Iyachke

General
Iyachke (/ɪjátʃki/, natively Laasojo Yihaajki klito "Standard Iyach language", colloquially Yihaa'to or Yi'to) is a language spoken by the Aethos (Xokkiij Jiyaata) on the Isle of Iyach (Yihaaj) off the northwestern coast of the singular Pangaean continent of the planet Aetho (Jiyaa).

Classification and Dialects
Iyachke is part of a small family of languages unique or nearly unique to the island chain that the Isle of Iyach is a part of. The use of most of these other languages are being suppressed by the Iyachke government. The indigenous languages of the nearby mainland may be distantly related. Iyachke has many dialects, but seven are standardized and allowed to be spoken. One of these dialects is the standard shown on this page.

Consonants

 * Nasals, plosives, /s/, and /ɺ/ distinguish gemination in all dialects. /tʃ/ does as well in the standard.
 * Geminate /ɺ/ is realized as [ɭː] in the standard.
 * /tʃ/ and /kʟ̝̊/ are realized as [ts] and [kx] in rural areas.
 * Dorsal consonants are realized as palatal after /i/ and /iː/.
 * /h/ can be realized as [ʔ], especially before /a/ and /aː/ as well as after codas.
 * /j/ can be dropped before /i/ and /iː/, especially in colloquial speech.
 * /x/ and /ɰ/ are typically realized with pharyngealization.
 * Un-geminated obstruents are voiced intervocalically and after the nasal coda.

Vowels

 * Allowable diphthongs are /ai/, /aːi/, /aɯ/, and /aːɯ/.
 * The diphthongs' offglides are open-mid in the standard.
 * The main vowel in the diphthongs raises to short [ɜ] and long [ʌː] before phonetically voiceless consonants.
 * Short /ɯ/ and /a/ are fronted to [ɛ] and [æ], respectively, after palatal consonants (including velars that became palatal via a preceding front vowel) as well as after a /h/ preceded by a front vowel.
 * In colloquial speech, short /ɯ/ is dropped word-finally after a phonetically voiced consonant.
 * Between nasal consonants and before the nasal coda, vowels are nasalized.

Phonotactics
CV(N, S, NS)
 * /N/ is a nasal homorganic to a following obstruent. Preceding a sonorant, it is typically only realized as nasalization of the nuclear vowel, perhaps with a lax offglide [ɰ̃].
 * /S/ is a fricative which differs depending on the dialect, in most being identical to the primary realization of /tʃ/, though always voiceless. In some dialects it is fricated or debuccalized.
 * Long /t/, /k/, /s/, and /ɺ/ CAN begin words. ex. llanti [ɭːandɪ] "feathers"
 * Geminate consonants which follow codas are degeminated. ex. kantta*>kanta
 * Geminate consonants which follow long vowels are also degeminated. ex. kaatta*>kaata
 * Long vowels are shortened if there is another long vowel in the following syllable. ex. kaataa*>kataa

Stress and Pitch Accent
Stress in Iyachke takes the form of a high pitch on the antepenultimate mora, or the immediately preceding vowel if that mora is a consonant. Short vowels, syllable-final consonants, and geminate consonants contain one mora; short diphthongs and long vowels contain two; and long diphthongs contain three morae. This results in stressed short vowels being high pitched, stressed long vowels or short diphthongs being either falling or rising in pitch, and stressed long diphthongs being any of falling, peaking, or rising. Stress changes when suffixes are added, and secondary stressed are assigned the same way, counting back from before the stressed syllable, though their pitches are always lower than stressed syllables and their pitch swings less extreme.
 * ex. klaisso > kla-i-s-so > klaisso (rising pitch)
 * yihaaj > yi-ha-a-j > yihaaj (falling pitch)
 * yihaajki > yi-ha-a-j-ki > yihaajki (rising pitch)
 * ngassini > nga-s-si-ni > ngassini (high pitch)
 * xokkiij > xo-k-ki-i-j > xokkiij (falling pitch)

Native Script
The native script for Iyachke is a syllabary, shown on the right. The Iyachke word for a writing system is ngassini.

