Lǔfsata

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	Stats Nouns 63% Verbs 20% Adjectives 17% Syntax 23% Words of 1500

Lǔfsata Lǔfsata
Type
Agglutinative
Alignment
Tripartite
Head direction
Initial
Tonal
No
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
No
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect

General information

Lǔfsata [ɺɚ̹ˤɸsata] is an agglutinative language with few irregularities spoken as a national language in the kingdom of Lǔfsevias.

Lǔfsata is generally written using the Lǔfsatan alphabet, but it can be accurately transcribed to the Latin alphabet using several romanization methods.

Phonology

Consonants

The standard Ḥevaloma romanization is to the left in brackets; IPA is to the right.

		Bilabial	Bidental		Alveolar			Alveolo-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
					Lateral		Central
Nasal		〈m〉 m~ŋ
Plosive	Voiceless	〈p〉 p					〈t〉 t			〈k〉 k*
	Voiced	〈b〉  b					〈d〉 d	〈g〉 ɟ~g
Fricative	Glottalic				〈ḥl〉 ˀɬ				〈ḥy〉 ˀç
	Voiceless	〈f〉 ɸ	〈fh〉 h̪͆~ʃ		〈hl〉 ɬ		〈s〉 s	〈sy〉 ɕ	〈hy〉 ç		〈h〉 h
	Voiced	〈v〉 β	〈vh〉 ɦ̪͆~ʒ				〈z〉 z	〈zy〉 ʑ
	Ejective	〈ţ〉 ɸʼ~ɸ͡θʼ~θʼ					〈ş〉 s’
Affricate	Voiceless	〈þ〉 p͡θ			〈tl〉 t͡ɬ		〈c〉 t͡s	〈cy〉 t͡ɕ			〈ḥ〉 ʔʰ
	Voiced				〈dl〉 d͡ɮ		〈ž〉 d͡z	〈žy〉 d͡ʑ
	Ejective						〈ç〉 t͡s’	〈çy〉 t͡ɕ’
Approximant					〈l〉 l ~ ɺ			〈y〉 j		〈w〉ɰᵝ

Lǔfsata possesses a moderately large consonant inventory with a considerable amount of fricatives and affricates.

• /k/ only occurs in loanwords.
• /p͡θ/ has a wide variety of realizations, including but not limited to /p͡f/, /p͡ɸ/, p̼͡ɸ̼/, and /t̪͡θ/, as well as /pʰ/ in some dialects.
• Lüfsata possesses a single nasal phoneme pronounced in isolation as /m/ whose realization varies according to surrounding sounds.
  • It is /n/ when preceding /t/, /d/, /t͡s/, /d͡z/, or /t͡s’/ and when following /s/, /z/, /s’/, /t͡s/, /d͡z/, or /t͡s’/.
  • It is /ŋ/ when preceding /k/ or /g/.
  • It is /m/ elsewhere.
• /l/ is /ɾ/ when following a plosive other than /t/ or /d/.
• /l/ is /ɺ/ before /ɚ̹ˤ/ and between vowels.
• /ʔʰ/ is always aspirated and is often analyzed as a glottal affricate.
• /ʔʰ/ may be /ʔʱ/ or /ɦ/ in a few dialects. In these dialects, the corresponding palatal and lateral fricatives change along with them: /ˀç/ to /ˀʝ/ or /ʝ/, /ˀɬ/ to /ˀɮ/ or /ɮ/.
• /ɕ’/ is not listed as a phoneme because /s’/ cannot occur in the onset of a syllable, however, this sound does occur when /s’/ and /j/ coincide between syllables (e.g. paşyav [paɕ’aβ] 'hand').
• /ɰᵝ/ is rounded to /w/ in some dialects and is raised to /ɣᵝ/ at the end of a syllable and before /ɯᵝ/.
• Sonorants /l/ and /j/ (not /ɰᵝ/, however, as it always occurs alone in the syllable onset) change the pronunciation of several other consonants when immediately following them:
  • /j/ changes glottal consonants as well as alveolar central fricatives and affricates to their palatal (or alveolo-palatal in the case of alveolars) counterparts: e.g. /hj/ to /ç/, /ʔʰj/ to /ˀç/, /sj/ to /ɕ/, /d͡zj/ to /d͡ʑ/, etc.
  • /l/ changes glottal consonants to alveolar laterals and alveolar plosives to lateral affricates: /hl/ to /ɬ/, /ʔʰl/ to /ˀɬ/, /tl/ to /t͡ɬ/, /dl/ to /d͡ɮ/.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	〈i〉i		〈u〉ɯᵝ
Mid	〈e〉e̞	〈ǔ〉ɚ̹ˤ	〈o〉ɤ̞ᵝ
Open	〈a〉a

All diphthongs are permitted with the exception of those beginning with /ɚ̹ˤ/.

The Lǔfsatan vowel system contains six vowels. Open and close vowels are written in the Lǔfsatan alphabet with a single line, and each of them are moved to mid level with the addition of a dot or dash to the Lǔfsatan vowel letter. /i/ and /ɯᵝ/ go through no other changes while /a/ becomes rounded, rhotacized, and pharyngealized (or pronounced with advanced tongue root).

	Front	Central	Back
Non-mid	i	a	ɯᵝ
Mid	e̞	ɚ̹ˤ	ɤ̞ᵝ

Phonotactics

Lǔfsatan syllable structure can be summarized as follows, in which parentheses enclose optional components:

(C(C)(R))V(V(V))(C)

While a maximum of three vowels can be considered a syllable, there is no maximum of vowels that can occur in succession.

Vowels may be doubled to become long (e.g. sooi [sɤ̞ᵝːi] 'again') Long vowels are considered sequences of short values rather than separate phonemes.

• Onset
  • First consonant (C): Can be any consonant other than an ejective fricative.
  • Second consonant (C): Can be /ɸ/, /β/, /h/, or /h/ if and only if the first consonant is /s/, /z/, /ɸ/, or /β/ respectively. Thus, the only consonant clusters permitted in the onset that do not contain liquids are /sɸ/, /zβ/, /ɸh/, and /βh/, the latter two of which are realized as /h̪͆/ and /ɦ̪͆/ respectively.
  • Liquid (R): Can be either /l/ or /j/ provided the first consonant is not a voiced approximant.
• Nucleus
  • First vowel (V): Can be any vowel.
  • Second Vowel (V): Can be any vowel provided the first vowel is not /ɚ̹ˤ/.
  • Third Vowel (V): Can be any vowel provided the second vowel is not /ɚ̹ˤ/.
  • /ji/ cannot occur. /ɰᵝɯᵝ/ is permitted, but is commonly realized as [ɣᵝɯᵝ].
• Coda
  • Consonant (C) Can be any fricative, affricate, nasal, or approximant with the exception of /h/, /l/, and /j/ as well as all plosives.

It should be noted that consonants, liquids, and vowels refer to what is represented by each Lǔfsatan letter, not to individual phonemes. Example of maximal onset: sflasa /sɸlasa/ ('north')

Example of maximal nucleus: ḥaoev /ʔʰaɤ̞ᵝe̞β/ ('behind')

Example of maximal coda: com /t͡sɤ̞ᵝm/ ('person')

Writing Systems

Romanization

Lǔfsata uses three (potentially four) different methods of romanization available for use depending on access to special characters and the target audience's familiarity with the language.

Ḥevaloma

Ḥevaloma (lit. 'Roman characters') is the most commonly used method of romanizing Lǔfsata. It is a one-to-one romanization of each Lǔfsatan letter.

Pyǔhiza Ḥevaloma

Pyǔhiza Ḥevaloma (lit. 'standard Roman characters') is a method of romanization which abandons one-to-one representations in favor of avoiding diacritics and unusual characters (such as the thorn þ). It is used in places where accuracy is necessary, but diacritics are not available to type (such as text messaging). There are two types of Pyǔhiza Ḥevaloma romanization:

Standard Pyǔhiza

This uses various digraphs and other similar letters to replace diacritics.

Eksi Pyǔhiza

This replaces diacritics by using the letter without its diacritic followed by an X, similar to how Esperanto may be typed. It is the least commonly used method.

Acfa Vuyas Ḥevaloma

Acfa Vuyas Ḥevaloma (lit. 'simplified Roman characters') is the method used for transcribing Lǔfsatan words to those who may be unfamiliar with the language.

