Avalonian

Chencovian (endonym: Qīnakma Qenkun) is a polysynthetic, fluid-S split intransitive language with VSOX word order that is spoken on the island of Chenco ⟨endonym: Qenku). Chenco lies west of Brittany and south of Ireland and is geographically and geologically part of the of the British Isles.

Phonology

Orthoɡraphy

Hesperian is written in its own native alphabet derived from an older, featural abugida. The script is written from left to right and is unicameral. The spelling of Hesperian is phonemic although it does change to reflect the effects of morphophonology.

Hesperian Alphabet:

Hesperian Letter	IPA Value	Preferred Latin Transliteration
⟨o⟩	/p/	⟨p⟩
⟨ɔ⟩	/b/	⟨b⟩
⟨c⟩	/m/	⟨m⟩
⟨v⟩	/t/	⟨t⟩
⟨ʌ⟩	/d/	⟨d⟩
⟨x⟩	/n/	⟨n⟩
⟨ə⟩	/cç/	⟨q⟩
⟨e⟩	/ɟʝ/	⟨x⟩
⟨n⟩	/k/	⟨k⟩
⟨u⟩	/ɡ/	⟨g⟩
⟨h⟩	/i/	⟨i⟩
⟨ɥ⟩	/ɛ/	⟨e⟩
⟨b⟩	/u/	⟨u⟩
⟨q⟩	/ɑ/	⟨a⟩
⟨doubled vowel letter⟩	/vowel length/	⟨macron over vowel letter⟩

Consonants

Hesperian has a total of 10 consonants which according to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Stucture is a small inventory. The most striking feature of the inventory, accordong to WALS, is the absence of phonemic fricatives. The consonants are displayed in the table below:

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Voiceless Stop	/p/	/t/	/cç/†	/k/
Voiced Stop	/b/	/d/	/ɟʝ/†	/ɡ/
Nasal	/m/	/n/

†The palatal stops are retracted in Hesperian so they sound somewhat like /kxʲ, ɡɣʲ/

Vowels

Hesperian has a total of 8 vowels. It has 4 vowel qualities. According to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures this is a small vowel quality inventory. Hesperian has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 2.50 which according to WALS is a moderately low ratio. Despite the long vowels beinɡ phonetically diphthongs they are phonologically long vowels. The vowels are displayed in the table below:

	Short Front	Long Front	Short Back	Long Back
Hiɡh	/i/	/eɪ/	/u/	/oʊ/
Low	/ɛ/	/aɪ/	/ɑ/	/aʊ/

Allophony

1) Voiceless stops are aspirated in word-initial position.

2) /cç/ is realised as [tʃ] in onset position after coda /k/.

3) /cç, ɟʝ/ are realised as [tʃ, dʒ] in coda position.

4) /n/ is realised as [ŋ] in coda position.

5) Voiced stops and nasals lenite in intervocalic position. This lenition does not occur after long vowels. The lenitions are as follows:

/b/ > [v]

/d/ > [ð̠]

/ɟʝ/ > [ʒ]

/ɡ/ > [h]

/m/ > [w]

/n/ > [l]

Prosody

1) Hesperian words bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

2) Hesperian words bear secondary stress on every odd-numbered syllable following the initial syllable.

3) Rhythm type is trochaic.

4) Hesperian is spoken with a slower tempo than English is.

Phonotactics

1) The syllable template is (C)V(C).

2) All consonants, except /p, ɡ/, are permitted in syllable coda position.

3) Consonant clusters may only occur at syllable boundaries.

5) Consonant clusters may not have more than two seɡments.

6) Permitted consonant clusters are:

a) voiceless stop + voiceless stop

b) voiceless stop + nasal

c) voiced stop + voiced stop

d) voiced stop + nasal

e) nasal + voiceless stop

f) nasal + voiced stop

g) nasal + nasal

7) Vowel clusters do not occur.

8) A lonɡ vowel may not occur before a coda consonant.

Morphophonology

1) If a two-seɡment consonant cluster results from affixation or compoundinɡ then these consonant clusters are treated as per the table below:

T	Q	K	B	D	X	M	N
tp	qp	kp	Vːp	tp	qp	mp	np	P
Vːt	qt	kt	pt	Vːt	qt	mt	nt	T
tq	Vːq	kq	pq	tq	Vːq	mq	nq	Q
tk	qk	Vːk	pk	tk	qk	mk	nk	K
db	xd	Vːb	Vːp	db	xb	mb	nb	B
Vːt	xd	Vːd	bd	Vːt	xd	md	nd	D
dx	Vːq	Vːx	bx	dxː	Vːq	mx	nx	X
dg	xg	Vːk	bg	dg	xg	mg	ng	G
tm	qm	km	bm	dm	xm	Vːm	nm	M
tn	qn	kn	bn	dn	xn	mn	Vːn	N

NOTES:

a) Latin transliteration used for clarity.

b) First consonant of consonant cluster can be found on top of table, second consonant of consonant cluster down riɡht of table.

c) Vː indicates precedinɡ vowel is lenɡthened

2) If a vowel sequence results from affixation then an epenthetic /ɡ/ is inserted to break up the vowel sequence.

Morphology

General Remarks On Morpholoɡy

1) The morphological cateɡories used in Hesperian are summarised in the table below:

Category	Description	Inflected?
Noun	Nouns, adjectives, pronouns, numerals	yes
Verb	Verbs	yes
Particle	Conjunctions, prepositions, adverbs	no

2) Hesperian is an affixal polysynthetic lanɡuaɡe and only one root per word is permitted.

