Irkhilakhu

This language is incomplete. It is currently being worked on (as of Jan 7 2020) but you are free to take a look before it is finished.

Language created Dec 2019.

Irkhilakhu Irkhilakhu
Type	Fusional
Alignment	Nominative-Accusative
Head direction	Initial
Tonal	No
Declensions	Yes
Conjugations	Yes
Genders	3
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect
Meta-information
Progress	83%
Statistics Nouns 100% Verbs 100% Adjectives 100% Syntax 50% Words 8 of 500
Creator	Nondescrypt

Classification and Dialects

Classification

Fusional

VSO or SOV, based on speaker preference.

Nominative-Accusative

Head-Initial

Special features:

• Obviative nouns
• Phonetically-accurate abjad
• A few minor instances of reduplication

Dialects

Eston Speech (kh'atshwalhu ngbhu il /çʔat͡ʃʍaɮu ŋβu il/) - By far the most common dialect of Irkhilakhu, it is the version spoken in the capital. It is the dialect described here.

Western Speech (uzada ngbu il /uzada ŋbu il/) - The dialect spoken in the west of the continent. It is the second most common, and differs very little from Eston Speech, only having a few different consonants, vowels, and words.

(to be made - describe changes)

Desvaril - The variant of Irkhilakhu spoken by the people of the desert. It is a good deal closer to Common than all other dialects.

(to be made - describe changes)

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m					ŋ
Plosive	b	t̪      d̪				k g		ʔ
Fricative	β	s̪      z̪		ʃ	ç	(ɣ)		h
Affricate				t͡ʃ d͡ʒ
Approximant						ʍ	ʀ
Lateral fric.			ɮ
Lateral app.		l̪

• [ʀ] ~ [ɣ] before front vowels (here, /i/ and /a/)

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Back
High	i			u
Low-mid			ɜ
Low		a

Diphthongs: [a͡u], [u͡a], [ɜ͡a], [i͡ɜ], [u͡ɜ], [i͡u], [ɜ͡u], (in loanwords) [ɜ͡i]

Phonotactics

• Penult Stress
• Max. root syllable is (p.)(f.,s.)(C)V(C)(C)(C-p.,l.) where p = plosive, f = fricative, s = sonorant, and l = lateral

Writing System

Irkhilakhu Script

Additional notes:

• The script is written from left to right, and consonants of a single word are connected in a similar manner to cursive.
• Diphthongs are written as combined versions of normal vowel markers, but from the bottom up.
• Vowels are placed after the consonant which precedes them, and are not disconnected from the consonant. In the case that a word starts with a vowel rather than a consonant, a circle will be placed in that position in the consonant's stead. The position of the circle in relation to the first consonant is up to the artistic interpretation of the writer, but in most cases it will simply occupy the space directly left of said consonant.
• [t͡ʃ] and [d͡ʒ] are written as combinations of the t and ʃ and the d and ʃ symbols respectively.

Romanization

Letter	b	bh	m	t	d	s	z	sh	kh	lh	l	w
Sound	b	β	m	t	d	s	z	ʃ	ç	ɮ	l	ʍ
Letter	k	g	ng	r	'	h	a	i	e	u	j	tsh
Sound	k	g	ŋ	ʀ	ʔ	h	a	i	ɜ	u	d͡ʒ	t͡ʃ

The romanization is written completely phonetically.

Grammar

Nouns

Irkhilakhu nouns can be declined by singular and plural number, definite1, definite2 and indefinite articles, three noun classes, and seven cases.

Definite1 vs Definite2 is defined as if there is a situation in which two of the same object have been introduced and one must differentiate between them. For example, in English, one might say "My uncle was at the party. Then my other uncle came. The first ucle [VP] ... The other uncle [VP] ..." whereas in this language, the first and second are encoded in the definitive article.

The class of the noun is determined by which vowel it ends with. If it ends in a diphthong, the final vowel of the diphthong will determine the class.

Class U declines as follows:

U	Singular			Plural
	Indef.	Def.1	Def.2	Indef.	Def.1	Def.2
Nominative	-	-ŋim	-ŋisim	-s	-simb	-sisimb
Accusative	-k	-kim	-kisim	-ç	-ça	-çisb
Dative	-kud	-kum	-kisud	-sud	-çudumb	-çudismb
Equative	-gɜb	-gɜmim	-gɜmizm	-gzɜm	-gɜmb	-gɜsimb
Addessive	-ʃɜŋ	-ʃɜŋim	-ʃɜŋsim	-sɜŋ	-ʃɜmb	-simb
Inessive	-kuŋ	-kuŋim	-kuŋsim	-çuŋ	-çumb	-çisumb

((I don't know why, but this chart keeps breaking. If it's all jumbled up, just ignore it I guess.))

Class I declines as follows:

I	Singular		Plural
	Indef.	Def.	Indef.	Def.
Nominative	-	-t	-	-t͡ʃ
Accusative	-a	-at	-as	-at͡ʃ
Dative	-i+um*	-tum	-um	-t͡ʃum
Equative	-ɮuk	-ɮut	-ɮuk	-ɮut͡ʃ
Addessive	-dɜm	-tɜm	-dɜm	-t͡ʃim
Inessive	-dam	-tam	-dam	-t͡ʃam

*Drop the /i/ and replace it with /um/

Due to differences in the historical development of these two classes, i-class has no Def. 2 forms.

Class A declines as follows:

A	Singular			Plural
	Indef.	Def.1	Def.2	Indef.	Def.1	Def.2
Nominative	-g	-d	-dis	-ʀ	-d͡ʒ	-it͡ʃ
Accusative	-kas	-das	-dais	-kʀ	-kad͡ʒ	-kit͡ʃ
Dative	-gau	-daud	-daudis	-gauʀ	-gad͡ʒ	-gait͡ʃ
Equative	-gɜb	-gɜbd	-gɜbdis	-gɜʀ	-d͡ʒɜb	-it͡ʃɜb
Addessive	-ʃɜŋ	-ʃɜŋd	-ʃɜŋdis	-ʃɜŋʀ	-d͡ʒɜŋ	-it͡ʃɜŋ
Inessive	-guŋ	-guŋd	-guŋdis	-guʀ	-d͡ʒuŋ	-it͡ʃuŋ

A word is always definite before determiners such as "this" or "that."

Genitivity

The genitive is formed by adding a dative pronoun after the noun that possesses the object. This differs from the syntax for actual datives, as the dative is in that case placed before whatever it receives.

For example:

He gave me his coffee = give.NFUT PRO.3.NOM.SING PRO.1.DAT.SING coffee.ACC PRO.3.DAT.SING

Compound Words

To compound two nouns into a single word, take off the final vowel of the first noun and concatenate the result with the second noun. Decline for the structure of the second noun.

Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives are always attached to the beginning of a noun, and adverbs to the beginning of verbs. They are not inflected, and simply retain their original forms in all contexts.

The comparative adjective is marked with -su, and the superlative adjective is marked with -susu.

Prepositions

Prepositions come after the noun they describe. The prepositions themselves are attached to the beginning of the word that they describe. For example:

The big man without the small dog = big man.SING.DEF small with.NEG-dog.SING.DEF

Verbs

Verbs are conjugated by two tenses, two aspects, and four moods, as shown in the below charts.

Indicative verb conjugations:

^ is here used to represent infixing. It should go before the final syllable. In the case that there is a one-syllable word, it will simply be added after the initial consonant. If that sequence is unpronounceable, a glottal plosive may be added between the onset of the syllable and the infix.

IND	Perfect	Habitual
Nonfuture	-	⁻^gɮ
Future	-ʀ (final vowel backing -- all vowels become /u/)	⁻^gɮ+ʀ (See Perfect Future)

Vowels are backed in the future tense in antiicpation of the /ʀ/

The following chart is for verbs of the desiderative, interrogative, or volitive interrogative moods. The prefixes may be added to any verbs dervied from the above chart.

