Dlav (/dlʌv/, also Dilav /dɪlʌv/; endonym: Dlàv [dlav]) is an a priori language created by Lëtzelúcia.

Phonology

Consonant phonemes of Dlav
Labial Dental/
Alveolar
Postalveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal
Nasal /m/ /n/ ñ /ɲ/ /ŋ/
Plosive voiceless /p/ /t/ /c/ /k/ /q/
voiced /b/ /d/ /ɟ/ g /ɡ/ q /ɢ/
ejective /pʼ/ /tʼ/ /kʼ/
Fricative voiceless /f/ /s/ š /ʃ/ ś /ɕ/ /χ/ h /h/
voiced /v/ /z/ ž /ʒ/ ź /ʑ/
Affricate voiceless c /t͡ʃ/
voiceless j /d͡ʒ/
Approximant semivowel y /j/ [j̃] /w/ [w̃]
lateral /l/ ĺ /ʎ/
Trill /r/
  • Nasalised approximants only happen before a nasal consonant.
Vowel phonemes of Dlav
Front Central Back
oral nasal oral nasal oral nasal
Close /i/ [ĩ] /u/ [ũ]
Close-mid /e/ [ẽ] /o/ [õ]
Open-mid è /ɛ/ è [ɛ̃] a /ɐ/ a [ɐ̃] ò /ɔ/ ò [ɔ̃]
Open à /a/ à [ã]
  • Nasalised vowels only happen before a nasal consonant.

Phonotactics

Dlav roots distinguish three main classes of consonants, arranged from high to low sonority:

  1. Non-palatal sonorants: /m n ŋ w l r/, denoted as N
  2. Palatal sonorants: /ɲ j ʎ/, denoted as J
  3. Obstruents, denoted as C. These include five subgroups:
    • Plosives, except ejectives, denoted as P.
    • Ejectives, denoted as E.
    • The affricates /t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/, denoted as Z.
    • The sibilants /s z ʃ ʒ ɕ ʑ/, denoted as S.
    • The non-sibilants /f v χ h/, denoted as H.

The follow rules are applied:

  1. Onset and coda always have a consonant, ranging from C to CCC.
  2. The consonant closer to the main howel always have the higher sonority.
  3. Only one member of each sonority group (and its subgroups, if C) appear in the onset or coda.

A good example is the name of the language itself, Dlàv, which is organised as CCVC, namely PNVH (analysed as PNV-H)