Council of Constructed Languages

Emnian Eaimhnidht 𐤀𐤌𐤍𐤉𐤕

Distribution of the Emnian language (red) within Emnia (click to expand)

Native to: Emnia

Region: throughout Emnia

Ethnicity: Emnians

Native speakers:

Language family: Emnitic → West Emnitic → Emnian

Early forms: Old Emnian → Middle Emnian → Modern Emnian

Writing system: (see below)

Official status: Official language in Greater emnia

The Emnian language (𐤋𐤔𐤍 𐤀𐤌𐤍𐤉𐤕 luiseann Eaimhnidht, informally 𐤀𐤌𐤍𐤉𐤕 Eaimhnidht) is a West Emnitic language.

History

Geographic distribution and status

Phonology

Emnian phonology varies considerably between its three principal varieties:

• the Heartland dialect (Leathga t-an Searann) and its subdialect Urban Sarcadian

• the Northern dialect (Leathga an Seomlaidht)

• the Southern dialect (Leathga t-an Dhreomn)

Despite the longstanding and long-attested divergence of these three principal varieties, the Emnian dialects remain mutually intelligible, and their individiual phonologies are sufficiently congruent that they can be mapped to a single underlying phonetic system.

An important aspect of Emnian phonology is that all consonants except for /h/ are found in pairs: a broad variant (that is, velarised — the back of the tongue is pulled back and upwards towards the soft palate during articulation), and a slender variant (that is, palatalised — the tongue is pushed up towards the hard palate during articulation). The contrast between broad and slender consonants carries lexical and grammatical weight in Emnian, as the meaning of a word can change if a broad consonant is substituted for a slender and vice versa. The contrast between the broad and slender consonants not only disambiguates the individual consonants, but also plays a role in determining the pronunciation of vowels.

INSERT CONSONANT CHART HERE

Broad consonants have a notable velar offglide ([ɰ]; a very short vowel-like sound similar to [w] without rounding) before front vowels, so that anaoiche /əˈnˠiːhə/ ("I" [formal]) and taoire /t̪ˠiːɾʲə/ ("castle") are pronounced [əˈnˠɰiːhə] and [t̪ˠɰiːɾʲə] respectively. In a similar fashion, slender consonants have a palatal offglide ([j]) before back vowels, so that neoirimh /nʲoːɾʲəvʲ/ ("youth") is pronounced [nʲjoːɾʲəvʲ]. For many speakers, word initial e before a or o is also realised as [j].

When a broad consonant follows a front vowel, there is a very short vowel sound [ə̯] (called an onglide) just before the consonant, so that béad /bʲeːd̪ˠ/ ("house of [...]") is pronounced [bʲeːə̯d̪ˠ]; similarly, when a slender consonant follows a back vowel, there is an onglide [i̯] before the consonant, so that báint /bˠaːnʲtʲ/ ("daughter") is pronounced [bˠaːi̯ntʲ].

The phoneme /vˠ/ has two allophones: the labiovelar approximant [w] and the velarised voiced labiodental fricative [vˠ]. The distribution of these allophones varies among the dialects of the Emnian language. In the Southern Dialect, only [vˠ] is found, but in the Northern Dialect, generally only [w] is found. Within the Heartland Dialect, two different sociolects can be distinguished: among educated speakers, [w] is found word-initially before vowels and [vˠ] is found in all other positions; among the general population, speakers generally default to [vˠ] in all positions.

/j/ is said to have three allophones: a palatal approximant [j] before vowels (except /iː/) and syllable-finally, a voiced palatal fricative [ʝ] before consonants, and an intermediate sound (with more frication than [j] but less frication than [ʝ]) before /iː/.

The phonemes /ɾˠ/, /ɾʲ/ vary widely according to speaker.

Among some speakers, /tʲ, dʲ/ may be realised as [tɕ, dʑ]. This is particularly salient in the Urban Sarcadian variety and sporadic throughout central Emnia.

The phonemes /nˠ/ and /nʲ/ are replaced with /ɾˠ/ and /ɾʲ/ respectively after another consonant other than r or s except in the Southern dialect. Thus, bná (sons) is pronounced [bˠ(ə)nˠaː] in the Southern dialect, but [bˠɾˠaː] elsewhere.

