Läd̛âng

General information
Lą̈ǐd̛âng (pronounced [lāǐ̯ˈdʰâŋ]) is a language isolate spoken on an island 200mi (500km) of the southern most tip of Vietnam.

Phonology and orthography
Lą̈ǐd̛âng has a fairly complex phonological system, especially for native speakers of most Indo-European languages. The vowel system is especially complicated, as is shown below.

Consonants
There are twenty-nine consonants; aspirated consonants are counted separate letters in their own right:

B b : [b] voiced bilabial plosive

B̛ b̛ : [bʰ] aspirated voiced bilabial plosive

C c : [c] voiceless palatal plosive

C̛ c̛ : [cʰ] aspirated voiceless palatal plosive

D d : [d] voiced alveolar plosive

D̛ d̛ : [dʰ] aspirated voiced alveolar plosive

F f : [f] voiceless labio-dental fricative

G g : [g] voiced velar plosive

G̛ g̛ : [gʰ] aspirated voiced velar plosive

K k : [k] voiceless velar plosive

K̛ k̛ : [kʰ] aspirated voiceless velar plosive

L l : [l] alveolar lateral approximant

Ł ł : [ɫ] velarised alveolar lateral approximant

N n : [n] alveolar nasal

P p : [p] voiceless bilabial plosive

P̛ p̛ : [pʰ] aspirated voiceless bilabial plosive

Q q : [q] voiceless uvular plosive

Q̛ q̛ : [qʰ] aspirated voiceless uvular plosive

S s : [s] voiceless alveolar sibilant

Š š : [ʃ] voiceless palato-alveolar fricative

Ŝ ŝ : [ɕ] voiceless alveolo-palatal fricative

Ś ś : [ʂ] voiceless retroflex sibilant

T t : [t] voiceless alveolar plosive

T̛ t̛ : [tʰ] aspirated voiceless alveolar plosive

W w : [w] voiced labio-velar approximant

Z z : [z] voiced alveolar fricative

Ž ž : [ʒ] voiced palato-alveolar fricative

Ẑ ẑ : [ʑ] voiced alveolo-palatal fricative

Ź ź : [ʐ] voiced retroflex sibilant

The following digraphs alter the pronunciation of the individual letters, other digraphs do not alter their pronunciation:

CŁ cł : [ɬ] voiceless alveolar lateral fricative

DF df : [θ] voiceless dental fricative

KŁ kł : [ɬ] voiceless alveolar lateral fricative

NC nc : [ŋ] nasal velar

NG ng : [ŋ] nasal velar

NK nk : [ŋ] nasal velar

NQ nq : [ŋ] nasal velar

TF tf : [ð] voiced dental fricative

QŁ qł : [ɬ] voiceless alveolar lateral fricative

Vowels
Lą̈ǐd̛âng is a tonal language, there are six "base" vowels and five tones. All base vowels can be iotated and three can be nasalised.

The six base vowels are:

A a : [a] open front unrounded vowel

E e : [ɛ] open-mid front unrounded vowel

I i : [i] close front unrounded vowel

O o : [ɔ] open-mid back rounded vowel

U u : [u] close back rounded vowel

Y y : [y] close front rounded vowel

Tones, nasal and iotated vowels are shown by accents, as are diphthongs. There are eight different diacritics used to show these vowel properties, they are:


 * Acute : ´
 * Circumflex : ^
 * Diaeresis : ¨
 * Grave : `
 * Háček : ˇ
 * Inverted apostrophe : ‘
 * Macron : ¯
 * Tilde : ˷
 * Ogonek : ˛

†accented vowel forms a diphthong with the proceeding vowel.

In addition to the "simple" accented vowels above, the tones can be combined with the three other accented vowels. A [currently incomplete] table of all of the possible "compound" vowels is available here.

Alphabet
There are thirty-five letters in the Lą̈ǐd̛âng alphabet:

Basic grammar
Lą̈ǐd̛âng has two numbers (singular and plural), two genders (masculine and feminine) and three cases (nominative, accusative and genitive).

Masculine nouns end in A, B, B̛, C, C̛, D, D̛, E, G, G̛, I, K, K̛, P, P̛, Q, Q̛, T or T̛. Feminine nouns end in F, L, Ł, N, O, S, Š, Ŝ, Ś, U, W, Y, Z, Ž, Ẑ or Ź.

Cases
The nominative case is used for naming objects and for the subject of an action or state, the accusative case denotes the direct object of a transitive verb and the genitive case denotes possession or relationship as well as a lack or replacement of something.

Masculine nouns ending in a consonant decline as below:

Masculine nouns ending in a consonant decline as below: