Central Canian

Introductory information about this language will go here.

Phonology

Consonants

/p/ /t/ /k/ - Fortis plosives

/b/ /d/ (/ŋ/)* - Lenis plosives

/m/ /n/ /ŋ/ - Nasals

/f/ /s/ /χ/ - Fortis fricatives

/v/ /z/ /ʁ/ - Lenis fricatives

/j/ /w/ - Approximants

(*) The voiced velar plosive assimilated into the velar nasal as the language evolved.

Vowels

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i		u
Mid	e*
Open		a

(*) /i/ lowers to this vowel when word-final.

Tones

Pitch	˨	˧	˥
Diacritic	à	(none)	á

Phonotactics

The syllable structure of Central Canian is CV(N). N may be any nasal, though it will tend to assimilate into the place of articulation of a following consonant. Additionally, consonants (except for approximants) can be geminated when not word-initial.

Orthography

All vowels are written here using the appropriate IPA symbol. The close front vowel is spelt "i" when not word-final, and "e" when it is.

Consonants are written using their IPA symbols, with the following exceptions:

/ŋ/ -> ğ

/χ/ -> x

/ʁ/ -> r

/j/ -> y

Basic Grammar

Central Canian is primarily an SOV language. There are five cases, each one using a different singular and plural article (except for the nominative, which only possesses a plural article). They are as follows:

Case - Singular - Plural

Nominative - (none) - pé

Accusative - ba - ban

Dative - nù - xù

Genitive - ra - rağ

Ablative - và - vàm

Verbs

Generally, verbs do not inflect, with the tense usually being made apparent from context. However, the three most common verbs use special forms which do depend on tense and aspect.

Verb - Non-past - Past - Non-past continuous - Past continuous

Rannè (to be) - na - xín - narà - xíre

Mántin (to have) - mìn - mín - tam - táre

Xakkù (to do or make) - kù - xan - kùrà - xağe

All other verbs simply use the infinitive in all cases.

An Example Sentence

Pé kinnù ban fìnnè và pintà rağ xùmra xín.

NOM.PL dog ACC.PL elder ABL village GEN.PL shadow be.PST

The dogs were elders from the village of shadows.