Khehesen

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Khehesen is an agglutinative conlang.

Phonology

Pronounication guide

Consonants

Letter IPA symbol(s)
b b
ch
d d, t
dl
f f, θ
g ɡ
h h
hl ɬ
k k
kh x
l l
m m
n n
ŋ
p p
pf pf
r ɹ
s s
sh ʃ
v v, ð
y j
z z
zh ʒ

dl: pronounce d and l at the same time.
hl: same as the 'll' sound from Welsh.
kh: like the ch in 'loch'.
n̄: as in 'sing'.
pf: pronounced like p, but with the lower lip touching the upper teeth (this sound occurs in German)
th: as in 'thin' (not as in 'then').
v: usually as in "van", but sometimes like the th in "then"
zh: like the s in "treasure"

Vowels

Letter IPA symbol(s)
a æ
ā ɑ
e ɛ
i ɪ
o ɒ
ö ɔi
u ə, ʌ
ū ɜ, ɜɪ, ɜə

a: as in "attic"
ā: as in "father"
e: as in "met"
i: as in "tin"
o: as in "top"
ö: as in "oil"
u: as in "bun"
ū: as in "bird"

Grammar

Sentence structure

Word order is usually Subject Verb Object, as in English, but this is flexible since cases are indicated. To form a question, the prefix 'dli-' is added to the word being questioned. For example, think of the statement "Ben went out" (ben hlekhol n̄ifba). The questional form depends in what is being questioned, which occurs in English by emphasizing that word- for example, "Ben went out?" (dliben hlekhol n̄ifba) questions whether Ben went out, while "Ben went out?" (ben hlekhol dlin̄ifba) questions whether he went out. It is possible to question more than one word per sentence.

Declension

Khehesen has 5 cases, 4 marked by suffixes:

  • Nominative: no suffix (indicates a subject)
  • Accusative: '-fa' (indicates an object)
  • Genitive: '-ga' (indicates the possessor of something)
  • Locative: '-ba' (indicates a location)
  • Temporal: '-za' (indicates a time)

There are only 3 tenses, for present, past and future. They are indicated by prefixing the verb as follows:

  • Present: no prefix
  • Past: 'hle-' ('le-' if a word begins with hl)
  • Future: 'pfe-' ('pe-' if a words begins with pf)

In addition, a speaker can indicate that they like something by suffixing '-ār', or dislike something by suffixing '-ān'.

Plurals

The plural of a word is expressed by reduplication, that is repeating the last syllable of that word, with any cases following after the repeated syllable. There are a few words where the repeated syllable is pronounced slightly differently to the stem word, usually for loanwords. A double reduplication implies there are "many" of the said things.

For example:

  • "lanog" = island
  • "lanognog" = islands
  • "lanognognog" = many islands

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are treated like any other noun, and follow the same declension rules as necessary. There are no gender specfic pronouns.

  • First person singular: zhe
  • First person plural: zhezhe
  • Second person singular: she
  • Second person plural: sheshe
  • Third person singular: al
  • Third person plural: alal

Definiteness

Khehesen distinguishes 3 articles, the definite, indefinite, and partitive (something part of a greater whole, similar to the words "some" or "part of"). As in most Western European languages, they take the form of separate words.

  • Definite: 'izh'
  • Indefinite: 'na'
  • Partitive: 'opf'