used as more formal, higher-styled alternatives to Lahob or pre-Chlouvānem words; and a second group of modern scientific vocabulary that has been being coined since the start of the modern era from Lällshag roots; these often show more semantical drift, as they are often borrowed in more abstract or specific senses.
* ''tami tamiāt šulañšenat'' — he is her former husband.
* Southern, Far Eastern, Toyubeshian, and Dabuke words (''maichleyuñcų lallanaleiyuñcų no tayubešenīs no dabukyenīs no maivai'') – that is, words taken from the languages of the territories of the first millennium of expansion of the Chlouvānem world. They mostly relate to natural and cultural features of those territories, with Toyubeshian words being particularly important because they form most of the Chlouvānem words relating to a temperate climate area; whatever proto-Lahob roots that had survived the Ur-Chlouvānem migrations were mostly readapted to the tropical climate they had settled in; as a striking example, the Chlouvānem terms for the four main temperate seasons are all Toyubeshian borrowings.
* Skyrdegan words (''ṣurṭāgyenīs maivai'') – the Skyrdegan civilization was the first one too large and strong to be fully Chlouvānemized, and the languages of the Chlouvānem and Skyrdegan people have, for the last eight hundred years, exchanged words for their habitats (tropical to equatorial for the Chlouvānem; temperate to subpolar for the Skyrdegan) and all new discoveries in their cultural spheres; this keeps happening today, with the Skyrdegan countries being politically more open than the Inquisition and many Western cultural concepts reaching the Inquisition only through Skyrdegan mediation. The few words of Bronic and Qualdomelic origin are usually added to this group, despite the very different history (Brono and Qualdomailor were historically minor, less influential countries, whose present identity has been thoroughly influenced by the Chlouvānem spreading the Yunyalīlti faith among them).<br/>Words from Old Hålvarami are sometimes counted in this group, despite Old Hålvarami being a Fargulyn language related to Skyrdagor but from a different branch; the reason is that Old Hålvarami initially mediated the contact between the Chlouvānem and the Skyrdegan worlds, resulting in borrowings such as most notably ''ṣurṭāgah'' "Skyrdagor" (borrowed from Skyrdagor into Pre-Old Hålvarami and then into Chlouvānem) and ''pāṣratis'' (Calémerian cannabis plant).
* "Discovery-era" words (''tatalunyavyāṣi maivai'') – words from the age of overseas discoveries<ref>It is not proper to speak of "colonization age" for the Chlouvānem; unlike the Western world, Chlouvānem countries (and mostly the Lūlunimarti Republic) had a very small overseas colonial presence, and mostly concentrated in some areas of western Ovítioná. In other continents (and mostly eastern Védren, Fárásen, and Queáten only), Chlouvānem presence was basically limited to a few coastal trade stations.</ref>, that is, related to flora, fauna, and cultures of continents new to the Chlouvānem; many of them have become in common use due to crops being now cultivated on the Inquisition's territory.
** Western words (''yacvāni maivai'') – a subset of Discovery-era words, including those that have their origins in the more technologically advanced civilizations of Evandor, the Spocian cultural sphere of northern Védren, and the Nâdja- and Kenengyry-speaking world. This is overall a small group, but includes many modern international words. A particularly notable category is the one of borrowings from Kenengyry languages, especially [[Soenjoan]] and [[Kuyugwazian]], first entering urban slang (as Kaiṣamā-era settlement of Kenengyry people in the Inquisition often made them a notable urban minority in most large cities of the Inquisition), then spreading to the standard language with words such as ''najūba'' "(romantic) date", ''tuyiba'' "hoodie", or ''calghyula'' "circle of friends".<br/>As for words actually originating in the West (Evandor and Evandorian colonies), a large number of them, particularly for the earliest ones, come from [[Auralian]], as Auralia was the first Western nation the Chlouvānem had fairly regular contacts with<ref>Such terms include food, such as ''ṣryūvas'' "pomegranate" (Aur. ''sryuf''), ''braṇyājas'' "sweet bite-sized pastries" (Aur. ''brenayyaz''), or ''taħivkam'' "cold cuts" (most commonly head cheese) (Aur. ''taḥifket'' "ham", originally borrowed as the plurale tantum ''taħivkāt'', from which the singular form was developed by analogy); Western elements such as ''arṭīlas'' (Asèl, the Aselist deity; Aur. ''Arṣil''); and miscellaneous stuff such as ''jabræktas'' "cigarette" (Aur. ''zbrekt'' "tobacco") or ''lyoca'' "(recreational) drug" (from earlier ''berlyotsas'', from (today obsolete) Aur. ''brilyuts'', originally "alcohol", particularly the one drunk by sailors).</ref>. Nordûlaki and, especially, Cerian borrowings are much more recent, though the prevalence of Cerian as modern Calémere's main lingua franca, only rivalled by Chlouvānem itself, has led many toponyms in Chlouvānem to be adaptations of the Cerian names.


The expression of tense is also notable when the expression of state refers to a cause; this is particularly common with the exessive and essive cases:
===Honorific speech===
* ''saminat tamiā ḍhuvah'' — having been a child <small>(lit. "as a former child", "from being a child")</small>, (s)he remembers that.
Politeness is lexically encoded in Chlouvānem through means of different honorific terms that are used depending on the listener. Most often, that means that there is a neutral or humble term for the speaker's side and a more respectful term for the listener's side: one area where this is very common is about body parts.
* ''lūlunimartyęs nunūt dældāt tarliru'' — being from Lūlunimarta, I understand that language. Note that ''nunūt dældāt'' here is exessive case but only because it's an argument of the verb ''tṛlake'', without implying tense.
* ''bunān samin pa maišildete'' — as he's going to be a father <small>(lit. "as a will-be-father")</small>, he's learning about children.
Note that, tense is relative to the main verb.


====Miscellaneous uses of cases====
It is of great anthropological and historical interest how very often, for nouns, the higher register term is of Lahob origin, having cognates in most (if not all) other languages of the family, while the lower terms (i.e. the neutral or humble ones) are typically non-Lahob, from other indigenous languages of the Plain. This is consistent with Chlouvānem having been, in the centuries right after the Chlamiṣvatrā's lifetime, the local lingua franca and possessing a higher, and sacred, status.
'''Purpose''' may be expressed not only with a subjunctive verb, but also with either a translative or a dative noun.<br/>
Translative case is used generally with a purpose directly affecting the trigger:
: '''''murkadhānan''' kaminairīveyu.'' "I am studying [in order to become] an Inquisitor."
: ''tąsь lā '''nadaidanan''' peithegde.'' "(s)he is going out with him/her to get to know him/her."
Dative case is used generally when the purpose is something else, or is the result of a subsequent (unstated) action:
: ''maivnaviṣye '''maivasām''' khloyute.'' "I am searching in the dictionary [in order to find] the words."
: ''kǣɂūvai '''mayābyom''' rāmiāhai.'' "Plums are harvested for wine." (Wine is not the direct result of harvesting, thus dative is used instead of translative).


'''Ablative case''' is used in order to state comparisons:
Verbs show a similar distinction, though with many verbs the humble and the neutral forms are the same. In many cases, if a verb has a respectful equivalent then each derived form can be made respectful by switching the root verb (e.g. ''muṣke'', ''paṣmuṣke'' "to ask"; "to interrogate" → respectful forms ''pṛdhake'', ''paṣpṛdhake''). For nouns this varies, but as a general rule all profession-related nouns are always made with ''lila'' and never with ''emmā'' or ''imati''.
: ''dāneh '''dulmaidanų''' nanū lalla.'' "Dāneh is taller than Dulmaidana."
: ''naniā ñæltah '''tąu''' chlǣcæm pūnē.'' "Your sister works better than him/her."
: ''nenē naviṣya '''yaivų''' nanū ñæñuchlire.'' "This book is the most beautiful." (literally "more beautiful than all")


It is also used as reason when it's an abstract noun:
{| class="redtable lightredbg" style="text-align: center;"
: '''''kairų''' hånyadaikirek.'' "(s)he was happy for love."
|+ Most common terms with honorific speech alternatives <small>(in Latin alphabetical order)</small>
: '''''maidaudių''' ḍūkirek.'' "(s)he died because of his/her ambition."
 
'''Possession''' may be also expressed with the genitive case (topic marking is the most common way, but in some cases this may be needed syntactically; there is a verb ''cārake'' translating as "to have, possess", but it's fairly literary and high-styled). "To be" may or may not be present:
: '''''kvyāti''' giṣṭarire lalāruṇa (vi)'' "The hero has a young lalāruṇa." (literally "of the hero is the young lalāruṇa (the lalāruṇa that is young)")
: '''''pogi''' gu cūllanagdha'' "My village does not have a velodrome." (literally "of my village is no velodrome")
 
===Verb phrase===
====Use of tenses: Past vs. Perfect====
Past and perfect are the two Chlouvānem (morphological) tenses that are used to refer to past actions. Their meanings may be summarized this way:
* The '''past tense''' always refers to the ''past'', but it isn’t always ''perfective'';
* The '''perfect “tense”''' is always ''perfective'', but it isn’t always ''past'' - and when it does, it has an ''impact on the present''.
 
These theoretical meanings may be translated into practice as this: the '''past''' is most commonly used to express something that happened in the past and does not influence the present, or it is not meaningful to the time of the action.
: ''tammikeika lære lį yųlekrā.''
: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTERIOR-LOC</small>.
: Yesterday I ate at the station.
 
: ''palias jāyim junirek.''
: face.<small>DIR.SG</small>. girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. paint-<small>IND.PAST.3S.INTERIOR</small>.
: The girl painted her [own] face.
 
In an appropriate context, however, the same verb form can carry an imperfective meaning:
: ''tammikeika lære lį yųlekrā væse : nanā tammi tadāmek.''
: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTERIOR-LOC</small>. while. , that.<small>DIR</small>. train.<small>DIR.SG</small>. arrive-<small>IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>
: Yesterday I ate at the station.
 
: ''jāyim mæn palias junirek : ni nenichladirya meinei muṣkemālchek.''
: girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. face.<small>DIR.SG</small>. paint-<small>IND.PAST.3S.INTERIOR</small>. , but. hurry-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.INTERIOR</small>. mother-<small>ERG.SG</small>. ask-<small>INF</small>-run.<small>MULTID-IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
: The girl was painting her [own] face, but her mother kept asking her to hurry.
 
Generally this imperfective meaning is assumed by other words in the sentence, usually ''væse'' (while), but commonly also ''mbu'' (but) with a related sentence understood to be imperfective. Out of context, imperfective past is usually expressed with an analytic construction:
: ''tammikeika lære lį yųlīrā lā ē.''
: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.EXTERIOR-LOC</small>. with. be.<small>IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
: Yesterday I was eating at the station.
 
The main use of the '''perfect''' is expressing something that happened in the past but is still impacting the present; this is a difference very similar to the one between simple past and present perfect in English, and as such the perfect is usually translated that way. Compare, for example:
: ''palias jāyim junirek'' - “the girl painted her [own] face”. Past tense here expresses a generic action: the girl may have painted her face ten years or five minutes ago, but that is irrelevant to the situation. In this particular sentence, the girl’s face may be understood to have now been cleaned, or that she may have cleaned and painted her face again many times - but, actually, whether she did or didn’t is now irrelevant. The actual time when she did it only becomes relevant if it is expressed (e.g. ''palias jāyim flære junirek'' “the girl painted her [own] face yesterday”) and then it is understood that her face isn’t painted anymore.
: ''palias jāyim ujunirā'' - “the girl has painted her [own] face”. Perfect “tense” here focusses not on the action, but on its result. The girl finished painting her face, and it may be seen that her face is still painted - when she did is still irrelevant, but it happened sufficiently close in time that the result of that action may still be seen.
 
The Chlouvānem perfect, however, has a broader use than the English one, compare:
: ''lære dašajildek'' - “yesterday it rained”. Past tense, implied meaning is that there’s nothing that may indicate that yesterday it rained, or it doesn’t influence the speaker in any way.
: ''lære dašejilda'' - *yesterday it has rained. Perfect tense; while wrong in English, this construction is possible - and, in fact, is frequently heard - though it often only makes sense in a broader context. For example, in a sentence like “yesterday it rained and the path collapsed, so we [two] can’t walk there”, English uses both times a simple past, while Chlouvānem uses the perfect, as the path is still not walkable due to the rain: ''lære menni dašejilda līlta viṣustura no, āñjulā gu pepeithnāyǣ ša''.
 
Note that the “impact on the present” meaning and the use of evidentials are independent from each other. Using a first inferential, for example, does not change the implications given by the use of perfect or past, though the actual interpretation is often heavily dependent from context:
: ''palias jāyim junianerire'' - “apparently, the girl painted her [own] face”. Past tense: it can be assumed that the girl painted her own face sometime in the past; e.g. the girl is now painting her face, and given the way she does it, it’s reasonable to believe it’s not her first time.
: ''palias jāyim ujunianerirā'' - “apparently, the girl has painted her [own] face”. Perfect “tense”: it can be assumed that the girl now has a painted face, but the speaker has not seen her; e.g. in her room there are face painting colours open or that look like they’ve been recently used.
Second inferential changes the speaker’s deduction, but not the implications given by tenses:
: ''palias jāyim junianuyere'' - “apparently, the girl painted her [own] face, but probably didn’t”. Past tense: as before, but while she, or something she did, had made the speaker believe she had already painted her face at least once in the past, the way she’s doing it makes think that she probably never did.
: ''palias jāyim ujunianuyerā'' - “apparently, the girl has painted her [own] face, but probably didn’t”. Perfect “tense”: as before; highly dependent on context. For example, there are face painting colours out of place, but it’s unlikely she did paint her face - e.g. it may not be a logical time to do it, or too little colour seems to have been used.
 
The Chlouvānem perfect is however also used where English would use ''past perfect'' or ''future perfect'', as the “impact on the present” is understood to be on the time the main action in the sentence takes place, thus something that happened earlier is considered to have an impact on it:
: ''tammikeika lære lį uyųlarā, utiya nanā tammi tadāmek''.
: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. yesterday. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTERIOR-LOC</small>. , then. that.<small>DIR</small>. train.<small>DIR.SG</small>. arrive-<small>IND.PAST.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
: I had [already] eaten at the station yesterday when the train arrived.
 
: ''tammikeika lį uyųlarā, utiya nanā tammi tafluniṣya.''
: train_station.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. eat-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTERIOR-LOC</small>. , then. that.<small>DIR</small>. train.<small>DIR.SG</small>. arrive-<small>IND.FUT.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
: I will have [already] eaten at the station when the train arrives.
 
Note that in the latter example, English uses future perfect and present simple respectively, while Chlouvānem uses perfect and future; the future in the second clause is necessary to give the future perfect meaning to the first one.<br/>
Still, note that out of context both pluperfect and future perfect may be expressed analytically, by using the perfective subjunctive plus ''lā'' (with) and the past or future tense of ''gyake'' (to be).
 
A notable exception to this use is with so-called “chained actions”, when the second one is a direct consequence of the first and the first one is usually still ongoing; the second one is therefore only a momentane happening inside the broader context of the first, and thus the choice between present and past is once again dependent on the impact on the present. Note that in such cases the two verbs are usually connected with ''no'' instead of ''sama''. Compare:
: ''dašajildek līlta vīkṣṭāṭ no'' - “it rained, and the path collapsed”. Past tense: the path has since been repaired and it is walkable.
: ''dašejilda līlta viṣustura no'' - “it has rained, and the path has collapsed”. Perfect “tense”: the path is not walkable due to it having collapsed.
 
Both the past and the perfect can be frequentative:
: ''marte mīmišviyek kite lįnek no'' - "(s)he kept being seen in the city, and [therefore] remained at home" ((s)he has since gone out of home).
: ''marte memīšveya kite ilįna no'' - "(s)he has kept being seen in the city, and [therefore] she has remained at home" (actual meaning dependent on a broader context, e.g. ''āñjulā tatantefuflonaiṣyes'' "you can find him/her there" (potential agent-trigger future of ''tatatflulke'' (''ta-tad-flun-'') "to find")).
 
In narrative, it is common to use the perfect for a completed action and the (aspectless) past for an action that begins immediately after (examples taken from the excerpt "[[#A_festive_day|A festive day]]", among the example texts on this page):
: ''naina mæn ~ dvārmom nañamṛca kautepuglek'' - "Naina ran<sub>PERF</sub> into the room [and] woke [us] up<sub>PAST</sub>"
: ''hālkenīs yanomųvima keikom namṛcñāja'' - "we jumped out<sub>PERF</sub> of the beds [and] ran<sub>PAST</sub> into the yard"
: ''tainā mæn yanelīsa pārṇami nacu ilakakte nainęs lā ħuldek'' - "Tainā came out<sub>PERF</sub> [of the washing room], got dressed<sub>PERF</sub> for the day, [and] played<sub>PAST</sub> with Naina"
Compare this other example from the same text where the last two verbs are both in the past because they're ''contemporaneous actions'':
: ''nilāmulka mæn maildvārmom nañelīsa tainā lili no ṣveye primirtaram ñumirlam'' - "Nilāmulka entered<sub>PERF</sub> the washing room [and] me and Tainā sit<sub>PAST</sub> behind the wall [and] waited<sub>PAST</sub>"
 
====The optative mood====
The Chlouvānem optative has two main uses: as an expression for wishes (in exclamations), and as a form roughly corresponding to the English verbs "should" and "ought to". Due to these meanings, it is also a common form of polite imperative.
 
The use of optative forms, given this explanation, is fairly clear; some examples follow.
: ''tami paṣalīlūye!'' "may (s)he survive!"
: ''pū glidemæh āñjulā joyau!'' "if only I had been there!"
: ''samin nanǣ dvārme gu natiauyāhai ša.'' "the kids shouldn't stay in that room."
: ''yąlenų ānat kārvātiu valdånьdrūyi.'' "after a meal you ought to burn <small>(lit. "to turn on")</small> incense<ref>Burning incense after meals is a common tradition across most of the Chlouvānem world.</ref>."
: ''lālis yacē nami, tamirtantilūyīldri.'' "please sit down."
 
====The subjunctive mood====
The subjunctive mood has a variety of uses, most commonly when followed or introduced by a certain particle. The bare subjunctive, however, has a supine meaning:
: ''šuteitieldā, yaivei tamišī.'' "it has been put there for everybody to look at it."
: ''luvāmom dāmek yambrānu lgutētte.'' "(s)he went to the market to buy pears."
Some verbs, such as ''nīdhyuɂake'' (to call for), usually require the subjunctive:
: ''nītedhyuɂek karthāgo bīdrī.'' "(s)he called for Carthage to be destroyed."
The verbs for "to study" (''pāṭṭaruke'', ''pāṭṭarudṛke'', ''kaminairīveke'') and "to learn" (interior forms of ''mišake''; ''nairīveke'') only need a supine-meaning subjunctive when they mean "in order to know something, in order to be able to". With the meaning "in order to become something", a noun in translative case is used:
: ''ħildenī āndṛke munati ejulā kaminairīveyu.'' "I study here in order to be able to create games."
: ''ħildenāndarlilan kaminairīveyu.'' "I study in order to become a game creator."
 
Verbs like ''lelke'' (to choose <small>(stem: ''len-'')</small>), its synonym ''vāgdulke'' <small>(''vād-kul-'')</small>, or ''mulke'' (to know how to <small>(stem: ''mun-'', highest grade ablaut in the present)</small> can use invariably the subjunctive or the infinitive; usually, the subjunctive is used when there is a stated subject that is different from an impersonal phrase:
: ''tami jilde maunalieh.'' "we know how to do it."
: ''yakaliyātamei āndrī elena.'' "it has been chosen to have it built by Your honorable company."
: ''tami šubīdṛke lenanājate.'' "we decided to tear it down."
 
====Positional and motion verbs====
''→ See [[Chlouvānem/Positional and motion verbs|Chlouvānem positional and motion verbs]].''
 
Positional and motion verbs are a semantically and syntactically defined category of Chlouvānem verbs that constitutes one of the most complex parts overall of Chlouvānem grammar, with similar (though often more simplified with time) in all other Lahob languages; the Chlouvānem system is essentially the same as the one reconstructed for Proto-Lahob.
 
