Didenki

General information
The is the language spoken by the Didenki people of Erbed for the Gcallus Octavious book by Jensine L. W. The story is an ongoing work of hers, but the language was only marginally developed. She tasked me with coming up with a more robust language to accompany it.

The Didenki (as I am calling them for now) had sustained contact with humans—centralized in England—until the 1400s. Thus, their language should have some Middle English influence. However, this is not a requirement. If I can incorporate any of this, I will, but I am more concerned about internal cohesion at first. The only example the author provided was a few names. If I can work these into the language, that's fine. But she is willing to change some of them if they are inconsistent with the language.

As it is, I am beginning by pouring over her existing words and trying to pull out some consistent meanings to apply. These will be my "Speculative notes". Once I have finished that, I will begin adding more bulk to the language.

Writing System
Eh is pronounced as /ɛ/ in most cases. The pronunciation /ə/ is most often dialectal.

Ih is pronounced as /ɪ/ or /i/ except in the final syllable, if it is VC. Thus denki (the words) is pronounced ['dɛn.ki], but denkit/denkyt (these words) is pronounced [dɪ.'dɛn.kyt]. /y/ is not considered a separate letter from ih, but the stem is flipped to point downward instead of upward.

Gcas was originally pronounced as a glottal stop, but over time it became pronounced as either /k/ or /g/ depending on the region. When anglicized, it is written as 'gc'.

Vfor is the same situation as with gcas, but the original pronunciation is lost. Word-initial, vfor may be pronounced as /f/ or /v/ per regional variance. Before voiceless stops, it is pronounced /f/ (e.g., "often"). Before voiced stops and nasals, it is pronounced /v/ (e.g., "giv'd", "cov'n"). '[Note: all examples given are in English at this early stage of development. They should be switched out for Didenki words eventually.]'

Bmil's pronunciation is contextual.

Shei is pronounced as /ʃ/ except when word-initial. Then it takes the pronunciation /s/.

Plurals
Tentatively, there are two cases to show number. Singular remains uninflected. For plural, the final syllable mutates. If the final syllable is (C)VC, it nasalizes to (C)VnC (or (C)VmC—uncertain of words can end with bilabials yet). E.g., deki > denki. If word ends in a definite article i, the -n attaches to the i. E.g., omi > omyn.

This culture uses a base-7 number system with 1, 2, 3, 7, and 21 being significant. I might add a "perfect plural" for a count of seven.

Genitive case
speculative note: Nouns in the genitive case are modified by the suffix -lan.

Verbs
Didenki is heavily noun-based. Nouns can be converted into verbs using the third temporal category. E.g., dek (word)

Aspect
Aspect/tense is shown through the third set of letters, 15-21. At this point in development, there are only these seven aspects. I might revise this at a later point. Examples will be written more fully after the conjugations have been completed and a larger vocabulary is written.

Conjugations indicating person and number also exist but have not been established yet. They will likely be suffixed.

Mood
There will likely be variations in mood. I have yet to explore this feature.