Efenol

Efenol
Pronunciation	[/e.fe.ˈnol/]
Created by	–
Date	2010
Language family	Proto-Indo-European Latin Romance Spanish Old Efenol Efenol

Efenol /e.fe.ˈnol/ is an a posteriori constructed language descended from modern Spanish. Its phonology was inspired by Sindarin and Celtic languages and the language features consonant and vowel mutation in its morphology. It was created around the year 2010.

Efenol is a pluricentric language with a wide range of dialects. Southern Efenol, the earliest variety to split off, is distinct enough to be considered a different language and will not be covered in this article. The western variety, Western Efenol or Efenol del'Oth (/e.fe.ˈnol de.ˈloθ/) serves as the main standard language.

The name "Efenol" comes from "español", one of the Spanish names for the Spanish language itself.

About Efenol dialects

In addition to Western Efenol, the standard dialect where most examples in this article will be drawn from, Efenol features several dialectal varities. The main division affecting Efenol varieties is the split between Southern Efenol (which may be considered a separate language) and the so-called North-Central Efenol, which may also be referred as Efenol proper. This article will mostly deal with North-Central Efenol varieties.

The main dialects of the North-Central Efenol ar:

• Western Efenol, the standard variety and the largest Efenol proper dialect by number of speakers.
• Northern Efenol, a more conservative variety and the second largest North-Central dialect by number of speakers.
• Eastern Efenol, which features vowel reduction and palatalization of velars.
• North-Eastern Efenol, which can be seens as a transitional variety between Northern and Eastern Efenol.
• Central Efenol, often grouped together with Western Efenol.
• North-Western Efenol, closely related to Western Efenol but divergent in a number of ways.
• "Hunzad", a particularly divergent form of Northern Efenol which features vowel harmony.
• Several "mixed" dialects which combine Western and Central Efenol features with Southern Efenol features.

Extrafictionally, many of these dialects were originally planned as revisions of the Efenol language (whose original form most closely resembles Western Efenol) before being reworked as dialects.

Despite the fact that Western Efenol is the culturally-dominant form of the language and prevails in written material, each variety has its own dialectal orthography, many of which are fundamentally different from the standard orthography used for the Western dialect.

It should also be noted that there is some intradialectal variation as well. Particularly, there are some features which vary between Standard Efenol (based on the Western dialect) and other regional forms of Western Efenol.

Phonology

Note: Unless otherwise noted, the content of this section is based on the Western Efenol standard.

Consonants

Western Efenol	Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Alv.-Pal.	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasals	m	n				ŋ
Plosives	p b	t d				k g
Fricatives	f v	θ ð	s z	(ʃ) (ʒ)	(ç)	x	h
Approximants					j	w
Flap			ɾ
Trills			r			ʀ
Laterals			l		ʎ	ɫ

Notes:

• Affecting all dialects::
  • As usual, nasal codae assimilate to neighbouring consonants. For instance, all instances of /nf/ become /ɱf/.
  • The stops /t/ and /d/ are usually dental although alveolar realizations can also be found. Most Efenol speakers fail to notice any difference between these two pronunciations.
  • Other than in Eastern Efenol, voiced stops are truly plosives in all contexts. This contrasts with Spanish where the phonemes often transcribed as /b/, /d/ and /g/ are typically realized as voiced approximants.
  • As it was also the case in Spanish, the flap /ɾ/ does not occur in word-initial position.
• About Western Efenol:
  • A glottal stop /ʔ/ only appears as a lenited form of /g/ for some speakers. Most speakers drop it altogether.
  • The phoneme /ʃ/ is only found as a palatalized /s/ and may alternate with /sj/. Its voiced version /ʒ/ is marginal and is equivalent to the rare /zj/ sequence.
  • In Western and North-Western Efenol word-final /v/ are often realized as [β].
  • The phoneme /ç/ may only arise as a rare lenited form of /ʃ/ (where it would corresponds to a /hj/) or as an allophone of a word-final /g/, particularly after an /i/. In the latter case, some Western Efenol speakers may also use [ʝ], [x], [ɣ] or simply [g].
  • In Western Efenol, the phoneme /r/ only occurs at the beginning of a lexeme (it may appear in non-word-initial position in compounds or if preclitics or prefixes are involved). Most Western Efenol speakeres fully merge /r/ and /ʀ/ into /ʀ/, regardless of the context. This common merger, however, is not reflected in Standard Efenol.
  • All instances of word-final /l/ with a preceding /i/ are palatalized to /ʎ/. This is also true for North-Western Efenol but not for any other Efenol variety. This pronunciation isn't reflected in writing.
  • The velarized lateral /ɫ/ is in free variation with the lateral fricatives /ɬ/ and /ɮ/.
• About other dialects:
  • Central Efenol is the only major variety to preserve /ɲ/ (Spanish <Ñ>) as a distinct phoneme. The sound may still be found in other dialects as an allophone of /n/.
  • Northern Efenol does not allow any instances of word-initial /ŋ/. Many speakers will also pronounce word-final /ŋ/ as /ŋg/ (which may also be analyzed as /ng/) or simply /n/ and thus lack [ŋ] as a distinct phoneme. This may also be found for some North-Eastern and Central Efenol speakers.
  • Dialects other than Western and North-Western Efenol lack the glottal stop /ʔ/ phoneme.
  • In Eastern Efenol voiced stops and voiced fricatives are merged into a single voiced approximant series. Thus, [b] and [v] in other varieties correspond to Eastern Efenol [β̞].
  • Eastern Efenol merges the phonemes /s/ and /z/ into /s/. This is also the case for most Central Efenol speakers and a small minority of Western Efenol speakers.
  • The phonemes /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ are only found as such in the Western and North-Western dialects.
  • The phoneme /ç/ is found in North-Eastern Efenol as a lenited form of /g/ and in Northern and North-Western Efenol as a word-final allophone of /g/ (as in Standard Efenol).
  • Eastern Efenol features the phoneme /ʝ/.
  • Central Efenol features the phoneme /ɣ/.
  • Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol merge /x/ and /h/ into /x/. Meanwhile, some forms of Northern Efenol (most notably Hunzad) merge both phonemes to /h/, although most Northern Efenol speakers keep the distinction.
  • A minority of Northern Efenol speakers feature a pharyngeal fricative /ħ/ as a phoneme arising from a lenited /g/ (typically expressed as /x/ in Northern Efenol). This subdialectal feature, once also found in North-Western and some forms of Western Efenol, is sharply falling out of use.
  • Eastern, North-Western and most forms of North-Eastern Efenol feature alveolo-palatal affricates /tʃ/ and /dʒ/.
  • Northern and North-Eastern Efenol feature an alveolar affricate /ts/.
  • Some Eastern and North-Eastern varieties feature a voiceless approximant /ʍ/.
  • Unlike Western (and North-Western) Efenol, the alveolar trill /r/ may occur word-medially in other dialects. Only Northern and Central Efenol allow a word-final trill.
  • Northern Efenol merges the trills /r/ and /ʀ/ into /r/. This is also found in some forms of Central and North-Eastern Efenol.
  • In Northern and Eastern Efenol /ʎ/ is in free variation with /lj/.
  • The phoneme /ɫ/ is merged with /l/ in Eastern, North-Eastern and Central Efenol and replaced with /ɬ/ or /ɮ/ (in free variation) in most forms of North-Western Efenol. Northern, some North-Western and a small amount of Central speakers keep the phoneme /ɫ/ unchanged. The Hunzad Northern Efenol variety replaces /ɫ/ with /gl/, a curious development as Spanish /gl/ is a common source for Efenol /ɫ/.

