Raàyepèye rehneh

raàyepèye rehneh, rehneh ye enah ri is a language created by MilyAMD for the 24-hour speedlanging challenge on the ZBB.

Syllabary used for the language.

The CR 19 torch written in the syllabary.

Phonology

Consonants	Labial	Alveolar	Glottal
Nasal	/m/ ‹m›	/n/ ‹n›
Stop	/p/ ‹p›	/t/ ‹t~s›	/ʔ/ ‹'›
Fricative	/ɸ/ ‹f›		/h/ ‹h›
Tap		/ɾ/ ‹r›

Vowels	Front	Central	Back
Close	/i/ ‹i~yi›		/u/ ‹u~wu›
Mid-close	/e/ ‹e~ye›		/o/ ‹o~wo›
Mid-open	/ɛ/ ‹è~yè›		/ɔ/ ‹ò~wò›
Open		/a/ ‹a›

Syllables: (C)V(h)

Stress on the first closed syllable; when none in a word, then initial.

Allophony and orthography

• /i e ɛ/ have epenthetic [j] syllable initially, written ‹y›
• /u o ɔ/ have epenthetic [w] syllable initially, written ‹w›
• /ʔa/ is written ‹à›
• /ʔ/ is written ‹'› after /h/, unwritten elsewhere

• /t/ has an allophone [s] before front vowels, written ‹s›
• /hh/ and /hʔ/ are realized as [h]

Nouns

Singular

Singular for double nouns: i (after /h/), yih (after V).

• feròh /ɸeˈɾɔh/ "(two) eyes" → feròh'i /ɸeˈɾɔhʔi/ "an eye"
• yipi /ˈipi/ "(two) legs" → yipiyih /ipiˈih/ "a leg"

Singular for mass nouns: àh (after /h/), ah (after V).

• woròi /ˈoɾɔʔi/ "hair" → woròiah /oɾɔʔiˈah/ "a hair"
• enah /ʔeˈnah/ "people" → enah'àh /ʔeˈnahʔah/ "a person"

Dual

Dual is marked with the ending hama

• sèhhu /ˈtɛhhu/ "stone" → sèhhuhama /ˈtɛhhuhama/ "two stones"
• enah → enahhama /ʔeˈnahhama/ "two people"

Plural

Plural is not marked on mass nouns. For the rest, there are two endings: èpè (after /h/), yepè (after V)

• sèhhu → sèhhuyepè /ˈtɛhhuepɛ/ "stones"
• feròh → feròh'èpè /ɸeɾɔhʔɛpɛ/ "(many) eyes"

Pronouns

1. raà | raàhama | raàyepè
       | raànu   | raànuyepè (incl.)
2. nu  | nuhama  | nuyepè
3. peh | pehhama | peh'èpè 

The pronouns incorporate prepositions, e.g. nè raà → raànè, ye peh → pehe.

Verbs

Present tense

The present tense uses accusative syntax. It takes suffix u (only after /h/).

• raà nawò /ˈɾaʔa ˈnaɔ/ "I go"

1SG go

The accusative marker is ta.

• raà afoh'u ta sèhhu /ˈɾaʔa aˈɸohʔu ta ˈtɛhhu/ "I grasp a stone"

1SG grasp.PRE ACC stone

Past tense

The past tense is used with ergative syntax. It takes suffix misi.

• raà nawòmisi /ˈɾaʔa ˈnaɔmiti/ "I went"

1SG go.PAST

• sèhhu afohmisi /ˈtɛhhu aˈɸohmiti/ "someone grasped a stone"/ "a stone was grasped"

stone grasp.PAST

The ergative marker is nè.

• sèhhu raànè afohmisi /ˈtɛhhu ˈɾaʔanɛ aˈɸohmiti/ "I grasped a stone"

stone 1SG.ERG grasp.PAST

Irrealis construction

The irrealis mood is constructed with the past of mòhhòh "to wish", "to conceive"

• nawò raànè mòhhòhmisi /ˈnaɔ ˈɾaʔanɛ ˈmɔhhɔhmiti/ "I would go" (lit. "I conveived to go"/ "to go was conceived by me")

go 1SG.ERG conceive.PAST

• raànè mòhhòhmisi afoh ta sèhhu /ˈɾaʔanɛ ˈmɔhhɔhmiti aˈɸoh ta ˈtɛhhu/ "I would grasp a stone" (lit. "I conceived to grasp a stone")

1SG.ERG conceive.PAST grasp ACC stone

• nawò mòhhòhmisi nè enah /ˈnaɔ mɔhhɔhmiti nɛ ʔeˈnah/ "people would go"

go conceive.PAST ERG people

• mòhhòhmisi afoh ta sèhhuyepè nè enah /ˈmɔhhɔhmiti aˈɸoh ta ˈsɛhhuepɛ nɛ eˈnah/ "people would grasp stones"

conceive.PAST grasp ACC stone.PL ERG people

Lexicon

• afoh - to grasp
• à (locative marker)
• eh (instrumental marker)
• enah - people (m.)
• fahyih - fire
• fehfe - to see
• feròh - eyes (d.)
• fòrih - grass (m.)
• fose - big
• hòh - good
• humèh - ground
• mòhhòh - to conceive
• monòh - head
• nawò - to go
• nè (ergative marker)
• nòhpah - to smell
• nu - you
• òhòh - bad
• paè - arm, hand (d.)
• peh - he, she, it
• pepa - body
• pohru - to fly
• raà - I
• rèh - small
• rehneh - language
• riwuh - water
• seeh - nose
• sèhhu - stone
• siah - to hear
• sifò - ears (d.)
• ta (accusative marker)
• tah'òh - tree
• tuhpèh - to feel
• wòhroh - foreigner
• woròi - hair (m.)
• wuhmò - sky
• ye (genitive marker)
• yèhwu - country
• yèpo - river
• yime - bird
• yipi - legs (d.)
• yitoh - words (m.)