Ginhtköl
| Ginhtköl | |
|---|---|
| Pronounced: | /gin̥tkøl/ |
| Timeline and Universe: | none |
| Species: | Human |
| Spoken: | Ginhtmaa |
| Total speakers: | 13 million |
| Writing system: | Latin |
| Genealogy: | Gan Language Family South Ganic |
| Typology | |
| Morphological type: | Agglutinative |
| Morphosyntactic alignment: | Nominative-Accusative |
| Basic word order: | SVO |
| Credits | |
| Creator: | ILuvEire |
| Created: | February 2009 |
Ginhtköl is the oldest and most prestigious language of the Gan family. Historically it was used as the lingua franca and literary language of the area, however now English has taken precedence.
Ginhtköl is also the language closest to Proto-Gan. Much of the reconstruction done by modern linguists was based on Ginhtköl.
Phonology
Consonants
Nasal: /m m̥ n n̥ ɲ/ <m mh n nh ng>
Plosive: /p b t d k g/
Fricative: /f v θ ð s z ʃ/ <f v ð þ s z sj>
Affricate: /tʃ/ <tj>
Approximate: /j w ʍ/ <j w wh>
Trill: /r r̥/ <r rh>
Lateral: /l ɬ/ <l lh>
All consonants but [θ] [ð] [ʃ] and [tʃ] can be long.
Vowels
/ɑ e i o u æ ø y/ <a e i o u ä ö y>
All vowels can be long.
Vowel Harmony
/ɑ o u/ are class one
/e i/ are class two
/æ ø y/ are class three
Class one and three can never exist in the same word. Class two can be with either. The first root in a compound word (very common) and the second one must follow their own vowel harmony, however they don't have to follow each others. Mädon (morning, day-start) therefore doesn't break vowel harmony (even though most speakers say mädön anyway).
Allophones
/i/ > [j] word final.
/b d g/ > /pʰ tʰ kʰ/ syllable final.
/f θ s ʃ/ > /v ð z ʒ / syllable initial.
/h/ > /ç/ before another consonant, and at the end of a syllable.
In VCV the consonant is always voiced. One note, /ɬ/ is the "unvoiced" counterpart of /l/.
Syllable Structire
The basic syllable structure is (O)S(O)(O)(O)V. I think this is how it would be written at least.
The onset is optional, and can be any obstruent. The nucleus (mandatory) can be any sonorant followed by 3 optional obstruents. The coda is any vowel (but not other sonorants!) This means that there are many words that are just on vowel long. Like "ää" meaning "therefore."
Pronouns
Plain
| First | Second | Third | |
| Singular | Whi* | Moon | Fäl |
| Plural | Gii | Mhöö | Lhi |
These are used more in daily life, than in writing. They are always used with people of similar status to yourself and with your "underlings."
Polite
| First | Second | |
| Singular | Vadasja | Areta |
These polite words for "I" and "you" are both used when first introducing yourself, and when writing to anyone you're not familiar with. Also, they are used a lot in poetry to fit the rhyme scheme. The rest of the pronouns are used in both situations. There are no special verb conjugations for these pronouns.
