Revision as of 18:25, 21 August 2016

Sehali (Sehali: Séẖäli) /s^jeħaɫi/ is a language spoken by reptilian people of the same name. Nomadic, the Sehali are known variously as raiders, traders, and slavers, although make their home mostly in the Niuxleb Plains, controlling major tradeways between the Copper Mountains and the Great East Plateau. Their articulators differ to some extent from humans, but not so greatly that their languages are unintelligible or unlearnable to one another.

Alphabet

Sehali uses a cursive abjad, written from top to bottom, right to left. Vowel diacritics are optional, while secondary articulation diacritics (to the left of the main character) are mandatory when present.

Phonology

Sehali phonology revolves heavily around the alternation between palatalized, velarized, and pharyngealized consonants. The default articulation is presumed to be velar.

Consonants

Grapheme	Palatalized	Velarized	Pharyngealized
B	/b^j/	/b^γ/	/b^ʕ/
D	/d^j/	/d^γ/	/d^ʕ/
DZ	/dz^j/	/dz^γ/	/dz^ʕ/
DŽ	/dʑ/
F	/ɸ^j/	/ɸ^γ/	/ɸ^ʕ/
G	/g^j/	/g/
Ġ	/ɣ^j/	/ɣ/
G̱			/ʡ/
H	/h/
H̱			/ħ/*
J			/ʕ/
K	/k^j/	/k/
L	/l^j/	/ɫ/	/l^ʕ/
M	/m^j/	/m^γ/	/m^ʕ/
N	/ɲ/	/n/	/ŋ/
P	/p^j/	/p^γ/	/p^ʕ/
Q	/q^j/	/q/	/q^ʕ/
R	/r^j/	/r^γ/	/r^ʕ/
S	/s^j/	/s^γ/	/s^ʕ/
Š	/ɕ/
T	/t^j/	/t^γ/	/t^ʕ/
TS	/ts^j/	/ts^γ/	/ts^ʕ/
TŠ	/tɕ/
W	/β^j/	/β^γ/	/β^ʕ/
X	/x^j/	/x/
X̥	/χ^j/	/χ/	/χ^ʕ/
Y	/j/
Z	/z^j/	/z^γ/	/z^ʕ/
Ž	/ʑ/
'	/ʔ/

			Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Epiglottal	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	Palatalized	p^j	t^j		k^j	q^j		ʔ
		Velarized	p^γ	t^γ		k	q
		Pharyngealized	p^ʕ	t^ʕ		k	q^ʕ
	Voiced	Palatalized	b^j	d^j		g^j
		Velarized	b^γ	d^γ		g
		Pharyngealized	b^ʕ	d^ʕ		g		ʡ
Fricative	Voiceless	Palatalized	ɸ^j	s^j	ɕ	x^j	χ^j		h
		Velarized	ɸ^γ	s^γ		x	χ		h
		Pharyngealized	ɸ^ʕ	s^ʕ		x	χ^ʕ	ħ*
	Voiced	Palatalized	β^j	z^j	ʑ	ɣ^j
		Velarized	β^γ	z^γ		ɣ
		Pharyngealized	β^ʕ	z^ʕ		ɣ		ʕ
Affricate	Voiceless	Palatalized		ts^j	tɕ
		Velarized		ts^γ
		Pharyngealized		ts^ʕ
	Voiced	Palatalized		dz^j	dʑ
		Velarized		dz^γ
		Pharyngealized		dz^ʕ
Nasal		Palatalized	m^j	ɲ
		Velarized	m^γ	n
		Pharyngealized	m^ʕ	ŋ
Trill		Palatalized		r^j
		Velarized		r^γ
		Pharyngealized		r^ʕ
Approximant		Palatalized		l^j	j
		Velarized		ɫ
		Pharyngealized		l^ʕ

[ħ] is an allophone of /h^ʕ/.

Vowels

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Mid	e
Low	a

Sehali marks secondary articulation of consonants upon vowels. When Latinized, a diacritic above the vowel indicates that the consonant preceding that vowel is pronounced with the indicated secondary articulation. A diacritic below the vowel indicates that the consonant following that vowel is pronounced with the indicated secondary articulation.

Palatalization: tá , ̗at
Pharyngealization: tä, ̤at

Phonotactics

(C)V(C)

It is important to note that some consonants (DŽ, G̱, H̲, J, Š, TŠ, Y, Ž) can only be in certain environments (palatal, velar, pharyngeal). These remain phonemic (apart from H̲) and still require diacritics.

H̲ represents an allophone of pharyngealized H, but is represented by a separate character in both Latin and Sehali orthography.

The final (third) consonant in a verb root must be velarized.

Grammar

Primarily VSO and head-initial.

Adjectives follow nouns.
Determiners and deixis precede nouns.
Genitive nouns succeed nouns and may include deixis in the phrase.

Number

Duel suffix: at
Plural suffix: is

Case

Genitive case prefix: a̤l

Possession Suffixes

1s	na
1p	nü
2s	ti
2p	tü
3s	wa
3d	ma
3p	mi

Definiteness and Deixis

Preposed particles:

Indefinite: in
Proximal: dís
Mesioproximal: dí̗š
Mesiodistal: där
Distal: dar

Verbs

Verbs are defined by roots. They are inflected by tense (past, present, future) and mood (indicative, subjunctive, imperative), and have many derivations.