Positional verbs (''jalyadaradhūs'', pl. ''jalyadaradhaus'') translate verbs such as "to stay", "to be seated", and "to lie", (as well as their middle and causative forms) with prefixes that are semantically comparable to English prepositions. Motion verbs are more similar to English, being satellite-framed (the satellite, in the Chlouvānem case, being the prefix), but there is an added complexity because motion verbs can be ''monodirectional'' (''tūtugirdaradhūs'', ''-aus'') or ''multidirectional'' (''tailьgirdaradhūs'', ''-aus''), and most verbs come in pairs, each member of a pair being used in different contexts.
<!-- ====Origin prefixes====
Positional prefixes are used with motion verbs in order to more specifically state direction; as they get a directional meaning, most of these prefixes also have a corresponding origin prefix:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! "Lative" prefix !! "Ablative" prefix !! Meaning
! English !! Humble<br/><small>(''nīnamaiva'' or ''emmāmaiva'')</small> !! Neutral<br/><small>(''nūṣṭhamaiva'' or ''lilamaiva'')</small> !! Respectful<br/><small>(''imatimaiva'')</small>
|-
|-
| ta- || tų- || Generic direction
! advice, tip, suggestion
| titta || colspan=2 | smārṣas
|-
|-
| ān- || yana- || Above
! to ask
| rowspan=2 | yacce<br/><small>(''yacē, icek, iyaca'')</small><br/><small>(also ''yaccechlašake'')</small> || muṣke<br/><small>(''miṣē, muṣek, umuṣa'')</small> || pṛdhake<br/><small>(''pardhē, pṛdhek, apṛdha'')</small>
|-
|-
| šu- || šer- || Under
! to command, order
| spruvyake<br/><small>(''sprovyē, spruvyek, uspruvya'')</small> || hāryaṃdṛke<br/><small>(''hāryaṃdarē, hāryaṃdṛk, hāryaṃdadrā'')</small><br/>spruvyake
|-
|-
| khl- || kelь- || In the middle of, together with
! cup of tea<ref>The humble-neutral form is almost never used (and in fact means "cup with tea"), as ''ñimbha'' is typically found in teahouses' and restaurants' menus, and used by waiters towards customers.</ref>
| colspan=2 |<small>''lunąis lā galtha''</small> || ñimbha
|-
|-
| gin- || ją- || In a group; among
! to do, act, make
| chlašake<br/><small>(''chlašē, chlašek, achlaša'')</small> || colspan=2 | dṛke<br/><small>(''darē, dṛk, dadrā'')</small>
|-
|-
| nī- || ani- || Within inside
! ear
| baɂim || colspan=2 | minnūlya
|-
|-
| ū(b)- || yom- || Near, close
! eye
| ṭaɂika || mešīs<br/>nāhim <small>''(medical)''</small> || mešīs
|-
|-
| bis- || bara- || Far
! father
| colspan=2 | bunā || tāmvāram
|-
|-
| tad- || tasi- || Attached to; on an animal
! food
| colspan=2 | yųlgis || enekīh
|-
|-
| įs- || hos- || Hanging
! foot
| kilka || colspan=2 | junai
|-
|-
| na(ñ)- || neni- || Inside
! gift
| comboe<br/><small>''the speaker receives''</small> || yauṭoe || dvyauṇoe<br/><small>''the listener, or respected third party, receives''</small>
|-
|-
| kau- || kuvi- || Outside
! to give
| colspan=2 | męlike<br/><small>''(męlyē, męlik, emęlya)''</small> || naiṣake<br/><small>''(naiṣē, naiṣek, anaiṣa)''</small>
|-
|-
| viṣ- || vyeṣa- || Opposite; somewhere else
! hand
| tassa || colspan=2 | dhāna
|-
|-
| kami- || kįla- || Around
! husband
| snūṣṭras || colspan=2 | šulañšoe
|-
|-
| prь- || paro- || Behind
! leg
| miṇṭha || colspan=2 | pājya
|-
|-
| mai- || mīram- || In front of
! to meet
| colspan=2 | vuryake<br/><small>''(voryē, vuryek, uvurya)''</small> || naimake<br/><small>''(naimē, naimek, anaima)''</small>
|-
|-
| vai- || vea- || In a corner
! meeting, encounter
| colspan=2 | voryanah || naimoe
|-
|-
| sāṭ- || ṣlū- || Next to
! mother
| colspan=2 | meinā || nāḍima
|-
|-
| lā(d)- || lo(d)- || In the center
! person
|-
| lila<br/>emmā || lila || imati
| vyā- || veši- || Left
|-
| māha- || mege- || Right
|-
| nalь- || <small>(''vād-'')</small> || Convergent, inwards
|-
| vād- || <small>(''nalь-'')</small> || Divergent, outwards
|-
| be- || ter- || On the surface
|-
| gala- || hali- || Through
|-
| naš- || rowspan=4 | — || Completely, to the end
|-
| paṣ- || Further ahead, beyond
|-
| sam- || Towards the next (object/goal)
|-
| vod- || Avoiding
|}
 
These verbs have a peculiarity, as all prefixes except for ''ta-''/''tų-'' make the verb transitive but with a default “common” voice: that is, the agent-trigger is not marked on the verb and only case makes it clear:
: ''jāyim ñariū āṃliven'' “the girl walks up the mountain” (agent-trigger)
: ''ñariah jāyimei āṃliven'' "the mountain is walked up by the girl" (patient-trigger)
Other examples are:
: ''jñūm priliven'' "someone goes behind the tree" (lit. *the tree is being gone behind)
: ''lālia ñæltah kitu yomfluṃsusah'' "my sister is approaching from home"
 
When there is a prefix expressing relative position and one expressing direction, the most important one is always the one closest to the root; the other one (usually the relative position) is normally expressed with the appropriate case, as in the verb ''vodūmṛcce'' "to run nearer (to something) while avoiding (something else)":
: ''sāmiā kita nanāt ūnimat vodūbamṛca'' "your house has been approached by running while avoiding that street".
 
Arguments usually change from the non-prefixed forms: for example ''vaske'' (to drive) is transitive and its patient is the means of transport, while the patient of ''khlavaske'' (to go with [by vehicle]) is the person with whom the agent goes.
 
''ta-''/''tes-'' prefixed verbs are always intransitive, and the transitive forms may be done only by deriving an additional applicative verb (usually mainly a stylistic exercise in poetry), as in ''taflulke'' "to arrive (on foot)" → ''nartaflulke'' "to reach (on foot)":
: ''jaṃšom taflå'' "I arrive to the party"
: ''jaṃšā nartaliven'' "the party is [being] reached"
 
=====To wear, put on, take off=====
Chlouvānem does not have a single verb for "to wear", "to put on", or "to take off" when related to clothing: instead, there are seven different verbs depending on the part of the body for "to wear" and "to put on", and seven more (paired with these) for "to take off".<br/>
Despite the apparent complexity of such a system, they are completely regular and built in a logical way, with "lative" prefixes for the wear/put on verb and "ablative" for the take off one:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Clothing type/body part !! To wear/to put on !! To take off !! Related root
|-
| Any clothing bandaged around the body, plus most things worn around the trunk<br/><small>(Most generic verb, but does not cover all other meanings)</small> || kamikyāke || kįlakyāke || ''ukyā'' "trunk"
|-
| Shoes, socks, anything else on the feet and/or ankles || kamijunaike || kįlajunaike || ''junai'' "foot"
|-
| Head and neck <small>(hats, caps, tiaras, necklaces...)</small> || āṃlāṇṭake || yanalāṇṭake || ''lāṇṭam'' "head"
|-
| Hands, wrists <small>(gloves, bracelets...)</small> || kamidhānake || kįladhānake || ''dhāna'' "hand"
|-
| Legs (except bandaged-around clothing that also covers the trunk)<br/>Trousers, pants || nampājike || nenipājike || ''pājya'' "leg"
|-
| Something with (long) sleeves || āṃsnīrṣmake || yanasnīrṣmake || rowspan=2 | ''snīrṣmas'' "blanket"
|-
| Blankets (not worn) || kamisnīrṣmake || kįlasnīrṣmake
|}
 
Note that the sense of "to wear" is most usually translated with patient-trigger voice - e.g. ''pāṇḍire jūnekah tę kamikyāyē'' "(s)he wears white robes" - while "to put on" with agent-trigger voice ''pāṇḍire jūneku kamitekyāyē'' "(s)he puts/is putting on white robes".
 
A few more specific verbs exist, like for example the pair ''kamilāṇṭake''/''kįlalāṇṭake'', used for putting on/taking off a ''lāṇṭepenai'' (colloquially just ''penai''), a kind of net made of Calemerian juta (''lāriṭa'') usually worn by adolescent girls (traditionally it was worn by unmarried women) with "cotton" hair (''bhadvausīs''<ref>Plural only, shaped on ''pārīs'' (hair).</ref>, or how Chlouvānem people call "Afro-textured hair"). -->
 
===Relative clauses===
Chlouvānem relative clauses are nonreduced and work exactly the same way as adjectival verbs do: both clauses are independent, with optionally an ''i'' particle (which combines with the preceding verb) for disambiguation. Time, place, and similar things are expressed with a distal correlative (see the [[Chlouvānem/Morphology#Correlatives|table of correlatives]]).<br/>
The structure is thus as follows:
: ''sēyet nanā jāyim mešē liliā buneya.''
: <small>2S.ERG</small>. that.<small>DIR</small>. girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. see-<small>IND.PRES.3S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>. <small>1S.GEN.</small> older_sister.<small>DIR.SG</small>.
: That girl you see is my older sister.
 
The ''i'' particle may be added after ''mešē'', contracting to ''mešei''.
 
Other examples:
: ''mešute gu tarliru ša''.
: see-<small>IND.PRES.1S.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. <small>NEG</small>- know-<small>IND.PRES.1S.INTERIOR</small>. -<small>NEG</small>.
: I don’t know/understand what I see.
 
: ''liliā ñæltah līlekhaitom tesmudhiṣya ātiya lēyet lairkeikom khlavasiṣya''.
: <small>1S.GEN</small>. sister.<small>DIR.SG</small>. Līlekhaitē-<small>DAT</small>. depart_with_plane-<small>IND.FUT.3S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>. then. <small>1S.ERG</small>. airport-<small>DAT.SG</small>. go_with.<small>IND.FUT.3S.EXTERIOR.PATIENT</small>.
: When my sister takes the plane to Līlekhaitē, I will go with her to the airport.
 
: ''tū kulekte ātmena gu tarliru ša''.
: <small>3S.ACC</small>. say-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. that_reason. <small>NEG</small>- know-<small>IND.PRES.1S.INTERIOR</small>. -<small>NEG</small>.
: I don’t know why (s)he said it.
 
The same strategy is used for attributes — ''kamilire pluta'' "blue bag" or "bag that is blue", including participial-like structures such as the following ones:
 
: ''lilei '''priemęlia''' pluta'' - the bag which has been given back by the person (literally: "by the person it has been given back, the bag")
: ''plutu '''pritēmęlia''' lila'' - the person who has given back the bag
: ''plutu dhurvāneiti '''prikevemęlia''' lila'' - the person for whose benefit the bag has been given back to the police
: ''plutu ītulom '''prituremęlia''' lila'' - the person for whose misfortune the bag has been given back to the thief
: ''håmarṣūvī '''nīpanotē''' pluta'' - the bag in which the keys lie
: ''plutu '''priūsyemęlia''' lila'' - the person who has been given back the bag
: ''plutua demie maihei '''priūsyemęlia''' lila'' - the person who has been given back the bag by his/her own daughter
: ''ītulu lāṇṭaṃrye lilei '''utugamǣ''' pluta'' - the bag with which the thief has been hit on the head by the person
 
Such constructions can also be used where English uses gerundive constructions:
 
: ''plutu demie maihei '''priūsyemęlia''' lila hånyadaikirek.'' - the person, having been given back the bag by his/her own daughter, was happy.
: ''ālīce '''guṃsek''' liliā pamih uyūṭarau rileyekte.'' - my finger, having been cut that way, needed an operation.
: ''panaʔetatimu læmilāṇe arūppumei '''ilakatū''' læmьlila menire pifreṣṭasyiṣya.'' - the driver, being disadvantaged as (his/her) championship rival has taken pole position, will have to take some risks tomorrow.
 
===Conditional sentences===
Conditional sentences in Chlouvānem grammar are those generally introduced by the particle '''pū''', meaning "if". There are two general categories of conditional sentences: real and hypothetical.
 
Real sentences are those where the sentence expresses an implication that is always true. These sentences are generally in the indicative mood; note that in real, just like in hypothetical, sentences, ''mārim'' (then) is optionally used in order to introduce the second clause:
: ''pū nāmvite (mārim) tåh ryukaši.'' "if you hit him/her/it, you hurt him/her/it."
: ''pū yamei naikū lāma udhyuɂeste taluniṣya.'' "if you have called Ms. Naikā, she will come."
 
Hypothetical sentences are those where the result may be or might have been true if the condition gets/would have been fulfilled. There are two main possibilities:

* Present conditions, where the condition either might be fulfilled or just can't at all. They are similar in structure to real sentences with present tense conditions, but, if the condition is fulfillable, they differ in the fact that the condition, is not likely to happen, or is used as a warning. The condition (''pū-clause'') is always in the imperfective subjunctive; the second clause may be in the indicative (carrying an implicate result) or in the subjunctive (implying a wish). If the condition is impossible, then the second clause is always in the subjunctive:
: ''lili mæn pū nanū nūlastān gī lališire hāriu lgutētate.'' "if I had more money, I'd buy (perf. aspect) a new carpet."
: ''lili mæn pū nanū nūlastān gī chlǣcæm lilati.'' "if I had more money, I'd live (impf. aspect) better."
: ''pū tami tuheiladom kitī āndriṣya.'' "if it were included in the [next] six-year plan, it would be built."

: ''pū liliā bunā gērisa gī tami liliā bunā gu gī ša.'' "if my father were a lake, he wouldn't be my father."
* Unfulfillable past conditions, where the condition could have been fulfilled in the past but wasn't. The ''pū-''clause is always in perfective subjunctive, while the other may be either imperfective or perfective depending on the meaning.
: ''mei tati pū kulētate yaiva gātarirya.'' "if I had said 'yes', everything would be different (now)."
: ''mei tati pū kulētate tami gu najēt ša.'' "if I had said 'yes', that wouldn't have happened."
 
===Negatives===
Chlouvānem negates sentences by using the circumfix ''gu(n) ... ša'' on the verb:
: ''tami loh pṛšcāmvi'' "I like it" → ''tami loh gu pṛšcāmvi ša'' "I do not like it".
: ''martayinām dvārmu nadāmek'' "Martayinām walked into the room" → ''martayinām dvārmu gu nadāmek ša'' "Martayinām didn't walk into the room".
: ''ejulā ū'' "I am here" → ''ejulā gun ū ša'' "I am not here".
 
The ''ša'' part of the circumfix is omitted if the verb is attributive:
: ''ṣveya gu ujunia ša'' "the wall hasn't been painted" → ''gu ujunia ṣveya'' "the wall that hasn't been painted"
: ''alūs gu kamilire ša'' "the bottle isn't blue" → ''gu kamilire alūs'' "the bottle that isn't blue"
 
Double negatives are not proper in Chlouvānem — negating a sentence with a negative correlative makes it affirmative:
: ''guvitu mešute'' "I see no one"
: ''lævitu gu mešute ša'' "I don't see anyone"
: ''guvitu gu mešute ša'' "I don't see no one" → "I see someone"
 
===Interrogatives===
Chlouvānem yes-no questions are formed with the particle ''dam'' at the end of the sentence:
: ''tami nyoh pṛšcāmvi'' "you like it" → ''tami nyoh pṛšcāmvi dam?'' "do you like it?"
: ''martayinām dvārmu nadāmek'' "Martayinām walked into the room" → ''martayinām dvārmu nadāmek dam?'' "did Martayinām walk into the room?"
If the sentence is negative, the ''... ša'' part of the circumfix is omitted:
: ''ejulā gu vi ša'' "(s)he/it is not here" → ''ejulā gu vi dam?'' "is (s)he/it not here?"
 
Choice questions may be formed with ''dam'' just like yes-no ones, or may be expanded in a form such as "do you X... or do you X?". ''dam'' is only included once, at the end:
: ''javileh nyęi daudē : grāšatis nyęi daudē mbu dam?'' "do you want apples or persimmons?" (lit. "you want apples, or do you want persimmons?")
 
Non-polar questions are formed by using an interrogative (''ya-'') correlative, without ''dam''. Unlike English, there is no mandatory wh-fronting in Chlouvānem (word order is usually flexible enough to allow all possibilities):
: ''nenē kita liliau naimū liląrā'' "in this house lives my maternal aunt" → ''nenē kita yavitu liląrā?'' "who lives in this house?"
: ''jalgudām demiąa praškigin lā luvāyom liven'' "Jalgudām is walking to the store with his two older brothers" → ''jalgudām yavitęs lā luvāyom liven?'' "with whom is Jalgudām walking to the store?"
 
''nane'' and ''naihā'' are "emphatic particles" used in informal Chlouvānem which work like English tag questions; ''nane'' expects an answer of the same polarity as the question, while ''naihā'' expresses doubt or expectation of a contradictory answer (it can be translated as ", or...?"). ''dam'' is not omitted:
: ''saṃryojyame lilaši dam nane?'' "you live in Saṃryojyam, don't you?"
: ''lære dṛk dam naihā?'' "it was done yesterday, or...?"
 
====Yes and no====
As far as yes-no answers are concerned, Chlouvānem is an agreement language: the words ''mei'' (yes) and ''go'' (no) have respectively the same and the opposite polarity as the question - translating them as "true" and "false" might give a better idea of how they are used.
: ''kite vei dam?'' "are you at home?" — ''mei kite ū'' "yes, I'm home" <small>("it's true, I'm home")</small>
: ''kite gu vei dam?'' "are you not at home?" — ''mei kite gun ū ša'' "yes, I'm not home" <small>("it's true, I'm not home")</small>
: ''kite vei dam?'' "are you at home" — ''go kite gun ū ša'' "no, I'm not home" <small>("it's false, I'm not home")</small>
: ''kite gu vei dam?'' "are you not at home?" — ''go kite ū'' "no, I'm home" <small>("it's false, I'm home")</small>
 
===Quoted speech===
The English distinction between direct and indirect speech is not present in Chlouvānem; instead, it uses a quotative particle, '''tati''', which follows a quoted sentence; this instance of quoted speech is used basically everywhere English uses indirect speech:
: ''håltęrįm '''tati''' kulaikate.''
: They said they were ready. (or, literally: They said "we are ready")
 
: ''dvārme piltu joniegde '''tati''' demiai maihi laftræknom kulekte.''
: (S)he told his/her daughter's boyfriend/girlfriend that she is painting her face in her room. (… "she paints her face in her room")
 
: ''cāṃkręe, karthāgo bīdardṛsūyē '''tati''' vvlirute.''
: [[w:Carthago delenda est|Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.]] (literally: "last [but not least], I think: "Carthage must be destroyed")
 
==Vocabulary==
<!--===Honorific words and vocatives===
(to be expanded)
 
====Verbs with suppletive honorific forms====
Unless differently specified, if no honorific form is given, the generic form is used; if no humble form is given, the honorific form is used.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|-
! English !! Generic verb !! Honorific !! Humble
! to receive
| combake<br/><small>(''combē, combek, acomba'')</small><br/><small>''the speaker receives''</small> || yoṭṭe<br/><small>(''yoṭē, yoṭek, ayoṭa'')</small> || dvyūlke<br/><small>(''dvyauṇē, dvyūṇek, udvyūṇa'')</small><br/><small>''the listener, or respected third party, receives''</small>
|-
|-
| to be || gyake || sæglake || jīveke<br/><small>defective; uses ''gyake'' for non-indicative forms</small>
! request, question
| icūm || muṣas || pardha
|-
|-
| to do, act, make || dṛke<br/>jilde<ref>Mostly "to do", "to act".</ref> || — || rowspan=2 | chlašake
! to reward
| ''tambina męlike''<br/><small>''the speaker is rewarded/rewards''</small> || colspan=2 | ṣomiheiljilde<br/><small>(''ṣomiheiljeldē, ṣomiheiljildek, ṣomiheilijilda'')</small><br/><small>''the listener, or respected third party, rewards/is rewarded by anyone but the speaker''</small>
|-
|-
| to create, make || āndṛke<br/>dṛke<ref>Translation for some of the more idiomatic meanings of English "to make".</ref><br/>pājunāke <small>(obsolete, literary)</small> || āthārke
! reward
| tambina<br/><small>''the speaker is rewarded/rewards''</small> || colspan=2 | ṣomiheila <br/><small>''the listener, or respected third party, rewards/is rewarded by anyone but the speaker''</small>
|-
|-
| to ask || muṣke || pṛdhake || yacce<br/><small>or ''muṣke chlašake''; in a few specific forms ''yacce chlašake''</small>
! to suggest, advise
| tittake<br/><small>(''tittē, tittek, ititta'')</small> || colspan=2 | smārṣake<br/><small>(''smārṣē, smārṣek, asmārṣa'')</small>
|-
|-
| to suggest, advise || smārṣake || — || tittake
! to take
| paibge<ref>In contemporary Chlouvānem, ''paibge'' is extremely formal and virtually limited to set phrases.</ref><br/><small>(''paibē, paibek, apaiba'')</small><br/>milke || milke<br/><small>(''milkē (milūkāhai), milūk, ilaka'')</small> || nacce<br/><small>(''nacē, nacek, anaca'')</small>
|-
|-
| to receive<br/>(and derivatives) || yoṭṭe || kvælke || combake
! wife
| laleichim || colspan=2 | ħaiɂlañši
|}
|}


====Nouns with suppletive honorific forms====
Not considered part of honorific speech, but related to it, are the many synonyms, especially of Lällshag origin. While sometimes Lällshag words were borrowed in a more abstract quality (e.g. like how ''jinobå'' meant "right, correct" in Lällshag but was borrowed as ''inuba'', meaning "justice"), or generalized to very specific contexts (''jepomaa'' "apprentice" as ''emmā'' (arch. ''yemmā'') "person (humble)") it is very common for a single concept to have many synonyms, many of them not that used in common speech but proper in literature - English has a good parallel in its Latinate words, and therefore the more refined Chlouvānem words are often better translated as Latinate words. For example, ''taili'' "much, many" is the common word, but its Lällshag translation ''jåloca'' was borrowed as ''yolṣa'' "copious"<ref>The Chlouvānem borrowed words mentioned here are nouns, not adverbs: e.g. the native adverb in ''taili māra'' "many mangoes" vs. the borrowed nouns in ''māri yolṣa'' "a copious amount of mangoes", ''māri mumūyakim'' "abundant mangoes", etc.</ref>; ''mo-moujakig'' "batches, loads" as ''mumūyakim'' "abundant, abundance", or ''må-råho'' "barrels" as ''mårga'' "multiple". Similar doublets exist for many concept, often with more than two words due to more regional variants, sometimes from the pre-Chlouvānem languages of the lower Plain; an example may be native ''ñaryāh'' "mountain, hill" and the borrowings ''šullas'' "hill" (from Lällshag), ''gårvas'' "hill (esp. steep); mountain" (also from Lällshag), ''ħilša'' "hill" (prob. Old Kāṃradeši), as well as more strictly regional words such as ''bonduka'' (of Dabuke origin) or ''šiša'' (Toyubeshian).<br/>Note that, in many cases and especially for Lällshag borrowings, the average Chlouvānem speaker, for whom the classical language already is a formal language different from the informal vernacular, is not aware of the etymological history of such words, and thinks of such refined words not as "Lällshag words", but as more stylistically marked ones.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! English !! Generic noun !! Honorific !! Humble
|-
| wife || laleichim || faitlañši || <small>either, depending on context</small>
|-
| husband || rūdakis || šulañšoe || <small>either, depending on context</small>
|-
| mother || meinā || nāḍima || <small>either, depending on context</small>
|-
| father || buinā || tāmvāram || <small>either, depending on context</small>
|-
| girlfriend/boyfriend/significant other || laftrækna || lilelkhlaflunivas || laftrækna
|-
| house || kita || rowspan=2 | amaha<ref>''kita'' is still used when referring to the building alone.</ref> || kita
|-
| residence || amaha || amaha
 
|-
| request, question || muṣas || pardha || icūm
|-
| advice, tip, suggestion || smārṣas || — || titta
|-
| receiving || yoṭa || kvælas || combas
|} -->


==="Thinking" in Chlouvānem===
==="Thinking" in Chlouvānem===
Line 917: Line 401:
: ''nilyantairu ū''. — I think, therefore I am.
: ''nilyantairu ū''. — I think, therefore I am.


