Æ

Æ/Lexicon

Æ (natively jạrˀ Æ [jɑ̈˨˩˨ˀ ʔe˧˧], lit. 'Æ sound'; in English /ɛ/ eh) is an Angaian monosyllabic tonal analytic language inspired by Danish and Vietnamese (and the name is inspired by the real-world E language).

Diachronics sketch

Old Æ -ång/k -ong/k -ůng/k -> Modern Æ -æ̊m/vˀ -øm/vˀ -ym/vˀ

Broad phonology

Initials

b d bl gl g f s fl sl t h m n ng l r v j 0 /p t pl tɬ k f s fl ɬ ts h m n ŋ l ʁ v j ʔ/

Medials

-r- /ʁ/ Since this lowers the vowel, the exact phonetic values of rV combinations must be learned. Tentatively only allowed after b d g f s t h m n ng v.

Vowels

Nuclei: i y u ů e ø o æ æ̊ ă a å /i y ɨ u e ø o ɛ œ æ æ: ɔ/

Finals

-0 -j -v -d -r -n -m /-0 -j -w -ð̞ˠ -ɐ̯ -ⁿ -w̃/

Origins of finals

• -0 comes from older -0 (tone A), -ʔ (tone B), -h (tone C), -k (tone D)
• -v comes from older -w (tone A), -wʔ (tone B), -f (tone C), -p -wə(final stop) (tone D)
• -j comes from older -j (tone A), -jʔ (tone B), -ç (tone C), -c -jə(final stop) (tone D)
• -d comes from older -ð -l (tone A), -ðʔ -lʔ (tone B), -þ (tone C), -t -ðə(final stop) -lə(final stop) (tone D)
• -r comes from older -r (tone A), -rʔ (tone B), -s (tone C), -q -rə(final stop) (tone D)
• -n from -n -ɲ sometimes -ŋ (add ʔ or final fric as necessary for tones B or C), -nə(final stop) -ɲə(final stop) -ŋə(final stop) (tone D)
• -m from -m sometimes -ŋ (add ʔ or final fric as necessary for tones B or C), -mə(final stop) -ŋə(final stop) (tone D)

(Posttonic syllables after nonresonants are lost without a trace)

Tones

8 tones, 2 of which have stød

Tone box

Vietnamese tone diacritics are used to indicate the abstract etymological origin of the tone (The precise tone values are TBD)

	A (null/voiced coda)	B (glottal stop coda)	C (fricative coda)	D (voiceless stop coda)
Modal initial	a	á	ả	áˀ
Breathy initial	à	ạ	ã	ạˀ

Narrow phonology

Steal from Danish narrow phonology as much as possible

Rimes with no -r- medial

		Nucleus
		/æː/	/æ/	/ɛ/	/œ/	/ɔ/	/e/	/ø/	/o/	/i/	/y/	/u/	/ɨ/
Monophthong
Diphthong	/j(ʔ)/
	/w(ʔ)/
	/ð(ʔ)/
	/ɐ̯(ʔ)/
Nasal	/ŋ(ʔ)/
	/m(ʔ)/
Checked	/ʔ/

• ăd [æð̠˕ˠ]
• ăj [ɑj]
• ăv [æw]
• ăr
• ăn
• ăm
• a
• ad
• aj
• av
• ar
• an
• am

Grammar

Polar questions

Yes-no questions either use the A-not-A form or put the appropriate negative word at the end.

Mæ̣rˀ húd med blảj Æ? / Mæ̣rˀ húd blảj Æ med?

2 COP NEG.COP human Æ / 2 COP human Æ NEG.COP

Are you Æ?

Poetry

Lục bát (with the same rules as in Vietnamese lục bát) is the most common poetic form