Dlav

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/	ṅ /ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	/p/	/t/		ṯ /c/	/k/	ꜣ /q/
	voiced	/b/	/d/		ḏ /ɟ/	g /ɡ/	q /ɢ/
	ejective	ṗ /pʼ/	ṭ /tʼ/			ḳ /kʼ/
Fricative	voiceless	/f/	/s/	š /ʃ/	ś /ɕ/		ḫ /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.
• /m n ɲ ŋ w j l ʎ r/ have syllabic allophones: [m̩ n̩ ɲ̍ ŋ̍ u i l̩ ʎ̩ r̩].

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 CCCC.
   • A main onset or a coda are mandatory for a syllable to become a root.
   • The only mandatory element of a root is N or J in its onset or coda.
2. The consonant closer to the main howel always have the higher sonority.
3. Only one member of each sonority group appear in the onset or coda.
   • However, P is allowed to exist together with S or H.

A good example is the name of the language itself, Dlàv, which is organised as CCVC, namely PNVH, spro- ‘to die’ is also a possible root, but **sṗro- is not.

There are two grades for a syllable:

1. The full grade, which has a vowel, such as na- ‘to sleep’.
2. The zero grade, which only has a syllabic sonorant, such as n- [n̩-] ‘to (have a) nap’, the zero grade form of na-.

The declension of the word is highly linked to its grade:

1. The genitive form of a full grade root asks for its zero grade form: Dlàv [dlav] nom.sg. > Dlv [dl̩v] gen.sg.
2. Likewise, the genitive form of a zero grade word asks for a full grade with an -i-: ney [n̩.ej] ‘napper’ nom.sg. > niey [ni.ej] gen.sg.

Word formation

Typically, a root plus an interfix forms a stem, and adding an suffix forms a word. Interfixes are not mandatory.

• Dlàv- ‘Dlav (language)’, nouns like that, lacking an interfix, are often called root nouns.
• Dlàv-ey- ‘a Dlav speaker’, with an interfix, nouns with an interfix are called stem nouns.
• Dlàv-ey-ra ‘a Dlav speaker’, with a suffix.

Grammar

Dlav is a fusional language with high degree of inflection, as such, there can be a large number of words deried from the same root.

Noun inflection

Dlav nouns inflect by case and number:

• Eleven cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, instrumental, abessive, comitative, inessive, adessive, allative, ablative.
  • Of which, five cases are strong, i.e. they need the original grade form of a root, those are: nominative, accusative, dative, inessive and ablative.
• Two numbers: singular and plural.

Number	Case	strong (originally full grade) declension	weak (originally zero grade) declension
Singular	nom.	Dlàv (-∅)	Ney (-∅)
	acc.¹	Dlàv-m	Ney-ñ
	dat.²	Dlàv-e-ski	Ney-ski
	gen.³	Dlv (-∅)	Niey (-∅)
	ins.	Dlv-o	Niey-o

¹ The nasal mora sandhi according to the preceding consonant. If there is no consonant, /n/ is the default.
² An -e- interfix is added if two obstruents collide.
³ The grade is reversed, as explained.