Ihlleng: Difference between revisions

Illheng [ˈiɬːeŋ] is another language spoken in my far-future Antarctic conworld. It is spoken on an island in the Ross Sea, and is distantly related to [[Kämpya]] (spoken on the west side of the Trans-Antarctic mountains), and shares a number of similarities. Due to the spread of the Laikyâr religion to the island, the language has been further influenced by Kämpya.

In terms of syntax, both distinguish between alienable and inalienable possession, and both are topic prominent, secundative, and syntactically ergative (though in some aspects Illheng is more like a fluid-S language), with some conflation between the ergative and the genitive case. Both mark restrictiveness on adjectives and relative clauses, but whereas Kämpya uses word order and tone, Illheng uses prefixes. The morphology is considerably more complex than Kämpya, especially on verbs, which mark polypersonal agreement as well as inflecting for tense. In contrast, the phonology is simpler than Kämpya (although quite similar, with aspirated stops and voiceless approximants though no voiceless nasals).

There are 7 phonemic vowel qualities /a/, /e/, /i/, /o/, /u/, /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ (the last two cannot occur word finally). There are 6 diphthongs: /ai/, /au/, /ei/, /ou/, /eu/ and /ou/.

The following sounds are heard in Illheng:

!  !! Labial !! Alveolar !! Lateral !! Palatal !! Velar !! Glottal

| Nasal || m || n || || (ɲ) || ŋ* ||

| Stop || (pʰ) p b || (tʰ) t d || || (c) (ɟ) || (kʰ) k g ||

| Fricative || || s z || (ɬ) || (ç) || x || h

| Approximant || (ʍ) w || || l || j || ||

There are several types of initial clusters permitted:

# Voiceless Stop + Voiceless Stop (rare) e.g. /ktaˈnaːi/ - dirty

# Voiceless Stop + Voiceless Fricative e.g. /ˈtfipːa/ - intestine

# Obstruent + Approximant e.g. /ˈzloːub/ - world

# Nasal + Semivowel (/j/ or /w/) e.g. /ˈmjuːzik/ - music

 

/ŋ/ and /x/ cannot be followed by /j/.

At the end of words, any nasal or obstruent can appear in a coda (other than /h/). However, elsewhere, the only possible coda consonant is a nasal, than must be homorganic with the following consonant e.g. the first person masculine singular present involitional is marked by the circumfix /om/ ... /do/. But when this is added to the verb stem /ˈhleːpjeŋ/ - to sleep, the result is /onˈhleːpjendo/ - I (masculine) sleep (involuntarily), with the /m/ and the /ŋ/ assimilating to /n/.

 

 

 

Only one instance of /h/ is allowed in a word. For example, the 3rd person masculine plural present involitional is marked by the circumfix /hja/ ... /do/. But when this is added to a verb root such as /ˈhleːpjeŋ/ - to sleep, then the initial /h/ is lost, yielding /jaˈhleːpjendo/ - they (masculine) sleep (involuntarily).

One syllable in each word is stressed. Each stressed syllable either has a long vowel (e.g. /ˈhleːpjeŋ/ - to sleep), or geminates the consonant or consonant cluster after it (e.g. /ˈihlːeŋ/ - Illheng).

/ˈpfutːa/ - fruit -> /ˈpfutːapfut/ - fruits

/ˈmadːle/ - mother -> /ˈmadːlemad/ - mothers

/ˈzloːub/ - world -> /ˈzloːubloub/ - worlds (not */ˈzloːubzloub/)

/ˈmɛdːik/ - spell (magic) -> /ˈmɛdːikɛd/ - spells (not */ˈmɛdːikmɛd/)

/aˈlaːm/ - booby trap -> /aˈlaːmam/ - booby traps (not */aˈlaːmlam/)

/ˈzwekːod/ - record -> /ˈzwekːodwek/ - records (not */ˈzwekːodzwek/)

If the reduplication involves duplicating a /h/ phoneme, then the /h/ phoneme in the root is deleted. This is due to the restriction that only one /h/ phoneme is allowed in a word. e.g.

 

 

 

 

 

If the reduplication involves duplicating a /h/ phoneme and placing it at the end of the word, both copies of the /h/ phoneme are lost e.g.

 

 

If a diphthong cannot be formed (i.e. the two vowels combine to give something other than /ai/, /au/, /ei/, /ou/, /eu/ or /ou/), then some kind of contraction occurs. If the two vowels are identical, then they contract to one vowel e.g.

/ˈotːxo/ - other -> /ˈotːxot/ - others

/ˈɔnːa/ - achievement -> /ˈɔxːɔx/ - achievements

If the stressed syllable begins with a single voiceless obstruent (perhaps with a semivowel after it), then this is usually lenited in the reduplication e.g.

 

/x/ and /h/ both lenit to /b/ e.g.

/siŋˈxilːo/ - club (weapon) -> /siŋˈxilːobi/ - clubs (weapon)

/ˈsoudːja/ - soldier -> /ˈsoudːjasoud/ - soldiers (not */ˈsoudːjazoud/)