Vowels

While the vowel inventories vary from dialect to dialect, all varieties expand on the pentavocalic Spanish inventory, ranging from 6 to 15 different vowel qualities.

Standard Efenol, based on the most common Western Efenol varieties, distinguishes 8 different vowels:

• A central low vowel, [ä]. For the sake of convenience (and due to the lack of a contrasting front low vowel), this phoneme is usually transcribed as /a/.
• Mid-high phonemes /e/ and /o/. Notices that unlike Spanish <e> and <o> which are actually true mid vowels [e̞] and [o̞], Standard Efenol /e/ and /o/ are true mid-high [e] and [o].
• High /i/ and /u/ as in Spanish.
• The rounded front-vowel /y/.
• Mid-low /ɛ/ and /ɔ/.

Some Western speakers may merge /e/ and /ɛ/ to /e̞/, /o/ and /ɔ/ to /o̞/ or both; yielding the minimal vowel inventory for any Efenol variety: /a e̞ o̞ i y u/ in comparison to Standard /a ɛ ɔ e o i y u/. Some speakers which preserve the /e/ vs /ɛ/ distinction may realize the latter as /ɜ/.

The Central dialect merges /o/ and /ɔ/ into /o̞/ and is otherwise identical to the Standard language: /a ɛ e o̞ i y u/.

The North-Western dialect also merges /o/ and /ɔ/ (although the result is typically still realized as a mid-high [o]) but replaces the vowel /ɛ/ with /ə/ (which also arise from a reduced vowel but may still appear in stressed position). This results in the inventory /a ə e o i y u/.

Northern Efenol merges Standard Efenol /o/ and /ɔ/ into /o̞/ and has the rounded vowel /ø/ (actually also a mid-vowel [ø̞]) instead of Standard /ɛ/. Thus the Northern vowel inventory is comprised of /a e̞ ø̞ o̞ i y u/.

The defining feature of the Hunzad variety of Northern Efenol is that it features two vowel harmony classes: 'light' (with front vowels) and 'dark' words (with back vowels). Most vowel phonemes are split into a light and a dark equivalent: Northern /a/~[ä] becomes light [a] or dark [ɒ], /e/ becomes [e] or [ɘ], /ø/ becomes [ɘ] or [ø], /o/ becomes [ʌ] (or [ɘ]) or [o], /i/ becomes [i] or [ɨ]~[ʉ] (in free variation), /y/ becomes [ɨ]~[ʉ] or [y] and /u/ becomes [y] or [u]. This results in a 11-vowel inventory comprised of /a ɒ ʌ e ø ɘ o i y ɨ~ʉ u/.

Eastern Efenol, however, features the largest vowel inventory as it features lax and tense vowel pairs due to vowel reduction. Tense vowels include /ä e ø o i y u/ while their lax equivalents can be /a ɛ œ ɔ ɪ ʏ ʊ/ although nearly all Eastern Efenol varieties merge unstressed /ɛ/ and /œ/ into /ɛ/ while some varieties also merge stressed /e/ and /ø/ into /e/. In addition to those vowels, Eastern Efenol features a schwa /ə/ as an epenthetic vowel. Thus, the vowel inventory is /a ä ɛ (œ) ɔ ə e ø o ɪ ʏ ʊ i y u/ with /œ/ being absent from most forms of Eastern Efenol. North-Eastern Efenol features the same vowel inventory (and largely with the same variations) but usually omitting the schwa /ə/ except perhaps as a reduced /ä/ in free variation with [a]: /a~ə ä ɛ (œ) ɔ e ø o ɪ ʏ ʊ i y u/.

In all dialects vowel length is phonemic and independent from stress. In Eastern and North-Eastern dialects long vowels have tense vowel qualities. Thus, a long /iː/ in Standard Efenol would always correspond to an Eastern /iː/ (rather than */ɪː/) even the stress lied elsewhere.

Clusters of short vowels are typically realized as diphthongs.

Prosody

Efenol features phonemic lexical stress. Stress typically falls on the last syllable but it is not predictable. Stress is completely independent from vowel length.

A rising intonation is associated to questions (which may be formed by intonation alone, as it is also the case in standard Spanish).

Orthography

Despite the fact that Standard Efenol (based on Western Efenol) dominates the written language, each dialect has an orthography of its own.

There are two main families of dialectal orthographies: western-like (based on the Standard, Western orthography) and northern-like (an alternative originally formulated for Northern Efenol). There are major differences between the two: western-like orthographies use a large number of digraphs and for the most part have only one pronunciation for each letter while northernlike orthographies use a reduced number of digraphs but have letters whose pronunciation vary depending on their position within a word.

It should be noted that voiced fricatives like /ð/ are more common in word-medial or word-final position than matching voiced plosives like /d/ while the opposite takes place word-initially: words beginning with /ð/ are near non-existing while words beginning with /d/ are common. Northern-like orthographies take advantage of this fact by re-using one letter representations for initial voiced stops (such as <d> for /d/) and for non-initial fricatives (<d> for non-initial /ð/). For example, the Efenol word for 'decided', decendeded from Spanish "decidido", becomes the 10-letter long Western Efenol word "dethidhidh" in a western-like orthography but is mereley 7 letters long in Northern Efenol: "dezidid" despite the word having identical pronunciation in both varieties: /de.θi.ˈðið/. It should be noted that northern-like orthographies often look closer to Spanish while western-like orthographies typically have a more ideosyncratic look.

