Ahtialan

Ahtialan language (ah. а́хтіаљєдаі кі́єн̃ау ['ɑxtijäɮɛˌdäi 'kijɛ̃n͈ãʊ̃]) - central Mikui language of the Ahtialan family, state language in the Ahtialan Commonwealth of the conworld Haivööri, lingua franca in the Mikui continent, in the Commonwealth it is spoken by approximately 60% of the population and by minorities in Amultia and Makratia.

Ahtialan is one of the two oldest languages of RWHÔ, the second being Makratian, that were said in about 1994 or 1995, when the author was only at the age of four, that will exist. So called "ancient Makratian" did not survive, but a complex alphabetic system was designed in about 1996 that helped the child's language to somehow last until the first major reform in 2005. Today it is a well developed a priori conlang with history, tradition, literature and ideology.

Language name written in Ahtialan script.

=Name and rights= As the author is not a native English speaker, the name "Ahtialan" was derived directly from Polish name of this language, "ahtialański". In this form it is phonetically correct comparing to its name in the conlang itself, but (as usual) English pronunciation may be misleading. However, any separate name for English was never created, and the form "Ahtialan" is supported by the Polish conlangers. Originally, it is «ахтіаљєдаі» («ахтіаљ-» + suffix for language names, «-єдаі»), from «А́хтіаља» (name of the country), which originates from the common word «ахтіалумє», meaning "armadillo", Ahtialan national animal (also depicted in state coat of arms).

However, «ахтіаљєдаі» might be used for any Ahtialan language, and the standard version (made by the author) is called «ӓљалаі» ['ɑjɫawäi], transcribed in English as "aylawai". The etymology of this word is derived from old Ahtialan «ӓља» "scent" or "gust" + «лаі» "flower", but as both "scent" and "flower" have other names, it is considered to be meaningless (apart from the language, state and nation).

The author says that Ahtialan language can be used as anyone wishes unless it is used for commercial purposes. It means that creating conlangs based either completely or partially on Ahtialan or borrowing to other conlangs any part of it are allowed. The only wish is to give an a priori name to any new conlang based on aylawai.



=Phonology= Ahtialan language has a very complex phonetic system which dissimilated heavily in 2005-2010. It includes the following phonetic features: vowel length (short and long), clicks, ejectives, even implosives, consonants of a range from bilabial fricatives to epiglottal and glottal, dynamic stress, nasalisation (important, but not written) and more.

Vowels
Aylawai features 12 vowel phonemes, allophones are noted in brackets. In Ahtialan some [u] turned into [i˞] and [o] (rarely [ä]) to [ə]. There are two types of vowels written as , that is: [ä] and [ɑ]. Vowel noted with the retroflex hook are typical only to Ahtialan language: they are not articulated in a retroflex manner, but rather than that, the tongue is shrank (as a muscle it can shrink or compress itself) and located before the alveolar ridge (that is, in the front of the palate), with which it forms an oval causing [i˞] to sound like [y], even if it is not phonemically rounded. All vowels except [ʉ] differ in length. Vowels cannot influence each other and polyphthongs such as «ааєаоуы» (there are words like that) will be always read [äːɛäɔuwʉ], without assimilating anything.

Consonants
Some consonants unusual to Polish language were "designed" by the author before acquiring any linguistic knowledge, like clicks or epiglottal [ʜ] or compressed [ɮ] (which is more like [ɮ˞], look above), others were introduced after, like [θ], [ʢ] or [ɣ]. Nonetheless the modern Ahtialan consonantal system is impressive.