Lees'hin
Introduction
Lees'hin (lees'hin s'hon) is lees'hinian language spoken in Democratic Republic of Lees'hin (Vas’ha Nhelhuk Lees’hin) by 48 000 native speakers. It was created in 2015. The language has no cognate with natural languages. I wanted to make some very strange language with strange vocubalary. Also Lees'hin is intelligable with 2 other lees'hinian languages. They are Mihrulen and Basti.
Phonology
Orthography
Lees'hin orthography is special, because every letter except y has version with the letter h. For digraphs ch, sh, nh, lh and jh , version with h is c'h s'h, n'h, l'h and j'h.
| Letter | Name of letter |
|---|---|
| a | akú |
| ã | a kamã |
| á | a acún |
| b | bãh |
| bh | abhú |
| c | ca |
| ch | cha |
| c'h | ac'ha |
| d | da |
| dh | adhe |
| e | ekú |
| é | e acún |
| f | fa |
| fh | efhe |
| g | gu |
| gh | aghe |
| h | hu |
| i | ikú |
| í | i acún |
| j | ja |
| jh | jhe |
| j'h | aj'he |
| k | kã |
| kh | akhã |
| l | la |
| lh | lha |
| l'h | al'he |
| m | ma |
| mh | amhe |
| n | ne |
| nh | nhe |
| n'h | an'he |
| o | okú |
| õ | o kamã |
| ó | o acún |
| p | pu |
| ph | aphú |
| q | qu |
| qh | aqhú |
| r | ra |
| rh | arha |
| s | se |
| sh | she |
| s'h | as'hé |
| t | tan |
| th | athan |
| u | ukú |
| ú | u acún |
| v | vãku |
| vh | vhãku |
| y | yun |
| z | za |
| zh | azha |
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | nh /ɲ/ | n /ŋ/ | ||||
| Plosive | p /p/ b /b/ | t /t/ d /d/ | k /k/ g /g/ | q /q/ | ||||
| Affricate | c /t͡s/ | ch /t͡ʃ/ jh /d͡ʒ/ | ||||||
| Fricative | f /f/ v /v/ | s /s/ z /z/ | sh /ʃ/ j /ʒ/ | *(')h /x/ | h /h/ | |||
| Approximant | y /j/ | |||||||
| Trill | r /r/ | |||||||
| Lateral app. | l /l/ | lh /ʎ/ |
- (')h- when h is after consonant it will be pronounced /x/. So in writing exist 2 groups. One is with apostrophe and other has no apostrophe. Group with apostrophe is: s'h, c'h, j'h, l'h and n'h. In other group are consonants that don't need an apostrophe because they can't make another sound. So s'h is written this way to avoid mixing with sh. But gh is written in this way because g with h can't make another phoneme, like sh.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i, í /i/ | u, ú /u/ | |
| Close-mid | e, é /e/ | õ/ɤ/ o, ó /o/ | |
| Mid | ã /ə/ | ||
| Open | a, á /a/ |
Prosody
Stress
Stress is mainly on first place. The stress isn't on first place when a word has graphic accent, then the stress falls where an acute accent is found. Lees'hin has one accent, acute. Vowels can be short or long. A vowel is short if the following vowel isn't the same as proceeding vowel. A vowel is long if after a vowel comes the same vowel.
Intonation
Intonation in Lees'hin is the same as in English.
Phonotactics
In Lees'hin are permissible all combinations with h, eg, bh, ch, c'h, sh, s'h... All syllables must have at least one vowel. Nouns cannot end with a vowel.
Morphology
Lees'hin has 6 cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, vocative, instrumenatal). Verbs are inflected through 2 numbers, 2 voices, 3 moods( indicative , subjunctive, imperative), 9 tenses in indicative, 5 in subjunctive and only 1 in imperative. Nouns differ from adjectives. Adjectives differ from verbs.