Asakai

Ash is my attempt at a "universal language". While I do not believe a universal language is either possible or recommendable, this is a project devoted to that specific task. It is not based on any language or language group, but rather strictly upon linguistic regularities.

Phonology

Consonants

	Labial	Alveolar	(Alveo-)Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive (Voiceless)	p	t		k
Plosive (Voiced)1	b	d
Nasal	m	n
Fricative (Voiceless)	f	s	ɕ		h
Fricative (Voiced)	v	z	ʑ
Affricate (Voiceless)2		ts	tɕ ‹ch›
Affricate (Voiced)		dz	dʑ ‹j›
Approximant		r3	j ‹y›	w

1. Voiced consonants only occur word-medially and may instead be articulated as making the preceding vowel long.
2. Affricates are allophones of their corresponding plosives before certain high vowels ([t~ts~tɕ] _[HIGH]) but are phonemic elsewhere.
3. Any rhotic.

Vowels

	Back	Front
High	i	u
Low	a

Diphthongs

/aɪ/, /aʊ/

Phonotactics

Syllable structure is (C)V(Q), where Q is a nasal, fricative, or rhotic.

([[13 onsets * 5 nuclei] + 12 affricates+/a/,/aɪ/,/aʊ/)] * 6 codas {[[ + 5 voiced onsets * 5 nuclei] + 12 voiced affricates+/a/,/aɪ/,/aʊ/] * 6 codas} = 462 monosyllables, 222 word-medial syllables.

• Coronal (labial and alveolar) consonants assimilate place regressively in contact.
• Voicing assimilates regressively in contact.

Grammar

SVO, head-initial.

Analytical language with minimal differentiation.

These larger cattle-dogs here that we saw to buy were cheaply purchased by my father.

SUBJECT	Noun adjunct	Adjectival Phrase	Number	Adnominal	Complement	Determiner/Genitive	Infinitive Phrase	Relative clause		VERB+Adverb+Tense+Voice		Preposition	OBJECT	Noun adjunct	Adjectival Phrase	Number	Adnominal	Complement	Determiner/Genitive	Relative clause	Infinitive Phrase
(The) Dog	cattle	large +more	[plural]	here		these	to buy	that we saw		were cheaply purchased		by	father			my.

Nominal Suffixes

To:
Noun	'ar
Verb	'in
Adjective	'ish
Adverb	ri

Pronominal Suffixes

Plural: ti Reflexive: sif