Ailanii

Ailanii (pronunced as ay/lan/yeh) is a Latin-based and Nordic-inspired language created by Octoling.

Alphabet
Ailanii's alphabet has 27 letters, including 7 vowels and 20 consonants. A lot of the unique sounds that some other languages use as a single letter are represented in diphthongs or diagraphs.

Nouns
In Ailanii, the nouns declenate according to number, gender, and definiteness. Unlike English, the Ailanii equilvant of the (changes based on gender) or a/an (also changes on gender) is added to the end of the word to create a new word. Each noun has a seperate singular and plural form, like the English "dog" and "dogs" and unlike the English "deer". Additionally, each noun is assigned a gender based on the ending of the noun: either masculine, feminine, or neutral. Masculine nouns end in a or ii; feminine nouns end in u or yy; and neutral nouns cover any other endings, with few exceptions. The declenation order is gender, number, and then definiteness.

Declension Based on Gender
The first step in the three-layered declension is gender. Each noun, as previously mentioned, has a gender that is based on the ending of the word. However, all nouns have a root that is neutral-gendered, and an addition ending is added that is tells gender if necessary. For an example, here is a table for the Ailanii word for apple: popul. As you can see, the word "popul" can be changed into "popula" for a male apple and "populu" for a female one, or left neutral for other uses. While this particular example is probably not going to be used often, this is helpful for telling both animals and people (names) apart based on gender. However, there are also the "ii" and "yy" endings that have not been explored yet. For the next example we will use two words: und (which means water) and lingø (which means language). Unlike "popula" and "populu", the suffixes added to "und" and "lingø" were -ii and -yy. One of the most important rules to remember when gendering a neutral noun is that if a neutral word begins with a vowel (like und) or ends with a vowel (like lingø) then the -ii or -yy are added in place of -a or -u. Some words, like languages, are stuck in a certain gender, such as Ailanii (which does not have a neutral or feminine version that is grammatically accurate).

Declension Based on Number
After you've declined based on gender, then you can add more to a word to tell if it is singular or plural. Thankfully, it is automatically assumed that a noun is singular if it has no ending, so singular nouns do not need any endings added to tell number. However, plural endings require the suffixes added based on gender: -s for  masculine, -s for feminine, and -ais or -s for neutral, with the diphthong included depending on if the word ends with a consonant or a vowel. The examples used below are çimx (bug) and infano (baby). While telling that there are multiple babies ("infanos") or telling about the baby boys or girls ("infanoiis" or "infanoyys") is nice, there are ways to get more descriptive. In most languages you cannot attach the actual number of objects to the end of a noun, but you can in Ailanii. While, like in, English, you can opt to put the number in front of the noun while retaining the plural (such as "seven dwarfs") in Ailanii you can add the number on the end with a connector. Numbers that start with a consonant do not use connectors (expect "ai" for neutral nouns) because the suffix from gendering is a connector itself, but numbers that start with vowel need one of the following connectors in addition to the gendered ending (a/u/ii/yy): "s" for masculine and feminine or "ç" for neutral. The numbers used for the examples are trai (three) and octun (eight) and the nouns are hojan (human) and popaŋ (person). It's tough to learn, which is why some prefer using "octun popaŋus" to "popaŋusoctun" or "octun hojanais" to "hojanaiçoctun". However, it is still important to learn because the declined method is the more popular and historically more acceptable phrase (for written language at least). Don't forget that the connector may be -ii or -yy due to the vowel beginning and ending rules.

Declension Based on Definiteness
The next way to decline nouns is based on definiteness. There is one definite article in English - the - and it is one of the most used words. Unlike English, however, nouns encompass the definite and indefinite articles as suffixes. The type of suffix attached depends on the gender of the noun as well as the type of article you wish to attach. To point out something specific (like the), you can use -an or -na (for masculine), -un or -nu (for feminine), and -ain or -nai (for neutral). To tell which one to use, all you have to do is look at the already-declined noun and ensure that your new suffix does not have the same letter type as the old. Because of the order of declension, you will add the definiteness declension last. Examples below use the words jann (the door of a house or residence), maniin (hand), and arbon (plant). All plurals for the example are just basic plurals, no numbers added. One thing to note here is the -ii's and -yy's that were added - don't forget the vowel-starting or vowel-ending rules (there rules, as you can see, do not apply to declining on definiteness). In this example, you don't see any plurals that end with -nai, -na, or -nu, but don't be fooled: a completely declined word like "popaŋutrainu" (the three female people) with these endings are possible.

The other type of definiteness is indefinite - pointing out that something is something, and is not a specific thing. The English indefinite articles are "a" and "an". In Ailanii, like the definite article, the indefinite article is attached in the process of declination as a suffix. The indefinite suffixes are: -ath or -tha for masculine, -uth or -thu for feminine, and -aith or -thai for neutral. The rules are the same for suffixes as the definite suffixes. The examples used in the chart below are lagavis (bird), inferni (fire), and suso (pig). Notice that, unlike English, you can say the Ailanii equivalent of "a two birds" ("lagavisaitvesaith"). This means the same thing as the English "a group of two birds", but it is simpler and easier to use to point out a group - and it is all encompassed in a single word.

Verbs
In Ailanii verbs conjugate to person, number, tense, and aspect. That means that depending on what perspective you are speaking from - first (I), second (you), or third (he, she, etc.) the verb will change (English example: I eat, he eats, they eat). Verbs will also change depending on if one person is doing an action or if multiple people are (English example: they swim, he swims). Additonally, verbs will change depending on tense - present, past, and future (English example: throwing vs. throw). Finally, verbs will conjugate based on the grammatical aspect (English example: I am eating vs. I will eat vs. I have eaten).

Lexicon
See Ailanii's Dictionary here for a comprehensive list of words.