Lefaneie

Lefaneie eieame Lefaneie
Type	Artlang
Alignment	Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Tonal	No
Declensions	No
Conjugations	No
Genders	No
Nouns decline according to...
Case	Number
Definiteness	Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice	Mood
Person	Number
Tense	Aspect
Meta-information
Progress	0%
Statistics Nouns 0% Verbs 0% Adjectives 0% Syntax 0% Words 40 of 2000
Creator	Hope C. Dixon

Lefaneie ([lɛfaɲɛ:]) is a personal artlang created by Hope C. Dixon for her Einea science-fantasy setting, spoken in various forms by different Lefan-descended peoples throughout Einean history. Earlier and later forms will be touched on, but the majority of what will be discussed here concerns Old Lefan, spoken from the late days of Einea's middle age until the cataclysm of the Sudden Shock which began the Lus Desper movement and the current, modern era.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m		n		(ɲ)
Plosive	p b		t d			k g	ʔ
Fricative		f v	s z	ʃ ʒ		(x)
Approximant					j
Flap or tap			ɾ
Lateral fric.			ɬ ɮ
Lateral app.			l

1. /n/ becomes [ɲ] before... something. Gotta figure that out.
2. All stops are slightly aspirated - less so than English, but more so than Spanish.
3. /k/ becomes [x] after back vowels [u, ɒ].
4. /s/ becomes [ʃ] before the lateral approximant [l].

Vowels

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	y, i				u
Near-close		(ɪ)			(ʊ)
Close-mid					(o)
Mid			(ə)
Open-mid	ɛ				(ʌ)
Near-open			(ɐ)
Open			ä		ɒ

1. The vowel clusters <eie>, <aia>, <oio>, <uiu>, <üiü>, and the <i> cluster equivalent, <ï>, sound as [ɛʔjɛ], [aʔja], [ɒʔjɒ], [uʔju], [yʔjy] and [ɪʔjɪ] respectively. These are known as 'person clusters,' after <eie>, meaning 'person.'

• This differs in final position, when person clusters become long versions of the first vowel, e.g. <eie> is pronounced [ɛ:].
• Central vowels /a, ɐ, ə/ that occur after frontal person clusters - <eie>, <üiü> and <ï> - are reduced.

2. /ɪ/ is the usual realisation of /i/, but becomes /i:/ when lengthened in stress situations (e.g. as plural suffix -i and in penultimate syllables.)

Phonotactics

Lefaneie syllables follow a (C) V (C) structure, with these stipulations:

• Onset (C) can be any consonant.
• V can be any vowel.
• Coda (C) can be nasals /m n/, fricatives /f v s z ʃ ʒ/ and stops /t d/.

Writing System

Letter	a	e	f	v	i	k	g	l	ł	ⱡ	m	n
Sound	a	ɛ	f	v	ɪ	k	g	l	ɬ	ɮ	m	n
Letter	o	p	b	r	s	z	t	d	u	ü	x	j
Sound	ɒ	p	b	ɾ	s	z	t	d	u	y	ʃ	ʒ

Grammar

Adjectives

The infix -ipe- will transform a noun into an adjective, e.g. xaie, 'injury,' becomes xaipe, 'in an injured state.' This can be combined with the past-tense suffix -ele to create xaipele, meaning 'the state of being injured in the past.'

Adverbs

The -ipe- infix can also be used to convert nouns that represent numbers (e.g. one, four) into quantitative adverbs - for example, fa, 'one,' with an adjectivising infix, becomes fipea, 'once.'

Verbs

The prefix i- will transform a noun into a verb. For example, ren, 'thought, wish,' becomes iren, 'to think.'

Syntax

Lefaneie is typically SOV, but due to the fact that it has subject and object markers and a consistent placement of adjectives/adverbs relative to nouns/verbs, Lefaneie syntax can be quite fluid within clauses. The SOV format is broken in order to place emphasis on different parts of a clause.

Here is an example of syntax shifting within a glossed sentence.

Aurin    ła     ukaxa     e        po       leos-ele       łatese   oine.

Aurin   SBJ  musket   DEF  OBJ    shoot-PST   sky       within.

Aurin ła ukaxa e po leosele łatese oine.

Aurin fired the musket into the air.

Ukaxa e po Aurin ła leosele łatese oine.

Aurin fired the musket into the air.

Leosele łatese oine Aurin ła ukaxa e po.

Aurin fired the musket into the air.