Both kinds of orthographies are intended to be unambiguous to read although stress isn't marked realiably in all cases. On the other hand, spelling is not fully predictable from pronunciation in either orthography family since some sounds are written differently depending on whether the phoneme is the result of lenition (or another form of consonant mutation) or not. For instance, the words ban ('they go', from Spanish "van") and pban ('(made) of bread', from Spanish "de pan") are spelled differently despite both being pronounced /ban/ since the /b/ in the latter is a lenited form of the /p/ in pan ('bread', from Spanish "pan").

In addition to western-like and northern-like orthographies, Hunzad, a variety of Northern Efenol, has distinct orthography (with little commonalities to either group) devised by linguists who studied the dialect. However that orthography never caught on with Hunzad speakers themselves who'd typically use the usual Northern Efenol orthography instead.

Common features of western and northern-like orthographies

Some common features found in both kinds of orthographies include:

• Being based on the Latin alphabet, avoiding (for the most part) unusual pronunciations.
• Marking long vowels with a circumflex accent, e.g. <â> for the long version of <a>.
• Using digraphs with the letter <h> as their second element.
• Using the letter <c> for the phoneme /k/ even before /e/ and /i/ (Eastern Efenol's orthography being an exception to this).
• Using <cg>, <pb> and to mark lenited 'c', 'p' and 't'.
• Marking stress position through the same strategy: an acute accent is placed over the stressed vowel except when it's on the last syllable of a word or when the vowel already carries a diacritic.

The last point makes it possible to distinguish words like madher /ma.ˈðeɾ/ (wood) from mádher /ˈma.ðeɾ/ (mother) although it fails to determine whether a word like mîrchël (Wednesday) would be /miːɾ.ˈxɛl/ (as expected by a lack of acute accents) or /ˈmiːɾ.xɛl/ (with a missing acute accent over the <î> as it already carries a circumflex accent). Luckily, in the case of "mîrchel", both pronunciations are valid and synonymous.

Western-like orthographies

Western-like orthographies are used for Western Efenol (the basis for Standard Efenol), North-Western Efenol and by some Central Efenol speakers (which may also choose to write in a northern-like orthography).

Key features of western-like orthographies include the usage of digraphs for most fricatives such as <ch> for /x/, for /θ/ and <dh> for /ð/. Except for <r>, which is pronounced /r/ word-initially or /ɾ/ otherwise, letters and digraphs retain the same pronunciation regardless of their position within a word.

The following table shows the sound correspondences for letters and digraphs in these orthographies:

Letter	Pronunciation	Notes
a	/a/ [ä]	Also <á> if stressed and not in the final syllable.
â	/aː/ [äː]
b	/b/
bh	/v/	Represents a lenited < b > /b/.
	/v/	Word-finally, typically realized as [β] in Western and North-Western Efenol.
bw	/v/	Represents a lenited <pw> /p/ (descended from a Spanish /kw/). Not used in North-Western Efenol.
c	/k/	Always represents a /k/ sound (other than in digraphs), unlike English or Spanish <c>.
ch	/x/
chw	/xw/, /x/	Represents a mutated <pw> /p/ (descended from a Spanish /kw/). Not used in North-Western Efenol. The pronunciations /xw/ and /x/ are in free variation in Western and Central Efenol, with /xw/ being preferred in the former and /x/ in the latter.
cg	/g/	Represents a lenited <c> /k/ unless the word is preceded by a determiner or possessive, in that case the /g/ sound is spelled as <g>.
d	/d/
dh	/ð/
dj	/dʒ/	Only found in North-Western Efenol.
e	/e/	Also <é> if stressed and not in the final syllable. Some Western Efenol speakers realize the phoneme as [e̞] and merge it with /ɛ/.
	/e̯/, /j/	Non-syllabic pronunciation when next to another vowel. Pronounced as a non-syllabic /e/ in North-Western Efenol and in some Western Efenol subdialects and as a /j/ or a non-syllabic /i/ in most Western Efenol varieties (including Standard Efenol) and in Central Efenol. May be written 'i' in Central Efenol.
ê	/eː/	Some Western Efenol speakers pronounce /eː/ as [e̞ː].
ë	/ɛ/, /ə/	/ɛ/ in Western and Central Efenol (may also be merged with /e/ into [e̞] in the former. /ə/ in North-Western Efenol.
f	/f/
g	/g/
	[ç]	Word-finally in Western and North-Western Efenol. Other pronunciations may also be found, including [ʝ], [x], [ɣ] or simply [g].
gh	/ʔ/, Ø, /ɣ/	Represents a lenited, lexeme-initial <g> /g/. Pronounced as either a glottal stop or as a null phoneme (silent) in Western and North-Western Efenol and as a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ in Central Efenol.
h	/h/
hb	/b/	Represents a word-final /b/ descended from a Spanish /mb/ that alternates with the digraph <mm> /m/. Not used in North-Western Efenol.
hd	/d/	Represents a word-final /d/ descended from a Spanish /nd/ that alternates with the digraph <nn> /n/. Not used in North-Western Efenol.
hg	/g/	Represents a word-final /g/ descended from a Spanish /ng/ that alternates with the digraph <ng> /ŋ/ (or <nn> /n/ in Central Efenol). Not used in North-Western Efenol
i	/i/	Also <í> if stressed and not in the final syllable.
	/j/	An alternative to non-syllabic <e> in Central Efenol.
î	/iː/
ij	/yː/	Orthographic equivalent to <ŷ>; preferred for long /y/ in Western and North-Western Efenol; <ŷ> is preferred in Central Efenol.
j	/ʒ/	Only found in North-Western Efenol.
l	/l/
	/ʎ/	In Western and North-Western Efenol when word-final and preceded by an /i/.
lh	/ʎ/
lw	/ɫ/, [ɬ], [ɮ]	All three realizations are found in free variation in Western and North-Western Efenol while the phoneme is absent from Central Efenol.
m	/m/
mh	/v/	Represents a lenited <m> /m/
mm	/m/	Used word-finally to represent a former Spanish /mb/.
n	/n/	May assimilate to adjacent consonants.
nn	/n/	Used word-finally to represent a former Spanish /nd/. Central Efenol speakers who merge /ŋ/ and /n/ may also use <nn> /n/ to represent a former Spanish /ng/.
ng	/ŋ/	Some Central Efenol speakers may merge it with /n/ or, more rarely, with /ɲ/.
ñ	/ɲ/	Only found in Central Efenol.
o	/o/	Also <ó> (not to be confused with <ò>) if stressed and not in the final syllable. Pronounced as a true mid-vowel [o̞] in Central Efenol and in regional varieties of Western Efenol which merge /o/ and /ɔ/ (it should be noted that, despite featuring such a merger, North-Western Efenol keeps the upper-mid pronunciation [o]).
ô	/oː/	Mid [o̞ː] in Central Efenol and in Western varieties that merge /o/ and /ɔ/.
ò	/ɔ/	Only found in Western Efenol.
p	/p/
pb	/b/	Represents a lenited /p/ unless the word is preceded by a determiner or a possessive, in that case the /b/ sound is spelled .
ph	/f/	Represents a mutated /p/.
pw	/p/	Represents a /p/ that descends from a Spanish /kw/. This distinction is relevant in Western and Central Efenol as <pw> behaves different than under consonant mutation. In North-Western Efenol /p/ behaves in the same way regardless of its origin and the digraph <pw> isn't used.
r	/r/	Word-initially. Most Western and North-Western Efenol speakers merge /r/ and /ʀ/ into the latter.
	/ɾ/	Non word-initially.
rh	/ʀ/	Some Central Efenol speakers merge /ʀ/ and /r/ into /r/. Those speakers may replace all instances of <rh> with <r> (if word-initial) or <rr> (otherwise).
rr	/r/	Only used in Central Efenol for non word-initial /r/.
s	/s/
sc	/ʃ/	Only used in North-Western Efenol.
se	/ʃ/, /sj/	Preceding a vowel. The phoneme /s/ palatalizes to /ʃ/ in North-Western Efenol and in most Western varieties while the sequence is just interpreted as /sj/ in Central Efenol or in other Western Efenol varieties.
sh	/h/	Represents a lenited 's' /s/.
she	/ç/	Represents a lenited <se> /ʃ/; see notes for <se>.
ss	/z/	Represents a mutated /s/.
sse	/ʒ/	Represents a mutated <se> /ʃ/; see notes for <se>.
t	/t/
tc	/tʃ/, /ʃ/, /s/	Represents the phoneme /tʃ/ in North-Western Efenol. In Western Efenol, <tc> is used sparingly and may be pronounced as /ʃ/ or /s/. In Central Efenol the digraph is replaced with the letter /s/.
td	/d/	Represents a lenited <t> /d/ unless the word is preceded by a determiner or a possessive, then the /d/ sound is spelled <d>.
th	/θ/
u	/u/	Also <ú> if stressed and not in the final syllable of a word.
û	/uː/
v	/v/	Replaced with <bh> in word-final position.
w	/w/
wh	/vw/, /v/	Represents a lenited <w> /w/. Read /vw/ in most forms of Western Efenol and as /v/ in Central Efenol, North-Western Efenol and in other Western Efenol varieties.
y	/y/	Also <ý> if stressed and not in the final syllable of a word (although speakers are particularly likely not to write the acute accent if the affected vowel is an <y>).
ŷ	/yː/	In Western and North-Western Efenol <ŷ> is often replaced with the digraph <ij>.
z	/z/	Many Central Efenol speakers merge /s/ and /z/ into /s/. Those speakers may rewrite words with <z> in Standard Efenol with an .

