Verse:Hmøøh/Society and politics
Phonology
The phonology was inspired by Southeast Asian languages, and the orthography incorporates my desire to use ß for /s/ and s for something else
Consonants
ẞ
| Bơlơn consonants (Aesthetic Romanization) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | nh /ɳ/ | ng /ŋ/ | ||||
| Plosive | tenuis | p /p/ | t /t/ | z /c/ | k /k/ | ʼ /ʔ/ | ||
| aspirated | ph /pʰ/ | th /tʰ/ | zh /cʰ/ | kh /kʰ/ | ||||
| breathy-voiced | b /bʱ/ | d /ɗʱ/ | ɟ /ɟʱ/ | g /gʱ/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | v /f/ | ß /s/ | s /ç/ | ch /x/ | h /h/ | ||
| voiced | y /ð/ | |||||||
| Approximant | w /β̞/ | j /j~ʝ/ | ||||||
| Liquid | l /l/ | r /ʀ/ | ||||||
Geminate /cc(ʰ)/ and /kk(ʰ)/ are written tz(h) and ck(h), and /kβ/ is written qu.
| (Represents the way Talsmic-speaking scholars were likely to transliterate it) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |||
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | ñ /ɳ/ | ng /ŋ/ | ||||
| Plosive | tenuis | p /p/ | t /t/ | ŧ /c/ | c /k/ | ʼ /ʔ/ | ||
| aspirated | pʰ /pʰ/ | tʰ /tʰ/ | ŧʰ /cʰ/ | cʰ /kʰ/ | ||||
| breathy-voiced | b /bʱ/ | d /ɗʱ/ | dŧ /ɟʱ/ | g /gʱ/ | ||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f /f/ | th /s/ | s /ç/ | ch /x/ | h /h/ | ||
| voiced | ð /ð/ | |||||||
| Approximant | v /β̞/ | ı /j~ʝ/ | ||||||
| Liquid | l /l/ | ŗ /ʀ/ | ||||||
Allophony
All plosives are pronounced unreleased / V_C, V_#.
Aspirated and breathy-voiced plosives may be affricated.
Vowels
| Vowels (Aesthetic Romanization) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | |||||
| unrounded | rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i /i/ | í /iː/ | ư /ɯ/ | ứ /ɯː/ | u /u/ | ú /uː/ |
| Close-mid | e /e/ | é /eː/ | ơ /ɤ/ | ớ /ɤː/ | o /o/ | ó /oː/ |
| Open-mid | ê /ɛ/ | ế /ɛː/ | ô /ɔ/ | ố /ɔː/ | ||
| Open | a /a/ | á /aː/ | ||||
| Vowels (Talsmic-eye(or is it ear?)-view transliteration) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Front | Back | |||||
| unrounded | rounded | |||||
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | i /i/ | í /iː/ | y /ɯ/ | ý /ɯː/ | u /u/ | ú /uː/ |
| Close-mid | e /e/ | é /eː/ | ơ /ɤ/ | ớ /ɤː/ | o /o/ | ó /oː/ |
| Open-mid | ê /ɛ/ | ế /ɛː/ | ô /ɔ/ | ố /ɔː/ | ||
| Open | a /a/ | á /aː/ | ||||
Diphthongs
Diphthongs often distinguish length.
ai, ei / ái, ếi /aːɪ̯/
ay, ey / ai, êi /aɪ̯/
ao / áu /aːʊ̯/
au / au /aʊ/
aa / áơ /aːɜ̯/
aư / ay /aɯ̯/
eư, êư / ớy /ɤːɯ̯/
ơư / ơy /ɤɯ̯/
ee / éi /eːɪ̯/
ia / ie /iɜ̯/
ie / íe /iːɜ̯/
oo / óu /oːʊ̯/
ua / ua /uɜ̯/
uo / úa /uːɜ̯/
ưa / ya /ɯɜ̯/
ươ / ýa /ɯːɜ̯/
Phonotactics
C[r/l/j/β]VC is the max. syllable structure.
Features
- Marked absolutive
- Possessum and possessor are both marked
- Absolutive, ergative, etc.
- Spatial tenses/directionality
- Pluractionality requires the antipassive
- More prefixing than suffixing
- Non-reduced relative clauses
??? Polysynthesis ???- Suffixaufnahme? Präfixaufnahme?
Grammar
Nouns
All nouns are capitalized in the native orthography and in transliteration.
Verbs
Bơlơn distinguishes declarative, subjunctive, imperative and interrogative verbs. Interrogative verbs are also used to build conditional clauses.