Voiceless stops are aspirated at the onset of a word, while voiced stops may among some speakers be incompletely voiced but are never aspirated. Voiceless stops are unaspirated after /sˠ/ and /ʃ/.

In the Southern dialect, /ʃ/ is frequently pronounced as /sʲ/.

A postvocalic cluster of /ɾˠ, ɾʲ/, /lˠ, lʲ/, or /nˠ, nʲ/ followed by a labial or dorsal consonant is broken up by an epenthetic vowel /ə/, for example in ealp /alˠəpˠ/ ("ox"). If the preceding vowel is an accented vowel or a diphthong, however, there is no epenthesis, as in dialt /dʲiəlˠt̪ˠ/ ("door").

Vowel phonemes are the most divergent among the three principal dialects, but, despite this, all dialects agree in having reflexes of the following vowel phonemes:

INSERT VOWEL CHART HERE

Among speakers of the Heartland and Southern dialects, but to the exclusion of the Urban Sarcadian variety, the phoneme /aː/ is generally rounded to [ɒː].

Orthography

Grammar

Pronouns

Nouns and Adjectives

Nouns (seimhim, sg. seimh) and adjectives (naeidimh, sg. naeid) are declined along three axes corresponding to their properties:

• Gender (masculine, feminine, or ambiguous); this is an inherent characteristic of nouns, but a declensional feature in adjectives

• Number (singular, plural, or [rarely] dual)

• State (indefinite, definite, or construct)

The citation form of a noun is the indefinite singular form; the citation form of an adjective is its indefinite singular masculine form. Nouns and adjectives are often related to verbs via their shared proto-Emnitic roots, but their formation is not as systematic as that of verbs.

Every noun in Emnian has a gender: either masculine, feminine, or ambiguous (that is, either gender, depending on context and/or the speaker's discretion). For example, seifir ("book") is masculine, dialt ("door") is feminine, and gairb ("sock") can be either masculine or feminine depending on the speaker. There is a tendency for nouns ending in -e or -a to be feminine, but there are numerous exceptions to be found. Nouns referring to people and some animals often come in pairs: one masculine and one feminine; for example, aoins ("man") and aoinse ("woman"). Nouns referring to occupations are usually masculine in form but are of ambiguous gender which is determined by context.

Masculine nouns generally form their plural by adding the suffix -(a)imh, which is pronounced [əvʲ]. After mh or bh, the suffix takes the form -(a)im [əmʲ]. In two-syllable words with a short vowel in the second syllable, the second syllable may be truncated in the plural form. Nouns that end in a doubled consonant will revert to a single consonant before adding a suffix.

• seifir ("book") → seifrimh ("books")

• dabhr ("thing; word") → dabhraimh ("things; words")

• eild ("boy") → eildimh ("boys; children")

• seimh ("name") → seimhim ("names"; note -m ending after mh)

Feminine nouns ending in -e or -a generally form their plural by adding the suffix -ód [oːdˠ]. When the feminine noun ends in a consonant but still follows the regular paradigm, an epenthetic -e- or -a- is added before the plural suffix.

• gairb ("sock") → gairbeód ("books")

• ruach ("wind; soul") → ruachaód ("winds; souls")

• eilde ("girl") → eildeód ("girls")

• leile ("night") → leileód ("nights")

There exists a not-insignificant number of masculine nouns which take the ordinarily feminine plural ending, as well as a number of feminine nouns which take the ordinarily masculine plural ending. Furthermore, many plurals of commonly used words are formed wholly irregularly.

• eona_♀ ("dove") → eonaimh ("doves")

• aoins ("man") → anaoisimh ("men")

• béin ("son") → bná ("sons")

Emnian also has a dual number, although this is rare in modern Emnian except in highly poetic or formal speech. When it is used, it usually refers to certain objects or body parts which normally occur in pairs, such as trousers, scissors, eyeglasses, eyes, hands, and so on. The dual is also preserved in certain placenames. The dual is formed with the suffix -(a)idhimh, pronounced [eːəvʲ], regardless of gender.