Desiderative	Interrogative	Des/Int
ŋli-	kʀu-	ŋlʀu-

This prefixing is a result of these moods being historically represented simply with a separate word that later melded with the verb that followed it.

Frequentative verb conjugations:

This may be added to any of the Desiderative, Interrogative, or Des/int prefixes.

FREQ	Perfect	Habitual
Nonfuture	-ig	⁻^gɮ+ig
Future	-ʀig (final vowel backing -- all vowels become /u/)	⁻^gɮ+ʀig (Exactly what you expect.)

Despite the front vowel, vowels are still backed in the future tense in the frequentative mood, as it by this point has become a standard rule.

Unlike English, frequentatives are productive in this language.

Infinitives

The infinitive is simply formed by adding the prefix l'- before a verb. Syntactically it acts much the same as it would in English.

Past and Present Tense

Irkhilakhu has no distinction between the past and present tense; it only conjugates tense for what has truly occurred and what is yet possible. Thus, if you want to make the destinction between past and present, you can use an adverb. Most commonly, tredbhu "before" and kajuelh "now" are used for this purpose.

Syntax

Denoting questions -

Formulated like statement but verb is interrogative (for boolean questions)

Questions that need an answer are just the same way but also with a question word in place of whatever the answer is.

Kuraka.NOM place.ADE.SING.NDEF be.PRES.INT (Where is Kuraka?)

vs.

Kuraka.NOM place.ADE.SING.DEF be.PRES.INT (Is Kuraka at the place/here?)

Kuraka.NOM person.ADE.SING.NDEF be.PRES.INT (Who is Kuraka?)

Event.NOM.SING.DEF time.ADE.SING.NDEF be.PRES.INT (When is the event?)

Thing.NOM reason.ADE.SING.NDEF why is thing????? but why not IS THING THAT REASON?

(UNFINISHED, IGNORE SYNTAX ^)

What = class i, who = class a/u

Dictionaries

By Letter

English to Irkhilakhu Alphabetical

	Common	Irkhilakhu	PoS
A
	and	u	conj.
B
	before	tredbhu	adv.
C
D
E	earth/world	irkhikhu	n.
	east	kh'atshu	n.
F	for/to	l'a	prep.
G	grow	bhetang	v.
H
I
J
K
L	language	il	n.
	long	arnga	adj.
M
N	no	ras	int.
	no/none	mak	(dif.pos)
	now	kajuelh	adv.
O
P	place	walhu	n.
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W	west	uzada	n.
	without	mak(maybe)
X
Y	yes	'e	int.
Z

==== Irkhilakhu to English Abjadical

====

By Part of Speech

Noun

	Common	Irkhilakhu
A
B
C
D
E	earth/world	irkhikhu
	east	kh'atshu
F
G
H
I
J
K
L	language	il
M
N
O
P	place	walhu
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W	west	uzada
X
Y
Z

	Common	Irkhilakhu
A
B
C
D
E
F
G	grow	bhetang
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

	Common	Irkhilakhu
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L	long	aʀŋa
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Adverb

	Common	Irkhilakhu
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z

Conjunction

English	Irkhilakhu
and	u

Coordinating: And, but, for, nor, or, so, yet

Pronoun

Navigating this chart:

p. = person; u,i,a = noun classes / genders

IRKHILAKHU		Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Equative	Addessive	Inessive
Sing.	1p.	am	ma	da	amgelh	ameng	amkheng
	2p.	suz	suzu	suda	sugem	sung	sukheng
	3p. u	kusk	kuskus	kudask	kusgem	kuskang	kukheng
	4p. u	kusisk	kusiskus	kusisdu	gusim	kusing	kusikhm
	3p. i	isuk	isukuk	idsuk	iskum	iskeng	ikheng
	3p. a	amkung	amkungung	amudakng	amgung	amkung	amkhung
	4p. a	amukhkang	amukhkangang	amukhangda	gungamukhang	amakung	amakhunga
Pl.	1p.	amu	mau	admu	agem	ameng	amkhengu
	2p.	sauz	suzau	sudaz	saugelh	sungez	sungkhez
	3p. u/a	kusku	kuskaus	kudasku	kusgulh	kuwang	kuwang
	4p. u/a	kisku	kiskuku	kadsku	kisgulh	kiskung	kikhung
	3p. i	isku	iskuku	idsku	idsgum	iskung	ikheng

