Balog

Balog [ˈbɐɫɔɡ̚] is the main language of the Balog people of Ub as well as the most widely used lingua franca on that planet.

Phonology

Consonants

Manner	Phonation	Bilabial	Dentolabial Labiodental	Dental/Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	voiced	/m/ 1,2 ‹m›		/n/ 2,3 ‹n›			/ŋ/ 2 ‹ŋ / ng›
Plosive	voiced	/b/ 4 ‹b›		/d/ 3,4 ‹d›			/ɡ/ 4 ‹g›
	voiceless	/p/ 5 ‹p›		/t/ 3,5 ‹t›			/k/ 5 ‹k›		/ʔ/ ‹q›
	ejective			/tʼ/ 3,6 ‹tt›			/kʼ/ 6 ‹kk›
Affricate	voiced			/d͡z/ 7 ‹dz›	/d͡ʒ/ 7 ‹dž / dzh›
	voiceless			/t͡s/ 7 ‹ts›	/t͡ʃ/ 7 ‹tš / tsh›
	ejective			/t͡sʼ/ 6,7 ‹tts›	/t͡ʃʼ/ 6,7 ‹ttš / ttsh›
Fricative	voiced	/v/ 8 ‹v›		/z/ ‹z›	/ʒ/ ‹ž / zh›		/ɣ/ 9 ‹ğ / gh›
	voiceless	/f/ 8 ‹f›		/s/ ‹s›	/ʃ/ ‹š / sh›		/x/ 9 ‹x›
Trill / Flap	voiced			/r/ 10 ‹r›
Lateral	voiced			/l/ 3,11 ‹l›
Semivowel	voiced					/j/ ‹y›	/w/ 12 ‹w›

1. /m/ assimilates to the articulation of a following /v/ or /f/, being pronounced bilabially [m] by speakers with bilabial pronunciations of /v/ and /f/ ([β] and [ɸ]), dentolabially [ɱ͆] by speakers with dentolabial pronunciations of /v/ and /f/ ([v͆] and [f͆]) and labiodentally by speakers with labiodental pronunciation of /v/ and /f/ ([v] and [f])
2. Nasal consonants may be pronounced syllabically when not adjacent to a vowel. Their syllabic pronunciations are always short and unstressed.
3. The alveolar/dental consonants /n d t tʼ l/ are pronounced with dental articulation by some speakers and alveolar articulation by others. This varies chiefly by region and/or native language.
4. The voiced plosives /b d g/ are frequently pronounced as implosives post pausa: [ɓ ɗ~ɗ̪ ɠ]
5. The voiceless plosives /p t k/ are generally unaspirated although aspirated pronunciations may be found, especially by L2 speakers: [pʰ tʰ~t̪ʰ kʰ]. The glottal plosive /ʔ/ is never aspirated.
6. The ejective consonants /pʼ tʼ kʼ t͡sʼ t͡ʃʼ/ are frequently pronounced irregularly by L2 speakers who lack ejective consonants in their native languages. As there are many minimal pairs that can result in dangerous misunderstandings if the ejective consonants are not pronounced, many L2 speakers who are unable to pronounce the ejectives substitute them with sequences of a plain plosive or affricate, a weakly articulated schwa and then a glottal stop: [pə͉ʔ tə͉ʔ kə͉ʔ t͡sə͉ʔ t͡ʃə͉ʔ].
7. The affricates are not distinguished phonetically from equivalent sequences of plosive and fricative that come together by compounding processes or even across word boundaries. They are ascribed phonemic status due to their phonotactic patterning.
8. The majority of Balog pronounce the fricatives /v/ and /f/ dentolabially: [v͆] and [f͆]. Due to anatomical differences, the majority of non-Balog pronounce these labiodentally as [v] and [f]. Speakers of certain regions, both Balog and non-Balog, may pronounce them bilabially as [β] and [ɸ].
9. The fricatives /ɣ/ and /x/ may be pronounced either at the velum as [ɣ] and [x], or at the uvula as [ʁ] and [χ]. Speakers with uvular pronunciations of /ɣ/ may frequently pronounce it as a trill [ʀ].
10. The consonant /r/ is generally pronounced as a tap or flap [ɾ] with trilled pronunciations generally restricted to emphatic speech. When geminate, the pronunciation is always as a trill.
11. The lateral /l/ may be, as discussed in point 3., either be dental or alveolar, however there is always a strong velar or pharyngeal coarticulation: [ɫ~ɫ̪]
12. The semivowel /w/ is generally pronounced unrounded by Balog speakers due to anatomical differences. It is, however, pronounced with lip compression that results in a similar auditory effect: [w͍]. Non-Balog who speak it as an L2 may pronounce it with rounding: [w].

Vowels

Header text	Front	Back
High	/i/ [ɪ] ‹i›	/u/ [ʊ͍] ‹u›
Mid	/e/ [ɛ] ‹e›	/o/ [ɔ͍] ‹o›
Low	/æ/ [æ] ‹ä›	/a/ [ɐ] ‹a›

Syntax

One of the most unusual features of Balog is its complete lack of grammatical objects. Every verb is monovalent (intransitive), meaning it can refer to only one noun at a time. For this reason, it is essentially impossible to describe the morphosyntactic