Eḥeiθymmen Amran
Eḥeiθymmen Amran [ɛçˈejθ.ym:.ɛn ˈam.ran] | |
Creator: | Daniel Quigley |
Spoken in: | Amran |
World: | Leaves Stories |
Total Speakers: | ~ 18,000,000 |
Basic word order: | Strict V2 |
Morphological Type: | Fusional |
Morphosyntactic Alignment: | Ergative-Absolutive |
Inspirations: | Arabic, German, Finnish, Welsh, Basque, English |
Status: | In Progress |
Link to full documentation: | *forthcoming* |
Eḥeiθymmen Amran is an a priori artistic constructed language in development by Daniel Quigley, providing the framework for which the author’s creative works and worldbuilding are guided. Eḥeiθymmen Amran or just Eḥeiθymme or Amranū is the dominant language of the people of Amran.
Eḥeiθymme is characterized by significant word-internal sound-change, a so-called "root-and-pattern" morphology, and strict word order. Eḥeiθymme readily accepts words of non-native origin, but tends to force said loans into its morphological paradigm.
Eḥeiθymme is typologically a fusional language. Nouns, modifiers, and verbs are typically formed via a root-and-pattern triconsonantal root system, and movement between the three is highly fluid. Nouns are not inflected for number and case. These details are encoded in the definiteness marked by an article. Other modifiers, such as adverbs, are not inflected in the same way, though similarities may be found in certain contexts. Verbs entirely depend upon their construction with a positive or a negative copula, and most tenses are formed via periphrasis. Some particles are inflected for person. Eḥeiθymme is an Ergative-Absolutive aligned language, and has strict V2 word order despite the presence of extensive case marking.
Introduction
Phonology
Consonants
Eḥeiθymme has five major places of articulation and six manners of articulation, and yields twenty-three consonants in total.
Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m = [m] | n = [n] | |||||
Stop | unvoiced | p = [p] | t = [t] | k = [k] | |||
voiced | b = [b] | d = [d] | g = [g] | ||||
Affricate | unvoiced | c = [t͡ʃ] | |||||
voiced | j = [d͡ʒ] | ||||||
Fricative | sibilant | unvoiced | s = [s] | ʃ = [ʃ] | |||
voiced | ʒ = [ʒ] | ||||||
non-sibilant | unvoiced | f = [f] | θ = [θ] | ḥ = [ç] | x = [x] | h = [h] | |
voiced | v = [v] | ð = [ð] | ɣ = [ɣ] | ||||
Lateral | l = [l] | ||||||
Rhotic | r = [r] |
Vowels and Diphthongs
Eḥeiθymme has four short vowels and four long vowels, a distinction manifested as the long vowels' sound being held twice as long as short vowels' sound.
The short vowels are following: i, e, a, u. These have the following values:
- a = [a]
- e = [ɛ]
- i = [i]
- u = [u]
The long vowels are following: ī, ē, ā, ū. These have the following values:
- ī = [i:]
- ē = [ɛ:] ~ [e]
- ā = [a:]
- ū = [u:]
Note that, when spoken, there is some variation in the actual pronunciation of /ɛ:/, and may be more accurately pronounced as [e:].
Eḥeiθymme has three diphthongs, all of which have length equivalent to long vowels. The diphthongs are the following: ei, ai, au. These have the following values:
- ei = [ej]
- ai = [aj]
- au = [aw]
Short | Long | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Front | Back | Front | Back | |
High | i = [i] | u = [u] | ī = [i:] | ū = [u:] |
Mid | e = [ɛ] ~ [e] | ē = [ɛ:] ~ [e:] | ||
Low | a = [a] | ā = [a:] | ||
Diphthongs | ei = [ej], ai = [aj], au = [aw] |
Prosody and Stress
Syllables are determined by vowel-sounds and diphthong-sounds. There is one vowel or diphthong per syllable. A syllable will tend to be closed, and tend not to contain consonant in the onset if it can be avoided.
The determination of stress is understood within the bounds of the ultimate to antepenultimate syllable.
1. If the word at most contains:
- three syllables, then the first syllable is stressed.
- two syllables, then the first syllable is stressed.
- one syllable, then that syllable is stressed.
2. If the word contains:
- more than three syllables, then the antepenultimate syllable is stressed.
- a diphthong or a long vowel in the ultimate, penultimate, or antepenultimate syllable, then that syllable is stressed.