Literature talk:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/3

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/3 /bələn/ is a "CW-complex" language spoken in eastern Cuadhlabh. It's inspired by Turkish, Vietnamese and an older draft of Ancient Wiebian.

Notes

• A = one of the vowels ȧ/a/ω
• O = one of the vowels ė/e/o
• U = one of the vowels i/ı/u

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Medial	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/			ņ /ɲˁ~ɳ/	ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive	voiceless	p /p/	t /t/			ț /cˤ~ʈ/	k /c~k/
	voiced	b /b/	d /d/			ḑ /ɟˤ~ɖ/	g /ɟ~ɡ/
Fricative		f /f/	t̆ /θ/	s /s/		ș /çˤ~ʂ/	x /ç~x/	h /h/
Approximant	lateral		l /l/			ļ /ʎˁ~ɭ/
	central	w /β̞~w/	d̆ /ð̞/		y /j/	r /jˤ~ɻ/	ğ /ɣ̞~ɰ/

Notes

• Voiceless plosives and affricates are lightly aspirated.
• The medial consonants /ɲˁ, cˤ, ɟˤ, çˤ, ʎˁ, jˤ/ vary by idiolect and may be retroflex or sulcalized retroflex [ɳ, ʈ, ɖ, ʂ, ɭ, ɻ] or pharyngealized pre-velar/"bunched" [ŋ̟ˁ, k̟ˤ, g̟ˤ, x̟ˤ, ʟ̟ˁ, ɹ̈]. The medial consonants are principally characterized by a low third formant (F3).

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/	ı /ɨ~ɯ/	u /u/
Close-mid	ė /e/	e /ə~ɤ/	o /o/
Open-mid/Open	ȧ /æ~ɛ/	a /ä/	ω /ɒ~ɔ/

Belen has vowel harmony with front vowels (i ė ȧ), central vowels (ı e a), and back vowels (u o ω).

Phonotactics

• /l ɭ ɻ/ are not allowed in onset position.

Morphology

Nouns

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland/3 is topic-prominent, like Japanese and Korean.

• Final b, d, ḑ, g are lenited to approximants v, d̆, r, ğ before a suffix beginning with a consonant (unless any assimilation is applied first).
• Suffixes beginning with b, d, ḑ, g are lenited to v, d̆, r, ğ after a final vowel.
• When two vowels come together upon suffixation, the hiatus filler is y.

Here are the major noun clitics:

• -nUm = plural (-ņ, -ț, ḑ + -nUm > -ņņUm, -țņUm, -rņum)
  • nȧx /nɛx/ = person, nȧxnim /nɛxnim/ = people
  • med /məd/ = house, med̆nım /məð̞nɨm/ = houses
  • suḑ /suɖ/ = woman, surnum /suɹɳum/ = women
  • ŋω /ŋɔ/ = head > ŋωnum /ŋɔnum/ = heads
• -dO/-d̆O = topic marker (-t, -ņ, -ḑ, -ț, -ļ + -dO > -ttO, -ņḑO, -ḑḑO, -ţţO, -ļḑO)
  • nȧxdė /nɛxde/ = as for the person
  • medde /məddə/ = as for the house
  • suḑḑo /suɖɖo/ = as for the woman
  • ŋωd̆o /ŋɔð̞o/ = as for the head
• -Uļ = accusative
  • nȧxiļ /nɛxiɭ/ = person (accusative)
  • medıļ /mədɨɭ/ = house (accusative)
  • suḑuļ /suɖuɭ/ = woman (accusative)
  • ŋωyuļ /ŋɔjuɭ/ = head (accusative)
• -mAy = locative
  • virė /wiɹe/ = sea; virėmȧy /wiɹemɛj/ = at sea
  • med̆may /məð̞maj/ = in/at the house
  • xωtmωy /xɔtmɔj/ = in the room
• -vOn = dative
  • nȧxvėn /nɛxwen/ = for the person
  • eşven /əʂwən/ = for the daughter
  • suḑvon /suɖwon/ = for the woman

Pronouns

aŋ, gıs, mi, aŋnım, gısnım, minim

Numerals

• 1: kı /kɨ/
• 2: goș /goʂ/
• 3: wildė /wilde/
• 4: alm /alm/
• 5: ḑerg /ɖəɻg/
• 6: nȧy /nɛj/
• 7: ark /aɻk/
• 8: t̆ıņț /θɨɳʈ/
• 9: hωm /hɔm/
• 10: bıņ /bɨɳ/
• 11: șur /ʂuɻ/
• 12: fert /fəɻt/
• 13: fert kı /fəɻt kɨ/
• 14: fert goș /fəɻt goʂ/

...

• 24: ņωx /ɳɔx/
• 36: tifėn /tifen/
• 48: xef /xəf/
• 60: nisėb /niseb/
• 72: jȧm /jɛm/
• 84: arked /aɻkəd/
• 96: t̆ıņțed /θɨɳʈəd/
• 108: hωmod /hɔmod/
• 120: bıņed /bɨɳəd/
• 132: șurod /ʂuɻod/
• 144: kulb /kulb/

Syntax

Belen syntax is mostly shared with the larger CW-complex sprachbund. Unusually for a CW-complex language, it is topic-prominent.