When "to think" is used in order to state one's opinion, Chlouvānem makes the distinction of that thing being a personal opinion based on experience or trustable facts (where the verb is ''vvlurake'') or an uncertain opinion, often because of mere sensation (still ''nilyake'') (much like the Danish distinction between ''at synes'' and ''at tro''). Both verbs require the quotative particle '''tati''':
When "to think" is used in order to state one's opinion, Chlouvānem makes the distinction of that thing being a personal opinion based on experience or trustable facts (where the verb is ''ṭvurake'') or an uncertain opinion, often because of mere sensation (still ''nilyake'') (much like the Danish distinction between ''at synes'' and ''at tro''). Both verbs require the quotative particle '''tati''':
: ''dumoe miąre tati vvlirute''. — I think the movie is good. (for I have seen it)
: ''dumoe hulābdān tati ṭvirute''. — I think the movie is good. (for I have seen it)
: ''dumoe miąre tati nelyęru''. — I think the movie is good. (but I haven't seen it)
: ''dumoe hulābdān tati nelyęru''. — I think the movie is good. (but I haven't seen it)


''vvlurake'' is used also to state one's opinion about a situation (still requiring ''tati'') as well as in the construction ''(2SG) nali vvlirute'', better translated as "if I were you" (needs a subjunctive verb):
''ṭvurake'' is used also to state one's opinion about a situation (still requiring ''tati'') as well as in the construction ''(2SG) nali ṭvirute'', better translated as "if I were you" (needs a subjunctive verb):
: ''gundam miąre tati vvlirute''. — I think it's a good idea.
: ''gundam hulābdān tati ṭvirute''. — I think it's a good idea.
: ''viṣam lgutī nani nali vvlirute''. — if I were you, I'd buy the other one. (note imperfective subjunctive)
: ''viṣam lgutī nani nali ṭvirute''. — if I were you, I'd buy the other one. (note imperfective subjunctive)
: ''viṣam lgutēt nani nali vvlirute''. — if I were you, I'd have bought the other one. (perfective subjunctive here)
: ''viṣam lgutēt nani nali ṭvirute''. — if I were you, I'd have bought the other one. (perfective subjunctive here)


''nilyake'', on the other hand, is used in the past to state something that was thought to be one way but turned out not to be. Also, it is used for future forecasts:
''nilyake'', on the other hand, is used in the past to state something that was thought to be one way but turned out not to be. Also, it is used for future forecasts:
: ''nęlte yartāṃrye tati nilyirau, lalla hånna ni nāṭ moe''. — I thought it was 4:00 in the morning, but it was already ''lalla hånna'' (7:00 in the morning).
: ''nęlte yartāṃrye tati nilyirau, lalla hånna ni nāṭ nīk''. — I thought it was 4:00 in the morning, but it was already ''lalla hånna'' (7:00 in the morning).
: ''camiyūs vali tati inilyiram e !'' — I thought you were from Cami! (the perfect here could also be translated as "until now, I had been thinking ...")
: ''camiyūs vei tati inilyiram e !'' — I thought you were from Cami! (the perfect here could also be translated as "until now, I had been thinking ...")
: ''menire dašajildiṣya tati nelyęru''. — I think it's going to rain tomorrow.
: ''menire dašajildiṣya tati nelyęru''. — I think it's going to rain tomorrow.


Still, it's better not to translate directly "to think" as ''nilyake'' as in many cases Chlouvānem simply uses an evidential marker:
Still, it's better not to translate directly "to think" as ''nilyake'' as in many cases Chlouvānem simply uses an evidential marker:
: ''tū dranerute''. — I think (s)he did it. (= apparently, (s)he did it)
: ''tū drukte''. — I think (s)he did it. (= apparently, (s)he did it)
: ''tū dranuyote''. — I think (s)he did it, but it's probably not so. (= apparently, (s)he did it, but probably not)
: ''tū drebikte''. — I think (s)he did it, but it's probably not so. (= apparently, (s)he did it, but probably not)
: ''dumoe miąre jlanode''. — I've been told the movie is good.
: ''dumoe hulābdān emyē''. — I've been told the movie is good.
What should '''not''' be used (unless in the most informal contexts) is the visual evidential in order to state one's opinion, because it carries the implicit meaning that that opinion is true and any other is inherently false: saying ''dumoe miąre jlansen'' does not mean "I think the movie is good", but instead specifies that the fact the movie is good is an objective truth confirmed by the speaker.


===Sensorial and emotional beauty===
===Sensorial and emotional beauty===
There are two Chlouvānem words that translate to "beautiful": ''laitenælike'' and ''ñæñuchlike''. While conceptually similar, they are often not interchangeable: ''ñæñuchlike'' refers to sensorial beauty, while ''laitenælike'' to beauty in an emotional sense. Some examples:
There are two Chlouvānem words that translate to "beautiful": ''laitenælike'' and ''ñæñuchlike''. While conceptually similar, they are often not interchangeable: ''ñæñuchlike'' refers to sensorial beauty, while ''laitenælike'' to beauty in an emotional sense. Some examples:
: ''gėrisom mešanah ñæñuchlire''. — the view on the lake is beautiful. (note also that ''mešanah'' (a view) needs a dative case)
: ''gūltayom mešanah ñæñuchlire''. — the view on the lake is beautiful. (note also that ''mešanah'' (a view) needs a dative case)
: ''liloe ejulā laitenælire''. — life here is beautiful.
: ''liloe ejulā laitenælire''. — life here is beautiful.
: ''jāyim ñæñuchlire''. — the girl is beautiful. (= her appearance is beautiful)
: ''jāyim ñæñuchlire''. — the girl is beautiful. (= her appearance is beautiful)
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===Swadesh list===
===Swadesh list===
''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Swadesh list|Chlouvānem Swadesh list]]''
: ''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Swadesh list|Chlouvānem Swadesh list]]''


===Common everyday expressions===
===Common everyday expressions===
''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Phrasebook|Chlouvānem phrasebook]]''
: '' Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Phrasebook|Chlouvānem phrasebook]]''


===Thematic wordlists===
===Thematic wordlists===
''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Lexicon|Chlouvānem lexicon]]''
: '' Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Lexicon|Chlouvānem lexicon]]''


===Calendar and time===
===Calendar and time===
''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Calendar and time|Chlouvānem Calendar and Time]]''
: '' Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Calendar and time|Chlouvānem calendar and time]]''


===Personal names===
===Personal names===
''Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Names|Chlouvānem names]]''
: '' Main article: [[Chlouvānem/Names|Chlouvānem names]]''


==Example texts==
==Example texts==
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The First Book of the Chlamiṣvatrā (''yamei chlamiṣvatrī lahīla naviṣya'') is the first of the three Books of the Great Prophet, the most important among the holy books of the [[Verse:Yunyalīlta|Yunyalīlta]]. The first seven verses are probably the key to understand the whole faith, as it presents the foundations of its worldview; verses 4 and 5 are particularly considered important as they represent the relation between the Yunya, life, and the Lillamurḍhyā. Verse 8 introduces what is then explained in the rest of the chapter, that is, how Lelāgṇyāviti<ref>Literally "born of Lelāh"; the ''lelāh'' is a symbolic flower in the Yunyalīlta and generically in Chlouvānem culture.</ref>, the Chlamiṣvatrā (Great Prophet; literally "Golden master") came to meditate and build up her philosophy, which then she taught common people in all villages.
The First Book of the Chlamiṣvatrā (''yamei chlamiṣvatrī lahīla naviṣya'') is the first of the three Books of the Great Prophet, the most important among the holy books of the [[Verse:Yunyalīlta|Yunyalīlta]]. The first seven verses are probably the key to understand the whole faith, as it presents the foundations of its worldview; verses 4 and 5 are particularly considered important as they represent the relation between the Yunya, life, and the Lillamurḍhyā. Verse 8 introduces what is then explained in the rest of the chapter, that is, how Lelāgṇyāviti<ref>Literally "born of Lelāh"; the ''lelāh'' is a symbolic flower in the Yunyalīlta and generically in Chlouvānem culture.</ref>, the Chlamiṣvatrā (Great Prophet; literally "Golden master") came to meditate and build up her philosophy, which then she taught common people in all villages.


: '''1''' ⸫liloe mæn ⸫yunya ga brausire meinā dęi devenom mædhramu męliēkæ linoe ।। '''2''' ⸫liloe pospurṣūyē saṃ gu<ref>Contraction of ''sama gu''. Note also the lack of ''ša'', the second part of the negative circumfix, which was still optional in early Chlouvānem.</ref> jejiltsūyētuh<ref>''-tuh'' is an earlier form of ''-tū'', the antibenefactive trigger marker. Its form ''-tur'', still used when not final, shows how ''-tuh'' was the regular development (Proto-Lahob *r > Chl. '''h''' word-finally).</ref> ⸫yunya ga meinā nali samindevenyumi lalla laurāyana mæn '''3''' drālteninīka<ref>Literally "with respects". In early and also classical Chlouvānem, such constructions are commonly used to express roughly the idea expressed by "-fully" adverbs in English.</ref> maiyau ñæltānu lātamilkīnam main yaniåh lilenom maiyau meinū āntaḍhūlīnam no ।। '''4''' ⸫yunya mæn meiyā lilenī hīmbenīka nīteboñjñāhai '''5''' sama brausameinælilūrah įstimē lillamurḍhyā ga demeni lilentugap lilah ।। '''6''' ⸫yunya mū lilaidhvap natehamvyek sama lilūrah demiā meinæhamvyenu tattemęliē mū tami pa ḍhāvildente no ।। '''7''' ⸫dralkye<ref>"Men"; in archaic Chlouvānem, it was customary to use "man" for "human". The influx of the Yunyalīlta was actually a large factor in the later use of ''lila'' (person) for the same meaning.</ref> mæn āndre meinī yaivų bausų nanū ħaṣṭirena sama dǣ dǣ no<ref>"Again and again". In modern Chlouvānem it has become a single word, ''dǣdyān''.</ref> līlti bīḍhovah : garpire grošpire virdu nītemilkāhai no ।। '''8''' ⸫dralkagarpā mæn leliē nanū kailirāhe āñjulyom liliā larḍhīka bīdumbhek ।।
: '''1''' ⸫liloe mæn ⸫yunya ga brausire meinā dęi devenom mædhramu męlyēkæ linoe ।। '''2''' ⸫liloe pospurṣūyē saṃ gu<ref>Contraction of ''sama gu''. Note also the lack of ''ša'', the second part of the negative circumfix, which was still optional in early Chlouvānem.</ref> jejiltsūyētuh<ref>''-tuh'' is an earlier form of ''-tū'', the antibenefactive trigger marker. Its form ''-tur'', still used when not final, shows how ''-tuh'' was the regular development (Proto-Lahob *r > Chl. '''h''' word-finally).</ref> ⸫yunya ga meinā nali samindevenyumi lalla laurāyana mæn '''3''' drālteninīka<ref>Literally "with respects". In early and also classical Chlouvānem, such constructions are commonly used to express roughly the idea expressed by "-fully" adverbs in English.</ref> maiyau ñæltānu lātamilkīnam main yanyåh lilenom maiyau meinū āntaḍhūlīnam no ।। '''4''' ⸫yunya mæn meiyā lilenī hīmbenīka nīteboñjñāhai '''5''' sama brausameinælilūrah įstimē lillamurḍhyā ga demeni lilentugap lilah ।। '''6''' ⸫yunya mū lilaidhvap natehamvyek sama lilūrah demyā meinæhamvyenu tattemęlyē mū tami pa ḍhāvildente no ।। '''7''' ⸫dralkye<ref>"Men"; in archaic Chlouvānem, it was customary to use "man" for "human". The influx of the Yunyalīlta was actually a large factor in the later use of ''lila'' (person) for the same meaning.</ref> mæn āndre meinī yaivų bausų širē ħaṣṭirena sama dǣ dǣ no<ref>"Again and again". In modern Chlouvānem it has become a single word, ''dīdān''.</ref> līlti bīḍhovah : garpire grošpire virdu nītemilkāhai no ।। '''8''' ⸫dralkagarpā mæn lelyē širē kailirāhe āñjulyom lilyā larḍhīka bīdumbhek ।।


'''1''' life.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. Yunya.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>ADP</small>. be_holy-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. mother-<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>REFL.ERG</small>. soul-<small>DAT.SG</small>. body-<small>ACC.SG</small> give-<small>IND.PRES.3S.EXTR-BENEF</small>. process.<small>DIR.SG</small>.<br/>
'''1''' life.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. Yunya.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>ADP</small>. be_holy-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. mother-<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>REFL.ERG</small>. soul-<small>DAT.SG</small>. body-<small>ACC.SG</small> give-<small>IND.PRES.3S.EXTR-BENEF</small>. process.<small>DIR.SG</small>.<br/>
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===A festive day===
===A festive day===
This is an excerpt from the ''leliēmiti ḍhūrṣūs'' (Family Chronicle) (written in 3835 (6377<sub>10</sub>)), a world-famous narrative opera of contemporary writer Nariejūramāvi Lanæmiai ''Mæmihomah''. The author recalls here a festive moment from when she was in her 12th year, namely a celebration of the ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā'' (the Festival of Blossoming Nature) of year 3802 (6338<sub>10</sub>) in her native village of Malįihālia (today part of the eparchy of Līlasuṃghāṇa, some 14 km from the city center).
This is an excerpt from the ''lelyēmiti ḍhūrṣūs'' (Family Chronicle) (written in 3835 (6377<sub>10</sub>)), a world-famous narrative opera of contemporary writer Naryejūramāvi Lanæmyai ''Mæmihomah''. The author recalls here a festive moment from when she was in her 12th year, namely a celebration of the ''junyahiyunyi jaṃšā'' (the Festival of Blossoming Nature) of year 3802 (6338<sub>10</sub>) in her native village of Aṃrāvāyana (today part of the eparchy of Līlasuṃghāṇa, some 14 km from the city center).


: dani yartāṃrye ē ⸫naina ga kalineh mæn ⸫nilāmulka ⸫tainā no lili no pudbhināja dvārmom nañamṛca kautepuglek : lañye yunya juniāmite e tati ।।
: dani yartāṃrye nīk ~naina ga kalineh mæn ~nilāmulkęs tainęs no lįs no podbhērā dvarmom nañamṛca kautepudbhek. lånyāk yunya junyāmite e tati namarcē nainei pigdulek.
: main mæn asenānu lut nanān pārṇaman ñumirāja : nanān heirlaukan marcęe e gu nomire ša gu emibe jāyim vi ! hālkenīs yanomųvima keikom namṛcñāja daše šutimīnam ।। dašai juniahiyunyi jaṃšē gātarakeberdāhai e ।। bunā mæn main nali maildvārmu maitēmęlia nāṭ væse pābunā ⸫daṃdhigūlan ga glūkam no mæn kalirāhe nāniai khāngeltių kaumilūkāhai kælitsai mārai no vārīkai no baubai no goṃsāhai no ।।
: nanān lairēn asenāya lut ñumirābhe – nanān heirlaukan gu emibe jāyim marciṭ chi gu nomire ša! halkenīs yanomuhima daše šutimīnam keikom kaumṛcābhe. daša mæn junyahiyunyi jaṃšē gātarake berdē e. bunā mæn maildvārmu maikevemęlyima nāṭ, væse, pābunā ~daṃdhigūlan ga glūkam no lahīla kalirāhe nānyaih khārgaltyų kautemilūgba kælitsaih māraih no vārīkaih no baubaih no guṃsabate no.
: nilāmulka mæn maildvārmom nañelīsa tainā lili no ṣveye primirtaram ñumirlam ।। lilše pārṇam lǣliriṣya tṛlirlam : naina tī sora pārṇaṃrīs lut mojende heirom nañelīsa : jånirāh mæn lahīlęe kamikækyai avyāṣa ē : blikyon lili no amalthirā māmei pārṇaṃrye maitēmęlima ।। meinā mæn buneyāt lili no nali jilkire bhadvęs lā dhāne<ref>Note how "hands" is always in the singular when it's a single person's pair, even if it should theoretically be dual.</ref> keikom dāmē — toman mæn maiyā pārṇami jånirai ।।
: nilāmulka mæn maildvārmom nañelīsa tainā lili no ṣveye primirtaram ñumirlam. lairē lǣliriṣya tati lenak tṛlirlam, naina mæn mojende heirom tī sora lairēnīs guviṣmiya nañelīsa, samātiya jånirāh kamikyai lahīla jaloe nīk. jånirāh blikēva lenta lę māmei lairęs lut tatekīlla. meinā buneyāt lili no nali jilkire bhadvat usmura dhānęs keikom nañelīsa - įsanā lairyom yūñjā jånirai.
: tainā mæn jñūṃris halimendē bahīri sumenīs heicādrī nadāmē sama isilun urutha nānumi hanaṃhariana lairu smaurildekte ।। nilāmulka mæn yanelīsa jånirū kamitekyāk tainā mutirya heicāp nusmīte udvī dāmē no sama bahīrah mimendenāntsukē naina nañajolta nilāmulku lū no tora lijakenartatelunildek ।। nilāmulka mæn meinā murku milkekte sama dhāne danihaicē tarṣanu juniekūsi væse daṃdhigūlan tadāmē murkirde vārṇaigiyūri kamyūsijunai<ref>Syntactically, here it is ambiguous whether the black vārṇaigi have to be tied to Daṃdhigūlan or to Nilāmulka - there is no such ambiguity, however, for Chlouvānem people because only women wear black vārṇaigi.</ref> ।।
: tainā mæn jñūṃris halimendē bahīrų sumenīs heicādrī nadāmē, samisīsiṭ urutha nānumi hanaṃharyana lairū smaurildekte. nilāmulka mæn yanelīsa jånirū kamitekyāk tainā væse heicāp nusmīte vadį mutirī dāmek no, sama bahīrah gu mimendenāk ša tatte naina nañajolta nilāmulku lū no tan lijake natedāmildek. nilāmulka mæn meinā murku milūkte sama dhāne danihaicē tarṣanu junyekte daṃdhigūlan væse murkirba vārṇaigīṣa kamitejunāyēt tadāmek.
: naina mæn væse jaṃšān chi ē dildhā geta no pa liju tī lilǣ minnūliom<ref>Again, note the singular for the pair of ears.</ref> lijīte nadāmē — meinā lēyet gu glidemæh nainęs lā bīskæmųk dāšikē mūmikīndu : jaṃšī ñæñuchlire jilkire jånīrei kamyakyā nilāmulkei mbu dilęe dṛk ।। tainā mæn yanelīsa pārṇami nacu ilakakte nainęs lā ħuldek væse mutirau — ħærviṣe ājvalunāmom dāmaram<ref>The use of the dual here means that Nilāmulka had already left in the meantime.</ref> væse ñikire naina meinei bhik ।।
: naina mæn tamvæse jaṃšom ejyek chi, dildhā geta no pa liju tī lilyåh minnūlyom chi natelijek, sama meinā gu emibunaise naini lenta dāšikē mūmikati bīsturmųk, jaṃšom ñæñuchlire jilkire jånirē kamyakyā nilāmulka ni dilsiṭ dṛkte. tainā yanelīsa lairyom nacu ilakakte, mutirau væse, nainęs lā ħuldekte. ħærviṣe ājvalunāyom dāmaram ñikire naina væse meinei bhik.


