Anathic
Anathic (Á h-Ænæþ, pronounced [oɑ ˈhanaθ] in Anathic) is an artlang created by Rhian Davies in February 2012. Originally created for purely artistic purposes, a conculture is currently being developed for Anathic speakers. Its grammar is a priori but it has an a posteriori vocabulary with influences from the Celtic and Nordic languages, as well as Old English. It is currently a language isolate, but in time, what is shown here will become known as Old Anathic (Á h-Ænæþ Séyn) and a variety of dialects will be developed.
Anathic is spoken in Hoyer (Á h-Ór in Anathic), a fictional island continent in the Denitian world. It is the native language of approximately 300,000 people.
Orthography
Anathic is written using the following alphabet:
Aa Ææ Bb Cc Çç Dd Ðð Ee Vv Ff Gg Ŋŋ Hh Ii Ll Mm Nn Oo Pp Rr Ss Tt Þþ Uu Wω Yy Ɛə
Anathic uses two diacritics: the grave for irregular stress and acute for long vowels or syllabic nasals - long vowels in Old Anathic will be shown using the macron, while irregular stress will not be written. New orthographies will be created along with future dialectal variations.
Phonology
Stress usually falls on the penultimate syllable; irregular stress is shown with a grave marker:
- sylvə ['sɪɫ.və] (a forest)
- əsylv [ə'sɪɫv] (the forest)
- èrsylvə ['ɛrsɪɫvə] (the edge of a forest)
Consonants
Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ||||
Fricative | f v | θ ð | s | (ʃ) | x (ɣ) | h | |
Nasal | m (mʰ) | n (nʰ) | ŋ (ŋʰ) | ||||
Trill | r (rʰ) | ||||||
Approximant | ɫ | j | w |
(Allophones in parentheses)
Vowels
Monophthongs
Front | Central | Back | |
Close | i | u: | |
Near-close | ɪ | ʊ | |
Mid | ɛ | ə | ɔ |
Open | a | ɑ |
Diphthongs
Front | Central | Back | |
Close | ui | iə | |
Mid | ɛi, oe | əʉ | oɑ~oə, eo |
Open | ai |
Diphthongs are either written with acute accents or as digraphs: <úy> <í> <é> <oe> <ó> <á> <eo> <ý>