Hadda

Hadda (Native: ħaɗɗa) is an a priori language inspired by various African languages.

Phonology

Orthography

Hadda orthography

IPA	Latin	Simplified Latin	Maraasa	Arabic	Ge'ez	Hebrew	Notes
a	A a	A a		ـَ	አ	סַ
aː	Aa aa	Aa aa		ـَا	ኣ	סַא
b	B b	B b		ب	በ	ּב
β̞	Ƀ ƀ	B b		ب	ቨ	ב	allophone of /b/ between vowels
ɓ	Ɓ ɓ	B' b'		ڀ	ጰ	קּו
c	C c	Ch ch		چ	ቸ	כ׳
d	D d	D d		د	ደ	ּד
ð̞	Đ đ	D d		ذ	ደ	ך	allophone of /d/ between vowels
ð		Dh dh			ዘ, ደ	ךֿ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /d ~ ð̞/
ɗ	Ɗ ɗ	D' d'		ڟ	ጠ	טּ
ɛ	E e	E e		ـٖ	ኤ	סֵ
ɛː	Ee ee	Ee ee		ـٖي		סֵי
f	F f	F f		ف	ፈ	פ
g	G g	G g		ݣ	ገ	גּ
ɣ̞	Ǥ ǥ	G g		ڠ	ገ	ג	allophone of /g/ between vowels
ʁ	Ɣ ɣ	Gh gh		غ	ገ	גֿ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /g ~ ɣ̞/
ɠ	Ɠ ɠ	G' g'		ڨ	ቀ	קּ
gʷ	Gw gw	Gw gw		ڭو	ጐ	גּו
h	H h	H h		ھ	ኸ, ሀ	ה	allophone of /k/ between vowels in non-guttural environment; phonemic in loanwords (nativized as /ħ/ or /k ~ h/)
hʷ	Hw hw	Hw hw		هو	ዀ	הו	allophone of /kʷ/ between vowels in non-guttural environment
ħ	Ħ ħ	X x		ح	ሐ	ח
χ	X x	Kh kh		خ	ኀ	כֿ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /k ~ h/ or /ħ/
i	I i	I i		ـِ	ኢ	סִ
iː	Ii ii	Ii ii		ـِي		סִי
ɟ	J j	J j		ج	ጀ	גּ׳
ʄ	Ɉ ɉ	J' j'		ݘ	ጨ	קּ׳
k	K k	K k		ک	ከ	כ
kʷ	Kw kw	Kw kw		کو	ኰ	כו
l	L l	L l		ل	ለ	ל
m	M m	M m		م	መ	מ
n	N n	N n		ن	ነ	נ	ֹ
ɲ	Ɲ ɲ	Ny ny		ݧ	ኘ	נ׳
ŋ	Ŋ ŋ	Ng ng		ݢ	ጘ	נ״
ŋʷ	Ŋw ŋw	Ngw ngw		ڬو	ⶓ	נ״ו
ɔ	O o	O o		ـٗ	ኦ	סֹ
ɔː	O o	O o		ـٗو		סוֹ
p	P p	P p		پ	ፐ	פּ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /f/ or /b/
q	Q q	Q q		ق	ቀ	קּ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /ɠ ~ ʔ/ or /k/
ʔ	Ɂ ɂ	'		ٯٔ ، ء	ቐ	ק	allophone of /ɠ/ between vowels
ʕ	Ҁ ҁ	C c		ع	ዐ	ע
ɾ	R r	R r		ر	ረ	ר	allophone of /l/ between vowels; occurs phonemically in loanwords (nativized as /l ~ ɾ/)
rˀ	Ɍ ɍ	R' r'		ݬ	[ጠ]	ט	allophone of /ɗ/ between vowels
s	S s	S s		س	ሰ	ס
ʃ	Σ ʃ	Sh sh		ش	ሸ	ש	allophone of /c/ between vowels; phonemic in loanwords (nativized as /c ~ ʃ/ or /s/)
t	T t	T t		ت	ተ	ת
θ	Ŧ ŧ	Th th		ث	ሠ	תֿ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /t/ or /s/
u	U u	U u		ـُ	ኡ	סֻ
uː	Uu uu	Uu uu		ـُو		סוּ
v	V v	V v		ۋ	ቨ	בֿ	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /b ~ β̞ /, /f/, or /w/
w	W w	W w		و	ወ	ו	allophone of /gʷ/ between vowels; phonemic word-initially
ʔʷ	Ⱳ ⱳ	'W 'w		ؤ	ቘ	קו	allophone of /ɓ/ between vowels
j	Y y	Y y		ي	የ	י	allophone of /ɟ/ between vowels; phonemic word-initially
ʔʲ	Ƴ ƴ	'Y 'y		ئ	[ጨ]	ק׳	allophone of /ʄ/ between vowels
z	Z z	Z z		ز	ዘ	ז	occurs in loanwords; nativized as /s/ or /d ~ ð̞/
ʒ	Ʒ ʒ	Zh zh		ژ	ዠ	ז׳	occurs rarely in loanwords; nativized as /ɟ ~ j/ (initially) or /c ~ ʃ/ (between vowels)

Consonants

Allophones and loanword-exclusive phonemes are enclosed in brackets.

