Sehali language

Sehali (Sehali: Sä̗hāli) [s^jaħal^γi] 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 Miuxleb 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.

Phonology

Sehali phonology revolves heavily around the alternation between palatalized, velarized, and pharyngealized consonants. These secondary articulations assimilate progressively throughout an utterance. The default articulation is presumed to be velar.

Consonants

Grapheme	Palatalized	Velarized	Pharyngealized
B	/bj/	/bγ/	/bʕ/
D	/dj/	/dγ/	/dʕ/
DZ	/dzj/	/dzγ/	/dzʕ/
DŽ	/dʑ/
F	/ɸj/	/ɸγ/	/ɸʕ/
G	/gj/	/g/
Ġ	/ɣj/	/ɣ/
G̱			/ʡ/
H	/h/
H̱			/ħ/
J			/ʕ/
K	/kj/	/k/
L	/lj/	/lγ/	/ɫ/
M	/mj/	/mγ/	/mʕ/
N	/ɲ/	/n/	/ŋ/
P	/pj/	/pγ/	/pʕ/
Q	/qj/	/q/	/qʕ/
R	/rj/	/rγ/	/rʕ/
S	/sj/	/sγ/	/sʕ/
Š	/ɕ/
T	/tj/	/tγ/	/tʕ/
TS	/tsj/	/tsγ/	/tsʕ/
TŠ	/tɕ/
W	/βj/	/βγ/	/βʕ/
X	/xj/	/x/
X̣	/χj/	/χ/	/χʕ/
Y	/j/
Z	/zj/	/zγ/	/zʕ/
Ž	/ʑ/

			Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Epiglottal	Glottal
Plosive	Voiceless	Palatalized	pj	tj		kj	qj		ʔ
		Velarized	pγ	tγ		k	q
		Pharyngealized	pʕ	tʕ			qʕ
	Voiced	Palatalized	bj	dj		gj
		Velarized	bγ	dγ		g
		Pharyngealized	bʕ	dʕ				ʡ
Fricative	Voiceless	Palatalized	ɸj	sj	ɕ	xj	χj		h
		Velarized	ɸγ	sγ		x	χ
		Pharyngealized	ɸʕ	sʕ			χʕ	ħ
	Voiced	Palatalized	βj	zj	ʑ	ɣj
		Velarized	βγ	zγ		ɣ
		Pharyngealized	βʕ	zʕ				ʕ
Affricate	Voiceless	Palatalized		tsj	tɕ
		Velarized		tsγ
		Pharyngealized		tsʕ
	Voiced	Palatalized		dzj	dʑ
		Velarized		dzγ
		Pharyngealized		dzʕ
Nasal		Palatalized	mj	ɲ
		Velarized	mγ	n
		Pharyngealized	mʕ	ŋ
Trill		Palatalized		rj
		Velarized		rγ
		Pharyngealized		rʕ
Approximant		Palatalized		lj	j
		Velarized		lγ
		Pharyngealized		ɫ

Vowels

Monophthongs

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Low	a

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

• Palatalization: ́a , ̗a
• Velarization: ̄a , ̠a
• Pharyngealization: ̈a , ̤a

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 and progressively assimilate their secondary articulation.

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

Grammar

Primarily VSO.

Number

• Duel suffix: ̤at
• Plural suffix: ̗iss

Case

• Genitive case prefix: äl

Definiteness and Deixis

Preposed particles:

• Indefinite: in
• Definite: la
• Proximal: di̤s
• Mesioproximal: di̗š
• Mesiodistal: da̤r
• 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.

