Flei/Old draft
Ciêng (nhă rhòb Chiểng from *nàs ròpàs cècéŋàs) is a classical language of Verse:Méich Bhaonnáiqh.
Inspirations: Vietnamese, Old Irish, Tiberian Hebrew, Maltese (and Hmong?)
Phonology
p t c k kħ q = /p t k q ʡ ʔ/; ph th ch kh ħ = /f θ x χ ħ/
m n ng; mh nh ngh = /m n ŋ; ṽ (lenis n) (lenis ŋ)/
x s h = /ɬ ʃ h/
b ƀ đ d y g ǥ għ = /v pˁ tˁ ð y ɣ (Eevo L) ayin/
r l /r l/
i ê e a o ô u = /i e ɛ a ɔ o u/; ă = shva na; ĕ = ultrashort e; ie uo
Ultrashort vowels cannot carry independent tones
tones: mid high low rising nga nang
Mutations
- Lenition: m n ng p t c k kħ s v l r -> mh ng ngh b d y g għ h 0 l r
- L-coloring: m n ng p t c k kħ s v l r -> ƀ l ng ƀ đ ǥ ǥ għ x l l r
- Aspiration: m n ng p t c k kħ s v l r -> m n ng ph th ch kh ħ s ph x rh
Proto-language
5 vowels: i e a o u, each syllable had high and low tones
allowed syllables: CV, CVn, CVs, CVl (CVnC becomes CV(sokuon)C as in Hebrew)
Todo: Stress patterns for construct nouns and dependent verbs
Consonants: m n ŋ p t c k q 2 s w l r y /m n ŋ p t k q̟ q̠ ʔ ʃ w l r j/
Morphology
Nouns
Nouns fall into 3 genders (not m/f/n) and have number (sg, du, pl), case (abs erg gen lat loc voc) and construct state independently. The locative is used with prepositions to indicate location and is the default prepositional case; when the lative is used the same prepositions indicate destination, and when the ergative is used they indicate "motion from".
the cst state unpredictable allomorph worse than TibH construct state
article nă + various mutations (also relativizer)
Adjectives
Def adjectives take the def article (bc Hebrew)
Verbs
Old Irish-style independent-dependent verbal allomorphy, which includes tone changes (the proto-stage had level tones and was predominantly CV, with geminates, nC and sC clusters. tones in reduced syllables leave a mark on the stressed syllable, making tones more complex)