• eáin ("eye") → eáinidhimh ("two eyes; pair of eyes")

• feachd ("thigh") → feachdaidhimh ("two thighs; pair of thighs")

State is a grammatical property of Emnian nouns and adjectives which refers to the basic division between indefinite, definite, and construct.

The indefinite state is the basic citation form of a noun or adjective, and refers to entities not previously mentioned (corresponding to English nouns preceded with a, an, or some, or English mass nouns with no preceding determiner and not having a generic sense, e.g. "we need milk"). The definite refers to either a particular entity previously referenced or to a generic concept (corresponding to English nouns preceded by the, this, or that, as well as English nouns taken in a generic sense and proper nouns), and is denoted by the definite article an, which is pronounced [ə(nˠ)]. Note that the definite article triggers lenition in feminine singular nouns except those beginning with a coronal (in practice, t or d).

• seifir ("[a] book") → an seifir ("the book")

• baeill ("[a] husband") → an baeill ("the husband")

• baeile ("[a] wife") → an bhaeile ("the wife")

The third state value, construct, is used when a noun or adjective is modified by another noun in a genitive construction. For example, in a construction such as seaphar an eilde ("the girl's book"), the word for book, seifir, has been declined into the construct state. A noun or adjective in the construct is not marked with the definite even though it is semantically definite.

Singular nouns and adjectives ending in a slender vowel or consonant will switch to a broad ending in the construct. This normally only involves the final consonant and, where applicable, final vowel, but in some cases (such as above seifir, seaphar), word-internal consonants can also become broad.

• seifir ("[a] book") → seaphar ("the book of ... ")

• béid ("[a] house") → béad ("the house of ... ")

• béin ("[a] son") → béan ("the son of ... ")

• báint ("[a] daughter") → bánt ("the daughter of ... ")

• feirs ("[a] stallion") → fears ("the stallion of ... ")

• feirse ("[a] mare") → fearsa ("the mare of ... ")

Masculine plural constructs are formed by adding -é or -á (corresponding to the broad and slender endings, respectively) to the citation form of the noun/adjective; note that nouns with irregular plurals will simply use the irregular plural form of the noun. As before, in words with two syllables, a short vowel in the second syllable is often truncated.

• seifir ("[a] book") → seifré ("the books of ... ")

• dabhr ("[a] thing") → dabhrá ("the things of ... ")

• béin ("[a] son") → bná ("the sons of ... ")

The feminine plural construct is nearly identical to the feminine plural indefinite/definite; it is formed by adding the suffix -ódt [oːtˠ], following the same rules as the feminine plural indefinite/definite ending.

Adjectives in Emnian agree in gender, number, and state with the noun they modify. Adjectives are declined into their definite, construct, and plural forms identically to nouns, except that feminine adjectives are not inherently lenited by the definite article as nouns are. The dual form exists for adjectives, but is even more exceedingly rare than the dual form of nouns. The citation form of an adjective is the indefinite masculine singular.

Feminine adjectives are normally formed from the masculine singular by adding -e or -a. As before, in two syllable words with a short vowel in the second syllable, the short vowel in the second syllable may be truncated, and a doubled final consonant is reduced to a single consonant.

• gaol_♂ ("big; large") → gaola_♀

• cát_♂ ("little; small") → cáta_♀

• ísean_♂ ("elderly") → íseana_♀

• caeill_♂ ("easy; light") → caeile_♀

If the masculine singular indefinite ends in a vowel, then the feminine singular is identical to the masculine:

• cáise_⚥ ("difficult; heavy")

Some adjectives are irregular or have differing forms in the masculine and feminine:

• aoife_♂ ("beautiful; fair; handsome") → aopha_♀

• orc_♂ ("long") → uirce_♀

Nisbian adjectives are a specific class of adjectives that are usually formed from other parts of speech using the suffix -(a)idh, always pronounced /iː/ in nisbics. They are declined somewhat differently from other adjectives.

• Eaimhnidh_♂sg. ("Emnian") → Eaimhnidht_♀sg.

  Eaimhnidhimh_♂pl. → Eaimhnidhiud_♀pl.

Verbs