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Labiovelar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ	ŋʷ
Plosive	voiceless	(p)	t		c	k	kʷ	(q)		(ʔ)
	voiced	b	d		ɟ	g	gʷ
	glottalized	ɓ	ɗ		ʄ	ɠ
Fricative	voiceless	f	(θ)	s	(ʃ)		(hʷ)	(χ)	ħ	(h)
	voiced	(v)	(ð)	(z)				(ʁ)	ʕ
Approximant	plain	(β̞)	(ð̞)	(ɾ) l	j	(ɣ̞)	w
	glottalized			(rˀ)	(ʔʲ)		(ʔʷ)

Morphophonology

• Velar consonants and their allophones can be modified by labialization and palatalization.
  • Labialization: k, h, g, ǥ, ɠ, ʔ, ŋ → kw, hw, gw, w, ɓ, ⱳ, ŋw
  • Palatalization: k, h, g, ǥ, ɠ, ʔ, ŋ → c/ʃ, ʃ, j, y, ƴ, ɲ
• A lot of consonants are lenited between vowels. This lenition is indicated in the orthography.
  • b, d, j, g, gw, c, l → ƀ, đ, y, ǥ, w, ʃ, r
  • ɓ, ɗ, ɉ, ɠ → ⱳ, ɍ, ƴ, ʔ
  • k, kw → h, hw (unless preceded or followed by /ħ/, /ʕ/, or a glottalized consonant)

Morphology

Verbs

All of this is subject to change

(Example verbs are gaa'wa "to throw", maara 'to lead", and ħaɗɗa "to be ħaɗɗa")

The infinitive of native verbs is of the form XCaaCa or XCaCCa, where X can be anything. Only the final portion (after X) changes. Therefore, "initial" consonant below refers to the initial consonant in the penultimate syllable.

Mood: affects final vowel.

• Indicative: -a
• Other moods: TBD

Tense + aspect: affects stem

• Future:
  • Initial velar: labialized - e.g. gwaa'wa "will throw"
  • Other: stem vowel becomes o - e.g. moora "will lead", ħoɗɗa "will be/become hadda"
• Present progressive: Identical to infinitive - e.g. gaa'wa "is throwing", maara "is leading", ħaɗɗa "is hadda"
• Present habitual:
  • CaaCa verbs become CaCCa - e.g. gaɓɓa "throws", malla "leads"
  • CaCCa verbs become CaCaCCa - e.g. ħaɍaɗɗa "regularly becomes hadda"
• Simple past:
  • Initial velar: labialized + stem vowel becomes i - e.g. gwii'wa "threw"
  • Other: stem vowel becomes u - e.g. muura "lead (past)", ħuɗɗa "became hadda"
• Past progressive: stem vowel becomes i (palatalizing initial velars) - e.g. jii'wa "was throwing", miira "was leading", ħiɗɗa "was hadda"
• Past habitual: like present habitual, but with stem vowel changing to i - e.g. giɓɓa "used to throw", ħiɍiɗɗa "used to regularly become hadda"
• Theoretically, a future habitual could be formed by combining the future with the present habitual - e.g. gwaɓɓa "will throw regularly", molla "will lead regularly", ħoɍoɗɗa "will regularly become hadda". Normally, this would be formed with a gaara construction - e.g. gaɓɓa gwaara "will throw regularly" (literally: will say throwing regularly)
• The auxiliary verb gaara "to say" is ubiquitous in Hadda verbal morphology. Its functions include:
  • Forming compound tenses, which can either form new tenses or disambiguate existing forms - e.g. gaa'wa gwaara "will be throwing", gaa'wa jiira "was throwing" (equivalent to jii'wa; might be used if another verb has the same past form), gwaa'wa jiira "was going to throw"
  • Deriving verbs from nouns, interjections, loanwords, etc - e.g. ħiʔ gaara "to hiccup" (literally: to say ħiʔ), telefoona gaara "to telephone" (literally: to say telephone).

Secondary verbs can be derived from primary or other secondary verbs. For example:

• Intensive: Formed by reduplicating Ca- or CaCa- - e.g. gaǥaa'wa, ga'waǥaa'wa "is throwing repeatedly/intensely"