Lǔfsatan Letter		Ami	Imi	Umi	Ǔmai	Emii	Omui	Ta	Da	Se	Fa	Hai	Zei	Po	Va	Bo	Lai	Faţ	Ḥa	Ma	Ca	Ža	Yu	Ga	Saş	Çi	Þa	Wa	(Kai)
Ḥevaloma		A	I	U	Ǔ	E	O	T	D	S	F	H	Z	P	V	B	L	Ţ	Ḥ	M	C	Ž	Y	G	Ş	Ç	Þ	W	K
Pyǔhiza	Standard	A	I	U	R	E	O	T	D	S	F	H	Z	P	V	B	L	TH	Q	M	C	J	Y	G	X	TX	PH	W	K
	Eksi	A	I	U	UX	E	O	T	D	S	F	H	Z	P	V	B	L	TX	HX	M	C	ZX	Y	G	SX	CX	PX	W	K
Acfa Vuhas		A	I	U	UR	E	O	T	D	S	F	H	Z	P	V	B	L, R	TH	H	M, N	TS	DZ	Y	G	S	TS	PTH	W	K

Grammar

	Gender	Cases	Numbers	Tenses	Persons	Moods	Voices	Aspects
Verb	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nouns	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Adjectives	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Numbers	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Participles	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Adverb	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Pronouns	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Adpositions	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Article	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Particle	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

Vocabulary

No.	English
1	I	—
2	you (singular)	—
3	he	—
4	we	—
5	you (plural)	—
6	they	—
7	this	—
8	that	—
9	here	—
10	there	—
11	who	—
12	what	—
13	where	—
14	when	—
15	how	—
16	not	—
17	all	—
18	many	—
19	some	—
20	few	—
21	other	—
22	one	—
23	two	—
24	three	—
25	four	—
26	five	—
27	big	—
28	long	—
29	wide	—
30	thick	—
31	heavy	—
32	small	—
33	short	—
34	narrow	—
35	thin	—
36	woman	—
37	man (adult male)	—
38	man (human being)	—
39	child	—
40	wife	—
41	husband	—
42	mother	—
43	father	—
44	animal	—
45	fish	—
46	bird	—
47	dog	—
48	louse	—
49	snake	—
50	worm	—
51	tree	—
52	forest	—
53	stick	—
54	fruit	—
55	seed	—
56	leaf	—
57	root	—
58	bark	—
59	flower	—
60	grass	—
61	rope	—
62	skin	—
63	meat	—
64	blood	—
65	bone	—
66	fat	—
67	egg	—
68	horn	—
69	tail	—
70	feather	—
71	hair	—
72	head	—
73	ear	—
74	eye	—
75	nose	—
76	mouth	—
77	tooth	—
78	tongue	—
79	fingernail	—
80	foot	—
81	leg	—
82	knee	—
83	hand	—
84	wing	—
85	belly	—
86	guts	—
87	neck	—
88	back	—
89	breast	—
90	heart	—
91	liver	—
92	drink	—
93	eat	—
94	bite	—
95	suck	—
96	spit	—
97	vomit	—
98	blow	—
99	breathe	—
100	laugh	—
101	see	—
102	hear	—
103	know	—
104	think	—
105	smell	—
106	fear	—
107	sleep	—
108	live	—
109	die	—
110	kill	—
111	fight	—
112	hunt	—
113	hit	—
114	cut	—
115	split	—
116	stab	—
117	scratch	—
118	dig	—
119	swim	—
120	fly	—
121	walk	—
122	come	—
123	lie	—
124	sit	—
125	stand	—
126	turn	—
127	fall	—
128	give	—
129	hold	—
130	squeeze	—
131	rub	—
132	wash	—
133	wipe	—
134	pull	—
135	push	—
136	throw	—
137	tie	—
138	sew	—
139	count	—
140	say	—
141	sing	—
142	play	—
143	float	—
144	flow	—
145	freeze	—
146	swell	—
147	sun	—
148	moon	—
149	star	—
150	water	—
151	rain	—
152	river	—
153	lake	—
154	sea	—
155	salt	—
156	stone	—
157	sand	—
158	dust	—
159	earth	—
160	cloud	—
161	fog	—
162	sky	—
163	wind	—
164	snow	—
165	ice	—
166	smoke	—
167	fire	—
168	ash	—
169	burn	—
170	road	—
171	mountain	—
172	red	—
173	green	—
174	yellow	—
175	white	—
176	black	—
177	night	—
178	day	—
179	year	—
180	warm	—
181	cold	—
182	full	—
183	new	—
184	old	—
185	good	—
186	bad	—
187	rotten	—
188	dirty	—
189	straight	—
190	round	—
191	sharp	—
192	dull	—
193	smooth	—
194	wet	—
195	dry	—
196	correct	—
197	near	—
198	far	—
199	right	—
200	left	—
201	at	—
202	in	—
203	with	—
204	and	—
205	if	—
206	because	—
207	name	—