Ilushan
| Language | |
| Spoken in: | n/a |
| Timeline/Universe: | n/a |
| Total speakers: | 0 |
| Genealogical classification: | Unknown isolate |
| Basic word order: | Varies |
| Morphological type: | Isolating |
| Created by: | |
| Jashan A'al | 1999? |
Ilushan was a thought-project originally meant to experiment with a uniquely Satanic language. It had specific design goals of:
- A 'softer' verbal flow, with a sound somewhat resembling French.
- A writing system which is both logical, phonemically exact (no duplicate letters, etc), and useable in a mathematic mystical manner, similar to the Jewish and Greek gematria traditions.
- Moral-relativist base (no terms for "sin," "damnation," "evil," "good," as absolutes)
- Primarily mono- and duo-syllabic for core words; isolative morphology and syntactical forms.
- Majority of regular rules, with minimal exceptions (to simplify ease of learning)
Phonology and Orthography
The traditional alphabet is recognized to consist of 18 letters (5 vowels and 13 consonants). The core 18 letters are listed in bold below, with their written form, followed by their phonetic value, then an approximate pronunciation, then finally their spoken name. Additionally, there are 6 so-called "soft letters" which, although they have their own distinct letter-name, are written as variants of the 18 core letters. These are listed in italics. There are 5 diphthongs, which are not considered separate letters, but which are listed here for phonemic completion. Two semi-vowels (y and w) are used in Roman spelling, although they were not present in the traditional script.
| Roman Script | IPA | Letter Name | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | [a] | a | Vowel |
| e | [ɛ] | e | |
| i | [ɪ] | i | |
| o | [o] | o | |
| u | [ʊ] | u | |
| ae, ai | [ai] | n/a | Diphthong |
| au | [au] | ||
| ei | [e] | ||
| ii | [o] | ||
| u | [u] | ||
| y | [j] | n/a | Semi-Vowel/Glide |
| w | [w] | ||
| b | [b] | bei | Core Consonants |
| c 'or' k | [k] | ka | |
| d | [d] | dei | |
| g | [g] | ga | |
| h | [h] | ha | |
| l | [l] | il | |
| m | [m] | mei | |
| n | [n] | na | |
| p | [p] | pei | |
| r | [ɣ] | ra | |
| s | [s] | sei | |
| t | [t] | tei | |
| z | [z] | zei | |
| bh | [v] | bhei | "Soft" Letters |
| ch | [tʃ] | cha | |
| ph | [f] | phei | |
| sh | [ʃ] | sha | |
| th | [θ] | thei | |
| zh | [ʒ] | zha |
Alphabet Arrangement
The traditional arrangement of the alphabet is almost identical to the standard Phoenician-derived order (which can be seen in the Hebrew, Greek, and Roman alphabets, among others). Keep in mind that while soft letters are considered to be part of the alphabet, diphthongs and semi-vowels are not (and strictly speaking, the soft letters are not part of the "core" system, as mentioned):
Although the Roman alphabetic order has been adopted for most standard usage, for symbolic writing and occult functions, there still exists the traditional order of the letters.
Traditionally, the 18 core letters were divided into three [3] groups (called itre or l'itre in plural) of 6 letters, in the following order:
- First Set (Itre A): a, pei, tei, sei, ka, ha
- Second Set (Itre E): e, bei, dei, zei, ga, o
- Third Set (Itre I): i, mei, il, na, ra, u
The following patterns can be seen intrinsic to the groupings of the sets:
A) The first member of the itre is [a], which is the low front vowel (and the first vowel in the alphabetic order). It is followed by voiceless core consonants, in order of their increasing "backness" of place of articulation (i.e. [p] is most-forward, being bilabial; then [t], which is apico-dental and slightly further back; [s] which is apico-alveolar; and [k] which is velar). The final member of the series is [h], which, while commonly considered a consonant by literate people, may more accurately be described as a voiceless vocal resonant. That it, it is the voiceless equivalent of a vowel.
E) The first member of the second itre is [e], which is the mid-level front vowel (and the second vowel in the alphabetic order). It is followed by voiced core consonants, in order of their increasing "backness" of place of articulation (and thus match perfectly as the voiced versions of the consonants in the A-set). The final member of the series is [o], which is the mid-level back vowel (and which is, of course, voiced, as opposed to the "voiceless vowel" at the end of the A-set).
I) The first member of the third itre is [i], which is the high front vowel (and the third vowel in the alphabetic order). It is followed by nasal and liquid core consonants (both categories have extremely prominant vowel-like qualities, which makes them distinct from other classes of consonants), although these do not follow the previously-seen "place of articulation" ordering. The final member of the series is [u], which is the high back vowel.
In summary, the patterns can be written as follows:
- A) low-front vowel + voiceless core consonant (ordered) + voiceless 'vowel'
- E) mid-front vowel + voiced core consonant (ordered) + mid-back vowel
- I) high-front vowel + liquid/nasal (unordered) + high-back vowel
What of the 'soft' letters? There is a fourth itre, consisting of these letters. The fourth set, while unofficial, is still sometimes used:
- "Whispered Set" (Itre Damai): phei, bhei, thei, sha, zha, cha
The pattern seen here is that the letters are ordered based on the place of articulation of the core letter of which they are 'variants' , and their voice-status (voiceless before voiced, similar to how the voiceless A-set precedes the voiced E-set). As diphthongs have never been considered part of the alphabetical system, there is no set which includes them.
