Lällshag
| Lällshag | |
|---|---|
| lällshagune hałyjeg | |
| Pronunciation | [lɛʎˈɕaŋ] [lɛʎˈɕaŋyne gaˈwiːjeŋ] |
| Created by | Lili21 |
| Date | Nov 2017 |
| Setting | Calémere |
| Ethnicity | Lällshag people |
| Extinct | ca. 4300 |
language isolate
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Lällshag, or the Lällshag language (lällshagune hałyjeg [lɛʎˈɕaŋ], [lɛʎˈɕaŋyne gaˈwiːjeŋ], also known by its Chlouvānem name lælšaṃrān dhāḍa) was a Calemerian language spoken in the late 4th-early 5th millennium of the Lällshag (later known as Chlouvānem) calendar by the middle and lower course of the Nīmbaṇḍhāra river (Läll.: käyna Watsunogy), a territory centered on one of the earliest cities of any Calemerian civilization, Łahikunanäé (today known as Laikunanǣh). Lällshag is considered to be a language isolate, as no other related language has ever been documented or survived to the present day.
The Lällshag people were among the first major Calemerian civilizations and the first one in the eastern part of Márusúturon; their dominance, lasting a few centuries, influenced many other neighboring civilizations, marking the beginning of urban development in the continent.
One of the Lällshag's neighbours, the Chlouvānem people, later came to develop a far more prosperous civilization which ultimately absorbed the Lällshag one. Their language, however, has had a huge influence on Classical (and, therefore, modern-day) Chlouvānem, which is full of Lällshag roots, starting from basic vocabulary (cf. marta "city" ← m-arota "walls", dænišah "dolphin" ← dänishar, naviṣya "book" ← na-wici-ja "it has knowledge inside") but especially in the technical one, even related to modern societies, as Lällshag roots have been extensively used in the Chlouvānem world in the last few centuries to create words for new concepts (cf. jålihūrṣa "industry" ← chåll-forca "large task"; šupairyuka "antibody" ← shopa i-ro-fuka "it attacks for good"; nyurukæsa "vaccine" ← nu-ro-käs-a "one protects oneself with this"; lagukītsun "paralysis" ← gahoki-ytsun "still-condition"). The Chlouvānem script is also ultimately derived from the Lällshag one.
Phonology
Having been extinct for almost 2000 years, we know little about the finer details of Lällshag phonology: all info we have has been reconstructed from Lällshag borrowings into Chlouvānem. The following tables use the values commonly given to Lällshag script letters by Chlouvānem linguists and historians.
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Note that ł merged with /w/ early in the history of Lällshag-Chlouvānem contact, at least in some dialects. Its rendering in Chlouvānem varies between l /ɴ̆/ and v /ʋ/, also influenced by neighboring consonants. In modern-day coinings, l is used.
ch sh ts are phonetical transcriptions used in Chlouvānem publications (as c š ts) for allophones of /t s t/ respectively before /i/ or /j/ (for ch and sh) and /y/ (for ts), where they were likely pronounced as [tɕ ɕ ts].
Morphology
Nouns
(TBA)
Plural forms were in many cases formed by prefixation of mV-, where V was the echo vowel of the first syllable, or absent for vowel-initial words:
- dänishar "dolphin" → mädänishar "dolphins"
- rashinå "star" → marashinå "stars"
- tsujä "rock" → mutsujä "rocks"
- arota "wall" → marota "walls"
- hadar "saying" → mahadar "sayings"
There is, however, a substantial number of suppletive forms:
- łahän "person" → nyse "people"
- gåsha "son" → mjäg "sons"
- douki "tree" → llägcele "trees"
Verbs
Numerals
Lällshag had a decimal numeral system:
- mån
- joune
- llashi
- ałane
- tambu
- chirona
- tolläg
- näywin
- shide
- abare
Units inside tens were made with the formula [unit]se [ten], e.g. månse abare 11, jounese abare 12, and so on. 20 was joupa, 30 llaseba, and the other tens were regularly formed by juxtaposition, e.g. ałanabare 40, månse ałanabare 41, tambabare 50, chironabare 60, tollägabare 70, näywinabare 80, shidabare 90. The probable word for "hundred" was solita, but it was also used to specify rough but large quantities.