Velyan

Velyan is one of the two main classical languages of the continent Pellargos, on the planet Máa. Máa is an alternate Earth planet.

Phonology

Vowels

There are 12 vowels, each of which can be short or long.

Vowels
	Front		Near-front		Central		Near-back		Back
High	i	y								u
Near-high
High-mid			e	ø						o
Mid					ə
Low-mid			ɛ	œ						ɔ
Near-low			æ
Low					a

Consonants

Consonants
	Bilabial		Labiod.		Dental		Alveolar		Post-alv.		Palatal		Velar		Uvular		Glottal
Nasal		m				n						ɲ	ŋ
Palatalised Nasal		mʲ				nʲ							ŋʲ
Plosive	p					t						c	k		q
Palatalised Plosive	pʲ					tʲ							kʲ		(qʲ)
Fricative						s	ʃ (ʒ)					(x)	h
Palatalised Fricative						sʲ	ʃʲ (ʒʲ)					(xʲ)	(hʲ)
Approximant	ʋ	ʍ			ð							j
Palatalised Approximant	ʋʲ				ðʲ
Trill								rː
Palatalised Trill								rːʲ
Flap								ɾ
Palatalised Flap								ɾʲ
Lateral Approximant								l				ʎ
Palatalised Lateral Approximant								lʲ

Consonant Gradation

The phenomenon of consonant gradation arises due to a restriction in Velyan words, that prohibits a "strong" syllable from ending in a consonant. A strong syllable is a syllable that begins with a consonant and is preceded by another ending in (at least) one consonant. When this happens, the consonant or cluster at the beginning of the final syllable undergoes lenition or softening (although it can be historically explained as a process of fortition or hardening).

The following changes occur as a result of consonant gradation:

1. Geminate phonemes change to simplex ones, e.g. tt -> t, rr -> r, ss -> s.
2. w disappears and labialises the preceding consonant.
3. j disappears and palatalises the preceding consonant.
4. ḣ disappears and aspirates the preceding consonant.

Clusters change as follows:

1. Nasals:
   1. Nasal + voiceless plosive changes to nasal + voiced plosive, e.g. mp -> mb, nt -> nd (or nð)
   2. Nasal + voiced plosive changes to geminate nasal, e.g. mb -> mm, nd -> nn, ŋg -> ŋŋ
2. Liquids:
   1. lt -> ld (or lð)
   2. ld -> ll
   3. lp -> lv
   4. lkU -> lv
   5. rkU -> rv
   6. lkI -> lj
   7. rkI -> lj
3. Consonant clusters beginning with s:
   1. sp -> sv
   2. st -> *sr -> rs
   3. sk -> ss
4. Consonant clusters ending with s:
   1. ps -> *vs -> sv
   2. ts -> rs
   3. ks -> sy
5. Simplex consonants
   1. t -> r (or ð)
   2. p -> v
   3. k -> Ø
   4. iki -> iji
   5. -UkU -> UvU
   6. v -> w

Transcription

Below is a table of the IPA sounds of Velyan, with transcription.

IPA	Letter
a	a
æ	ä
c	c
ð	ð
e	e
ɛ	ɛ
ə	ə
h	h
i	i
j	j
k	k
l	l
ʎ	ɫ
m	m
n	n
ɲ	ñ
ŋ	ŋ
o	o
ö	ö
œ	œ
ɔ	ɔ
p	p
q	q
ɾ	r
r	r
s	s
ʃ	š
t	t
u	u
y	ü
ʋ	v
ʍ	w
Ʒ	ž

Notes:

1. Long vowels and geminate consonants are written double, e.g. aa, cc, except for /lː/, which is written l·l to avoid confusion with /ʎ/, written ll.
2. Palatalised, labialised, and aspirated consonants, and tone marks, are not shown. These are explained below.

• Palatalisation is marked by writing a y (without a diaeresis) after the letter, except at the end of a word or before another consonant or ÿ, when it is marked by writing '.

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns in Velyan are divided into noun classes and inflect for number, case, possessor, destination and deixis. Suffixes (there are no prefixes or infixes in Velyan) are added to the noun, or (more often) to the oblique stem.

Noun Classes

There are several noun classes in Velyan, reflecting the division of nouns into several semantic categories. The noun classes are added to a notional form of the noun known as the base. In some cases, the base of a noun ends in one of the letters l, n, r, s, or t, and the noun is in Class IV, which has no suffix; in these cases the base form does surface.

The class suffixes are as follows:

Class	Meaning	Suffix
I	Female Human	-a
II	Masculine Human	-o
III	Male Professional	-ri
IV	Female Professional	-ja
V	Animate (Non-Human)	-e
VI	Inanimate	-i
VII	Abstract	-u
VIII	Divine Female	-tar
IX	Divine Male	-tari

Number

The singular is unmarked, as in English: kótti cat. The plural is formed in three ways:

• When not followed by another suffix, it is marked by the addition of -t to the oblique stem: kóttit cats;
• When followed by another suffix beginning with a consonant, it is marked by the addition of -i- to the oblique stem; kóttiin of [the] cats;
• When followed by another suffix beginning with a vowel, it is marked by the addition of -j- to the oblique stem; kóttijin into the cats.