With the exception of Central Efenol's <ñ> (considered a letter on its own, collated between <n> and <o>), letters with diacritics and digraphs aren't taken into account for collation purposes.

One noticeable feature of western-like orthographies and of Efenol as a whole is the usage of the interpunct or middle-dot <·>. This punctuation mark is used to separate articles from consonant-initial nouns: a (the, singular feminine definite article) + man (hand): a·mhan (the hand). North-Western Efenol also uses an interpunct for plural definite articles before vowel-initial nouns: ah (the, plural feminine definite article) + evich (bees): ah·evich. Otherwise, contractions where the second element beings with a vowel are indicated with apostrophes: l (singular definite article) + avech (bee): l'avech.

Apostrophes are also used to indicate the attributive/genitive case of nouns (typically expressed through lenition) when the initial consonant of the noun is invariable to lenition. For example, the attributive form of falth (silver) becomes 'falth (of silver, made of silver) despite keeping its pronunciation unchanged (compare cóver, 'copper' vs the lenited form cgóver, 'of copper, made of copper').

Northern-like orthographies

Northern-like orthographies are used for Northern Efenol, Eastern Efenol, North-Eastern Efenol and by some Central Efenol speakers (which may also choose to write in a western-like orthography). The orthography of the Southern Efenol language (not covered in this article) is also closest to the northern model.

Key features of northern-like orthographies include the usage single letters for some sounds represented as digraphs in western-like orthographies such as <h> for /x/ instead of Western <ch> or <z> for /θ/ instead of Western .

Another salient feature of northern-like orthographies is that the letter <d> represents voiced stops word-initially but stands for voiced fricatives in other positions.

The following table shows the sound correspondences for letters and digraphs in these orthographies:

Letter	Pronunciation	Notes
a	/a/ [ä]	Also <á> if stressed and not in the final syllable. In Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol, an stressed short <a> will be pronounced as a central [ä] while an unstressed short <a> is reduced to a frontal [a] or, in some North-Eastern varieties, a schwa [ə].
â	/aː/ [äː]
b	/b/	Represents a bilabial approximant, [β̞], in Eastern Efenol.
bb	/b/	Used in Central Efenol to represent a word-final /b/ descended from a Spanish /mb/, corresponds to Western -hb.
bh	/v/	Represents a lenited 'b' /b/. Not used in Eastern Efenol.
c	/k/, /tʃ/	In Northern, North-Eastern and Central dialects, <c> always represents a /k/ sound (other than in digraphs), unlike English or Spanish <c>. In Eastern Efenol, however, the letter <c> represents the phoneme /tʃ/ before front vowels and /k/ elsewhere. A large number of Eastern speakers prefer to sidestep this ambiguity by always using the letter <ç> for /tʃ/ and spelling all remaining /k/'s as <k>.
ch	/x/	Represents a mutated <c> /k/ (or potentially an Eastern Efenol <k> /k/).
cg	/g/, /dʒ/	As /g/ (or [ɰ] in Eastern Efenol): represents a lenited <c> /k/ unless the word is preceded by a determiner or possessive, in that case the /g/ sound is spelled as <g>. In Eastern Efenol, a lenited <c> before a front vowel (pronounced /tʃ/) yields /dʒ/ which may also be spelled as <j>. In this dialect, the digraph <cg> when pronounced /dʒ/ cannot be reduced to <g>, even if the word was preceded by a determiner or a possessive.
ç	/tʃ/	Only used in Eastern Efenol (although North-Eastern Efenol may also use it for Eastern Efenol borrowings). In Eastern Efenol <ç> may be used either to supplement <c> when /tʃ/ does not immediately precede a front vowel or as the only representation of /tʃ/, replacing <c>. The digraph <tç> is preferred in word-final position.
d	/d/, /ð/	Represents a voiced stop /d/ in word-initial position and voiced fricative /ð/ elsewhere. In Eastern Efenol both sounds are merged into a voiced approximant /ð̞/.
dd	/d/	Represents a voiced stop /d/ in non word-initial position. Not used in Eastern Efenol. Also used in Central Efenol to represent a word-final /d/ descended from a Spanish /nd/, corresponds to Western -hd.
dh	/ð/	Makes it possible to write words with an initial /ð/. Typically found as a lenited initial <d>. Not used in Eastern Efenol.
dj	/dʒ/	Only found in North-Western Efenol.
e	/e/, /ɛ/	Also <é> when stressed if not in the final syllable of a word. In Northern Efenol, the phoneme is pronounced as a mid vowel [e̞], in Central Efenol <e> is always an upper-mid [e] while in Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol the vowel is upper-mid [e] when stressed or lower-mid [ɛ] when unstressed.
ê	/eː/	Northern Efenol speakers pronounce /eː/ as [e̞ː].
ë	/ɛ/	Only used in Central Efenol.
f	/f/
g	/g/	Word-initially. Pronounced as a voiced-approximant [ɰ] in Eastern Efenol.
	[ç], [x], [g]	Word-finally, <g> is realized as a [ç] in Northern and North-Eastern Efenol, [x] in Eastern Efenol and simply as [g] in Central Efenol.
gg	/g/	Used in Central Efenol to represent a word-final /g/ descended from a Spanish /ng/, corresponds to Western -hg.
gh	/ɣ/, /x/, /ç/, /ʝ/	Represents a lenited, lexeme-initial <g> /g/. Pronounced as a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/ in Central Efenol; as a voiceless velar fricative [x] in Northern Efenol (with [h] and [ħ] as regional variants), as a voiceless palatal fricative /ç/ in North-Eastern Efenol and as a voiced palatal fricative /ʝ/ in Eastern Efenol.
h	/x/	In Northern Efenol some speakers may pronounce <h> as /h/.
hw	/x/, /xw/, /ʍ/	Used in Eastern, Central and certain North-Eastern Efenol varieties to represent a mutated <pw> or /p/ descended from a Spanish /kw/. /x/ is the prevailing pronunciation in Central Efenol (where /xw/ can nonetheless also be found); /xw/ is more commonly found in Eastern Efenol although some speakers may use /x/ or /ʍ/ instead. Meanwhile, some North-Eastern speakers may use the phoneme /ʍ/ although <f> /f/ remains the most usual alternative in this dialect group. Some Eastern Efenol may conflate /kw/-derived /p/ and inherited Spanish /p/ entirely and use <ph> /f/ instead in case of rhotic or nasal mutation.
i	/i/	Also <í> if stressed and not in the final syllable. In Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol the vowel is pronounced [i] when stressed and [ɪ] otherwise.
	/j/	When next to another vowel.
î	/iː/
j	/dʒ/	Only found in Eastern Efenol (or, occasionally, in Eastern Efenol borrowings used by North-Eastern Efenol speakers). Typically reduced to /ʒ/ in word-final position.
k	/k/	Only used in Eastern Efenol as an alternative to <c> that always represents the /k/ sound.
kg	/g/ [ɰ]	Alternative to <cg> (when pronounced [ɰ]) in Eastern Efenol; not used in any other dialect (except as a symbol for kilograms).
kh	/x/	Alternative to <ch> in Eastern Efenol; not used in any other dialect.
l	/l/
lh	/ɫ/	Only used in Northern Efenol and by a small amount of Central speakers who haven't merged this phoneme with /l/. The letters may also be read individually as /lx/; an apostrophe may be used to unambiguously break the digraph.
li	/ʎ/, /lj/	The phoneme /ʎ/ and the sequence /lj/ are in free variation in Northern, North-Eastern and Eastern Efenol. The phoneme /ʎ/, distinct from /lj/, is represented as <ll> in Central Efenol.
ll	/ʎ/	Only used in Central Efenol.
m	/m/
mh	/v/	Represents a lenited <m> /m/
mm	/m/	Used word-finally to represent a former Spanish /mb/. Only used in Central Efenol.
n	/n/	May assimilate to adjacent consonants.
nn	/n/	Only used in Central Efenol. Used word-finally to represent a former Spanish /nd/. Central Efenol speakers who merge /ŋ/ and /n/ may also use <nn> /n/ to represent a former Spanish /ng/.
ng	/ŋ/	Some Central Efenol speakers may merge it with /n/ or, more rarely, with /ɲ/. Always read as /ng/ [ŋg] in Northern Efenol.
ñ	/ɲ/	Only found in Central Efenol.
o	/o/	Also <ó> if stressed and not in the final syllable. Pronounced as a true mid-vowel [o̞] in Central and Northern Efenol and as either [o] or [ɔ] (depending on whether it is stressed or not, respectively) in the Eastern and North-Eastern dialects.
ô	/oː/	Mid [o̞ː] in Northern and Central Efenol; [oː] in Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol.
ö	/ø/	Not used in Central Efenol. In Northern Efenol, <ö> is pronounced as a mid vowel [ø̞] while in Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol it is an upper-mid [ø] when stressed and either an [ɛ] or an [œ] when unstressed (with the former realization being far more common).
öe	/øː/, /øi/	Both pronunciations are in free variation in Northern Efenol; the digraph isn't used in other dialects.
ò	/ɔ/	Only found in Western Efenol.
p	/p/
pb	/b/	Represents a lenited /p/ unless the word is preceded by a determiner or a possessive, in that case the /b/ sound is spelled . Pronounced [β̞] in Eastern Efenol.
ph	/f/	Represents a mutated /p/.
pv	/v/	Represents a lenited or <pw> /p/ that was originally a Spanish <kw>. Using <v> is a permissible (though not as popular) alternative spelling The digraph isn't used in Eastern Efenol where or <pb> are used instead.
pw	/p/	Represents a /p/ that descends from a Spanish /kw/. Not used in Northern or Eastern Efenol and rarely used (and optional) in North-Eastern Efenol. The digraph remains common (although also optional) in Central Efenol.
r	/r/	Word-initially
	/ɾ/	Non word-initially.
rh	/ʀ/	Not used in Northern Efenol. Some Central Efenol speakers merge /ʀ/ and /r/ into /r/. Those speakers may replace all instances of <rg> with <r> (if word-initial) or <rr> (otherwise). The letters may also be read individually as /ɾx/; an apostrophe may be used to unambiguously break the digraph.
rr	/r/	Only used in Central Efenol for non word-initial /r/.
s	/s/
sh	/h/, /x/	Represents a lenited /s/. Pronounced /h/ in Northern and Central Efenol and /x/ in Eastern Efenol; North-Eastern varieties may have either pronunciation although the latter is slightly more typical. In Northern and Central Efenol, the digraph <sh> is used for all instances of /h/.
ss	/z/	Not used in Eastern Efenol which merges the phonemes /s/ and /z/ into /s/. Some Central and North-Eastern Efenol varieties may also have this merger and spell accordingly.
t	/t/
tç	/tʃ/	Found only in Eastern Efenol as a word-final representation for /tʃ/.
td	/d/	Represents a lenited <t> /d/ unless the word is preceded by a determiner or a possessive, then the /d/ sound is spelled <d>. Pronounced [ð̞] in Eastern Efenol.
th	/θ/	Represents a mutated <t>, /t/.
ts	/ts/	Found only in Northern and North-Eastern Efenol.
u	/u/	Also <ú> if stressed and not in the final syllable of a word. In Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol, the vowel is pronounced [u] when stressed or [ʊ] otherwise.
û	/uː/
v	/v/
w	/w/
wh	/v/	Represents a lenited <w> /w/.
y	/y/	Also <ý> if stressed and not in the final syllable of a word. In Eastern and North-Eastern Efenol, the vowel is pronounced [y] when stressed or [ʏ] otherwise.
ŷ	/yː/
z	/θ/

