Khehesen
Khehesen is an agglutinative conlang.
Phonology
Pronounication guide
Consonants
| Letter | IPA symbol(s) |
|---|---|
| b | b |
| ch | tʃ |
| d | d |
| dl | dɬ |
| f | f |
| g | ɡ |
| hl | ɬ |
| k | k |
| kh | x |
| l | l |
| m | m |
| n | n |
| n̄ | ŋ |
| p | p |
| pf | pf |
| r | ɹ |
| s | s |
| sh | ʃ |
| t | t |
| th | θ |
| v | v, ð |
| y | j |
| z | z |
| zh | ʒ |
dl: pronounce d and l at the same time.
hl: same as the 'll' sound from Welsh.
kh: like the ch in 'loch'.
n̄: as in 'sing'.
pf: pronounced like p, but with the lower lip touching the upper teeth (this sound occurs in German)
th: as in 'thin' (not as in 'then').
v: usually as in "van", but sometimes like the th in "then"
zh: like the s in "treasure"
Vowels
| Letter | IPA symbol(s) |
|---|---|
| a | æ |
| ā | ɑɪ |
| e | ɛ |
| i | ɪ |
| o | ɒ |
| ö | ɔɪ |
| u | ə, ʌ |
| ū | ɜɪ, ɜə |
a: as in "attic"
ā: as in "father"
e: as in "met"
i: as in "tin"
o: as in "top"
ö: as in "oil"
u: as in "bun"
ū: as in "bird", or as in "bear"
Grammar
Sentence structure
Word order is Subject Verb Object, as in English, but this is flexible since cases are indicated. To form a question, the prefix 'dli-' is added to the word being questioned. For example, think of the statement "Ben went out" (ben hlekhol n̄ifwa). The questional form depends in what is being questioned, which occurs in English by emphasizing that word- for example, "Ben went out?" (dliben hlekhol n̄ifwa) questions whether Ben went out, while "Ben went out?" (ben hlekhol dlin̄if) questions whether he went out. It is possible to question more than one word per sentence.
Declension
Khehesen has 5 cases, 4 marked by suffixes:
- Nominative: no suffix
- Accusative: '-wa'
- Genitive: '-ga'
- Locative: '-ba'
- Temporal: '-za'
There are only 3 tenses, for present, past and future. They are indicated by prefixing the verb as follows:
- Present: no prefix
- Past: 'hle-'
- Future: 'pfe-'
Plurals and gender
The plural of a word is expressed by repeating the last syllable of that word, with any cases following after the repeated syllable. There is no grammatical gender.
Definiteness
Khehesen distinguishes 3 articles, the definite, indefinite, and partitive (something part of a greater whole, similar to the words "some" or "part of"). As in most Western European languages, they take the form of separate words.
- Definite: 'izh'
- Indefinite: 'na'
- Partitive: 'opf'