{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
{| role="presentation" class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
| <strong>Gloss</strong>
| <strong>Gloss</strong>
|-
|-
| two.<small>DIR</small>. morning-<small>LOC.SG</small>. be-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. Naina.<small>DIR</small>. <small>ADP</small>. female's_younger_sister.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. Nilāmulka.<small>DIR</small>. Tainā.<small>DIR</small>. and. <small>1SG.DIR.</small>. and. sleep-<small>IND.PAST.1P.EXTR.PAT</small>. room-<small>DAT.SG</small>. run_into-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. wake_up-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. : girl.<small>VOC.PL</small>. nature.<small>DIR.SG</small> bloom-<small>LOC.SG</small>. <small>DECLAR</small>. <small>QUOT</small><br/>
| two.<small>DIR</small>. morning-<small>LOC.SG</small>. be.<small>IND.PAST.EXP.3S.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. Naina.<small>DIR</small>. <small>ADP</small>. female's_younger_sister.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. Nilāmulka-<small>ESS</small>. Tainā-<small>ESS</small>. and. <small>1SG.ESS</small>. and. sleep.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-LOCATIVE</small>. room-<small>DAT.SG</small>. run_into.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. wake_up.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. girl-<small>VOC.PL</small>. nature.<small>DIR.SG</small>. bloom-<small>LOC.SG</small>. <small>DECL</small>. <small>QUOT</small>. run_into.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. Naina-<small>ERG</small>. utter.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.<br/>
<small>1P.DIR</small> <small>TOPIC</small>. month-<small>ACC.PL</small>. for. that-<small>TRANSL</small>. day-<small>TRANSL.SG</small>. wait-<small>IND.PAST.1P.INTR</small>. : that-<small>TRANSL</small>. time_of_year-<small>TRANSL.SG</small>. run-<small>ADV</small>. like. <small>NEG</small>. wait-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. <small>NEG</small>. no. one.<small>DIR</small>. girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. be-<small>IND.PRES.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. ! bed-<small>ABL.PL</small>. jump_out-<small>IND.PERF.1P.EXTR.PAT</small>. yard-<small>DAT.SG</small>. run_into-<small>IND.PAST.1P.EXTR.PAT</small>. rain-<small>LOC.SG</small>. be_under-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.1P.EXTR.PAT</small>.<br/>
that.<small>DIST-TRANS</small>. day-<small>TRANS.SG</small>. month-<small>ESS.PL</small>. for. wait.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-1PL.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. — that.<small>DIST-TRANS</small>. time_of_year-<small>TRANS.SG</small>. no. one. girl.<small>DIR.SG</small>. run-<small>ADV</small>. so. <small>NEG=</small>wait.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.COMMON.INTERIOR=NEG</small>. bed-<small>ABL.PL</small>. jump_from_above-<small>IND.PERF-EXP-1PL.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. rain-<small>LOC.SG</small>. stand_under.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-1PL.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. yard-<small>DAT.SG</small>. run_out.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-1PL.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. rain.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. blossoming_nature-<small>GEN.SG</small>. celebration-<small>LOC.SG</small>. be_different-<small>INF</small>. feel.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. <small>DECL</small>. father.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. washing_room-<small>ACC.SG</small>. prepare.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-1PL.EXTERIOR-BENEF</small>. already. while. grandfather.<small>DIR.SG</small>. Daṃdhigūlan.<small>DIR</small>. <small>ADP</small>. female's_brother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. and. first. be_lilac.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3PL.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. flatbread-<small>ACC.PL</small>. tandoor-<small>ABL.SG</small>. take_out.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3DU.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. orange_banana-<small>ACC.PL</small>. mango-<small>ACC.PL</small>. and. apricot-<small>ACC.PL</small>. and. bauba-<small>ACC.PL</small>. and. cut.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3DU.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>.<br/>
rain-<small>DIR.PL</small>. blossoming_nature-<small>GEN.SG</small>. celebration-<small>LOC.SG</small>. be_different-<small>IND</small>-seem-<small>IND.PRES.3P.EXTR.PAT</small>. <small>DECLAR</small>.<br/>
Nilāmulka.<small>DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. washing_room-<small>DAT.SG</small>. walk_into.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. Tainā.<small>DIR</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. and. wall-<small>LOC.SG</small>. sit_behind.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-1DU.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. wait.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-1DU.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. — day.<small>DIR.SG</small>. be_special.<small>IND.FUT-EXP-3.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. <small>QUOT</small>. <small>1DU.DIR</small>. know.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-1DU.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. Naina.<small>DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. ninth. year-<small>DAT.SG</small>. because. few. day-<small>ABL.PL</small>. never_else. walk_into.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. and-then.<small>DIST</small>. sarī.<small>DIR.SG</small>. wrap_around.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. first. time.<small>DIR.SG</small>. be.<small>IND.PAST.EXP.3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. — sarī.<small>DIR.SG</small>. girl-<small>GEN.DU</small>. together_with. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. 10<sub>12</sub>. day-<small>ESS.SG</small>. for. sew_together.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. — mother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. girl-<small>DIR.DU</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. and. for. be_orange.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. cotton-<small>EXESS.SG</small>. be_full.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. pair_of_hands-<small>ESS.SG</small>. yard-<small>DAT.SG</small>. walk_into.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. – that.hanging.<small>DIST.DIR</small>. day-<small>DAT.SG</small>. <small>1PL.GEN-DIR</small>. sarī-<small>DIR.PL</small>.<br/>
father.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. <small>1P.DIR</small>. for. washing_room-<small>ACC.SG</small>. prepare-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. already. while. grandfather.<small>DIR.SG</small>. Daṃdhigūlan.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>ADP</small>. female's_brother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. and. <small>TOPIC</small>. be_lilac-<small>IND.PRES.3P.INTR</small>. flatbread-<small>PL.SG</small>. tandoori_oven-<small>ABL.SG</small>. take_out-<small>IND.PRES.3P.EXTR.PAT</small>. orange_banana-<small>DIR.PL</small>. mango-<small>DIR.PL</small>. and. apricot-<small>DIR.PL</small>. and. bauba-<small>DIR.PL</small>. and. cut-<small>IND.PRES.3P.EXTR.PAT</small>. and.<br/> Nilāmulka.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. washing_room-<small>DAT.SG</small>. go_into-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. Tainā.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. and. wall-<small>LOC.SG</small>. sit_behind-<small>IND.PAST.1D.EXTR.PAT</small>. wait-<small>IND.PAST.1D.INTR</small>.<br/>
Tainā.<small>DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. tree-<small>ABL.PL</small>. hear_from_through.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. bahīrah-<small>ABL.SG</small>. note-<small>ABL.PL</small>. sing_rhythmically.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. walk_into.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. and-shortly. bake.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. flatbread-<small>GEN.PL</small>. anise_perfume.<small>DIR.SG</small>. air-<small>ACC.SG</small>. be_full.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-CAUS-3SG.EXTERIOR-PATIENT</small>. Nilāmulka.<small>DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. walk_out_from.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. sarī-<small>ACC.SG</small>. wrap_around.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. Tainā.<small>DIR</small>. while. rhytmical_wordless_chant-<small>INSTR.SG</small>. stop.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-3.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. without. wash.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-3.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. walk.<small>MONODIR.IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. and. and. sarī.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>NEG=</small>hear.<small>POTENT.IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR=NEG</small>. despite. Naina.<small>DIR</small>. start_humming.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. Nilāmulka-<small>ACC</small>. <small>1SG.ACC</small>. and. too. sing-<small>INF</small>. walk_into.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-CAUS-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. Nilāmulka.<small>DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. mother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. black-<small>ACC.SG</small>. take.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. and. hand-<small>LOC.SG</small>. two-<small>DISTR</small>. stripe-<small>ACC.SG</small>. paint.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. Daṃdhigūlan.<small>DIR</small>. while. be_black.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3DU.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. vārṇaigīh-<small>ACC.DU</small>. tie_around_foot.<small>SUBJ.PERF-EXP-3.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. come_walking.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.<br/>
<small>1DU.DIR</small>. day.<small>DIR.SG</small>. be_special-<small>IND.FUT.3S.INTR</small>. know-<small>IND.PAST.1D.INTR</small>. : Naina.<small>DIR.SG</small>. because. some. day-<small>ABL.PL</small>. before. ninth. year-<small>DAT.SG</small>. go_into-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. sarī.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. first-<small>ADV</small>. wrap_around-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.EXTR-BENEF</small>. time.<small>DIR.SG</small>. be-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. : girl-<small>DIR.DU</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. and. be_last-<small>IND.PERF.3P.INTR</small>. twelve. day-<small>LOC.PL</small>. prepare-<small>IND.PERF.1P.EXTR-AGENT</small>.<br/>
Naina.<small>DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. meanwhile. celebration-<small>DAT.SG</small>. float.<small>MONODIR.IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. <small>EMPH</small>. dildhā.<small>DIR.SG</small>. elephant.<small>DIR.SG</small>. and. about. song-<small>ACC.SG</small>. because. <small>1SG.GEN-DAT</small>. pair_of_ears-<small>DAT.SG</small>. <small>EMPH</small>. start_singing.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. and. mother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. not. only. Naina-<small>GEN</small>. together_with. monsoon-<small>LOC.SG</small>. dance.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-1SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. jump_away.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-ANTIBENEF</small>. celebration-<small>DAT.SG</small>. be_beautiful.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. be_orange.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. sarī-<small>LOC.SG</small>. wrap_around.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. Nilāmulka.<small>DIR</small>. but. be_the_same-<small>ADV</small>. do.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. Tainā.<small>DIR</small>. walk_out_from.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. day-<small>DAT.SG</small>. cloth-<small>ACC.SG</small>. take.<small>IND.PERF-EXP-3.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. wash.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-1SG.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. while. Naina-<small>ESS</small>. with. play.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-3SG.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. — after. breakfast-<small>DAT.SG</small>. walk.<small>IND.PAST-EXP-1DU.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. be_small.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.COMMON.INTERIOR</small>. Naina.<small>DIR</small>. while. mother-<small>ERG.SG</small>. take_care_of.<small>IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.
mother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. girl-<small>DIR.DU</small>. <small>1SG.DIR</small>. and. for. be_orange-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. cotton-<small>ESS.SG</small>. with. hand-<small>LOC.SG</small>. yard-<small>DAT.SG</small>. go-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. <small>3PL.DIR</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. <small>1P.POSS.DIR</small>. day-<small>GEN.SG</small>. sarī-<small>DIR.PL</small>.<br/>
Tainā.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. tree-<small>ABL.PL</small>. hear_from_through-<small>IND.PRES.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. bahīrah-<small>GEN.SG</small>. note-<small>ABL.PL</small>. sing_heicā-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. go_into-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. and. shortly. bake-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. flatbread-<small>GEN.PL</small>. anise_perfume.<small>DIR.SG</small>. air-<small>ACC.SG</small>. be_full-<small>CAUS.IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>.<br/>
Nilāmulka.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. come_out-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. sarī-<small>ACC.SG</small>. wrap_around-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. Tainā.<small>DIR.SG</small>. wash-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.INTR</small>. heicā-<small>INSTR.SG</small>. stop-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. without. go-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. and. and. bahīrah-<small>DIR.SG</small>. hear-<small>POT-OPPOSITION-IND.PRES.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. Naina.<small>DIR.SG</small>. start_humming_to_tune-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. Nilāmulka-<small>ACC.SG</small>. <small>1SG.ACC</small>. and. also. sing-<small>INF</small>-reach-<small>CAUS.IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. and.<br/>
Nilāmulka.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. mother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. black-<small>ACC.SG</small>. take-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. and. hand-<small>LOC.SG</small>. two-<small>DISTR</small>. stripe-<small>ACC.SG</small>. paint-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-DAT</small>. while. Daṃdhigūlan.<small>DIR.SG</small>. come_in-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. be_black-<small>IND.PRES.3D.INTR</small>. vārṇaigi-<small>ACC.DU</small>. tie_around_foot-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.EXTR-DAT</small>.<br/>
Naina.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. while. celebration-<small>TRANSL.SG</small>. indeed. be-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. dildhā.<small>DIR.SG</small>. elephant.<small>DIR.SG</small>. and. about. song-<small>ACC.SG</small>. because. <small>1SG.POSS.LOC</small>. ear-<small>DAT.SG</small>. sing-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. go_into-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. mother.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>1SG.ERG</small>. not. only. Naina-<small>ESS.SG</small>. with. jump_away-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-ANTIBENEF</small>. monsoon-<small>LOC.SG</small>. dance-<small>SUBJ.IMPF.1D.EXTR.PAT</small>. : celebration-<small>GEN.SG</small>. be_beautiful-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. be_orange-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. sarī-<small>ERG.SG</small>. wrap_around-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. Nilāmulka-<small>ERG.SG</small>. but. be_the_same-<small>ADV</small>. do-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>.<br/>
Tainā.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>TOPIC</small>. come_out-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. day-<small>GEN.SG</small>. cloth-<small>ACC.SG</small>. take-<small>IND.PERF.3S.EXTR-AGENT</small>. Naina-<small>ESS.SG</small>. with. play-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>. while. wash-<small>IND.PAST.1S.INTR</small>. — after. breakfast-<small>DAT.SG</small>. go-<small>IND.PAST.1D.EXTR.PAT</small>. while. be_little-<small>IND.PRES.3S.INTR</small>. Naina.<small>DIR.SG</small>. mother-<small>ERG.SG</small>. take_care-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>.
|}
|}


: It was two in the morning<ref>One hour after dawn.</ref> and [my] younger sister Naina came running into our room where Nilāmulka, Tainā<ref>The author's two older sisters.</ref>, and I were sleeping and woke us up. "''Lañye''<ref>A (today old-fashioned) term for "girls", used here just like modern ''blikai'', as a very informal second-person pronoun among sisters.</ref>, nature is blooming!"<br/>
: It was two in the morning<ref>One hour after dawn.</ref> and [my] younger sister Naina came running into our room where Nilāmulka, Tainā<ref>The author's two older sisters.</ref>, and I were sleeping and woke us up. "''Lanyāk''<ref>A (today old-fashioned) term for "girls", used here just like modern ''blikai'', as a very informal second-person pronoun among sisters.</ref>, nature is blooming!", shouted Naina entering the room.<br/>
: We had been waiting for that day for months — there is not a single girl who does not wait so eagerly for that time of the year! We got up our beds and ran in the yard, under the rain. Even the rains feel different on ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā''. Dad had already prepared the washing room<ref>Chlouvānem people usually take a wash in the morning and a wash followed by a bath in the evening. Those rituals are quite similar to Japanese washing and bathing - the bath is for relaxation, washing is a separate process.</ref> for us while grandpa and brother Daṃdhigūlan were taking the first lilac ''nāniai''<ref>The ''nāneh'' is the typical Chlouvānem flatbread: lilac means it contains ''hunai'' (purple yam) meal.</ref> out of the tandoori oven and cutting ''kælitsai'', ''mārai'', ''vārīkai'', and ''baubai''<ref>Various types of fruits; note that they're all light orange or golden yellow - the most sacred colour in Yunyalīlti symbology.</ref>.<br/>
: We had been waiting for that day for months — there is not a single girl who does not wait so eagerly for that time of the year! We got up our beds and ran in the yard, under the rain. Even the rains feel different on ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā''. Dad had already prepared the washing room<ref>Chlouvānem people usually take a wash in the morning and a wash followed by a bath in the evening. Those rituals are quite similar to Japanese washing and bathing - the bath is for relaxation, washing is a separate process.</ref> for us while grandpa and brother Daṃdhigūlan were taking the first lilac ''nāniai''<ref>The ''nāneh'' is the typical Chlouvānem flatbread: lilac means it contains ''hunai'' (purple yam) meal.</ref> out of the tandoori oven and cutting ''kælitsai'', ''mārai'', ''vārīkai'', and ''baubai''<ref>Various types of fruits; note that they're all light orange or golden yellow - the most sacred colour in Yunyalīlti symbology.</ref>.<br/>
: Nilāmulka had gone<ref>Traditionally, washing order is generational, with the oldest woman in the house going first, then her husband, and so on. A Chlouvānem person would not need to be explained that Nilāmulka went first as the oldest of the sisters, and the author, Mæmihomah, is third in line as the third-born out of four sisters. Her brother Daṃdhigūlan, despite being older than all sisters but Nilāmulka, washes last because brothers wash after all female siblings — and anyway, during ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā'', all women wash before all men.</ref> into the washing room and Tainā and me were waiting behind the wall<ref>As typical of hot-climate southern Chlouvānem rural houses, washing rooms are actually little more than three walls and a wooden cover outside the house, and have no actual doors; the entrance is towards a windowless wall of the house, so that privacy is assured anyway.</ref>. We both know this was going to be a special day: Naina had entered her 9th year a few days before and it was time for her to wear her first ''jånirāh''<ref>The Chlouvānem sarī.</ref>, which the girls and I<ref>Mæmihomah and her two older sisters.</ref> had spent the last twelve days preparing. Mum came into the yard with the hands full of orange cotton for the ''buneyon''<ref>Dual of ''buneya'' (older sister).</ref> and I - our own ''jånirai'' for the day.<br/>
: Nilāmulka had gone<ref>Traditionally, washing order is generational, with the oldest woman in the house going first, then her husband, and so on. A Chlouvānem person would not need to be explained that Nilāmulka went first as the oldest of the sisters, and the author, Mæmihomah, is third in line as the third-born out of four sisters. Her brother Daṃdhigūlan, despite being older than all sisters but Nilāmulka, washes last because brothers wash after all female siblings — and anyway, during ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā'', all women wash before all men.</ref> into the washing room and Tainā and me were waiting behind the wall<ref>As typical of hot-climate southern Chlouvānem rural houses, washing rooms are actually little more than three walls and a wooden cover outside the house, and have no actual doors; the entrance is towards a windowless wall of the house, so that privacy is assured anyway.</ref>. We both know this was going to be a special day: Naina had entered her 9th year a few days before and it was time for her to wear her first ''jånirāh''<ref>The Chlouvānem sarī.</ref>, which the girls and I<ref>Mæmihomah and her two older sisters.</ref> had spent the last twelve days preparing. Mum came into the yard with the hands full of orange cotton for the ''buneyon''<ref>Dual of ''buneya'' (older sister).</ref> and I - our own ''jånirai'' for the day.<br/>
: Tainā started singing rhythmically<ref>''Heicā'': a style of rhythmic wordless chant, used in religious chanting, Chlouvānem classical music, and even popular songs.</ref> along the notes of a ''bahīrah'' we heard through the trees, and an anise perfume of freshly baked ''nāniai'' filled the air. Nilāmulka came out and put on her ''jånirāh'' as Tainā went to wash without stopping her ''heicā'', and even if the ''bahīrah'' couldn't be heard anymore Naina hummed into and got Nilāmulka and I singing too. Mum took the black<ref>''Lunīla'' berry juice - a kind of henna.</ref> and drew Nilāmulka two stripes per hand, as Daṃdhigūlan came to tie her the black ''vārṇaigīye''<ref>The ''vārṇaigi'' are a kind of sandals tied to the lower part of the leg. Common ''vārṇaigi'' are made of straw and are undyed, but those worn by women during the days of ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā'' are of black-dyed linen.</ref>.
: Tainā started singing rhythmically<ref>''Heicā'': a style of rhythmic wordless chant, used in religious chanting, Chlouvānem classical music, and even popular songs.</ref> along the notes of a ''bahīrah'' we heard through the trees, and an anise perfume of freshly baked ''nānyai'' filled the air. Nilāmulka came out and put on her ''jånirāh'' as Tainā went to wash without stopping her ''heicā'', and even if the ''bahīrah'' couldn't be heard anymore Naina hummed into and got Nilāmulka and I singing too. Mum took the black<ref>''Lunīla'' berry juice - a kind of henna.</ref> and drew Nilāmulka two stripes per hand, as Daṃdhigūlan came to tie her the black ''vārṇaigīye''<ref>The ''vārṇaigi'' are a kind of sandals tied to the lower part of the leg. Common ''vārṇaigi'' are made of straw and are undyed, but those worn by women during the days of ''juniahiyunyi jaṃšā'' are of black-dyed linen.</ref>.
: Naina, meanwhile, was fully in the mood for celebration, as she started to sing the song of the dildhā and the elephant<ref>Probably ''ɧømidz diljå'' [ˈxʷœːmidz dĩˤˈʑɔː] ("little dildhā" in Nanašīrami), a once popular folk tune in the area of Līlasuṃghāṇa.</ref> right into my ears - to the disappointment of mom, not only did I jump with her dancing in the monsoon, but Nilāmulka did the same in her festive, beautiful orange ''jånirāh''. Tainā came out, got dressed for the day<ref>Literally "took her daily cloth".</ref> and played with Naina while I washed - then we went for breakfast while mom took care of little Naina.
: Naina, meanwhile, was fully in the mood for celebration, as she started to sing the song of the dildhā and the elephant<ref>Probably ''ɧømidz diljå'' [ˈxʷœːmidz dĩˤˈʑɔː] ("little dildhā" in Nanašīrami), a once popular folk tune in the area of Līlasuṃghāṇa.</ref> right into my ears - to the disappointment of mom, not only did I jump with her dancing in the monsoon, but Nilāmulka did the same in her festive, beautiful orange ''jånirāh''. Tainā came out, got dressed for the day<ref>Literally "took her daily cloth".</ref> and played with Naina while I washed - then we went for breakfast while mom took care of little Naina.


