Hlou-Shum languages

Xaetjeon/Lexicon

Hlou-Shum languages /ˈɮɛtʃɑn/ (Hlou-Shum languages: Λetjan /ɮɛtʃʰɑn/; beyghne Etjan /pɛjɣnɛ ɛtʃʰɑn/) is a Naquic language inspired by Praimhín's Rencadian. It is a modern descendant of Naquian.

Main sources of loanwords:

• Thensarian
• Tíogall
• Nurian
• Some from Naquian

Numbers 1-12: bev, diho, nätj-L, tσov, dzäwa, bel-L, oth, losath, bäs-L, geyo, däv, dädha-L (multiples of 3 lenite the following noun!)

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Lateral	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m /m/	n /n/				ng /ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	b /p/	d /t/	dz /ts/	dλ /tɬ/	dj /tʃ/	g /k/
	aspirated	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	ts /tsʰ/	tσ /tɬʰ/	tj /tʃʰ/	c /kʰ/
Fricative	voiceless	f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	σ /ɬ/	sj /ʃ/	ch /x/	h /h/
	voiced	v /v/	dh /ð/	z /z/	λ /ɮ/	zj /ʒ/	gh /ɣ/
Approximant					l /l/	y /j/	w /w/

Notes

• In casual speech, the unaspirated stops and affricates /p t ts tɬ tʃ k/ are voiced intervocalically to [b d dz dɮ dʒ ɡ].
• Depending on speaker, /l/ may be slightly retracted [l̠] or slightly velarized [lˠ]. Since Hlou-Shum languages has no rhotic consonant, foreign /r/ or /ɺ˞/ is borrowed as /l/.

Vowels

Hlou-Shum languages vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /ɪ/	ũ /ɨ/	u /ʊ/
Mid	e /ɛ/		o /ɔ/
Open	ä /æ/		a /ɑ/

Notes

• /ɨ/ is near-close central [ɨ̞].

Mutations

Normal	p	t	ts	s	tq	q	tj	sj	c	b	d	dz	z	dx	x	dj	zj	g
Lenited	f	th	s	h	q	h	sj	h	ch	v	dh	z	0	x	0	zj	0	gh

Normal	m	n	ng	w	l	y
Lenited	w	n	ng	w	w	y

Prosody

Stress

In native words stress is on the first syllable, not counting prefixes. However, the stress is quite weak.

Morphology

Nouns

Xaetjeon nouns could be said to have two cases, nominative and vocative. The vocative is formed by leniting the definite form of the noun.

-ma, -ne, -nũ < ixmi, hinē, hinuoz

bä - person
	Indefinite		Definite
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	bä	bäma	bäne	bänũ
Vocative	-	-	väne	vänũ

Adjectives

Adjectives do not take affixes. However, adjectives modifying indefinite feminine nouns (i.e. nouns that ended in a vowel in Naquian) undergo lenition.

bä sawän

a short person

miv hawän

a small house

However, the suffixes -ne and -ma always lenite the following noun:

bäne hawän

the short person

Predicative adjectives precede the subject, while attributive adjectives follow it.

Prepositions and conjunctions

• tja-L = and
• ma-L = of
• da-L = at
• ye-L = to

Verbs

Object markers

Object affixes
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	na-L, ni-L	äw-L, mi-L
1.in	-	va-L, bi-L
2	tha-L, ti-L	za-L, dzi-L
3	wa-L, wi-L

Tense and subject markers

Present tense subject affixes
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	-(a)n	-we
1.in	-	-(a)d
2	-0, -ä, -e, -o	-(a)b
3	-(a)z	-(a)σ

Past tense subject affixes
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	-ne	-we
1.in	-	-do
2	-e	-zo
3	-ze	-λe

Future tense auxiliary
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	cin	ciwe
1.in	-	cid
2	ci	cib
3	ciz	ciσ

Derivational morphology

• -äsj (f): nominalizer

Phrasebook

• Lon Λetjvä. = I am a Xaetjeon person.