Northern-like orthographies have a more limited usage of interpuncts: they aren't used in Northern Efenol and they are only used in other dialects if the article triggers some kind of mutation on the initial syllable of a noun. Thus, in Eastern Efenol, the singular form of 'the hand', which features a lenition, is a·mhan but its plural form, 'the hands', which does not feature lenition, is a mein.

In addition to being used to mark contractions, in Eastern Efenol apostrophes are also used to indicate epenthetic schwas as in kyr'n /ˈkyɾən/.

Optionally, an apostrophe may also be used to break instances where the letters <r> or <l> occur next to an <h> without forming the digraphs <rh> and <lh>. This would distinguish Central Efenol marh /maʀ/ ('lean, without fat') from mar'h /maɾx/ ('frame'). The sequence <rh> is unambiguously /ɾx/ in Northern Efenol (as it lacks the <rh> digraph) so it never requires a 'breaking' apostrophe. Similarly, word-final <rh> is unambiguously /ɾx/ in all dialects other than Central Efenol since they don not allow word-final /ʀ/. Similarly, breaking the <lh> digraph is only necessary in Northern Efenol as Central, North-Eastern and Eastern dialects lack the phoneme represented as <lh> sound.

Mutation

Efenol makes an extensive use of both vowel mutation (or ablaut) and consonant mutation. These processes occur both diachronically (in the evolution from Spanish to Efenol) and synchronically (within the modern language as part of its grammar). For the most part, the same changes are involved in both cases (dia- and synchronically).

Vowel mutation

There are three main types of vowel mutation. Two of them are the result of a now-lost front vowel (either Spanish /i/ or /e/): strong i-ablaut and weak i-ablaut. Synchronically i-ablaut is used for plural forming where strong i-ablaut affects stressed syllables while weak i-ablaut affects the rest; diachronically only only one form of i-ablaut is found, typically affecting a vowel that preceded a a /CjV/ sequence. A third type of vowel mutation from an elided rounded back vowel: u-ablaut.

The following table illustrates the results of these three kinds of synchronic vowel mutation for the most common vowel combinations in Western Efenol. Notices that in this dialect <ë> and <ij> are read as /ɛ/ and /yː/ respectively.

Vowel	Strong i-ablaut	Weak i-ablaut	U-ablaut
a	ei	e	ò
e	î	i	ë
i	î	i	y
o	ë	ë	o
u	ij	y	u
y	ij	y	y
ë	ëi	ë	ëu
ò	oi	ay	au
â	ai	ai	òu
ê	î	î	ey
î	î	î	ij
ô	oi	oi	ou
û	ij	ij	û
ij	ij	ij	ij
ai	ai	ai	ay
au	ay	ay	au
ei	î	î	ij

Diachronic i-ablaut mostly coincides with modern strong i-ablaut, the main differences being that an i-ablaut /e/ and /u/ yielded short vowels /i/ and /y/ (respectively). It should also be noted that Spanish /we/ (which yields <ë> in Efenol) is i-ablauted to /y/. Meanwhile, diachronic u-ablaut differs on the result of u-ablauted /o/ and /u/ (as well as Spanish /we/) being a long /u/ <û> rather than leaving /o/ and /u/ unchanged as found in synchronic u-ablaut.

Other Efenol dialects follow a similar vowel-mutation table with the following differences:

• The appropriate orthographic conventions are to be used. For instance, long /y/ would be written <ŷ> rather than <ij> in dialects other than Western and North-Western Efenol.
• Northern, North-Eastern and Eastern dialects replace instances of <ë> with <ö>.
• Eastern Efenol, North-Eastern Efenol and all varieties without a phonemic contrasts between /o/ and /ɔ/ replace <ò> with <o>.
• Strong i-ablauted <ô> yields <öe> in Northern Efenol.
• U-ablauted <ê> yields <eu> in Northern, North-Eastern and Eatern Efenol rather than <ey>.
• Northern and North-Eastern Efenol do not allow diphthongs with <y> as a second element, replacing <ay> and with <ai>. This is also true for some speakers of Central and Eastern Efenol.
• In North-Western Efenol, the diphthongs <ai>, <au>, <ey> and <oi> become <ae>, <ao>, <eo> and <oe>. The dipthong <ay> is preserved as such in writing although it's also commonly realies as /ao/ and some speakers may prefer to write it <ao>.

Consonant mutation

Efenol features three types of consonant mutation: soft mutation (usually referred to as lenition), rhotic mutation (or, perhaps more appropriately, liquid mutation) and nasal mutation.

As it was also the case for vowel mutation, consonant mutation occurs both diachronically (in the evolution of the language) and synchronically (as a morphophonemic feature of the modern language), usually with identical results. It should be noted, however, that these two processes are reflected differently in writing with the results of synchronic mutation having special spellings. For instance, a rhotic-mutated /p/ yields the phoneme /f/ both diachronically and synchronically but it will be spelled as a regular <f> /f/ in the first case (Spanish carpa > Efenol carf) but with the dedicate spelling <ph> /f/ in the latter (Efenol pan, 'bread', but e·phan, 'the bread' rather than **e·fan). In the case of lenition, mutated voiceless stops (which become voiced) are only written with the special digraphs <cg>, <pb> and if there isn't a preceding article or possessive pronoun.