• Passive voice preposition: wi

• Adjectival suffix: zi

Indicative Paradigm

	Past	Present	Future
1 (base)	wadma (lived)	wadam (live)	wadám (will live)
2 (nominal)	wadmiġ (life)
3 (causative)	mäwadma (gave birth)	mäwdam (give birth)	mäwadám (will give birth)
4 (dative)	ži̗wadma (gave rise to)	ži̗wdam (give rise to)	ži̗wadám (will give rise to)
5 (reflexive)	ädwadma (remembered)	ädwadam (remember)	ädwadám (will remember)
6 (reciprocal)	umwadmu (non-existent)	umwadmu (non-existent)	umwadámi (non-existent)
7 (cessative)	axwadmäl (died)	axwadamli̤ (die)	axwadámli̤ (will die)
8 (terminative)	uxwadmas (killed)	axwadamsi (kill)	axwadámsi (will kill)

Subjunctive Paradigm

	Past	Present	Future
1 (base)	änufla (burned)	anufal (burn)	aníflir (will burn)
3 (causative)	ädzunifla (ignited)	adzunufal (ignite)	adzuníflir (will ignite)
4 (dative)	ážinifla (set fire to)	ážinufal (set fire to)	ážiniflir (will set fire to)
5 (reflexive)	g̱a'a'nifla (tortured)	g̱a'a'nūfal (torture)	g̱a'a'níflir (will torture)
6 (reciprocal)	uwäniflaẖ (declared war)	uwanufalaẖ (declare war)	uwanífliryaẖ (will declare war)
7 (cessative)	ax̣äniflal (burnt out)	ax̣anufálli (burn out)	ax̣anífliri (will burn out)
8 (terminative)	ax̣anüflas (extinguish)	ax̣anüfals (extinguish)	ax̣anífulsi (will extinguish)

Imperative Paradigm

1 (base)	šā̗päna (sail!)
3 (causative)	di̗šāpäna (set sails!)
4 (dative)	ážišāpäna (ship it!)
5 (reflexive)	yá'šāpän (return!)
6 (reciprocal)	ra̗šāpna̤ẖ (fly colours!)
7 (cessative)	äg̱ášāpna̤la (full stop!)
8 (terminative)	äg̱ášūpna̤s (sink it!)

Lexicon

Pronouns

1s	āna
1p	nä̠ẖnu
2s	ānta
2p	āntṳm
3s.an	ẖṳwa
3d.an	ẖṳmma
3p.an	ẖṳm
3s.in	sawa
3d.in	samma
3p.in	sam

Numbers

Base-8.

1	alā̗
2	ba
3	ta
4	ẖa
5	xa
6	ra
7	za
8	lā̗m

8s suffix: 'i

Prepositions

abaft	istär
abeam	ismíd
aboard	ün
about	rūn
above	túp
across	usídža
afore	isbül
after	ārfit
against	g̱a̤stir
along	síd
amid	sāndit
aport	īlif
around	rud
astarboard	īriẖ
atop	buwa
before	ẖīn
behind	fur
below	lāġ
beside	asdi
between	yīnum
beyond	pasit
despite	buwin
down	dūn
except	bud
following	ifta
for	wir
from	fun
in	i
including	wïg̱in
inside	īnút
into	ín
like	sum
near	na̠ra
next	ifa
of	u
off	fur
on	pu
onto	til
opposite	mīrul
out	ut
outside	udpül
over	iwar
past	bíyun
since	dān
than	mil
through	du̗ral
to	a
toward	a'i
under	ūnal
underneath	ūnalpül
unlike	usum
until	tis
up	ap
upon	appu
via	wid
with	mad
without	umad

Open Class

English	Root-Form	Sehali
bountiful	xlb-3	mū̗xlab
brave (adj)	ytr	yi̗tri̠
burn (n)	nfl-1	nufal
come (v)	sjx-1	šï̗ju
live	wdm-1	wadam
place (n)		bu
oasis (n)	w'l	wu'la
sail (n)	špn-2	ša̗pna̤ġ
sail (v)	špn-1	ša̗pan
thank you (int)	gln-6	uġalnu
Uwasiq (n)	wsq	uwasiq
victory (n)	ksk	kasak
what (n)	xm	xam

Keyboard Layout

http://geckat.conlang.org/conlang/fonts/sehali.zip