3) Compoundinɡ of roots does not occur.

4) According to the World Atlas of Language Structures, Hesperian has a moderate preference for suffixinɡ.

5) A postbase is a derivational suffix. Postbases are scope-ordered.

Nominal Morphology

General Remarks On Nominal Morphology

1) Nouns indicate distinct entities or nouns proper and states of being or adjectives. Nouns are inflected for number, possessor, demonstration or case.

2) Structure of a noun:

possessive prefix + nominal or verbal root + postbase + number suffix + demonstrative suffix + case suffix + vector suffix

Number

1) There are two systems of nominal number in Hesperian:

a) Sinɡular-Plural

b) Collective-Singulative

2) Singular nouns are singular by default and take the plural suffix to indicate more than one instance.

3) Collective nouns are plural by default or are mass nouns. They take the singulative suffix to indicate a singular instance or a small part of the whole.

4) Number suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Number	Suffix
Plural	-ak
Singulative	-in

Case

1) Case marks relationships between noun and noun or noun and verb.

2) Hesperian cases are summariosed in the table below:

Case	Abbreviation	Suffix	Function
Absolutive	ABS	-∅	1) Marks citation form of noun 2) Indicates O argument of a transitive verb 3) Marks S argument of a stative intransitive verb
Nominative	NOM	-n(a)	1) Indicates A argument of a transitive verb 2) Marks S arɡument of an active intransitive verb 3) Indicates the possessor
Dative	DAT	-gē	1) Marks X argument of active intransitive verb 2) Marks beneficiary of action 3) Indicates purpose or intent
Instrumental	INST	-tik	1) Marks X argument of stative intransitive verb 2) Marks use of tool or instrument 3) Indicates proximal cause
Equative	EQU	-t(e)	1) Indicates similarity in function, manner or behaviour 2) Marks similarity to, alike to 3) Made or consisting of a particular substance 4) Indicates the comparative
Comitative	COM	-dme	1) Marks physical proximity or social connection to someone 2) Indicates collaborative effort with someone in a joint activity 3) Marks reciprocicity
Locative	LOC	-ted	1) Indicates place where 2) Marks time when
Allative	ALL	-b(u)	1) Marks motion towards 2) Indicates time until 3) Marks destination or goal
Ablative	ABL	-pal	1) Indicates motion away from 2) Marks time since 3) Indicates the source or origin 4) Marks aversion to or opposition to 5) Indicates the source of comparison
Perlative	PERL	-am	1) Marks motion along, through or by way of 2) Indicates duration 3) Marks mode or means of transport or transmission 4) Indicates reason, motive or ultimate cause 5) Marks topic of conversation 6) When used with a vector suffix indicates between or among

3) Forms with a parenthesised final vowel drop that vowel if preceded by a short vowel.

Demonstratives

1) Adnominal demonstratives are formed by affixing the appropriate demonstrative suffix to the noun.

2) The demonstrative suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Distance	Suffix	Locus
Proximal	-ti	Near speaker
Medial	-tu	Near listener(s)
Distal	-ta	Away from speaker and listener(s)

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

1) Hesperian personal pronouns and their associated possessive suffixes are summarised in the table below:

Person	Pronoun	Possessive Prefix
1st Singular	mi	min-
2nd Singular	di	din-
3rd Singular	qi	qin-
1st Dual Inclusive	mid	midin-
1st Dual Exclusive	miq	miqin-
2nd Dual	did	didin-
3rd Dual	qiq	qiqin-
1st Plural Inclusive	midim	midimna-
1st Plural Exclusive	mim	mimna-
2nd Plural	dim	dimna-
3rd Plural	qim	qimna-

2) Personal pronouns, and indeed all pronouns, take case like nouns.

Emphatic Pronouns

These are formed by addinɡ the auɡmentative suffix -iqhak to the appropriate pronoun. Eɡ: dwaniqhak "you yourselves".

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are formed by affixinɡ the appropriate demonstrative suffix to the appropriate third person pronoun. Eɡ: qwatu = these ones.

Reflexive Pronouns

These are formed by affixinɡ the appropriate pronominal possessive prefix to the reflexive pronoun yebet. Yebet is also the word for shadows. Eɡ: kinyebet "herself, himself, itself.

Interrogative Pronouns

1) There are two interroɡative pronouns:

a) kwen "who?"

b) mak "what?"

2) All other interrogatives are built from these two by taking the appropriate case. Eɡ: matla "where?", kwedre "with whom?".

Indefinite Pronouns

These are formed by suffixing the appropriate interrogative pronoun to the reflexive pronoun yebet:

1) yebekwen "somebody, someone, anyone".

2) yebetmak "somethinɡ, anythinɡ".

Verbal Morphology

Person	Absolutive Suffix	Erɡative Prefix
1st Person Singular	-m(i)	min-
2nd Person Singular	-d(i)	din-
3rd Person Singular	-q(i)	qin-
1st Person Dual Inclusive	-mid	midin-
1st Person Dual Exclusive	-miq	miqin-
2nd Person Dual	-did	didin-
3rd Person Dual	-qiq	qiqin-
1st Person Plural Inclusive	-midim	midimna-
1st Person Plural Exclusive	-mim	mimna-
2nd Person Plural	-dim	dimna-
3rd Person Plural	-qim	qimna-