Interesting features

 * It shares some features with the Arabic alphabet on a design level. It is a cursive script so letters are joined with a baseline, which is semi-optional in handwritten texts.
 * Many characters look quite similar, being distinguished by meaningless marks.
 * The diphthongs, ai and ao, are written ayi and awo.

Writing Direction
The script is written left-to-right, top-to-bottom, like English.

Punctuation
The script has four main punctuation marks.
 * Half stop: the half stop (labeled 'comma, colon' in the image) acts to set off lists and appositives, but not to separate members of a list, as a Latin comma is used for. It is always joined to the previous character.
 * Full stop: the full stop ends all sentences, even questions and exclamations. It is always joined to the previous character.
 * Parenthesis: The parenthesis are used to set off parenthetical information just like in the Latin script. They are optionally joined to the surrounding characters.
 * Apostrophe: the apostrophe is a diacritic used to indicate a contraction. It is placed in the same position as the length diacritic on the character immediately after the contraction.

Collation
There are three common orders for the characters: phonetic, graphic, and poetic.
 * Phonetic: yi, yo, ya, wo, wa, li, lo, la, ho, ha, si, so, sa, ni, no, na, ji, jo, ja, ki, ko, ka, ngi, ngo, nga, ti, to, ta, xo, xa, kli, klo, kla, j, n
 * Graphic: yi, ngo, wo, wa, la, kli, ji, sa, ki, si, yo, ko, li, ta, ya, ti, ho, xo, ni, j, xa, lo, klo, n, jo, to, no, ka, nga, so, kla, na, ha, ja, ngi

Nouns
Nouns decline for number and case.

Number
Noun roots are inherently transnumeral, that is, whether they are singular or plural must be determined from context. However, suffixes can be applied which make a noun singular or plural, but these are always optional.

The most common pluralizer is -Qaa(i)ni, where the Q represents a removal of the rime of the last syllable and where the (i) is only found in rural areas. Components of a diphthong are treated as separate syllables and are broken up. The most common singularizer is -kko.
 * ex. klito /kʟ̝̊ɪtɜ/ > klitaani /kʟ̝̊ɪtɑːnɪ/ "languages"
 * ex. xokkiij /χɜkːiːS/ > xokkaani /χɜkːɑːnɪ/ "peoples"
 * ex. yijkohaon /jɪSkɜhaɯN/ > yijkohawaani /jɪSkɜhaɰɑːnɪ/ "students"

Cases
There are 21 cases, which are represented simply by suffixes. Suffixes with a long vowel in their first syllable shorten any long final syllable of a stem they are attached to. ex. jisaa "store" > jisanaa "to the store"

Pronouns
Pronouns can be declined in any case. The third person singular distinguishes animate from inanimate, but this is purely natural gender, not grammatical gender which Iyachke lacks.

Derivations

 * -aani: pluralizer
 * -kko: singularizer
 * tono-: quality of an adjective, ex. tonojinti "width"
 * yo-: agent, ex. yoxotti "giver, philanthropist"
 * yo-wan: patient, ex. yokansowan "a meal"
 * jayo-: instrument, ex. jayollojti "skinning knife"
 * ji-, jiji-, -nonii: diminutives, ex. jijillantaani "baby feathers"
 * jaa-, -noxaa: augmentatives, ex. klaissonoxaa "greatsword"

Noun congruence
Adjectives in Iyachke do not decline to match the case of the noun they are modifying. They instead decline for whether they describe the head noun in a phrase or a modifying noun. The head form is unmarked, and the dependent form has a suffix -n(o).
 * ex. tija sotiijngi klaisso "a soldier's short sword" vs. tijan sotiijngi klaisso "a short soldier's sword"

Negation
Adjectives can be negated with a prefixed lii-. ex. tija > liitija "not short", laasojo > lilaasojo "nonstandard", nin > liinin "bad"

Comparison
Adjectives also have comparative and superlative forms, which can combine with the negative.

