Ehigi

General Information
Ehigi (/ˈɛhiːdʒiː/, native Edhṙ Èçigi) [ɛ̀dʰɚ́ ʔɛ̂çìgʲī] is a language spoken by the Àçigi ethnicity of the alien Aethos (tuqa) in the Ràçigi constituency of the United Federation of Usheira (Rauçeyṙat), a large southern island nation on the planet Aetho (Nuzohel).

Consonants

 * 1) The alveolars are laminal except for /s/, /z/, /ɾ/, and /ɾʰ/.
 * 2) /d/ and /dʰ/ are frequently pronounced with frication (i. e. as [dz] and [dz̤]).
 * 3) The dorsal nasal and stops are palatalized before an /i/ or before any vowel after an /i/.
 * 4) /q/ is voiced intervocalically.
 * 5) A glottal stop is epenthetically inserted between adjacent vowels.
 * 6) /l/ is devoiced before a voiceless consonant or when phrase-final.
 * 7) The radical fricatives /χ/ and /ʁ/ are typically pronounced as epiglottal trills [ʜ] and [ʢ] by younger speakers.

Phonotactics
(C)VCV...CV(C)
 * There are no consonant clusters within words, any potential ones are broken up with an epenthetic /ʌ/ or /ɚ/.
 * Vowels may begin words.
 * Vowels may be consecutive, though they are phonetically broken up by the epenthetic glottal stop.
 * Consonants may end words and form cross-word clusters.

Pitch Accent
Words can have two pitch contours: rising and falling.

Rising contour words have a low tone on the first syllable and a rising or high tone on the last syllable, with mid tones in between. Monosyllabic rising words are rising tone. ex. Rauçeyṙat [ɾà.ʔɯ̄.çɛ̄.jɚ̄.ʔǎt.]

Falling contour words have a falling tone indicated by a grave accent somewhere in them. The syllable before the fall is high and the syllable after the fall is low. Before and after the adjacent syllables are mid tone. ex. Ràçigi [ɾâ.çì.gʲī.]

Native Script
Ehigi is written with the same abugida as the rest of the languages of Usheira.

Native Collation
o, u, i, e, a, g, kh, k, gh, ṅ, d, th, t, dh, n, ġ, qh, q, ġh, z, s, r, rh, c, x, l, h, j, ç, y, ṙ

Punctuation

 * ⟨·⟩: separates words, not necessary between parts of names, also separates clitic affixes from stems.
 * ⟨×⟩: separates sentences

Transliteration

 * A grave accent is applied to vowels with a falling tone.

Full pronouns
ex. Kheqo-ne Edìlao Nucayo. "My name is John Doe."

Noun classes

 * For any example referring to a living thing, the translation is not accurate. As Aetho is a different planet, the translations merely suggest a similar niche filled.

Class I
Class I's prefix is a- or none. It is used for people and some place names.

Class II
Class II's prefix is e-. It is used for tools and language.

Class III
Class III's prefix is ṙ-. It is used for animals and fire.

Class IV
Class IV's prefix is ra-. It is used for plant-life and natural landscapes.

Class V
Class V's prefix is zi-. It is used for groups of smaller units.

Class VI
Class VI's prefix is lo-. It is used for long, slender things.

Class VII
Class VIII's prefix is qhe-. It is used for abstract ideas and qualities.

Class VIII
Class VIII's prefix is o-. It is used for actions.

Class IX
Class IX's prefix is nu-. It is an inquorate class with 15 members.

Class X
Class X's prefix is dace-. It is an inquorate class with 6 members.

Number
There are three plural prefixes which replace the singular class prefixes: u-, tu-, and ça-. The number prefix must be learned separately from the class.

Possessive affixes
Possession is indicated by the clitic pronouns suffixed to a noun, followed by an -a, ex. Redà qhezu-nea. "Get on my level."

Adjective agreement
Adjectives agree in noun class with the nouns they modify.

Verbs
stem-voice-tense-(person)

Verbs rely on suffixes with some vowel changes.

Non-finite suffixes

 * Active infinitive: -li, some vowel changes including e>a.
 * Passive infinitive: -qali, no vowel changes.
 * Active participle: -gho
 * Passive participle: -qa

Passive
Passive voice is represented by the suffix -qa- (-qo in present tense) which appears immediately following the stem.

Tense

 * Present: no suffix or vowel changes including a, e>o
 * Past: suffix -ṅ, -ṅo before clitic pronouns
 * Future: suffix -s, -so before clitic pronouns

Negation
Negative verb dhali.

Person
The subject is optionally represented by a clitic pronoun placed on the end of the verb, before anything else in the sentence, even adverbs which are normally the first thing after the verb. This can be combined with an explicit subject for added emphasis. ex. Xaguso-lu tuṙu neda. "They're gonna kill me!"

Syntax
Verb-Clitic subject-Nonfinite Verbs-Adverb-Subject-Object-Prepositional phrases

Basic sentence: Xarogus tuneda thṙ! "We will defeat you!"

Full sentence: Dheso-çe sorùli ṅesṙaka tuthṙ rago-çea racòs igota ekhṙuna. "You guys won't eat your nice food messily with utensils." (lit. "won't y'all to eat messily y'all food your goof with utensil.