Hlou-Shum languages

Xaetjeon/Lexicon

Hlou-Shum languages /ˈɮɛtʃən/ (Hlou-Shum languages: baeyghnae Aetjeon /ˈpejɣne ˈetʃʰɑn/) is a minority language of Talma, spoken by the Xaetjva people. It is a Naquic language (descendant of Naquian) inspired by Praimhín's Gussnish.

Main sources of loanwords:

• Tíogall
• Nurian
• Netagin
• Some from Naquian

Numbers 1-12: baev, diho, natj-L, tqov, dzaweo, bael-L, oth, loseoth, bas-L, gaeyo, dav, dadheo-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/	dx /tɬ/	dj /tʃ/	g /k/
	aspirated	p /pʰ/	t /tʰ/	ts /tsʰ/	tq /tɬʰ/	tj /tʃʰ/	c /kʰ/
Fricative	voiceless	f /f/	th /θ/	s /s/	q /ɬ/	sj /ʃ/	ch /x/	h /h/
	voiced	v /v/	dh /ð/	z /z/	x /ɮ/	zj /ʒ/	gh /ɣ/
Approximant					l /l/	y /j/	w /w/

In addition, r /ɾ/ is used in loanwords.

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].

Vowels

Hlou-Shum languages vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i /i/		u /u/
Mid	ae /e/	eu /ə/	o /o/
Open	a /æ/		eo /ɑ/

Notes

• /ɨ/ is near-close central [ɨ̞].
• /ə/ may be pronounced [ɤ] by some speakers.

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. In loans, stress falls on the same syllable as in the source language.

Morphology

Nouns

-meo/-eom, -nae, -neu < ixmi, hinē, hinuoz

ba - person
	Indefinite		Definite
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ba	bameo	banae	baneu
Vocative	va	-	-	vaneu

Adjectives

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

ba seowan

a small person

miv heowan

a small house

However, the suffixes -nae and -meo/-eom always lenite the following noun:

banae heowan

the small person

miveom heowan

the small houses

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

Prepositions and conjunctions

• tjeo-L = and
• meo-L = of
• deo-L = at
• yae-L = to

Verbs

Object markers

Object affixes
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	neo-L, ni-L	aw-L, mi-L
1.in	-	veo-L, bi-L
2	theo-L, ti-L	zeo-L, dzi-L
3	weo-L, wi-L

Tense and subject markers

Present tense subject affixes
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	-(eo)n	-waegh
1.in	-	-(eo)d
2	-0, -a, -ae, -o	-(eo)b
3	-(eo)z	-(eo)x

Past tense subject affixes
	Singular	Plural
1.ex	-nae	-wae
1.in	-	-do
2	-ae	-zo
3	-zae	-xae

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

Derivational morphology

• -azj (f): nominalizer

Phrasebook

• Lon Xaetjva. = I am a Xaetjeon person.