Additional Notes:

• The 4th person is akin to that of the Algonquian languages, meaning it is used for another person with the same "gender" of pronoun who is either less important to a topic or is introduced later. i-class nouns do not have it, as they developed separately from a- and u-class nouns.
• Genetivity is denoted in the following manner: "[possessed] [possessor.DAT]," or, directly translated, "the blank to/of blank"

ENGLISH		Nominative	Accusative	Dative	Equative	Addessive	Inessive
Sing.	1p.	I	Me	(to) me	like me / (me-like)	(on/at/next to) me	in me
	2p.	You	You	(to) you	like you	(on/at/next to) you	in you
	3p. u	He/she/it	Him/her/it	(to) him/her/it	like him/her/it	(on/at/next to) him/her/it	in him/her/it
	4p. u	He/she/it (other)	Him/her/it (other)	(to) him/her/it (other)	like him/her/it (other)	(on/at/next to) him/her/it (other)	in him/her/it (other)
	3p. i	it	it	(to) it	like it	(on/at/next to)	in it
	3p. a	He/she/it	Him/her/it	(to) him/her/it	like him/her/it	(on/at/next to) him/her/it	in him/her/it
	4p. a	He/she/it (other)	Him/her/it (other)	(to) him/her/it (other)	like him/her/it (other)	(on/at/next to) him/her/it (other)	in him/her/it (other)
Pl.	1p.	We	Us	(to) us	like us	(on/at/next to) us	in us
	2p.	Y'all	Y'all	(to) y'all	like y'all	(on/at/next to) y'all	in y'all
	3p. u/a	They	Them	(to) them	like them	(on/at/next to) them	in them
	4p. u/a	They (other)	Them (other)	(to) them (other)	like them (other)	(on/at/next to) them (other)	in them (other)
	3p. i	They (inanimate)	Them (inanimate)	(to) them (inanimate)	like them (inanimate)	(on/at/next to) them (inanimate)	in them (inanimate)

Additional Notes:

• When a pronoun is used for someone whose name is not Irkhilakhu in origin, the pronoun assigned to them will be moved to the closest counterpart of an animate vowel. If their name does not end with a vowel, then the last vowel in their name will be used. (For declension of names, any consonants after the final vowel will be dropped before adding Irkhilakhu inflections.)
• Under the circumstance that the person being referred to's name is not known, one should generally default to the u-class, though defaulting to the a-class is not seen as unacceptable, merely less frequent.
• Addessive denotes nearby proximity, inessive denotes that something is directly within. Thereby, it is used considerably less than addessive for anything aside from inanimate nouns. If something is far, it is denoted with a phrase akin to "distant of ___."

Interjection

yes - 'e

no - ras

Example text

IRKHILAKHU SCRIPT

TRANSLITERATION

Lhat kusku da kubhi kudask.

IPA

[ɮat̪ˈ kʰus.ku.daːˈ kʰu.βiˈ ku.daskʰ]

GLOSS

give.NFUT PRO.3.NOM.SING PRO.1.DAT.SING coffee.ACC PRO.3.DAT.SING

ENGLISH

"He gave me his coffee."

Unfinished song:

IRKHILAKHU

Du esu amkung burad irkhakhushengim

Mak tshadrang l’ukbhu, mak lidar l’uskim

Angatch amudakng ada mishagreng lu

Jadit mak ukhngum huskadu

ENGLISH

While he was walking the plains of the earth

No horse to ride, no signs to guide

His pack so laden

The day barely begun