Ac'talul

Ashthalul is a fictional language by Polka Dot.

Ashthalul is the language of the ancient Ashth civilization, it was originally spoken in the then called Limbra "continent", continental fragment or microcontinent and modern Ashthian Archipelago, near the south-eastern coastal region of Phwaim. Ashthalul, while being a Phwaim language, is unrelated to the other languages of Phwaim and any other known language, therefore, it is deemed as a language isolate.

The form of the language presented below is the dialect of Limbra, the greatest of the Ashth city-states, where the congress and the treasury of the Limbra league of free city-states stood, and way later became the capital of the Limbra Commune.

Phonology & orthography

The consonant inventory of Ashthalul is as follows:

/m n ŋ/ <m n ñ>
/p b t d k g q/ <p b t d k g q>
/t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/ <c ç>
/f v θ s z ʃ ʒ x h/ <f v th s z sh j x h>
/j w r l/ <y w r l>

All plosives /p b t d k g q/ are pronounced aspirated [pʰ bʰ tʰ dʰ kʰ gʰ qʰ] as syllable onsets and unreleased [p̚ b̚ t̚ d̚ k̚ g̚ q̚] as syllable codas.

All stops /p b t d k g q/ become palatalized to [pʲ bʲ tʲ dʲ kʲ gʲ qʲ] when following the close front unrounded vowel /i/ and as well the palatal approximant /j/. In the (mainland) dialect of Ásvà, this process is accompanied with the full affrication of the stops [pfʲ bvʲ tsʲ dzʲ kxʲ gɣʲ qχʲ].

When following rounded back vowels /o u/ and the labio-velar approximant /w/, all plosives /p b t d k g q/ become labialized [pʷ bʷ tʷ dʷ kʷ gʷ qʷ]. In the (mainland) dialect of Ásvà, this process also unrounds the back vowels to [ɯ ɤ] and the delabializes the labio-velar approximant to [ɰ].

The vocalic inventory of Ashthalul is as follows:

/i˧ u˧ e˧ o˧ a˧/ <i u e o a>
/i˦ u˦ e˦ o˦ a˦/ <í ú é ó á>
/i˧˥ u˧˥ e˧˥ o˧˥ a˧˥/ <ï ü ë ö ä>
/i˨ u˨ e˨ o˨ a˨/ <ì ù è ò à>
/i˥˩ u˥˩ e˥˩ o˥˩ a˥˩/ <î û ê ô â>