The following table shows consonant mutation in Western Efenol, including the special spellings used when it occurs synchronically.

Consonant	Lenition / Soft Mutation	Rhotic/Liquid Mutation	Nasal Mutation
b /b/	bh /v/	bh /v/	mb /mb/
c /k/	cg, g /g/	ch /x/	ch /x/
ch /x/	No change
d /d/	dh /ð/	dh /ð/	nd /nd/
f /f/	No change
g /g/	gh /ʔ/ ~ Ø	gh /ʔ/ ~ Ø	ng /ŋ/
h /h/	No change
l /l/	No change
lh /ʎ/	No change
lw /ɫ/	No change
m /m/	mh /v/	mh /v/	m /m/
n /n/	No change
p /p/	pb, b /b/	ph /f/	ph /f/
pw /p/	bw /v/	chw /xw/	chw /xw/
r /r/	No change
rh /ʀ/	No change
s /s/	sh /h/	ss /z/	ss /z/
se /ʃ/	she /ç/	sse /ʒ/	sse /ʒ/
t /t/	td, d /d/	th /θ/	th /θ/
tc /tʃ/~/ʃ/	tdc /dʒ/~/ʃ/	tc /tʃ/~/ʃ/	tc /tʃ/~/ʃ/
th /θ/	No change
w /w/	wh /vw/	wh /vw/	ngw /ŋgw/
z /z/	No change

The result of these mutations is mostly consistent through the different dialects. Major differences include:

• The merger of voiced stops and voiced fricatives in Eastern Efenol which results in <d> /d/ staying unaffected under lenition and rhotic mutation.
• Eastern Efenol <ç> /tʃ/ shifting to /dʒ/ (spelled as either <cg> or <j>) under soft and nasal mutation and staying unchanged under rhotic mutation.
• Various consonant mergers, such as Eastern and Central Efenol merger of /z/ with /s/.
• Initial /p/ when descended from Spanish /kw/ (spelled <pw> in Standard Efenol) has a different behaviour in other Efenol varieties:
  • It behaves (and is spelled) as a regular /p/ in North-Western Efenol (lenited to /b/ and mutated to <ph> /f/ otherwise).
  • In Northern Efenol, /kw/-derived /p/ (written as a regular 'p') becomes <ph> /f/ under nasal and rhotic mutation but remains a <pv> /v/ under lenition.
  • In Eastern Efenol the pattern is identical as in Standard Efenol but the lack of distinction between /b/ and /v/ makes the distinction irrelevant under lenition.

Evolution from Spanish

The following section indicates how Efenol vocabulary can be derived from the corresponding Spanish-language terms. As elsewhere in this article, the content of this section applies to the Western Efenol dialect unless otherwise noted.

About the base Spanish variety

All forms of Efenol are based on (and supposedly descended from) the Spanish language as spoken today. The Spanish variety that serves as base for North-Central Efenol (ie excluding the Southern Efenol language) is an unspecified form of European Spanish with the following features:

• Preserving the distinction between phonemes /s/ (spelled in Spanish) and /θ/ (spelled as either <c> or <z>). This feature is known as 'distinción' and is found in most of Spain, contrasting with the merger of both sounds into /s/ ('seseo', found in most of the Spanish speaking territories) or the merger of both sounds into /θ/ ('ceceo', found in some regions of Andalusia).
• Preserving the distinction between the phonemess /ʝ/ (spelled <y>) and /ʎ/ (spelled <ll>). This feature (sometimes referred to as 'lleísmo') is relatively uncommon but can be found in some regions of Spain and South America, contrasting with the far more common merger of both phonemes (a feature known as 'yeísmo'). On the other hand, the Southern Efenol language (not covered in this article) either descends from a variety with yeísmo or adopted a similar merger early on its evolution.

This features suggest that Efenol would probably have originated somewhere in the northern half of Spain. Accordingly, Spanish regionalisms are preferred to Latin American regionalisms although neutral vocabulary found across the Spanish-speaking world is preferred to either.

Vowels

Monophthongs

As mentioned in the phonology section, Spanish pentavocalic system [ä e̞ i o̞ u] is mostly preserved (and expanded) in Efenol. When not in an unstressed word-final open syllable (where vowels are typically subject to elision) nor affected by ablaut, these five vowels (as monophthongs) evolve in the following way:

• Spanish 'a' [ä] remains as an <a> [ä]. This vowel is usually transcribed as /a/ in phonemic transcriptions despite it remaining a central low vowel (except for Hunzad, where it is indeed fronted to [a] or in Eastern Efenol where the vowel is fronted to [a] in unstressed position and remains central [ä] otherwise).
• Spanish 'e' [e̞] is raised to be a true upper-mid [e], spelled <e>. This is true except for Central and Northern Efenol (where it remains as a true mid [e̞]) or in Eastern/North-Eastern Efenol where vowel height varies depending on stress placement.
• Spanish 'i' [i] remains the same.
• Spanish 'o' [o̞] is raised to a true upper-mid [o] except in Northern Efenol where it remains an [o̞] or in Eastern/North-Eastern Efenol where vowel height varies depending on stress placement.
• Spanish 'u' [u] remains the same.

Examples: manzana > manthan, queso > ces, mito > mit, rosa > ros, mundo > munn.

Diphthongs and hiatus

Vowel sequences (diphthongs and certain cases of hiatus) evolve in the following way:

• Spanish <ai> becomes <ei>: aire > eir.
• Spanish <ae> becomes a long e, <ê>: aeropuerto > êrobërth.
• Spanish <au> becomes an open o, <ò> /ɔ/ except in Northern Efenol, where it becomes <ou> /ow/ in stressed position or is merged with <o> /o/ otherwise and in North-Western Efenol where it is always merged with <o> /o/: pausa > pòs (N: pous, NW: pos), auténtico > òténthig (N: oténzih, NW: oténthetc).
• Spanish <ea> becomes a long a, <â>: maestro > mêthor.
• Spanish <ei> becomes a long i, <î>: reina > rîn.
• Spanish <eo> and <eu> becomes <ë> /ɛ/ in Western Efenol: correo > corhë, euro > ër.
• Spanish <ia> and Spanish <io> behave differently depending on whether they are in the first syllable of a word or not
  • If they are, they remain as /ja/ and /jo/ which, due to an earlier historical development (when they were pronounced [ɪa] and [ɪo]) are represented as <ea> and <eo> in Western Efenol orthography. The /j/ may be lost under some scenarios, such as when following an s as the combination /sj/ becomes /ʃ/. It's also worth noting that an initial s (palatalized to /ʃ/) is added to word initial /ja/ and /jo/ in Western and North-Western Efenol (but not in any other varieties). Examples: piano > pean, violín > beolin, hiato > seat (but Northern iat), ionizar > seonithar (but Northern ionizar).
  • If there is a preceding syllable, then 'the yod moves backwards' resulting in an i-ablaut of the preceding vowel while the /a/ or /o/ of the original diphthong evolves as usual. Examples: vegetariano > bechedeiran (the ei arising from an i-ablauted a), nación > neithôn (this generalizes to all Spanish words with the -ción suffix, now expressed through i-ablaut and -thôn). There is a small number of exceptions to this rule, such as colombiano > colobean and fermión > fermeôn. Additionally, the Spanish suffix -ción does not trigger i-ablaut in Northern Efenol (nación > nazôn) while both forms are found in North-Eastern Efenol (thus both nazôn and neizôn may be found in the northeast).
• Spanish <ie> becomes a long i, <î>. In Western and North-Western Efenol, word-initial /je/ gets a prosthetic /s/. Examples: miedo > mît, hierro > sîr (but Northern irr or îrr).
• Spanish <iu> becomes an <y> /y/. This vowel is often lengthened if the resulting Efenol word is monosyllabic (the resulting long /y/ is written as <ij> in the Western Efenol orthography). In theory, a word with an initial /ju/ in Spanish would also get a prosthetic /s/ in Western and North-Western Efenol though no such words have been attested. Examples: ciudad > thydhadh, viudo > bijdh.
• Spanish <oe> becomes a long e in Western and Central Efenol, <öe> /øː/~/øi/ in Northern Efenol, <oe> /oe/ in North-Western Efenol and varies between <ê> /eː/ and <oi> in Eastern Efenol (in free variation, with the latter being more common in North-Eastern Efenol). Example: coherencia > cêrînth (but Northern cöerînz).
• Spanish <oi> remains as <oi> except in Northern Efenol where Spanish /oj/ (but not the hiatus /o.i/) becomes <öe>, pronounced as either /øː/ or /øi/. Examples: boina > boin (Northern böen), oír > oir (also oir in Northern Efenol, since the word has hiatus in Spanish).
• Much like <ia> and <io>, Spanish <ua> and <uo> behave differently depending on whether they occur in the first syllable of a word or not. This does not include the sequences <gua> and <guo> which are interpreted as corresponding to a consonantal /w/ followed by an /a/ or an /o/.
  • In the first syllable of a word Spanish <ua> and <uo> evolve to become <a> and <ô>. The missing /w/, however, can trigger a change in the preceding consonant. In all North-Central dialects (ie all Efenol varieties other than Southern Efenol) the sequenced <cua> and <cuo> become <pa> and <po>. Additionally, in Western and Central Efenol (and for some North-Western speakers as well) some voiceless onsets such as /s/ become voiced. Examples: Juan > Chan, duodecimal > dôdethimal, cuatro > páthor, cuórum > pôrum, suave > zabh.
  • If there is a preceding syllable, the /w/ is removed and the preceding vowel is u-ablauted (or lengthened if ordinary u-ablaut wouldn't result in a change). The sequence /kw/ in Spanish still evolves to /p/ (or /v/ if lenited). In Western and (most forms of) Central Efenol a preceding /s/ is still voiced to /z/ under this scenario. Examples: aduana > òdan, virtuoso > byrthô, acuarela > avarel, adecuar > adhepar, casual > còzal (alternates with còsal, derived by analogy from còs, cause).
• Spanish <ue> becomes <ë> /ɛ/ in Western Efenol. The sequence <cue>, however, becomes /pe/ in the Northern and Western dialects. Examples: puesto > pëth, cueva > pebh (but Eastern këb).
• Spanish <ui> becomes an <y> /y/: buitre > výther.

Elision of word-final vowels

Word-final unstressed vowels are usually elided in Efenol. Examples: mesa > mes, escape > echab, mono > mon.

Stressed word-final vowels become long vowels: Panamá > Panamâ, café > cafê, buró > burô. This is not true of monosyllables (mostly particles), where vowels remain short: de > de.

If the elision of an unstressed word-final vowel would result in an illegal consonant cluster in codal final position, the vowel is moved to break the cluster: CCV > CVC. This is the case for Spanish clusters with an L or an R as a second element (padre > pádher, cifra > thífar) except for <gl> and <gr> which evolve into Efenol <lw> /ɫ/ and <rh> /ʀ/ respectively, both of which also result in a u-ablaut of the previous vowel: siglo > sylw, tigre > *tyrh > tijr.

Other disallowed final clusters include L followed by a voiced sound (esmeralda > emeráladh, alma > álam) and, in dialects other than the standard Western Efenol, R followed by a voiced sound: barba > Western: barbh, Northern: bárav; arma > Western arm, Northern: áram.

North-Western Efenol, most Central Efenol varieties and a few Western Efenol varieties always break these clusters with the same vowel regardless of the value of the original vowel. North-Western Efenol uses the vowel <ë> /ə/ while Central and non-standard Western Efenol varieties use <a> /a/. Non-standard Western varieties also extend this behavior to the clusters that are preserved in standard Efenol. Examples: arma > Standard/Western: arm, Central and non-standard Western: áram, North-Western: árëm; padre > Standard/Western: pádher, Central and non-standard Western: pádhar, North-Western: pádhër; libro > Standard/Western: lívor, Central and non-standard Western: *lívar (alternating with lívor by influence of Standard Efenol), North-Western: lívër.

The clusters <mbr>, <ndr> and <ngr> are treated differently. In Western Efenol (and in some forms of Central Efenol) they evolve into <nv_r>, <ndh_r> and <nrh_r>, with the elided vowel moving before the R: hombre > ónver, tundra > túndhar, sangre > sánrher. Eastern, North-Western and most Central Efenol dialects preserve the /b/, /d/ and /g/ in those clusters unchanged as exemplified by Eastern ómber, túndar and sánger. Northern and North-Eastern Efenol also follow the 'Eastern' model (except for <mbr>, which yields <nv_r> in Northern Efenol) but they also lengthen the preceding vowel in these cases, resulting in Northern ônver, tûndar and sânger (often shortened to sâng).

Morphology

W.I.P.

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources