Shaj
Introduction
The Shaj languages are spoken across the planet Tanoria. The most widely spoken variety is Velshaj. Although the speakers of the language and their homeland are fictional, and most of the language creation was a priori, there is heavy lexical influence from European languages. Contents[show] General InformationEdit Velshaj nouns are mostly agglutinative, but verbals tend to be monomorphemic. There are five genders, five tenses, and many aspects. Word order is typically SOV. There are many cases of consonant mutation and ablaut, and the language is beginning to show signs of developing vowel harmony.
Phonology
Orthography
Consonants
Nasals
Velshaj has three nasals: /m/, /n/, and /ŋ/. The sequence /n/ + /ĭ/ yields a palatal nasal [ɲ], but this is not regarded as a separate phoneme.
Fricatives
Velshaj has five voiced fricatives /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, and /ɣ/. Although they each appear in complimentary distribution with their voiceless counterparts (/f/, /θ/, /s/, /ʃ/, and /x/), they are often regarded as separate phonemes.
Plosives
Velshaj has five plosives /p/, /t̪/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and one affricate /tʃ/. There are very few minimal pairs between /t̪/ and /t/. One such pair is /t̪e/ "know", and /te/ "turned".
Liquids
Velshaj has one lateral /l/, and one rhotic /r/. Like its nasal counterpart, the sequence /l/ + /ĭ/ yields a lateral palatal approximant [ʎ], but this is not regarded as a separate phoneme. Semivowels /ŭ/ and /ĭ/ exist, but are not regarded as consonants.
Vowels
Shaj has five cardinal vowels /i/, /e/, /a/, /o/, /u/, and two semivowels /ĭ/ and /ŭ/. Semivowels form rising diphthongs /eĭ/, /aĭ/, /oĭ/, /ŭĭ/, /aŭ/; and falling diphthongs /ĭə/, /ĭe/, /ĭa/, /ĭo/, /ĭu/. Any time /u/ or /ŭ/ precedes /i/ or /ĭ/, the result is /ŭĭ/. There are also two rounded front vowels /y/ and /ø/, one open front vowel /æ/, a homogenous diphthong /ĭĭ/, and a schwa /ə/. There is no length distinction in Velshaj, but there used to be in its parent languages.
Prosody
Stress
Intonation
Phonotactics
Syllable structure can be as large as CCCVC and as small as V (where V stands for any vowel or diphthong). Every word needs a vowel, and no word may end in more than one consonant. Typically, stress is on the first syllable of the root, or the penultimate syllable of a word. Morphemes with two syllables rarely end in a vowel.