[TBC]
==="To have more, we must produce more"===
: širē cārīnaṃte, širē hegivsūyē.
: širē givī, širē tartṛlyirata.
 
more. have.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-1PL.EXTERIOR-AGENT</small>. more. produce-<small>NECESS.IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>.<br/>
more. produce.<small>SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR</small>. more. know-<small>NECESS.IND.PRES-EXP-INTERIOR-1PL.COMMON</small>.
 
: To have more, we must produce more.
: To produce more, we must know more.


==Footnotes==
===Featured banner===
: nenē dhāḍa māgemibe maikitek.
: narṣāyaudhani jelāyāvi ñillūnajelani no ātnat māyikitą vādukula.
 
this. language.<small>DIR.SG</small>. <small>ADV</small>-one. put_in_front-<small>IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT</small>.<br/>
quality-level-<small>GEN.SG</small>. plausibility-<small>GEN.SG</small>. usage-possibility-<small>GEN.SG</small>. and. merit-<small>EXESS.SG</small>. featured-<small>ESS.SG</small>. vote-<small>IND.PERF.3SG.EXTR.PAT</small>.
 
==External history==
''Chlouvānem'' is the language I – ''[[User:Lili21|lilie21]]'' – consider my main conlang, as it is my [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]] conworld project's most developed and a spiritual successor of all conlangs I've created focussing the most on ever since I was a kid (well, to be fair the earliest ones were just natlang-mimicking relexes). Due to this, while mainly thought for my conworld, it is, more than any other conlang of mine, on the border between being an [[Artistic language|artlang]] or a heartlang.
 
Chlouvānem is an a priori language, yet it takes inspiration from about a dozen natlangs in aesthetics, morphophonology, syntax, though mainly by taking a starting point and then developing those features as I want and as they fit together best. ''Sanskrit'', ''Lithuanian'', and ''Persian'' are the languages I was most inspired by, and there are to various extents other influences by ''Russian'', ''Adyghe'', ''Hindustani'', ''Japanese'', ''Proto-Indo-European'', ''Old Tupi'', ''Matses'', ''Tucano'', ''Nambikwara'', and ''Ancient Greek'', as well as its in-world use which is inspired by ''Arabic'' and ''Chinese languages''. Overall it might seem IE at a first glance, but it is radically different in a few points which make it strikingly different (like the combination of Austronesian alignment, topic-prominence, and strongly head-final syntax).
 
The language itself used to be named ''chlouvānem'' in-world too, but then I changed historical phonology, removed the phoneme represented as ''ou'', so that it changed to ''chlǣvānem''. However, I had used the ''ou''-form for too long to change every reference to it in the English name too.
 
'''Important note:''' Chlouvānem is, since late 2020 - early 2021, a completed conlang; a process of refinement and changes that I wanted to implement and started around that time eventually developed into [[Dundulanyä]], which I consider to be the spiritual successor of Chlouvānem, with lots of similarities (to the point that many words and many roots are exactly the same) but some different takes on certain features.


<!-- Example: Word order, qualifiers, determinatives, branching, etc. -->
==See also==
* [[Verse:Calémere|Calémere]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Phonology|Chlouvānem phonology]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Morphology|Chlouvānem morphology]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Syntax|Chlouvānem syntax]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Positional and motion verbs|Chlouvānem positional and motion verbs]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Exterior and interior verbs|Chlouvānem exterior and interior verbs]]
* [[Verse:Chlouvānem Inquisition|Chlouvānem Inquisition]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Literature|Chlouvānem literature]]
* [[Verse:Yunyalīlta|Yunyalīlta]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Names|Chlouvānem names]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Calendar and time|Chlouvānem calendar]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Swadesh list|Chlouvānem Swadesh list]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Phrasebook|Chlouvānem phrasebook]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Lexicon|Chlouvānem thematic wordlists]]
* [[:Category:Chlouvānem words|Chlouvānem Contionary entries]]
* [[Chlouvānem/Non-canon|Chlouvānem non-canon words]]
* [[Literature:Ishtar_spoke_to_her_father/Chlouvānem|''"Ishtar spoke to her father"'' in Chlouvānem]]


<!-- Template area -->
==External links==
* [https://conworkshop.com/view_language.php?l=CLV Chlouvānem on Conworkshop] (under construction)


==Footnotes==


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[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]

Latest revision as of 11:59, 30 March 2024

Chlouvānem
chlǣvānumi dhāḍa
Flag of the Inquisition
Pronunciation[c͡ɕʰɴ̆ɛːʋaːnumi dʱaːɖa]
Created byLili21
DateDec 2016
SettingCalémere
EthnicityChlouvānem
Native speakers1,905,000,000 (3874 (642410))
Standard form
Classical Chlouvānem
Official status
Official language in
lands of the Inquisition, Brono, Fathan, Qualdomailor, Gorjan (regional)
Regulated byInquisitorial Office of the Language (dhāḍi plušamila)
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Chlouvānem, natively chlǣvānumi dhāḍa ("language of the Chlouvānem people"), sometimes also called naviṣidhāḍa (lit. "language of the [Holy] Book(s)") or mālnadhāḍa (lit. "language of the Union") by non-Chlouvānem users, is the most spoken language on the planet of Calémere (Chl.: Liloejāṃrya). It is the official language of the Inquisition (murkadhānāvi) and its country, the Chlouvānem lands (chlǣvānumi babhrām[1]), the main lingua franca across vast areas of Márusúturon (according to the Chlouvānem definition all of Jahībušanā, the eastern half of Araugi, southern Vaipūrja, and far southernmost Vīṭadælteh) - most importantly Brono, Fathan, Qualdomailor, and all other countries of the former Kaiṣamā, and, due to cultural exchanges and influences in the last seven hundred years, also a well known language in Greater Skyrdagor.
It is the Yunyalīlti religion's liturgical language.

The language currently known as Chlouvānem was first attested about 2400 years ago in documents from the Lällshag civilization, as the language of a Lahob-speaking people that settled in the southern part of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra-Lāmberah plain, particularly near Lake Lūlunīkam. Around year 4000 of the Chlouvānem calendar (itself an adaptation of the Lällshag one), the Chlamiṣvatrā, the great Prophet of the Yunyalīlta, lived and taught her doctrine in the Chlouvānem language, paving the way for it to gain the role of most important language and lingua franca in the at the time massively linguistically fragmented lower Plain. While the Chlamiṣvatrā's language is what we now call "Archaic Chlouvānem" (chlǣvānumi sārvire dhāḍa), most of the Yunyalīlti doctrine as we now know it is in the later stage of Classical Chlouvānem (chlǣvānumi lallapårṣire dhāḍa), a koiné developed in the mid-5th millennium. Since then, for nearly two millennia, this classical language has been kept alive as the lingua franca in the Yunyalīlti world, resulting in the state of diglossia that persists today.

Despite the fact that local vernaculars in the Inquisition are in fact daughter languages of Chlouvānem, creoles based on it, or completely unrelated languages, the chlǣvānumi dhāḍa is a fully living language as every Chlouvānem person is bilingual in it and in the local vernacular. About 1,9 billion people on the planet define themselves as native Chlouvānem speakers, more than for any other Calémerian language.

Chlouvānem (not counting separately its own daughter languages) is by far the most spoken of the Lahob languages (more than 99.98% of Lahob speakers), and the only one of the family to have been written before the contemporary era. It is, however, the geographical outlier of the family, due to the almost 10,000 km long migration of the Ur-Chlouvānem from the Proto-Lahob homeland at the northern tip of Evandor. Chlouvānem, due to its ancientness, still retains much of the complex morphology of Proto-Lahob, but its vocabulary has been vastly changed by language contact, especially after the Chlouvānem settled in the Plain, where they effectively became a métis ethnicity by intermixing with neighboring peoples.

See Chlouvānem lexicon for a list of common words grouped by theme.


Internal history

The history of the Chlouvānem language itself is tightly linked with the one of the Ur-Chlouvānem (odhāḍadumbhais) and Chlouvānem (chlǣvānem) peoples, and is usually divided in the following periods:

  • Proto-Lahob (hūlisakhāni odhāḍa; PLB for short)
  • Pre-Chlouvānem or Ur-Chlouvānem language (ochlǣvānumi dhāḍa or rarely chlǣvānumi odhāḍa)
  • Archaic Chlouvānem (chlǣvānumi sārvire dhāḍa)
  • Classical Chlouvānem (chlǣvānumi lallapårṣire dhāḍa)
  • Post-Classical (chlǣvānumi paṣlallapårṣire dhāḍa) and Modern (~ amyærlairī ~) Chlouvānem.

Proto-Lahob

The spread of Lahob languages in Márusúturon. The Chlouvānem-speaking area is in lilac and pink.

Chlouvānem and its daughter languages' nearest sibling languages are the other Lahob languages, with a speaker count in the tens of thousands and spoken in the traditional villages of the indigenous peoples of a subpolar area in northwestern Márusúturon, straddling the Orcish Straits between 55º and 70ºN, nearly 10,000 km away from the attested Chlouvānem heartlands. The most recent common ancestor between Chlouvānem and these languages is known as Proto-Lahob (ohūlisakhāni dhāḍa), and was spoken approximately 4000 to 3500 years before the present. The location where Proto-Lahob speakers probably lived is, for sure, neither the Chlouvānem heartlands nor the current territories of other Lahob peoples; instead, there are three hypothetical areas where it could have been spoken:

  1. on the western coast of the Skyrdegan Inner Sea, roughly between 40º and 45ºN (in modern day Aqalyšary and Berkutave, perhaps reaching north into modern Morufalhay) – this hypothesis is usually given along with an earlier estimated date for the proto-language;
  2. in the southern Ulšan Mountains, in present-day Kŭyŭgwažtov (nowadays not quite accepted as the other two);
  3. on the western coast of the High Ivulit (in modern Leñ-ṱef), just opposite modern Qualdomailor.

No matter which of these was the "birthplace" of Lahob peoples, the modern groups that survived are those that had migrated from the original homeland, as the spread of various other groups in the following millennia - Uyrǧan, Berko-Tarastian, Samaidulic, and most notably the Kenengyry much later - displaced and eventually assimilated the remnant groups[2].

Reconstructed vocabulary and the current state of the Lahob peoples of the Far North makes us reconstruct the Proto-Lahob society as a non-urban civilization, possibly with rudimental agriculture only, with the only reconstructable "agricultural" terms being a root for "to plant, (cultivate?)" – *tɬewkj- – and a word for a cereal, likely "wheat" or "rye", *kawŋədot (most languages reflect it as the word for "rye", but Chlouvānem and the southernmost Core Lahob ones reflect it as "wheat"). The semi-nomadic lifestyle was prevalent, but population growth eventually proved enough to lead some tribes to migrate. Unsurprisingly, the geographical terms are consistent with a temperate, semi-arid location as those hypothesized; names of plants, trees, and animals are mostly only reconstructible from the Core Lahob languages, and if Chlouvānem has kept some they have mostly been generalized or shifted to similar elements in the Ur-Chlouvānem's new homeland.

Notably, a few Proto-Lahob loanwords are found in Proto-Samaidulic and Proto-Fargulyn, which means they often have cognates in other major languages such as Skyrdagor, Brono-Fathanic, or Qualdomelic. The main Lahob ethnonym, *ɬakʰober ("group, tribe, villabe", Chl. chlågbhah "clan, tribe, (archaic: rural village, esp. if in areas poorly suited to agriculture)"), for example, is also found in Proto-Fargulyn as *laq'obɨr, and has reached modern Skyrdagor as lokjur "farmstead". These borrowings are often cited as a point towards placement of the Lahob homeland by the High Ivulit, as the homelands of both Proto-Samaidulic and Proto-Fargulyn are also hypothesized to be in the area (even if they are also contested).

Ur-Chlouvānem

Pre-Chlouvānem, Proto-Chlouvānem, or Ur-Chlouvānem (ochlǣvānumi dhāḍa) is the term for the unattested stage of Chlouvānem in the millennium between the end of the common Proto-Lahob period and either the settlement in the Inland Jade Coast, in the lands ultimately drained by Lake Lūlunīkam, or the first attestation of the existence of the Chlouvānem people, in a Lällshag inscription dated around 3850~3900, approximately 200 years before the lifetime of the Chlamiṣvatrā and a bit less than half a millennium before the founding of the Inquisition.

The trek of the Ur-Chlouvānem across Márusúturon was likely carried out by a series of tribes, some of whose likely settled in places along the route; the long route most likely passed through Tiṃhayāla Pass, between present-day Maišikota and Nālaṭhirūṇa, which is one of the most important passes of the whole continent, a relatively low crossing between the plains of Līnajaiṭa and, therefore, the Little Ivulit, and the upper reaches of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra, leading to the whole Great Chlouvānem Plain. Therefore, the long trek of the Ur-Chlouvānem was, except for this pass, mainly in flat territory, facilitating their migration.

Linguistically, Ur-Chlouvānem was very conservative, retaining most traits of Proto-Lahob morphology. However, it did develop some traits unique to Chlouvānem, not present in the Core Lahob languages:

  • the loss of gender agreement, with gapped relative clauses replacing adjective+noun constructions;
  • the cliticization of some verbal forms, leading to the development of most verbal modifiers, including the interior/exterior verb forms and evidentials;
  • the topic-comment syntax.

Grammatically, ablaut became less pronounced, as the ablaut class of nouns and all ablauting verbal classes except for class 2 became mostly unproductive (with a few exceptions).
Phonetically, Ur-Chlouvānem retained most consonant phonemes of Proto-Lahob, losing one point of articulation for stops (the labiovelar) but gaining a new one (the retroflex). At least one phoneme, the glottal stop, was introduced through borrowings. Vowels saw more changes, with Proto-Lahob *a *ā and *o *ō merging into /ä/, as well as peculiar developments for vowels, leading to the emergence of front rounded vowels in the Ur-Chlouvānem stage which, however, became unrounded well before the earliest attestations, like PLB *hōwrar "summer" → UrChl. *[høʏ̯ʀaχ] → Chl. heirah "year"; these are not to be confused with the attested front rounded vowels, which are a later development, in non-Standard, Classical-era dialects, such as Lūlunīkami fülde, fǖldöy [ɸyɴ̆de] [ɸyːɴ̆døʏ̯] for standard ħulde, ħildoe ("to play", "game") ← PLB *pʰɨʕəd-ke, *pʰɨːʕədõ.

Lexically, Ur-Chlouvānem borrowed a lot of word roots from other, otherwise unattested languages: while the grammar of Chlouvānem is unmistakeably Lahob, a lot of its vocabulary isn't, and a large number of its roots (about 25%) has not been traced to either Proto-Lahob or to any known language of the new homeland. Note, though, that this does not mean they are certainly from other languages: they may be Lahob words lacking a cognate in any surviving Core Lahob language, or borrowings from a minor language of their migration destination not attested otherwise. Such vocabulary is found in every semantic field, including animals (yoñšam "donkey"; snīdbhas "bull") and general natural things or cultural products (brāṣṭhis "stream", gurḍhyam "flute"), but often clearly related to an agrarian society (nakthum "storage", vaiṣrya "plough").

Archaic and Classical Chlouvānem

Archaic Chlouvānem (chlǣvānumi sārvire dhāḍa) is the language that emerged from the métis people that formed in the inland Jade Coast in the second half of the 4th millennium through intermixing of the Ur-Chlouvānem with local peoples. In the space of a few centuries, various peoples with different origins came to form a rather culturally homogeneous mass that was further united by the birth of a common religion – the Yunyalīlta – among them, and by the founding of their first states under the impulse of the Inquisition. Most anthropologists of Calémere are concord in considering that the Lahob heritage of the Chlouvānem is mostly limited to their language, with nearly every other aspect of their culture, and most of their genetic stock, being markedly different from the surviving Core Lahob peoples.

Nearly all of the Chlouvānem vocabulary for their homeland is non-Lahob in origin, with, however, some notable Lahob words in what concerns religion: yunya, for example, is an inherited Lahob word (PLB *šjunjo), and the compound lillamurḍhyā is entirely made of Lahob roots (the compound itself was made in Lūlunīkami, not in the dialect that became Standard Chlouvānem).

Variants

Chlouvānem as spoken today is the standardized version of the literary language spoken in the mid-5th millennium along the lower course of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra river, the one in which most sacred texts of the Yunyalīlta are written. Since then, the language has been kept alive for more than 1500 years and counting in a diglossic state with many descendant and creole languages developing in the areas that gradually came under Chlouvānem control, and Classical Chlouvānem is in fact a major defining factor of Chlouvānem ethnicity, enabling the existence of a single cultural area spread across half a continent despite the individual areas each having their own vernaculars.

The Chlouvānem-speaking world may be described, much like English, as being divided into three circles with different speaker profiles:

  • The "inner circle" is the area where Chlouvānem is the only official language for intranational communication, acting as the high variant in a state of diglossia with local vernaculars. Therefore, this circle includes the whole Chlouvānem Inquisition, most of its external territories, plus a few areas with Chlouvānem majority elsewhere (parts of Qualdomailor and Kŭyŭgwažtow);
  • The "outer circle" includes the whole of the former Kaiṣamā (except for Taruebus and Gorjan), where Chlouvānem had been a semi-official language during the Union and, while it is not the primary language of the majority, its use in society is too high to be described simply as a foreign language - for example, Chlouvānem is the main language (or at least has a usage comparable to the main official language(s)) in higher education and particular fields of politics.
  • The "expanding circle" is the area where Chlouvānem is not official but a reasonable amount of people uses it, with adequate proficiency, for international communication. This circle includes Greater Skyrdagor and Taruebus (when the proficiency is higher and closer to outer circle areas, to the extent that Chlouvānem language teachers and professors in the West are more often Skyrdegan than actual Chlouvānem), as well as most countries aligned with the Eastern bloc in Védren and far western Márusúturon.

Pronunciations

All true dialects of Chlouvānem eventually developed into distinct vernaculars, so that the diatopical variation of contemporary Chlouvānem are referred to as pronunciations (in Chl. babhrāyāṃsai, sg. babhrāyāṃsa, literally "land-sound"), a somewhat misleading term given that they do not just vary in pronunciation (with prosody being often the main point of divergence), but even more in vocabulary.
Pronunciations are grouped in broad areas which more or less overlap with the cultural macroregions (the administrative Tribunals) and with the distribution of the subgroupings of the Chlouvānem ethnicity. Local pronunciations are generally not tied to a specific ethnic group, only to the area they're spoken in, and they show significantly less variation than vernaculars.

Chlouvānem pronunciations are generally grouped as follows:

  • Jade Coastal, Eastern Plain, and Southern (lūṇḍhyalimvi naleidhoyi no nyuvyuñci no), broadly corresponding to the tribunals of the Jade Coast, Southern Plain, the South, the Eastern Plain, the Līrah River Hills, and parts of the Northern and Central Plain. Standard Chlouvānem is based on one of these pronunciations;
  • Western Plain (samvāldhoyi), corresponding to the tribunals of the Western Plain, parts of the Northern and Central Plain, and the Inland Southwest;
  • Southeastern (talehiyuñci), used in the tribunals of the Near East, the Southern Far East, and the Southeastern Islands;
  • Eastern (nalejñuñci), used in the Northern Far East and in the East;
  • Northeastern and Hålvarami (helaṣyuñci hålvarami no), used in the Northeast and in the Hålvaram plateau;
  • Sand Coastal (chleblimvi), including the pronunciations of the Coastal Southwest, small parts of the Inland Southwest, and the eastern part of the Western tribunal;
  • Western (samvālyuñci), in most of the West and in the Far West (the eastern part of the historical Dabuke areas).