Adjectival suffix: zi
ˈˈˈPassive suffix: w(u)

Indicative Paradigm

	Past	Present	Future
1 (base)	wadma (lived)	wadam (live)	wadám (will live)
2 (nominal)	wadmiġ (life)
3 (causative)	mawadma (gave birth)	mawdam (give birth)	mawädám (will give birth)
4 (dative)	ziwadma (gave rise to)	ziwdam (give rise to)	ziwadám (will give rise to)
5 (reflexive)	a̤dwadma (remembered)	a̤dwadam (remember)	a̤dwadám (will remember)
6 (reciprocal)	umwadmu (non-existent)	umwadmu (non-existent)	umwadámi (non-existent)
7 (cessative)	axwadmäl (died)	axwadamlï (die)	axwadámlï (will die)
8 (terminative)	uxwadmas (killed)	axwadamsi (kill)	axwadámsi (will kill)

Subjunctive Paradigm

	Past	Present	Future
1 (base)	anufla (burned)	anufal (burn)	anufál (will burn)
3 (causative)	a̤bnufla (made X burn)	a̤bnufal (make X burn)	a̤bnufál (will make X burn)
4 (dative)	aznufla (set fire to)	aznufal (set fire to)	aznufál (will set fire to)
5 (reflexive)	a'nuflaẖ (non-existent)	a'nufalaẖ (non-existent)	a'nufaliẖ (non-existent)
6 (reciprocal)	awanufla̤ẖ (non-existent)	awanufala̤ẖ (non-existent)	awanufáli̤ẖ (non-existent)
7 (cessative)	ax̣anuflal (burnt out)	ax̣anufali (burn out)	ax̣anufáli (will burn out)
8 (terminative)	ux̣anuflas (extinguish)	ux̣anufalsi (extinguish)	ux̣anufálsi (will extinguish)

Imperative Paradigm

1 (base)	šápäna (sail!)
3 (causative)	bišápäna (set sails!)
4 (dative)	ažíšápäna (ship it!)
5 (reflexive)	yá'šápna̤ẖ (return!)
6 (reciprocal)	wa'šápna̤ẖ (fly colours!)
7 (cessative)	g̱äšápänlä (full stop!)
8 (terminative)	g̱äšápänsä (sink it!)

Adjectives

Adjectives are inflected as causative verbs in the causative.

Lexicon

Pronouns

1s	han
1p	na̤n
2s	tin
2p	nant
3s.an	ẖü
3d.an	ẖüma
3p.an	ẖüm
3s.in	saw
3d.in	sami
3p.in	sam

Pronoun genitives are formed with a simple suffix: 'i

Pronominal Agglutinations

If both subject and object are pronouns, they are often agglutinated into a single word, omitting a word-final vowel in the subject if present.

Numbers

Base-8.

1	alá
2	ba
3	ta
4	ẖä
5	xa
6	ra
7	za
8	lám
16	ešir
24	tašir
32	ẖäšir
64	yémhi
93	yémhik bašir ta

Prepositions and Particles

abaft	istär
abeam	ismi̗d
aboard	ṳn
about	run
above	tu̗p
across	usidžá
afore	isbṳl
after	arfit
against	g̱ästir
along	si̗d
amid	sandit
aport	ilif
around	rud
astarboard	iri̤ẖ
atop	buwa
before	ẖïn
behind	fur
below	laġ
beside	asdi
between	yínum
beyond	pasit
despite	buwin
down	dun
except	bud
following	ifta
for	wir
from	fun
in	i
including	wiḡïn
inside	inút
into	ín
like	sum
near	nara
next	ifa
of	u
off	fur
on	pu
onto	til
opposite	mirul
out	ut
outside	udpṳl
over	iwar
past	biyún
since	dan
than	mil
through	dúral
to	a
toward	a'i
under	unal
underneath	unalpṳl
unlike	esum
until	tis
up	ap
upon	appu
via	wid
with	mad
without	umad

negative (part clit)	e
potential	dzï

Open Class

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1fj-AQQnk_R1mG7-qFpU_AXwnH9QqRVsau1wvRvjVWgQ/edit?usp=sharing

Examples

Hávamál 93-95

93. No man should ever ridicule another’s love. The lure of a beautiful woman often snares the wise while leaving the fool. 94. A man should not heap abuse on another for something that happens to many men. Powerful love makes fools of heroes and sages. 95. Only your own mind knows what is dearest to your heart. You must counsel yourself. There is no worse illness for a sage than losing love for himself.	Yémhik lámalá Amakärá̤j séhäli e Šáramiġ a̤lséhäli semi. Naġis e̤jtï betta̤r in a̤lséhäli ṳjlaw ží̗lyí ik umpardu ẖü bisṳn. Yémhik lámba Ehasi mëntu in séhäli a séhäli semi, wir annit ag̱äryu a tsel séhälis. Yúrix̣ šáramiġ ḡärṳẖ bisṳnis u ží̗lyís ik ḡärṳẖis. Yémhik lámta Wetar bä̤r yárta̤n a̤lanti xam lífnittsam a yárta̤n a̤lanti. Yá'umpartṳẖ! Esi ẖüritsmiġ lísmä wir in ží̗lyí mil aḡutab ẖü wir a'ẖü.

Font and Keyboard Layout

Sehali (font and layout)

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Difference between revisions of "Sehali language"