User:Pole, the/Lent

the Devilcat's Lentlang is another language derived from the Proto-Team 1, created in the early spring of 2014 (thus name).

Its presumable final name (not the codename) is Isalirie.

Background

It is spoken somewhere in the spot between Cednìtıt and Yalan. And the speakers are H. sapiens sapiens. Dunno what else.

Phonology

Consonants

	labial	coronal		dorsal
nasal	[m] ‹m›	[n] ‹n›		[ŋ] ‹ñ›
stop	[p] ‹p›	[t] ‹t›		[k] ‹k›
fricative	[f] ‹f›	[s] ‹s›		[x] ‹h›
liquid		[l] ‹l›	[r] ‹r›
glide	[ʋ] ‹v›			[ʝ] ‹y›

In the morphology section glides are treated as vowels unless stated otherwise. v y are changed to u i before /ɪ ʊ ɛ ɐ/ or elided before /iə uə ə/ in order to conform the phonotactics.

Vowels

	front	back
close	[iə̯] ‹iə›	[uə̯] ‹uə›
near-close	[ɪ] ‹i›	[ʊ] ‹u›
mid	[ə] ‹ə›
open	[ɛ] ‹e›	[ɐ] ‹a›

Notes:

• /iə̯ uə̯ ə/ are pronounced with advanced tongue root; /ɪ ʊ ɛ ɐ/ are pronounced with retracted tongue root.
• /iə̯ uə̯/ are considered simple sounds due to their abundance in the language. They are also often pronounced as just [iɨ̯ uʉ̯].
• Vowels can exhibit a low tone as well. It is transcribed using a grave accent mark ‹`›.

Diphthongs

Any consonant except glides can be followed by a diphthong starting with /i̯/ or /u̯/. There are eight such diphthongs:

	i-	u-
-i	[i̯ɪ] ‹ii›	[u̯ɪ] ‹ui›
-u	[i̯ʊ] ‹iu›	[u̯ʊ] ‹uu›
-e	[i̯ɛ] ‹ie›	[u̯ɛ] ‹ue›
-a	[i̯ɐ] ‹ia›	[u̯ɐ] ‹ua›

Phonotactics

The syllables are basically (C)V(C). Intervocal clusters of any two consonants are permitted except the first consonant cannot be a nasal and the second consonant cannot be a glide.

Stress

The stressed syllable can bear either a high pitch or a low pitch.

• Low pitched syllables are explicitly marked — the last one is the syllable of the primary word stress.
• If there is no low tone in a word, the stressed syllable has a high pitch — it is either:
  • the ultimate syllable if it is closed,
  • the penultimate syllable otherwise.

Morphology

Nouns

Possession

Nouns can be marked for possession by a prefix:

• 1st person singular
  • ñ- before a vowel; initial a e are changed to i unless followed by a velar
  • niə- before a consonant; additionally before a + a consonant cluster or a low-pitch syllable
  • some nouns (A) change it to ni-

• 2nd person singular
  • s- before a vowel
  • sə- before a consonant

• 3rd person singular
  • amuə̀- in general
  • amù- for some nouns (A)

• 1st person plural
  • t- before a vowel
  • ti- before a consonant

• 2nd person plural
  • k- before a vowel; initial a e are changed to i unless followed by a velar
  • kiə- before a consonant; additionally before a + a consonant cluster or a low-pitch syllable
  • some nouns (A) change it to ki-

• 3rd person plural
  • nuə- in general
  • nu- for some nouns (A)

Cases

There are four cases:

• Nominative (no ending)

• Genitive -h ~ -eh
  • iə uə ə are retracted to i u a
  • some nouns have final p t k changed to f s h before the suffix (1)
  • some vowel-stem nouns create hiatus (2)

• Accusative -ñ ~ -eñ
  • iə uə ə are retracted to i u a
  • some nouns have final p t k changed to f s h before the suffix (1)
  • some vowel-stem nouns create hiatus (2)

• Instrumental -uə
  • final p k f s h mutate to f h v r y
  • final t disappear, creating a hiatus
  • most nouns ending with a vowel have it deleted; some use -ruə as the suffix (2)

Examples

• regular consonant-stem noun: nəl "world"
  • N. nəl
  • G. nəleh
  • A. nəleñ
  • In. nəluə

• regular consonant-stem noun with mutation in In.: añìs "pond"
  • N. añìs
  • G. añìseh
  • A. añìseñ
  • In. añìluə

• regular consonant-stem noun with elision in In.: inat "bone"
  • N. inat
  • G. inateh
  • A. inateñ
  • In. inauə

• regular vowel-stem noun: apsui "foam"
  • N. apsui
  • G. apsuih
  • A. apsuiñ
  • In. apsuə

• regular vowel-stem noun with retraction: yanə̀ "snow"
  • N. yanə̀
  • G. yanàh
  • A. yanàñ
  • In. yanuə

• group 1 stem with irregular G. and A.: fuitñiət "dust"
  • N. fuitñiət
  • G. fuitñiəseh
  • A. fuitñiəseñ
  • In. fuitñiəuə

• group 2 stem with irregular G., A. and In.: apse "hand"
  • N. apse
  • G. apseeh
  • A. apseeñ
  • In. apseruə