The remaining areas are those of more recent Chlouvānemization, and aside from not having a distinct subgroup of the Chlouvānem ethnicity, they also don't have distinct pronunciation features, being closer to Standard Chlouvānem. Many of these areas also don't have a general Chlouvānem-derived vernacular and so in urban areas the standard language is used even in the most informal contexts. These areas include Hokujaši and Aratāram island as well as Kēhamijāṇa in the Northeast; the Hivampaida and Måhañjaiṭa in the North; virtually all of the Northwest; and the two island groups not part of any tribunal: the Kāmilbausa islands due south of the Western tribunal and the Kāyīchah islands off the eastern coast of Védren.
Chlouvānem as spoken in countries of the former Kaiṣamā (and especially Kŭyŭgwažtow) is sometimes included in this category, although the prominence of contact with the local official languages has rendered those variants quite distinct in vocabulary and sometimes in the phonemic inventory too.

Vernaculars

Most local vernaculars of the Inquisition (babhrāmaivai, sg. babhrāmaiva, literally “land word(s)”) are, linguistically, the daughter languages of Classical Chlouvānem. They are the result of normal language evolution with, in most areas, enormous influences by substrata.

Actually, only a bit more than half of the Inquisition has a vernacular that is a true daughter language - most areas conquered in the last 600 years, thus since the late 6th millennium, speak a creole language, with an almost completely Chlouvānem lexicon and a grammar which shows simplifications and Chlouvānem-odd traits uncommon to languages of the heartlands. It is however widely agreed on that the Eastern Chlouvānem languages, despite being considered true daughter languages, have a large and long creolization history.

The main division for local vernaculars - or Chlouvānem languages - is the one in groups, as few of them are standardized and large areas are dialect continua where it is extremely difficult to determine which dialects belong to a particular language and which ones do not. Furthermore, most people speak of their vernacular as “the word of [village name]”, and always refer to them as local variants of the same Chlouvānem language, without major distinctions from the national language which is always Classical Chlouvānem[3]. Individual “languages” are thus simply defined starting from the diocese they’re spoken in, so for example the Nanašīrami language includes all dialects spoken in the diocese of Nanašīrama, despite those spoken in the eastern parts of the diocese being closer to those spoken in Takajñanta than to the Nanašīrami dialect of Līlasuṃghāṇa - which has, however, lots of common points with the Lanamilūki Valley dialects of Talæñoya to the south.
Note that the word maiva, in Chlouvānem, only identifies a language spoken in a certain area which is typically considered to belong to a wider language community, independent of its origin. It does not have any pejorative meaning of stigmatization, unlike examples like e.g. lingua vs. dialetto in Italian.

Main local vernaculars by macroarea (Tribunal):

  • Jade Coast, Eastern Plain, Northern Plain, parts of the Central Plain
    • Eastern Plain and Jade Coast dialect continuum (naleidhoyi lūṇḍhyalimvi no maivai) — spoken in the eastern half of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, the Jade Coast (littoral and interior), and the northern part of the rainforest. If Chlouvānem itself is not counted as being spoken natively, then this dialect continuum constitutes Calémere's most spoken language by number of native speakers.
    • Northern Plain dialect continuum (kehaṃdhoyi maivai) — spoken in the northern Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, in the foothills of the Camipāṇḍa mountains. It has traits of both the Eastern Plain and the Western Plain continua, but also has its odd features common throughout the area but lacking in the other two groups. However, due to internal migration, the linguistic border is rather odd, especially the one with the Eastern Plain continuum: the contemporary vernacular of Mamaikala, the largest city of the Northern Plain, as well as nearby areas on the mid-Lāmberah river, is undoubtedly Eastern, despite being well into Northern-speaking territory.
      The areas from the Namaikaheh eastwards beyond the Līrah river were, in South Márusúturonian Antiquity, the heartlands of civilizations speaking Dayleshi languages: Ancient Namaikahi, Nenesic, and Pyotic. While these were written administrative languages at the time, and kept being used alongside Chlouvānem in the first centuries of Chlouvānemization, they left no descendants. While the amount of Dayleshi loanwords into Classical Chlouvānem is negligible, Dayleshi substrata have been identified for nearly the entirety of the Northern Plain dialect continuum[4].
  • Western Plain, Inland Southwest, parts of the Central Plain
    • Western Plain dialect continuum (samvāldhoyi maivai) — spoken in the western half of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, including the majority of the Inland Southwest.
    • Southwestern Plain dialect continuum (māħimdhoyi maivai) — spoken in the southwestern part of the plain and small parts of the Inland Southwest. Unlike other Chlouvānem-origin dialect continua, these are the daughter languages not of Chlouvānem (indigenous - as in the Jade Coast - or introduced), but of the closely related Western Ancient Chlouvānem.
  • South and Coastal Southwest
    • Jungle language (nanaimaiva) — term for the Chlouvānem daughter language spoken across most of the South, including nearby islands. Due to the historical importance of Hālyanēṃṣah and Lūlunimarta in the Chlouvānem Age of Discovery, the nanaimaiva is sometimes considered one of the most prestigious vernaculars and, almost uniquely for a Chlouvānem vernacular, it has contributed quite a few words to foreign languages. A number of dialects derived from Lūlunimarti known by the name of Kaikhūñi are spoken in various linguistic islands on the coast of the Far East, in historic trading posts of the Lūlunimarti Republic.
    • Many inland villages in the rainforest have their own local language, often not related to Chlouvānem. Large parts of the area are therefore trilingual, with the local language being spoken alongside Classical Chlouvānem and a local nanaimaiva dialect - often described as being "Hālyanēṃṣah-type", "Kælšamīṇṭa-type", or "Lūlunimarta-type" from its similarity to the three main dialects.
    • Sand Coast dialect continuum (chleblimvi maivai) — spoken across the Sand Coast, i.e. the Coastal Southwest tribunal. The dialects of Vāstarilīmva, at the southwesternmost tip of the main subcontinental body, have mixed Sand Coastal and nanaimaiva traits.
  • Near East
    • Near Eastern dialect continuum (mūtyānalejñutei maivai) — a dialect continuum spoken in the Near East, the area roughly between Āgrajaiṭa and Yambrajaiṭa in the west and the Cāllikāneh mountains in the east.
    • Rǣrumi (ræ:æron u xæræž; Chl.: rǣrumi dhāḍa) — the Fargulyn language (distantly related to Skyrdagor) of the historically nomadic Rǣrai, which were settled in Kaiṣamā times in a hilly area between the Near East and the Northern Far East, nowadays the semi-ethnic diocese of Rǣrajāṇai.
    • Kanoë-Pulin languages (kanoyēpulin ga dhāḍai) — a language family mostly spoken in the Kahaludāh mountains and hills in Yarañšūṇa, Tumidajaiṭa, and parts of Kotaijaiṭa and Naitontā. Tumidumi (sokaw y eetumið; Chl. tumidumi dhāḍa), spoken by the Tumidai people of the ethnic diocese of Tumidajaiṭa, is by far the most spoken.
    • Kotayumi (kotaii šot; Chl. kotayumi dhāḍa) — a Yalikamian language (likely distantly related to the Kanoë-Pulin family) spoken by the Kotayai, indigenous people of the ethnic diocese of Kotaijaiṭa.
    • Kitaldian languages (kitaludumi dhāḍai) – historically spoken in southern Pēmbajaiṭa, in the Rǣrajāṇai, and in most of western and northern Lakṝṣyāṇa; this remains their present-day distribution, but mostly in rural and mountainous areas.
  • Southern Far East and Southeastern islands
    • Katamadelī (katamadelī maivai) — dialect continuum of Chlouvānem daughter languages spoken on the western coast of the Far East and its interior, from far southern Pēmbajaiṭa up to the southeasternmost tip near Ehaliħombu. Katamadelē is a traditional, pre-Chlouvānem name for today's Lakṝṣyāṇa diocese, later extended to the whole area.
    • Naleilimvi (naleilimvi maivai) — the dialect continuum of Chlouvānem daughter languages spoken - as the name says - on the eastern coast (naleilimva) of the Far East, from Torašitā in the north to Daihāgaiya in the south.
    • Hūnakañumi (huwănaganь sisāt; Chl. hūnakañumi dhāḍa) — the Yalikamian language of the Hūnakañai, the indigenous people of the ethnic diocese of Hūnakañjaiṭa; as with many Near- and Far Eastern languages, it belongs to the Yalikamian languages. It is however spoken only in sparsely populated hilly areas, and the diocese is predominantly Chlouvānem, including the macroregional metropolis and tenth-largest city of the Inquisition, Līlekhaitē.
    • Tendukumi (tănduk sisod; Chl. tendukumi dhāḍa) — a Yalikamian language spoken by the Tendukai people of the ethnic diocese of Tendukijaiṭa. By percentage of speakers in its native area, it is one of the most spoken languages among officially recognized ones in ethnic diocese, with about 41% of people in Tendukijaiṭa speaking it. The diocese, however, is the least populated in the tribunal.
    • Niyobumi (niyyube sesaϑ; Chl. niyobumi dhāḍa) — a Yalikamian language spoken in the hilly areas of Niyobajaiṭa ethnic diocese.
    • other Yalikamian languages (yalikamyumi dhāḍai) – thirteen indigenous languages in Yamyenai as well as Kondabumi, which is however often considered a transitional dialect continuum between Hūnakañumi and Tendukumi.
    • Kaldaic languages (kaldani dhāḍai) – before Chlouvānemization, the main language family spoken on the littoral from central-eastern Lakṝṣyāṇa to Daihāgajña; in most of Hūnakañjaiṭa it was first replaced by Hūnakañumi, whose speakers came from inland. Today a few of these languages remain, in non-contiguous areas, including far eastern Lakṝṣyāṇa and the southeastern Rǣrajāṇai, eastern Hūnakañjaiṭa, the Ṭilva mountains of Yayadalga, as well as the insular part of that diocese, and insular and coastal western Daihāgajña.
    • Maty languages (matū ga dhāḍai) – spoken in insular Lakṝṣyāṇa and Hūnakañjaiṭa, with outliers in the Korabi islands and the northern coast of Kumilanai; these areas were already its pre-Chlouvānem distribution.
    • Toiban languages (tåyumbumi dhāḍai) – historically spoken in Āturiyāmba, Jaṣmoeraus, inland Yayadalga, and northern Daihāgajña; today consisting of seven languages, the most spoken of whose is Kaɂapumi (kaɂapumi dhāḍa), spoken in central Jaṣmoeraus.
    • Ninat-Yowgi languages (ninatuyovugi ga dhāḍai) – historically spoken in Ājvajaiṭa, coastal Niyobajaiṭa, and central and southern Torašitā; was already being displaced from the latter area before Chlouvānemization by Toyubeshian speakers; today, they mostly remain in rural central and western Ājvajaiṭa.
    • Kumilanāyi (kumilanāyi maiva) — a Chlouvānem language spoken on Kumilanai and neighboring islands.
    • Tātanībāmi (etek tatănibåŋ; Chl. tātanībāmi dhāḍa) — the main language spoken on the island of Tātanībāma, in most of the other islands in the Haichā group, and on Tahīɂa. Most languages of the Leyunakā islands - commonly known as Northern Leyunakī and Southern Leyunakī - are also related to Tātanībāmi, with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility.
    • Tandameipi (nzɛk pɔb; Chl.: tandameipi dhāḍa) — the indigenous language of Tandameipa island, the southernmost of the Southeastern archipelago. It belongs to the Litoic branches of Outward Melau, itself a sub-branch of the Nduagaz languages mostly spoken in Queáten; the Nduagaz homeland itself is in southern Púríton, which makes these Outward Melau branches in Márusúturon the only Calémerian languages that before the age of colonization were spread between the Old and the New World.
    • Kaŋbo (tūs kaŋbo; Chl.: kalbo ga dhāḍa) – a Heiga language (a branch of Outward Melau) spoken by three thousand people on Kaŋbotu island, the southernmost of the Leyunakā group.
    • Nukahucī (ăŋkahisi phū; Chl.: nukahucī dhāḍa or nukahucē ga lanāyān dhāḍa) – a Litoic language spoken in the remote Nukahucē atolls, which constitute the smallest and least populous diocese of the Inquisition.
  • Northern Far East
    • Kaitajaši (kaitajaši maivai) — a dialect continuum spoken in most of the Northern Far Eastern tribunal, the historically Toyubeshian lands.
    • Modern Toyubeshian (úat Vyānxāi, úat Từaobát, úat Xợothiāp or other names; Chl.: tayubešumi tāvyāṣusire dhāḍa) — a koiné language for the dialects widely spoken in the inland areas of the former Toyubeshian lands. The common name is actually misleading, as it is not a daughter language of Toyubeshian (the former courtly language the loans in Chlouvānem and most local placenames came from), but of a related language[5]: Classical Toyubeshian formed its own branch of the Tabian languages, while Modern Toyubeshian is part o the Tabi-Konashi branch. Due to the common koiné it is considered a single language; however, dialects on the eastern and western ends on the area are for the most part mutually unintelligible. Still, the varieties of Šimatoga and Hachitama constitute a sister branch, the Ki-Konashi languages, and are therefore often excluded. Counting together all of its varieties (and even when excluding Ki-Konashi), it is the most spoken non-Chlouvānem language of the Inquisition.
    • languages of the Outlying Islands of Haikamotē: vernaculars of the insular part of otherwise Chlouvānem-dominated Haikamotē, they are the only living descendants of Classical Toyubeshian.
    • Kowtic languages (kotyumi dhāḍai) – third branch of the Tabian languages, historically spoken in Naitontā and the northern coast of Torašitā. With the territory having been also settled and conquered by Toyubeshians, Kanoë-Pulin speakers in the far western part, and the Chlouvānem, today they include two mutually unintelligible languages spoken by about twenty thousand people in southern Naitontā.
  • East and Northeast
    • Hachitami-Šimatogi (hachitami šimatogi no maivai) — the Chlouvānem language spoken in most of the Eastern dioceses of Hachitama, Šimatoga, Utsunaya as well as northern Šiyotami and rural Padeikola. Often considered the northwesternmost extent of the Kaitajaši dialect continuum.
    • Northeastern creoles (helaṣyuñci maivai) – a family of related Chlouvānem-based creoles spoken as vernaculars across most of the Eastern and Northeastern tribunals.
    • Nalakhojumi (üj nolomħoj; Chl.: nalakhojumi dhāḍa) — a Nahlan language spoken in most of the ethnic diocese of Nalakhoñjaiṭa by the Nalakhojai people. The city of Lānita, main urban area of the diocese, however, is almost entirely Chlouvānem-speaking.
    • Halyañumi (üš hælyaney; Chl.: halyañumi dhāḍa) — a Nahlan language spoken by the Halyanyai people in the ethnic diocese of Halyanijaiṭa. Usage is highest in the northern part of the diocese and lowest in the metropolitan area of Īdisa, the largest inland metropolitan area of the Northeast.
    • Kūdavumi (kowdao hüüj; Chl.: kūdavumi dhāḍa) — a Nahlan language spoken in the ethnic diocese of Kūdavīma by the Kūdavai people. While having only a small number of speakers, some words from it are common in the vernaculars of all of the Northeast, likely due to the historically nomadic nature of the Kūdavai.
    • Čathísǫ̃́g (tłę́mí Čathísǫ̃́gbud; Chl.: chandisēkumi dhāḍa) — main vernacular in the ethnic diocese of Jįveimintītas. It is one of only two official languages of ethnic dioceses - together with Bazá - which is official in other countries, in this case it is the national language in the bordering country of Gwęčathíbõth as well as in the latter's northern neighbour C′ı̨bedǫ́s.
  • North
    • Hålvarami (hålvarami maivai) — a family of Chlouvānem-based creoles spoken in the dioceses of the Hålvaram plateau (Mārmalūdven, Doyukitama, Taibigāša, Kayūkānaki).
    • Dahelyumi (dæhæng pop; Chl.: dahelyumi dhāḍa) — a language isolate (often subject to controversial classification theories) spoken by the Daheliai people of the ethnic diocese of Dahelijaiṭa, Northern tribunal, mostly in rural villages.
    • Qorfur (ekişen ti qorfur; Chl. kharpuryumi dhāḍa) — a Balmudic language, part of the Fargulyn family and hence distantly related to Skyrdagor (Karaskyr branch) and the non-Chlouvānem Hålvarumi languages, spoken by the Qorfur people of the diocese of Vaskuvānuh (Wask-wanu in Qorfur). Most Qorfur live, however, in the bordering country of Qorfurkweo or as the extremely large Qorfur diaspora, very numerous across Greater Skyrdagor.
    • Saṃhayoli (saṃhayoli maiva) — a Chlouvānem-based creole spoken in the diocese of Saṃhayolah and parts of Maichlahåryan.
    • Moamatemposisy (ta fewåwanie ta mwåmahimbušihy; Chl.: måmatempuñiyi dhāḍa) — a variant of Brono-Fathanic spoken as a vernacular in the northern part of the diocese of Hivampaida. It is a triglossic area, as for official purposes, aside from Chlouvānem, Standard Bronic is also used.
    • In the whole North there are various pockets of Skyrdagor speakers due to the vicinity of Greater Skyrdagor, especially in Maichlahåryan (which was a part of Gorjan until the Kaiṣamā era). Skyrdagor varieties spoken here are mostly similar to Gorjonur, the variant spoken in the Greater Skyrdegan country of Gorjan.
  • Northwest
    • Luspori (nmụñu Lụspori; Chl. lyušparumi dhāḍa) — the main vernacular of northern Srāmiṇajāṇai, a Maëbic language which is also the most spoken language of the neighboring country of Maëb and is also spoken natively in parts of Péráno, Aréntía, and Mašifúk to the west, as well as by seminomadic groups further west; it is a trade language in all countries of the southern shore of the Carpan Sea. The dialect spoken in Srāmiṇajāṇai is of the same variants of the Maëb Coast, which is the most spoken and most homogeneous dialectal group; however, there are obvious differences in what concerns the different political structures and dominant languages of Maëb and the Inquisition.

[West to be added]

Some areas of the Inquisition do not have a major, local vernacular aside from the use of Classical Chlouvānem. The reason for all of these is that they were only recently (in the last two centuries) annexed to the Chlouvānem world and often there was no single local dominant language, so that there has been an often radical shift to Chlouvānem; some of these areas had also been Western colonies before being annexed by the Chlouvānem. These areas are:

  • all of the Northwest with the exception of the Luspori-speaking northern half of Srāmiṇajāṇai diocese. This includes the densely populated areas of Tārṣaivai and Līnajaiṭa, but also the virtually uninhabited deserts of Samvālšaṇṭrē and Ūnikadīltha.
  • the Nukahucē atoll chain, uninhabited before Chlouvānem settlement
  • the Kāmilbausa islands, also previously uninhabited
  • the far northern islands of Hokujaši and Aratāram as well as the inland taiga of Kēhamijāṇa, whose original inhabitants mostly shifted to Chlouvānem. Hokujaši island is however notable for the emergence on it of a peculiar koiné dialect of the Eastern Plain-Jade Coast continuum, as most of its original Chlouvānem settlers came from that area. This dialect, however, has been shrinking for decades and is today only spoken by a few people in rural areas, and many Hokujašeyi people do not even know of its existence.

Historical dialects

Phonology - Yāṃstarlā

Main article: Chlouvānem phonology

Chlouvānem is phonologically very conservative from Proto-Lahob as it has not had a lot of changes - however, those few it had have had the effect of strongly raising the total number of phonemes, developing a few distinctions that, while not rare themselves, are rarely found all together in the same language. Chlouvānem has a large inventory in both consonants and vowels, and a fair amount of active morphophonemic saṃdhi processes.

Writing system - Jīmalāṇa

The word chlǣvānem in the language's native script, with the parts colour-coded according to function.

Chlouvānem has been written since the early 5th millennium in an abugida called chlǣvānumi jīmalāṇa ("Chlouvānem script", the noun jīmalāṇa is actually a collective derivation from jīma "character"), developed with influence of the script used for the Lällshag language. The orthography for Chlouvānem represents how it was pronounced in Classical times, but it's completely regular to read in all present-day local pronunciations.
The Chlouvānem alphabet is distinguished by a large number of curved letter forms, arising from the need of limiting horizontal lines as much as possible in order to avoid tearing the leaves on which early writers wrote. A few glyphs have diagonal or vertical lines, but in pre-typewriting times there was a tendency to have them slightly curved; however, horizontal lines are today found in the exclamation and question marks (which are early modern inventions) and in mathematical symbols; the priligis, or inherent-vowel-cancelling sign, is also nowadays often represented as a horizontal stroke under the consonant, following the most common handwriting styles; however, formerly it was (and formally still is) written as a subscript circumflex.

Being an abugida, vowels (including diphthongs) are mainly represented by diacritics written by the consonant they come after (some vowel diacritics are actually written before the consonant they are tied to, however); a is however inherent in any consonant and therefore does not need a diacritic sign. Consonant clusters are usually representing by stacking the consonants on one another (with those that appear under the main consonant sometimes being simplified), but a few consonants such as r and l have simplified combining forms. The consonant is written with diacritics and can't appear alone. There are also special forms for final -m, -n, -s, and -h due to their commonness; other consonants without inherent vowels have to be written with a diacritic sign called priligis (deleter), which has the form of a subscript circumflex or, most commonly, subscript horizontal stroke, or as conjunct consonants.
The combinations lā vā yā ñā pā phā bhā are irregularly formed due to the normal diacritic ā-sign being otherwise weirdly attached to the base glyph. There is, furthermore, a commonly used single-glyph abbreviation for the word lili, the first-person singular pronoun.