Affix order
Preverb-3rd person Subject-Preroot moods-Root-Voice-Postroot moods-Subject-Object
 * ex. Kanso-wanki-taa-yi-lo? "Are you being forced to eat?"
 * Toolijin xanaa kosongoota ni-wao-xotti-taa-lo? "Would the key be given to me by the mayor?"
 * Saj-jaa-ngo-linta-yi-xa. "You will have to get through me."

Preverbs
Preverbs are prefixes which change the meaning of some roots. They are a discontinuous part of the verb stem.

Examples: saj "violently", ti "wavering", kasi "water"

Voice

 * Active (0)
 * Passive (wan)
 * Causative (ki)
 * Passive causative (wanki)
 * Applicatives can be formed with any case suffix in place of a voice affix.

Mood
Divided into pre- and post-root affixes. The two types cannot cooccur in applicative voices in the standard dialect. All postroot affixes become preroot in the applicative voice.

Preroot Moods: optative (ha), conditional (wao), desiderative (saan)

Postroot Moods: indicative (0), inferential (ngo), necessative (jaa), interrogative (taa)

Subject affixes

 * 1) 1st person- 0
 * 2) 2nd person- yi
 * 3) 3rd person- ni-
 * 4) reflexive- laj

Sentence-level order
The most neutral word order is Subject-Objects-Adverbs-Verb, but word order is quite free except for adjectives and adverbs. Subject and object pronouns are frequently dropped if the verb and/or context are enough for understanding.

Verb phrases
Verb phrases are generally left-branching. Nouns can be moved after the verb to call focus to them. Nouns declined to modify the whole clause are placed after any other adverbs.

Noun phrases
Noun phrases are purely left-branching, with the quirk that nouns declined to modify other nouns are placed after any adjectives. ex. Laasojo Yihaajki klito "Standard Iyach-in language"

Numbers
Most Aethos languages are base-8, due to the Aethos having one less finger per hand compared to Humans. The word for "number" is jaao.

Colors
The Aethos are trichromats, meaning they have three primary colors, but their primary colors are different than the Human red, green, and blue. They have orange, green, and violet.
 * nojxo: orange
 * xowon: green
 * yaalin: violet
 * xooklij: dark orange, brown, red
 * llij xowon: dark green
 * llij yaalin: dark violet, near-UV
 * jonii nojxo: light orange, pink
 * jonii xowon: light green
 * jonii yaalin: light violet, lavender
 * joolin: "orange-green", greenish yellow
 * sansoonyaj: "green-violet", cyan-blue
 * kkinyaa: "orange-violet", magenta
 * sitonjin: black
 * jonii: white
 * waahoyi: gray, greenish gray

Body parts
Because of differences in anatomy and physiology, the words for body parts are very different semantically.
 * body: koonsaotta
 * thorax: kkillaj
 * abdomen: joolasi
 * head: haotinla
 * whiskers: kaasi
 * beak: taaila
 * tongue: yinikkolli
 * throat-teeth: xaanti
 * nose/nostrils: naangan
 * eyestalks: jaangi looxa
 * eyeballs: jaa
 * ears: wanklin
 * halteres: taingi looxa
 * back/neck: wollaa
 * skin: llojti
 * feathers: llanti
 * arms: kinon
 * elbows: kinonngi klaanj
 * wrists/hands: xotti
 * fingers: ngassinilli
 * hand claws: naij
 * legs: hossi
 * knees: hossingi klaanj
 * feet/ankles: llosaaj
 * toes: kliwai
 * toeclaws: kliwaingi naij
 * dewclaws: yisoonngi naij
 * wings: hooloj
 * tail: ttaoloo