Cheyoon

Cheyoon/cayû
Pronounced:	['ca.ju:ⁿ]
Timeline and Universe:	Polycosm, Mermish World
Species:	Mermish World Pinnapoid
Spoken:	Unknown
Total speakers:	Unknown
Writing system:	No native writing system
Genealogy:	Isolate
Typology:
Morphology:	Isolating
Morphosyntax:	Unknown
Word order:	VOS
Credits
Creator:	Linguarum Magister
Created:	a. 2010

Cheyoon (an [mis-]anglicization of its native name cayû) is spoken by pinnapoid creatures often mistaken for mermaids and mermen.

Phonology

Although the phonemes below are divided into consonants and vowels for convenience of pronunciation, the archiphoneme for each consonant/vowel pair is a semivocalic. Cheyoon phonology is divided into Crests and Troughs, which roughly correspond to consonants and vowels. Cheyoon is a difficult language for humans, and rapidly wearies the throat.

Consonants (Crests)

/y/ [j] /ž/ [ʝ] /j/ [ɟ] /ñ/ [ɲ] /Y/ [j◌̥] /š/ [ç] /c/ [c] /Ñ/ [◌̥ɲ]

/w/ [w] /v/ [v] /b/ [b] /m/ [m] /W/ [ʍ] /f/ [f] /p/ [p] /M/ [m◌̥]

/q/ [zero morpheme] /r/ [ʁ] /g/ [ɢ] /ŋ/ [ɴ] /Q/ [ʔ] /R/ [χ] /q/ [q] /Ŋ/ [ŋ◌̥]

Vowels (Troughs)

/i/ [i] /í/ [iˑ] /ï/ [iː] /î/ [i:ⁿ] /ih/ [i] /íh/ [iˑ◌̥] /ïh/ [iː◌̥] /îh/ [i:ⁿ◌̥]

/u/ [u] /ú/ [uˑ] /ü/ [uː] /û/ [u:ⁿ] /uh/ [u◌̥] /úh/ [uˑ◌̥] /üh/ [uː◌̥] /ûh/ [u:ⁿ◌̥]

/a/ [a] /á/ [aˑ] /ä/ [aː] /ã/ [a:ⁿ] /ah/ [a◌̥] /áh/ [aˑ◌̥] /äh/ [aː◌̥] /ãh/ [a:ⁿ◌̥]

Grammar

Singular > Plural

C1V1C2V1 > C1V1C2V2C2V2

V1C1V2C2 > C1V1C1V2C2

Vocabulary

Root: c-q-y-m Meaning: speech Crest Form: cayû Trough Form:

ny-h-y-y mermish? ny-h-ny-y mermish? m-y-h-y male hny-h-#-c Whisperer hw-w-b-# observer y-p-?-# human h-?-?-h female Doublet C’yuun iinhiiny Mermish C’yuun inhaa..c Whisperer C’yuun uwuu..’ Observer C’yuun iipa..’ Human