The romanization used for Chlouvānem avoids this problem by giving each phoneme a single character or digraph, but it stays as close as possible to the native script. Aspirated stops and diphthongs are romanized as digraphs and not by single letters; geminate letters, which are represented with a diacritic in the native script, are romanized by writing the consonant twice - in the aspirated stops, only the first letter is written twice, so /ppʰ/ is pph and not *phph.

Romanization table in native alphabetical order:

m p ph b bh v n t th d dh s
/m/ /p/ /pʰ/ /b/ /bʱ/ /ʋ/ /n/ /t̪/ /t̪ʰ/ /d̪/ /d̪ʱ/ /s/
ṭh ḍh ñ c ch j jh š
/ɳ/ /ʈ/ /ʈʰ/ /ɖ/ /ɖʱ/ /ʂ/ /ɲ/ /c͡ɕ/ /c͡ɕʰ/ /ɟ͡ʑ/ /ɟ͡ʑʱ/ /ɕ/
y k kh g gh ɂ h ħ r l i
/j/ /k/ /kʰ/ /ɡ/ /ɡʱ/ /ɴ/ /Ɂ/ /ɦ/ /ħ/ /ʀ/ /ɴ̆/ /i/
ī į u ū ų e ē ę o æ ǣ a
/iː/ /i̤/ /u/ /uː/ /ṳ/ /e/ /eː/ /e̤/ /ɔ/ /ɛ/ /ɛː/ /ä/
ā ą ai ąi ei ęi oe au ąu å
/äː/ /ɑ̤/ /aɪ̯/ /a̤ɪ̯/ /eɪ̯/ /e̤ɪ̯/ /ɔə̯/ /aʊ̯/ /a̤ʊ̯/ /ɔ/ /ʀ̩/ /ʀ̩ː/

Some orthographical and phonological notes:

  • /n/ [ŋ] is written as l before k g kh gh n. Note that in many local varieties lk lkh lg lgh are actually [ɴq ɴqʰ ɴɢ ɴɢʱ], with the stop assimilating to l and not vice-versa, and thus analyzed as /ɴ̆k ɴ̆kʰ ɴ̆g ɴ̆gʱ/.
  • /ɴ̆ː/ may be written as either ll or ṃl; the latter is used when compounding two morphemes, the first of which ends in any nasal consonant except for l itself.
  • Vowels do not have non-diacritical forms; when word-initial, they are written on the glyph for ɂ. In Classical Chlouvānem and in many modern pronunciations, word-initial vowels are actually always preceded by an allophonic glottal stop. Such glyphs are, however, romanized simply as e.g. a, not *ɂa.

Letter names are formed with simple rules:

  • All consonants apart from l, r, and aspirated stops form them with CaCas, e.g. s is sasas, m is mamas, b is babas and so on. ɂ is written aɂas.
  • Aspirated stops form them as CʰeCas, e.g. bh is bhebas, ph is phepas, and so on.
  • l is lǣlas and r is rairas. is, uniquely, nālkāvi.
  • Short vowels are VtV*s, where the second V is a for æ (ætas), i for e (etis), and u for o (otus).
  • Long vowels are vowel + -nis if unrounded (īnis, ēnis, ānis), but ū, being rounded, is ūmus. Oral diphthongs all have diphthong + -myas (aimyas, eimyas…); å is counted as a diphthong and as such it is åmyas.
  • Breathy-voiced vowels are vowel + /ɦ/ + vowel + s (ihis, ahas, uhus, but ehas). Breathy-voiced diphthongs are diphthong + /ɕ/ + as (ąišas, ęišas, ąušas).

o and å

In today's standard Chlouvānem, the letters o and å are homophones, being both pronounced /ɔ/: their distribution reflects their origin in Proto-Lahob (PLB), with o deriving from PLB *aw and *ow, and å from either *a umlauted by a (lost) *o in a following syllable, or, most commonly, from the sequences *o(ː)wa, *o(ː)fa, *o(ː)wo, or *o(ː)fo.

Most Chlouvānem sources, however, classify å as a diphthong: Classical Era sources nearly accurately describe it as /ao̯/, later monophthongized to [ʌ] or [ɒ] and merged with /ɔ/ - in fact, most daughter languages have the same reflex for both o and å. A few grammarians think that å was originally the long version of o, but this hypothesis is disputed as å does not pattern with the other long vowels (e.g. o does not lengthen into it because of synchronic lengthening; also it is grouped with diphthongs in the alphabetic order instead of coming just after o, as other long vowels do). Some kind of distinction in the pronunciations of Classical Chlouvānem must have been preserved until early modern times, as both are found in adapting foreign words - usually å transcribes more open vowels than o.

A spelling-based pronunciation distinction (with å being [ɔ] and o being [o(ː)]) has been recently spreading among young speakers in the large metropolitan areas of the Jade Coast.

Notes on romanization

The romanization here used for Chlouvānem is adapted to English conventions, with a few adjustments made to better reflect how written Chlouvānem looks on Calémere:

  • Even if the Chlouvānem script uses scriptio continua and marks minor pauses (e.g. comma and semicolon) with a space between the sentences and a punctuation mark with following space, every word is divided when romanized, including particles. The only exceptions to this are compound verbs, which are written as a single word nevertheless (e.g. yųlakemaityāke "to be about to eat" not *yųlake maityāke). English punctuation marks are used in basic sentences, including a distinction between comma and semicolon. In longer texts, particularly in the "examples" section, : will be used to mark a comma-like pause (a space in the native script) and ।। will be used for a full-stop-like pause (written very similarly to ।। in the native script).
  • As the Chlouvānem script does not have lettercase, no uppercase letters are used in the romanization, except to disambiguate cases like lairē (noun: sky, air) and Lairē (female given name), and for proper nouns written in isolation.

Abbreviations

In this section, pure transcriptions are used. Superscript letters mark vowel diacritics; subscript letters mark conjoined consonants; a mid dot after the consonant (for m, s, and h only) marks a special final form; a dash marks the deletion mark of inherent vowels, and a tilde marks the abbreviation mark.

The Chlouvānem script has a specific, tilde-shaped, mark called aniguṃsṛṣūs which used to mark an abbreviation. In most cases, only the first and the last consonant (in some cases, the first two and the last, or the first one and the last two) of a word are written (including those normally written as part of a conjunct), without vowels, with the abbreviation sign written on top of the last letter. For example, the word dirūnnevya (grammatical case), written normally as dirūnnevy, is abbreviated to dỹ or drỹ, less commonly to dvỹ; nūlastām (money), nūlstām, is abbreviated to nm̃ or nlm̃.
Cases are typically written without vowels (which means many of them are not differentiated at all).

Exceptions to the above include:

  • Many officially sanctioned abbreviations, which are made of different consonants or even consonant-vowel combinations. Examples include all three-letter-codes for dioceses (e.g. Nanašīrama diocese, nnšīrm, abbreviated as nnš̃), and all measurement units (e.g. brujñam (fathom; ~2.5975 m), brujñ, abbreviated as br̃u). Measurement units are written with the abbreviation mark when inside sentences, without it otherwise.
  • Syllabic abbreviations, which are not treated as abbreviations but as regular words, complete with regular internal saṃdhi changes, and are in fact an extremely common reality in daily life in the Inquisition (e.g. mugadamurkadhānāvīyi galtarlīltumi darañcamūh "Inquisitorial Railway Group"; mugišcamurkadhānāvīyi giṣṭarumi camūh "Inquisitorial Youth Union", i.e. the Chlouvānem Komsomol).

Writing

The Chlouvānem script is almost entirely composed of curved lines as, initially, it was written on leaves with reeds (ħålka, pl. ħålkai) or brushes (lattah, pl. lattai). With the invention, in the late 5th millennium, of paper (traditional Chlouvānem paper or mirtah is handmade by fibres from various types of wooden bushes; traditional papermaking is still important today as formal handwritten documents are usually written on traditional paper), the use of reeds or brushes often became region-dependant; the reeds of the grāṇiva plant became the dominant writing tool in most of the plains, as this plant abundantly grows by the river shores; in the Jade Coast, brushes (whose "hair" are actually fibres of wetland plants such as the jalihā) were preferred.
Today, pens (titeh, pl. tityai) are the main writing tool together with graphite pencils (bauteh, pl. bautyai). Non-refillable dip pens were the first to be introduced - an Evandorian invention that was "seized" by the Chlouvānem during the early 7th millennium occupation of Kátra, a Nordûlaki colony on Ovítioná - and with the advent of industrial papermaking they became more and more popular; fountain pens were evolved from them first in Nivaren, and in 6291 (378512) the first fountain pen manufacturer in the Inquisition opened. Ballpoint pens are, on Calémere, a much recent invention, and first appeared in the Inquisition about forty years ago. They are still not used as much as fountain pens when writing on normal paper.
The traditional ħålkai and lattai have not disappeared, as both are still found and used - even if only with traditional handmade paper. Both are commonly used for calligraphy as well as in various other uses: for example, banzuke papers for tournaments of most traditional sports are carefully handwritten with reed pens, as are many announcements by local temples (written with either reed pens or brushes); a newer type of brush pen (much like Japanese fudepens) has proven to be particularly popular even in everyday use (both with traditional and modern industrial paper) in the Jade Coast area - many Great Inquisitors from there, including incumbent Hæliyǣšavi Dhṛṣṭāvāyah Lairē, have been seen writing official document with such kind of pens.

Pens themselves are often artisanal products and in many cases Chlouvānem customers prefer refillable ones; many people have tailor-made sets of pens and almost always carry one with them.

Morphology - Maivāndarāmita

Main article: Chlouvānem morphology

Chlouvānem morphology (maivāndarāmita) is complex and synthetic, with a large number of inflections. Five parts of speech are traditionally distinguished: nouns, verbs, pronouns, numerals, and particles.
Most inflections are suffixes, with stem-internal vowel apophony also playing a role. Prefixing inflections are almost exclusively reduplications, though there is a large number of derivational prefixes which play a major role in the language.

Syntax - Kilendarāmita

Main article: Chlouvānem syntax

Chlouvānem is a mostly synthetic, topic-prominent, and almost exclusively head-final language. It has an Austronesian-type morphosyntactic alignment and a topic-comment word order, with OSV or SOV syntax being chosen according to how the topic itself is marked.

Vocabulary

Due to the history and the present status of Chlouvānem, its vocabulary draws from a wide range of sources and is characterized by a large number of geosynonyms, a consequence of its role as a Dachsprache on a very large area with many different historical substrata and vernaculars.

The percentages of various sources depend on the definition, particularly for what concerns the Lahob stock. If roots are counted, Lahob-inherited roots may be as low as 30 to 35% of the total vocabulary, but Lahob vocabulary constitutes a much higher percentage due to the very high productivity of verbal roots (mostly of Lahob origin) with the various derivational prefixes and suffixes.
Non-Lahob roots are traditionally classified in the following way, depending on their geographical origin:

  • Words from pre-Inquisitorial indigenous languages of the Plain and of the Jade Coast (dhoyi olelų maivai), most of them sparsely attested such as Ancient Yodhvāsi, Tamukāyi, Laiputaši, Old Kāṃradeši, and Aṣasṝkhami. possibly forming the majority of roots. Early Chlouvānem, soon after the Ur-Chlouvānem settled in the lower Nīmbaṇḍhāra plain, was enriched by a very large number of roots taken from local languages. Such words are found in all semantic fields, and are particularly numerous in words for the family, plants, animals, and the earliest artifacts and practices of settled civilization.
  • Lällshag words (lælšñenīs maivai) – divided in two large groups, that is, words that were borrowed from Lällshag in ancient times, pertaining to many semantic fields but mostly early technology (the Lällshag people were the first urban civilization in that area of the world) or used as more formal, higher-styled alternatives to Lahob or pre-Chlouvānem words; and a second group of modern scientific vocabulary that has been being coined since the start of the modern era from Lällshag roots; these often show more semantical drift, as they are often borrowed in more abstract or specific senses.
  • Southern, Far Eastern, Toyubeshian, and Dabuke words (maichleyuñcų lallanaleiyuñcų no tayubešenīs no dabukyenīs no maivai) – that is, words taken from the languages of the territories of the first millennium of expansion of the Chlouvānem world. They mostly relate to natural and cultural features of those territories, with Toyubeshian words being particularly important because they form most of the Chlouvānem words relating to a temperate climate area; whatever proto-Lahob roots that had survived the Ur-Chlouvānem migrations were mostly readapted to the tropical climate they had settled in; as a striking example, the Chlouvānem terms for the four main temperate seasons are all Toyubeshian borrowings.
  • Skyrdegan words (ṣurṭāgyenīs maivai) – the Skyrdegan civilization was the first one too large and strong to be fully Chlouvānemized, and the languages of the Chlouvānem and Skyrdegan people have, for the last eight hundred years, exchanged words for their habitats (tropical to equatorial for the Chlouvānem; temperate to subpolar for the Skyrdegan) and all new discoveries in their cultural spheres; this keeps happening today, with the Skyrdegan countries being politically more open than the Inquisition and many Western cultural concepts reaching the Inquisition only through Skyrdegan mediation. The few words of Bronic and Qualdomelic origin are usually added to this group, despite the very different history (Brono and Qualdomailor were historically minor, less influential countries, whose present identity has been thoroughly influenced by the Chlouvānem spreading the Yunyalīlti faith among them).
    Words from Old Hålvarami are sometimes counted in this group, despite Old Hålvarami being a Fargulyn language related to Skyrdagor but from a different branch; the reason is that Old Hålvarami initially mediated the contact between the Chlouvānem and the Skyrdegan worlds, resulting in borrowings such as most notably ṣurṭāgah "Skyrdagor" (borrowed from Skyrdagor into Pre-Old Hålvarami and then into Chlouvānem) and pāṣratis (Calémerian cannabis plant).
  • "Discovery-era" words (tatalunyavyāṣi maivai) – words from the age of overseas discoveries[6], that is, related to flora, fauna, and cultures of continents new to the Chlouvānem; many of them have become in common use due to crops being now cultivated on the Inquisition's territory.
    • Western words (yacvāni maivai) – a subset of Discovery-era words, including those that have their origins in the more technologically advanced civilizations of Evandor, the Spocian cultural sphere of northern Védren, and the Nâdja- and Kenengyry-speaking world. This is overall a small group, but includes many modern international words. A particularly notable category is the one of borrowings from Kenengyry languages, especially Soenjoan and Kuyugwazian, first entering urban slang (as Kaiṣamā-era settlement of Kenengyry people in the Inquisition often made them a notable urban minority in most large cities of the Inquisition), then spreading to the standard language with words such as najūba "(romantic) date", tuyiba "hoodie", or calghyula "circle of friends".
      As for words actually originating in the West (Evandor and Evandorian colonies), a large number of them, particularly for the earliest ones, come from Auralian, as Auralia was the first Western nation the Chlouvānem had fairly regular contacts with[7]. Nordûlaki and, especially, Cerian borrowings are much more recent, though the prevalence of Cerian as modern Calémere's main lingua franca, only rivalled by Chlouvānem itself, has led many toponyms in Chlouvānem to be adaptations of the Cerian names.

Honorific speech

Politeness is lexically encoded in Chlouvānem through means of different honorific terms that are used depending on the listener. Most often, that means that there is a neutral or humble term for the speaker's side and a more respectful term for the listener's side: one area where this is very common is about body parts.

It is of great anthropological and historical interest how very often, for nouns, the higher register term is of Lahob origin, having cognates in most (if not all) other languages of the family, while the lower terms (i.e. the neutral or humble ones) are typically non-Lahob, from other indigenous languages of the Plain. This is consistent with Chlouvānem having been, in the centuries right after the Chlamiṣvatrā's lifetime, the local lingua franca and possessing a higher, and sacred, status.

Verbs show a similar distinction, though with many verbs the humble and the neutral forms are the same. In many cases, if a verb has a respectful equivalent then each derived form can be made respectful by switching the root verb (e.g. muṣke, paṣmuṣke "to ask"; "to interrogate" → respectful forms pṛdhake, paṣpṛdhake). For nouns this varies, but as a general rule all profession-related nouns are always made with lila and never with emmā or imati.

Most common terms with honorific speech alternatives (in Latin alphabetical order)
English Humble
(nīnamaiva or emmāmaiva)
Neutral
(nūṣṭhamaiva or lilamaiva)
Respectful
(imatimaiva)
advice, tip, suggestion titta smārṣas
to ask yacce
(yacē, icek, iyaca)
(also yaccechlašake)
muṣke
(miṣē, muṣek, umuṣa)
pṛdhake
(pardhē, pṛdhek, apṛdha)
to command, order spruvyake
(sprovyē, spruvyek, uspruvya)
hāryaṃdṛke
(hāryaṃdarē, hāryaṃdṛk, hāryaṃdadrā)
spruvyake
cup of tea[8] lunąis lā galtha ñimbha
to do, act, make chlašake
(chlašē, chlašek, achlaša)
dṛke
(darē, dṛk, dadrā)
ear baɂim minnūlya
eye ṭaɂika mešīs
nāhim (medical)
mešīs
father bunā tāmvāram
food yųlgis enekīh
foot kilka junai
gift comboe
the speaker receives
yauṭoe dvyauṇoe
the listener, or respected third party, receives
to give męlike
(męlyē, męlik, emęlya)
naiṣake
(naiṣē, naiṣek, anaiṣa)
hand tassa dhāna
husband snūṣṭras šulañšoe
leg miṇṭha pājya
to meet vuryake
(voryē, vuryek, uvurya)
naimake
(naimē, naimek, anaima)
meeting, encounter voryanah naimoe
mother meinā nāḍima
person lila
emmā
lila imati
to receive combake
(combē, combek, acomba)
the speaker receives
yoṭṭe
(yoṭē, yoṭek, ayoṭa)
dvyūlke
(dvyauṇē, dvyūṇek, udvyūṇa)
the listener, or respected third party, receives
request, question icūm muṣas pardha
to reward tambina męlike
the speaker is rewarded/rewards
ṣomiheiljilde
(ṣomiheiljeldē, ṣomiheiljildek, ṣomiheilijilda)
the listener, or respected third party, rewards/is rewarded by anyone but the speaker
reward tambina
the speaker is rewarded/rewards
ṣomiheila
the listener, or respected third party, rewards/is rewarded by anyone but the speaker
to suggest, advise tittake
(tittē, tittek, ititta)
smārṣake
(smārṣē, smārṣek, asmārṣa)
to take paibge[9]
(paibē, paibek, apaiba)
milke
milke
(milkē (milūkāhai), milūk, ilaka)
nacce
(nacē, nacek, anaca)
wife laleichim ħaiɂlañši

Not considered part of honorific speech, but related to it, are the many synonyms, especially of Lällshag origin. While sometimes Lällshag words were borrowed in a more abstract quality (e.g. like how jinobå meant "right, correct" in Lällshag but was borrowed as inuba, meaning "justice"), or generalized to very specific contexts (jepomaa "apprentice" as emmā (arch. yemmā) "person (humble)") it is very common for a single concept to have many synonyms, many of them not that used in common speech but proper in literature - English has a good parallel in its Latinate words, and therefore the more refined Chlouvānem words are often better translated as Latinate words. For example, taili "much, many" is the common word, but its Lällshag translation jåloca was borrowed as yolṣa "copious"[10]; mo-moujakig "batches, loads" as mumūyakim "abundant, abundance", or må-råho "barrels" as mårga "multiple". Similar doublets exist for many concept, often with more than two words due to more regional variants, sometimes from the pre-Chlouvānem languages of the lower Plain; an example may be native ñaryāh "mountain, hill" and the borrowings šullas "hill" (from Lällshag), gårvas "hill (esp. steep); mountain" (also from Lällshag), ħilša "hill" (prob. Old Kāṃradeši), as well as more strictly regional words such as bonduka (of Dabuke origin) or šiša (Toyubeshian).
Note that, in many cases and especially for Lällshag borrowings, the average Chlouvānem speaker, for whom the classical language already is a formal language different from the informal vernacular, is not aware of the etymological history of such words, and thinks of such refined words not as "Lällshag words", but as more stylistically marked ones.

"Thinking" in Chlouvānem

The English verb "to think" may be translated in different ways in Chlouvānem. Its meaning "to think" in the sense of imagining or communicating in one's own mind is translated by nilyake:

sāmi pa nelyęru. — I'm thinking about you.
nilyantairu ū. — I think, therefore I am.

When "to think" is used in order to state one's opinion, Chlouvānem makes the distinction of that thing being a personal opinion based on experience or trustable facts (where the verb is ṭvurake) or an uncertain opinion, often because of mere sensation (still nilyake) (much like the Danish distinction between at synes and at tro). Both verbs require the quotative particle tati:

dumoe hulābdān tati ṭvirute. — I think the movie is good. (for I have seen it)
dumoe hulābdān tati nelyęru. — I think the movie is good. (but I haven't seen it)

ṭvurake is used also to state one's opinion about a situation (still requiring tati) as well as in the construction (2SG) nali ṭvirute, better translated as "if I were you" (needs a subjunctive verb):

gundam hulābdān tati ṭvirute. — I think it's a good idea.
viṣam lgutī nani nali ṭvirute. — if I were you, I'd buy the other one. (note imperfective subjunctive)
viṣam lgutēt nani nali ṭvirute. — if I were you, I'd have bought the other one. (perfective subjunctive here)

nilyake, on the other hand, is used in the past to state something that was thought to be one way but turned out not to be. Also, it is used for future forecasts:

nęlte yartāṃrye tati nilyirau, lalla hånna ni nāṭ nīk. — I thought it was 4:00 in the morning, but it was already lalla hånna (7:00 in the morning).
camiyūs vei tati inilyiram e ! — I thought you were from Cami! (the perfect here could also be translated as "until now, I had been thinking ...")
menire dašajildiṣya tati nelyęru. — I think it's going to rain tomorrow.

Still, it's better not to translate directly "to think" as nilyake as in many cases Chlouvānem simply uses an evidential marker:

tū drukte. — I think (s)he did it. (= apparently, (s)he did it)
tū drebikte. — I think (s)he did it, but it's probably not so. (= apparently, (s)he did it, but probably not)
dumoe hulābdān emyē. — I've been told the movie is good.

Sensorial and emotional beauty

There are two Chlouvānem words that translate to "beautiful": laitenælike and ñæñuchlike. While conceptually similar, they are often not interchangeable: ñæñuchlike refers to sensorial beauty, while laitenælike to beauty in an emotional sense. Some examples:

gūltayom mešanah ñæñuchlire. — the view on the lake is beautiful. (note also that mešanah (a view) needs a dative case)
liloe ejulā laitenælire. — life here is beautiful.
jāyim ñæñuchlire. — the girl is beautiful. (= her appearance is beautiful)
jāyim laitenælire. — the girl is beautiful. (= she has many good qualities)

The derived nouns ñæñuchlyāva and laitenælyāva may be translated as "outer beauty" and "inner beauty" respectively.

Swadesh list

Main article: Chlouvānem Swadesh list

Common everyday expressions

Main article: Chlouvānem phrasebook

Thematic wordlists

Main article: Chlouvānem lexicon

Calendar and time

Main article: Chlouvānem calendar and time

Personal names

Main article: Chlouvānem names

Example texts

First Book of the Chlamiṣvatrā, 1:1-8

The First Book of the Chlamiṣvatrā (yamei chlamiṣvatrī lahīla naviṣya) is the first of the three Books of the Great Prophet, the most important among the holy books of the Yunyalīlta. The first seven verses are probably the key to understand the whole faith, as it presents the foundations of its worldview; verses 4 and 5 are particularly considered important as they represent the relation between the Yunya, life, and the Lillamurḍhyā. Verse 8 introduces what is then explained in the rest of the chapter, that is, how Lelāgṇyāviti[11], the Chlamiṣvatrā (Great Prophet; literally "Golden master") came to meditate and build up her philosophy, which then she taught common people in all villages.

1 ⸫liloe mæn ⸫yunya ga brausire meinā dęi devenom mædhramu męlyēkæ linoe ।। 2 ⸫liloe pospurṣūyē saṃ gu[12] jejiltsūyētuh[13] ⸫yunya ga meinā nali samindevenyumi lalla laurāyana mæn 3 drālteninīka[14] maiyau ñæltānu lātamilkīnam main yanyåh lilenom maiyau meinū āntaḍhūlīnam no ।। 4 ⸫yunya mæn meiyā lilenī hīmbenīka nīteboñjñāhai 5 sama brausameinælilūrah įstimē lillamurḍhyā ga demeni lilentugap lilah ।। 6 ⸫yunya mū lilaidhvap natehamvyek sama lilūrah demyā meinæhamvyenu tattemęlyē mū tami pa ḍhāvildente no ।। 7 ⸫dralkye[15] mæn āndre meinī yaivų bausų širē ħaṣṭirena sama dǣ dǣ no[16] līlti bīḍhovah : garpire grošpire virdu nītemilkāhai no ।। 8 ⸫dralkagarpā mæn lelyē širē kailirāhe āñjulyom lilyā larḍhīka bīdumbhek ।।

1 life.DIR.SG. TOPIC. Yunya.DIR.SG. ADP. be_holy-IND.PRES.3S.INTR. mother-DIR.SG. REFL.ERG. soul-DAT.SG. body-ACC.SG give-IND.PRES.3S.EXTR-BENEF. process.DIR.SG.
2 life.DIR.SG serve.NEC-PRES.3S.EXTR.PAT. and. NEG. act.NEC-PRES.3S.EXTR-ANTIBENEF. Yunya.DIR.SG. ADP. mother.DIR.SG. for. child-soul-GEN.PL. high. act_of_devotion.DIR.SG. TOPIC.
3 respect-INSTR.PL. 1P.POSS-ACC. sister-ACC.PL. treat-SUBJ.IMPF.1P.EXTR-AGENT. 1P.DIR. INTENSIVE_PRONOUN.POSS-DAT. life-DAT.SG. 1P.POSS-ACC. mother-ACC.SG. defend-SUBJ.IMPF.1P.EXTR-AGENT. and.
4 Yunya.DIR.SG. TOPIC. 1P.POSS.DIR. life-DIR.PL. harmony-INSTR.PL. flow_in-IND.PRES.3P.EXTR-AGENT.
5 and. holy_mother's_world.DIR.SG depend-IND.PRES.3S.EXTR.PAT. Lillamurḍhyā.DIR.SG. ADP. REFL.POSS-INSTR. heartbeat-INSTR.SG. live-IND.PRES.3S.EXTR.PAT.
6 Yunya.DIR.SG 1P.ACC. how_to_live-INSTR.SG. cradle_into-IND.PAST.3S.EXTR-AGENT. and. world.DIR.SG. REFL.POSS.DIR. motherly_cradle-ACC.SG reflect-IND.PRES.3S.EXTR-AGENT. 1P.ACC. 3S.DIR. about. remember-CAUS.IND.PRES.3S.EXTR-AGENT. and.
7 man-DIR.PL TOPIC. creation-LOC.SG. mother-GEN.SG. all-ABL. stone-ABL.SG. more. be_weak-IND.PRES.3P.INTR. and. again. again. and. path-GEN.SG. forget-IND.PRES.3P.EXTR.PAT. : be_evil-IND.PRES.3S.INTR. be_crude-IND.PRES.3S.INTR. violence-ACC.SG. take_inside.IND.PRES.3P.EXTR-AGENT. and.
8 evil_of_men.DIR.SG. TOPIC. person-DIR.PL. more. be_pure-IND.PRES.3P.INTR. thither. 1S.POSS.DIR. girl.DIR.SG. lead_away-IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT.

1 LIFE is the process where a soul is given a body for the holy mother Yunya's own benefit. 2 LIFE is the ultimate act of devotion of children souls to mother Yunya who must be served and not betrayed 3 by treating respectfully our siblings[17] and defending our mother with our life. 4 YUNYA lives through her heartbeat the Lillamurḍhyā, which our lives harmonically flow in 5 and the world of our holy mother is dependent on. 6 YUNYA taught us[18] how to live and her world reflects and reminds us her motherly cradle. 7 HUMANS are the weakest link[19] in her creation and keep forgetting her path, embracing the crude violence of evil. 8 The EVIL that men do led my girl away[20] to where lifeforms are purest.

A festive day

This is an excerpt from the lelyēmiti ḍhūrṣūs (Family Chronicle) (written in 3835 (637710)), a world-famous narrative opera of contemporary writer Naryejūramāvi Lanæmyai Mæmihomah. The author recalls here a festive moment from when she was in her 12th year, namely a celebration of the junyahiyunyi jaṃšā (the Festival of Blossoming Nature) of year 3802 (633810) in her native village of Aṃrāvāyana (today part of the eparchy of Līlasuṃghāṇa, some 14 km from the city center).

dani yartāṃrye nīk ~naina ga kalineh mæn ~nilāmulkęs tainęs no lįs no podbhērā dvarmom nañamṛca kautepudbhek. lånyāk yunya junyāmite e tati namarcē nainei pigdulek.
nanān lairēn asenāya lut ñumirābhe – nanān heirlaukan gu emibe jāyim marciṭ chi gu nomire ša! halkenīs yanomuhima daše šutimīnam keikom kaumṛcābhe. daša mæn junyahiyunyi jaṃšē gātarake berdē e. bunā mæn maildvārmu maikevemęlyima nāṭ, væse, pābunā ~daṃdhigūlan ga glūkam no lahīla kalirāhe nānyaih khārgaltyų kautemilūgba kælitsaih māraih no vārīkaih no baubaih no guṃsabate no.
nilāmulka mæn maildvārmom nañelīsa tainā lili no ṣveye primirtaram ñumirlam. lairē lǣliriṣya tati lenak tṛlirlam, naina mæn mojende heirom tī sora lairēnīs guviṣmiya nañelīsa, samātiya jånirāh kamikyai lahīla jaloe nīk. jånirāh blikēva lenta lę māmei lairęs lut tatekīlla. meinā buneyāt lili no nali jilkire bhadvat usmura dhānęs keikom nañelīsa - įsanā lairyom yūñjā jånirai.
tainā mæn jñūṃris halimendē bahīrų sumenīs heicādrī nadāmē, samisīsiṭ urutha nānumi hanaṃharyana lairū smaurildekte. nilāmulka mæn yanelīsa jånirū kamitekyāk tainā væse heicāp nusmīte vadį mutirī dāmek no, sama bahīrah gu mimendenāk ša tatte naina nañajolta nilāmulku lū no tan lijake natedāmildek. nilāmulka mæn meinā murku milūkte sama dhāne danihaicē tarṣanu junyekte daṃdhigūlan væse murkirba vārṇaigīṣa kamitejunāyēt tadāmek.
naina mæn tamvæse jaṃšom ejyek chi, dildhā geta no pa liju tī lilyåh minnūlyom chi natelijek, sama meinā lę gu emibunaise naini lenta dāšikē mūmikati bīsturmųk, jaṃšom ñæñuchlire jilkire jånirē kamyakyā nilāmulka ni dilsiṭ dṛkte. tainā yanelīsa lairyom nacu ilakakte, mutirau væse, nainęs lā ħuldekte. ħærviṣe ājvalunāyom dāmaram ñikire naina væse meinei bhik.
It was two in the morning[21] and [my] younger sister Naina came running into our room where Nilāmulka, Tainā[22], and I were sleeping and woke us up. "Lanyāk[23], nature is blooming!", shouted Naina entering the room.
We had been waiting for that day for months — there is not a single girl who does not wait so eagerly for that time of the year! We got up our beds and ran in the yard, under the rain. Even the rains feel different on juniahiyunyi jaṃšā. Dad had already prepared the washing room[24] for us while grandpa and brother Daṃdhigūlan were taking the first lilac nāniai[25] out of the tandoori oven and cutting kælitsai, mārai, vārīkai, and baubai[26].
Nilāmulka had gone[27] into the washing room and Tainā and me were waiting behind the wall[28]. We both know this was going to be a special day: Naina had entered her 9th year a few days before and it was time for her to wear her first jånirāh[29], which the girls and I[30] had spent the last twelve days preparing. Mum came into the yard with the hands full of orange cotton for the buneyon[31] and I - our own jånirai for the day.
Tainā started singing rhythmically[32] along the notes of a bahīrah we heard through the trees, and an anise perfume of freshly baked nānyai filled the air. Nilāmulka came out and put on her jånirāh as Tainā went to wash without stopping her heicā, and even if the bahīrah couldn't be heard anymore Naina hummed into and got Nilāmulka and I singing too. Mum took the black[33] and drew Nilāmulka two stripes per hand, as Daṃdhigūlan came to tie her the black vārṇaigīye[34].
Naina, meanwhile, was fully in the mood for celebration, as she started to sing the song of the dildhā and the elephant[35] right into my ears - to the disappointment of mom, not only did I jump with her dancing in the monsoon, but Nilāmulka did the same in her festive, beautiful orange jånirāh. Tainā came out, got dressed for the day[36] and played with Naina while I washed - then we went for breakfast while mom took care of little Naina.

"To have more, we must produce more"

širē cārīnaṃte, širē hegivsūyē.
širē givī, širē tartṛlyirata.

more. have.SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-1PL.EXTERIOR-AGENT. more. produce-NECESS.IND.PRES-EXP-3SG.PATIENT.EXTERIOR.
more. produce.SUBJ.IMPF-EXP-3.PATIENT.EXTERIOR. more. know-NECESS.IND.PRES-EXP-INTERIOR-1PL.COMMON.

To have more, we must produce more.
To produce more, we must know more.

Featured banner

nenē dhāḍa māgemibe maikitek.
narṣāyaudhani jelāyāvi ñillūnajelani no ātnat māyikitą vādukula.

this. language.DIR.SG. ADV-one. put_in_front-IND.PAST.3S.EXTR.PAT.
quality-level-GEN.SG. plausibility-GEN.SG. usage-possibility-GEN.SG. and. merit-EXESS.SG. featured-ESS.SG. vote-IND.PERF.3SG.EXTR.PAT.

External history

Chlouvānem is the language I – lilie21 – consider my main conlang, as it is my Calémere conworld project's most developed and a spiritual successor of all conlangs I've created focussing the most on ever since I was a kid (well, to be fair the earliest ones were just natlang-mimicking relexes). Due to this, while mainly thought for my conworld, it is, more than any other conlang of mine, on the border between being an artlang or a heartlang.

Chlouvānem is an a priori language, yet it takes inspiration from about a dozen natlangs in aesthetics, morphophonology, syntax, though mainly by taking a starting point and then developing those features as I want and as they fit together best. Sanskrit, Lithuanian, and Persian are the languages I was most inspired by, and there are to various extents other influences by Russian, Adyghe, Hindustani, Japanese, Proto-Indo-European, Old Tupi, Matses, Tucano, Nambikwara, and Ancient Greek, as well as its in-world use which is inspired by Arabic and Chinese languages. Overall it might seem IE at a first glance, but it is radically different in a few points which make it strikingly different (like the combination of Austronesian alignment, topic-prominence, and strongly head-final syntax).

The language itself used to be named chlouvānem in-world too, but then I changed historical phonology, removed the phoneme represented as ou, so that it changed to chlǣvānem. However, I had used the ou-form for too long to change every reference to it in the English name too.

Important note: Chlouvānem is, since late 2020 - early 2021, a completed conlang; a process of refinement and changes that I wanted to implement and started around that time eventually developed into Dundulanyä, which I consider to be the spiritual successor of Chlouvānem, with lots of similarities (to the point that many words and many roots are exactly the same) but some different takes on certain features.

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ^ Commonly murkadhānāvīyi babhrām “Land of the Inquisition”, officially referred to as chlǣvānumi murkadhānāvīyi babhrām “Land(s) of the Chlouvānem Inquisition” or as chlamiṣvatrī maijuniāvyumi murkadhānāvīyi stalyāmite kailibabhrām "Pure Lands under Guidance of the Inquisition of the Descendants of the Chlamiṣvatrā".
  2. ^ Each of these peoples displaced the previous ones, resulting in this area of Calémere having today a dominance of Kenengyry languages, but with many minority languages in between, or of different families at its borders; the Uyrǧan family, for instance, is today composed of two sub-families 5000 km apart.
  3. ^ It's just as if speakers of Parisian French, Florentine Tuscan and Carioca Brazilian would still say they spoke dialects of (Classical) Latin.
  4. ^ The toponym Namaikaheh for the Northern Plain (most of the Lāmberah valley) is itself borrowed from the Lällshag adaptation of the original Ancient Namaikahi word.
  5. ^ The geographical name "Từaobát" [tˢɯː˥˩.aw˧.baθ˨˥], used by Modern Toyubeshian speakers from Hirakaṣṭē and eastern Moyukaitā for their land, is however a cognate of "Toyubeshi", from reconstructed Proto-Toyubeshian *təwjow bæsɨ. Both Toy. toyu and Modern Toy. từao mean "person"; Toy. beshi means "kingdom", but there is no Modern Toy. *bát, as it was most likely displaced by the Chlouvānem word (púgakxalibána from pūgakṣarivāṇa).
  6. ^ It is not proper to speak of "colonization age" for the Chlouvānem; unlike the Western world, Chlouvānem countries (and mostly the Lūlunimarti Republic) had a very small overseas colonial presence, and mostly concentrated in some areas of western Ovítioná. In other continents (and mostly eastern Védren, Fárásen, and Queáten only), Chlouvānem presence was basically limited to a few coastal trade stations.
  7. ^ Such terms include food, such as ṣryūvas "pomegranate" (Aur. sryuf), braṇyājas "sweet bite-sized pastries" (Aur. brenayyaz), or taħivkam "cold cuts" (most commonly head cheese) (Aur. taḥifket "ham", originally borrowed as the plurale tantum taħivkāt, from which the singular form was developed by analogy); Western elements such as arṭīlas (Asèl, the Aselist deity; Aur. Arṣil); and miscellaneous stuff such as jabræktas "cigarette" (Aur. zbrekt "tobacco") or lyoca "(recreational) drug" (from earlier berlyotsas, from (today obsolete) Aur. brilyuts, originally "alcohol", particularly the one drunk by sailors).
  8. ^ The humble-neutral form is almost never used (and in fact means "cup with tea"), as ñimbha is typically found in teahouses' and restaurants' menus, and used by waiters towards customers.
  9. ^ In contemporary Chlouvānem, paibge is extremely formal and virtually limited to set phrases.
  10. ^ The Chlouvānem borrowed words mentioned here are nouns, not adverbs: e.g. the native adverb in taili māra "many mangoes" vs. the borrowed nouns in māri yolṣa "a copious amount of mangoes", māri mumūyakim "abundant mangoes", etc.
  11. ^ Literally "born of Lelāh"; the lelāh is a symbolic flower in the Yunyalīlta and generically in Chlouvānem culture.
  12. ^ Contraction of sama gu. Note also the lack of ša, the second part of the negative circumfix, which was still optional in early Chlouvānem.
  13. ^ -tuh is an earlier form of -tū, the antibenefactive trigger marker. Its form -tur, still used when not final, shows how -tuh was the regular development (Proto-Lahob *r > Chl. h word-finally).
  14. ^ Literally "with respects". In early and also classical Chlouvānem, such constructions are commonly used to express roughly the idea expressed by "-fully" adverbs in English.
  15. ^ "Men"; in archaic Chlouvānem, it was customary to use "man" for "human". The influx of the Yunyalīlta was actually a large factor in the later use of lila (person) for the same meaning.
  16. ^ "Again and again". In modern Chlouvānem it has become a single word, dīdān.
  17. ^ Literally "sisters"; female forms are the default forms and collective nouns were much rarer in early Chlouvānem than in classical and modern use.
  18. ^ Literally "cradled into us".
  19. ^ Literally "the weakest of all stones".
  20. ^ "My girl" should be interpreted as a first-person singular pronoun. In pre-modern Chlouvānem, such expressions were proper humble speech.
  21. ^ One hour after dawn.
  22. ^ The author's two older sisters.
  23. ^ A (today old-fashioned) term for "girls", used here just like modern blikai, as a very informal second-person pronoun among sisters.
  24. ^ Chlouvānem people usually take a wash in the morning and a wash followed by a bath in the evening. Those rituals are quite similar to Japanese washing and bathing - the bath is for relaxation, washing is a separate process.
  25. ^ The nāneh is the typical Chlouvānem flatbread: lilac means it contains hunai (purple yam) meal.
  26. ^ Various types of fruits; note that they're all light orange or golden yellow - the most sacred colour in Yunyalīlti symbology.
  27. ^ Traditionally, washing order is generational, with the oldest woman in the house going first, then her husband, and so on. A Chlouvānem person would not need to be explained that Nilāmulka went first as the oldest of the sisters, and the author, Mæmihomah, is third in line as the third-born out of four sisters. Her brother Daṃdhigūlan, despite being older than all sisters but Nilāmulka, washes last because brothers wash after all female siblings — and anyway, during juniahiyunyi jaṃšā, all women wash before all men.
  28. ^ As typical of hot-climate southern Chlouvānem rural houses, washing rooms are actually little more than three walls and a wooden cover outside the house, and have no actual doors; the entrance is towards a windowless wall of the house, so that privacy is assured anyway.
  29. ^ The Chlouvānem sarī.
  30. ^ Mæmihomah and her two older sisters.
  31. ^ Dual of buneya (older sister).
  32. ^ Heicā: a style of rhythmic wordless chant, used in religious chanting, Chlouvānem classical music, and even popular songs.
  33. ^ Lunīla berry juice - a kind of henna.
  34. ^ The vārṇaigi are a kind of sandals tied to the lower part of the leg. Common vārṇaigi are made of straw and are undyed, but those worn by women during the days of juniahiyunyi jaṃšā are of black-dyed linen.
  35. ^ Probably ɧømidz diljå [ˈxʷœːmidz dĩˤˈʑɔː] ("little dildhā" in Nanašīrami), a once popular folk tune in the area of Līlasuṃghāṇa.
  36. ^ Literally "took her daily cloth".