Haeac
The Haeac language (Haeac: Ἅιακα, Ἁιακός, Héaka, Heakós in 2nd-Koine pronunciation) is a Greek (aesthetic) and Germanic (lexicon), amongst other influences, inspired constructed language. Despite originally being Proto-Indo-European etyma of modern Germanic languages having Greek sound changes applied to them, it has been expanded to have more diverse influences, and a less a-posteriori bent. The language is written in the Greek alphabet and marks for breathing. In-universe, the Haeac language is the lingua-franca Dachsprache of the Haeac Federation. As a Dachsprache, it is prone to absorbing the linguistic diversity of its territory into itself; as a result various stages of the Haeac koine have varied in complexity and flexibility, based on the influences of its daughter and sister dialects.
Introduction
Haeac has a principally Hellenic inspiration as far as aesthetics are concerned, written in the Greek alphabet and using a mixture of phonologies from the various stages of the Greek language. However, the wordstock is derived from Germanic and Italic etyma reverted to their Proto-Indo-European forms (amongst other sources). Grammatically, the language resembles a mixture of Germanic, Greek, Italic, and other influences, with a great deal of simplification and flexibility added into the mix. Some of that flexibility is inspired by Proto-Indo-European and is intended to reflect the productiveness of many of its morphemes before rigid paradigms were established in the daughter languages.
Phonology
Haeac is dominated by two Koines from two different eras that are still taught, learnt, and used in the present. The first is, aptly, 1st Koine Haeac, and the second is, logically following that, 2nd Koine Haeac. Naturally, this variability between the two Koines (both having had an impact on the overall present situation for the Dachsprache) has lead to a broad variety of confused pronunciations today, with hypercorrections and misidentification of phonemes being quite common in less educated varieties of the language.
Scholars posit that a third koine, unsystematically by popularly named Neo-Haeac, is being formed due to this confusion, with vast simplifications to the language taking place based on the confused pronunciations of the first two koines. This theoretical 3rd Koine is considered both a frightening and exciting prospect for Haeac linguists.
Orthography
The Haeac orthography is the Greek alphabet, using breathing marks due to the presence of a /h/ phoneme in most varieties of the language. When written in Latin script, it uses old-fashioned English Greco-Latin orthographic conventions. For example, Haeac rather than Heac (cf. encyclopaedia vs encyclopedia).
Consonants
2nd Koine Haeac is characterised by a more solidified consonant inventory, while 1st Koine Haeac is far more variable with regards to pronunciation. For example, ph in 1st Koine is optionally an aspirated plosive and a voiceless fricative, and as an aspirated plosive, it may merge with the normal voiceless plosive into one phoneme.
2nd Koine Haeac
| Manner | Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Laryngeal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p, b* | t, d* | k, g* | |
| Fricative | ph, v | th, s, z | ch^ | h |
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Liquid | l, r |
*Voiced plosives typically lenite between vowels.
^ ch is often pronounced with a [k] or [h] in many ad-hoc varieties and idiolects.
1st Koine Haeac
| Manner | Labial | Coronal | Dorsal | Laryngeal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p, b | t, d* | k, g* | |
| 'Fricative' | p~ph, v | t~th, s, z | k~ch | h |
| Nasal | m | n | ||
| Liquid | l, r |
Vowels
Once again, 2nd Koine Haeac represents a reformation of the vowel system while 1st Koine Haeac is far more variable in pronunciation.
2nd Koine Haeac
| Openness | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | i, y^, (ē) | ou | |
| Mid | e, (ē) | o, ō | |
| Open | a |
1st Koine Haeac
| Openness | Front | Central | Back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Closed | i, (ē) | y | (ou) |
| Mid | e, (ē) | o, ō | |
| Open | (ē) | a |
In addition, ai (ae) and ei are treated as diphthongs, and to a lesser degree ou (u) (often [u]), oi (oe) (often [y ~ ü]), and ui (y) (often [y ~ ü]).
3rd Koine Haeac (Neo-Haeac)
| Traditional Vowel Phonemes | New Phoneme | Pronunciations |
|---|---|---|
| a | a | a |
| ae, e | e, ai | |
| i, y, ui, oi, ē | i | |
| Example | Example | |
| Example | Example | |
| Example | Example | |
| Example | Example |