Keiphyos

General information
Keiphyos is fusional language spoken on the planet Halonia, and it is also the name of the sentient clockwork robots who comprise the largest base of its speakers. There are also non-Keiphyos speakers, including both free and enslaved humans, and members of the other sentient robots. The Keiphyos are also known as Tinkers, which is sometimes useful to seperate them from their language.

Some of the phonology and morphology of the language were inspired by Italic and Hellenic languages.

Consonants
Geminates are permitted of bilabial and alveolar nasals and plosives, and alveolar fricatives.

Vowels
Phonemic diphthongs are [ij] and [ai].

Alphabet
The Keiphyos language is written in a unique two-line alphabet, with the vowels sitting atop their preceeding consonant. (Images forthcoming.)

The romanized typing system follows the IPA with a few exceptions.

Consonants
ϼ and ƀ are sometimes written f and v.

Phonotactics
 
 * Syllable nucleus must be a vowel
 * Onsets and codas may be complex, following sonority hierarchy
 * Hiatus is generally avoided

Regular sound changes
 * t, d → ts, dz /_V [-back]
 * k, g → tš, dž /_V [-back], j
 * n → m /_V [+round]
 * V [+round] → ∅ /V [+round]_
 * V [-round] → ∅ /V [-round]_

Non-standard dialect changes

These changes have developed in some human speakers, and there is resistance against them by the Keiphyos. Their language has been frozen with little historical change for generations until now.
 * n → ŋ /_velar
 * n → ɲ /_j, ij, e
 * x → š /_j, ij, e
 * c → š /k_, _#
 * velar → [+round] /_V [+round]

Grammar Overview
Keiphyos has a relatively free word order due to its solid case-marking morphology. However its morphology is rather complex; with a twelve-gender (really animacy) system, four grammatical numbers, and four cases, there are a number of criterion for morphology to cover. On top of that, the morpho-syntactic interface is quite extreme, and there is much affix-hopping involved.

Nouns and Articles
The nominal phrase must be marked for definitiness, animacy, number, and case. However, this job is split between both nominal morphology and the determiner system; case and definiteness are both marked by the interface between the determiner and the noun.

Declension
One number/animacy-bearing unit is the noun. Here, animacy and number declensions are marked overtly with one particle, which is generally a suffix, but also often a circumfix or prefix.

(Aureli (sg 'aurel') and silici (sg 'silek') are the two other robot 'species' that live on Halonia; a zeilik are the particular subspecies of the silici that have the most cognitive function. Xiria is a country where the majority of inhabitants are Keiphyos.)

Some of these classes seem as though they would have very limited members, but there are a number of roots that can apply cross-categorically, e.g. often in the same manner that English has both 'waiter' and 'waitress.' So it is often true that names of professions may take human, Keiphyos, aureli, or silici agreement; on the other hand, anatomical features such as 'teeth' may belong to humans or animals.

There is some grey-area between 'inanimate' and 'natural.' Generally they are differentiated on whether or not they can pertain to one of the four classical elements of Western alchemy - earth, air, fire, or water - which are 'natural,' versus things like features of the land (mountains, deserts), buildings, tools, and other manufactured items.

Articles
The other form that may carry gender and number is the determiner of the noun in question.

Case & Definiteness
Keiphyos has both definite and indefinite marking, and a four-case system of nominative, accusitive, genitive and instrumental. However, the nominal case system is only two-way, and the markers are broadly categorized as nominative and accusative; instrumental and dative cases are formed in nouns with accusative marking and an adposition. The two number-bearing particles (articles and declension affixes) interact to show the case and definiteness of the relevant noun in a somewhat confusing manner. With this paradigm established, it is now possible to show the full declension table for a noun. This system makes it impossible to impart the number or animacy of the indefinite object, which results in its occasional translation as a partitive or mass noun when it is not.
 * kiril ceira 'the cheetah runs'
 * kirit ceira 'the two cheetahs run'
 * læ kiri ceira 'a cheetah runs'
 * let kirit ceira 'two cheetahs run'
 * ħo rot inar 'the apple is eaten'
 * ħas rot inar 'the apples are eaten'
 * rot inar 'apple is eaten'
 * kiril rot nar 'the cheeta eats apple'
 * ħas rot læ kiril inar 'the apples are eaten by a cheetah'

Pronouns and Verbs
Keiphyos verbs can be said to certainly conjugate for tense, aspect, mood, and voice. To a lesser extent, they also indicate number - if there is a pronominal suffix, the argument is singular, and in this case its person is also obvious; if there is no pronominal, then there is more than one actor.

Pronominals
Pronouns may be free in sentences, or they may be suffixes to the verb. This is determined by the number of the person in question; the suffixes are always singular. In other cases, the pronoun detatches itself from the verb so that the number affix has something to attach to.

The 12 word classes are somewhat collapsed in the pronouns, with only one form for first person, three for second (sentient, deity, other), and four for third (sentient, deity, natural, and other). However, when the standalone pronoun is used, it is still declined with its exact animacy.

In the following chart, forms before a slash indicate the standalone pronoun.
 * xinek 'to sing'
 * xinakab 'I sing'
 * xinakoƾ 'You (sentient) sing'
 * bas xinak 'I sing' [rarely used]
 * basom xinak 'We (human) sing'
 * basos xinak 'We (Keiphyos) sing'
 * basos xinakos 'We (K) sing it'
 * basos ϼot bœla xinak 'We (K) sing the two songs'

Tense-Aspect
There are nine tense-aspect forms for verbs in Keiphyos (as well as additional aspects indicated by clitics). Generally simply called 'tense,' it is indicated by the form of the last syllable nucleus (usually just a vowel) in the word - which is often not word-final. The bare infinitive has e.
 * xinak 'sing'
 * xinok 'sang'
 * xinuk 'will sing'
 * xinukab 'I will sing'
 * xinæk 'is singing'
 * xinœk 'was singing'
 * xinik 'will be singing'
 * xineisk 'have/has been singing'
 * xinysk 'will have been singing'

Determiners and Adpositions
While most determiners in Keiphyos take the form of articles (seen above in the 'nouns and articles' section), there are also demonstratives, possessives, and quantifiers. Adpositions may also take the place of determiners, although sometimes one of each is required.

Demonstratives
Demonstratives attach to articles if present, but otherwise to the noun.
 * ħærotel 'the apple (nom)'
 * ħo rot 'the apple (acc)'
 * đelħærotel 'this apple (nom)'
 * đelħo rot 'this apple (acc)'
 * yeħo rot 'that apple (acc) near you'
 * diħo rot 'this apple (acc) near me'
 * laħo rot 'that apple (acc)'
 * ħo ħærotel 'an apple (nom)'
 * đelħo ħærotel 'one of these apples (nom)'
 * yeħo ħærotel 'an apple near you (nom)'
 * diħo ħærotel 'an apple near me (nom)'
 * laħo ħærotel 'an apple over there (nom)'
 * đelrot 'some of this/these apple(s) (acc)'
 * đelħas rotal 'some of these apples (nom)'