Khehesen
Khehesen is the language of Khehes.
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"
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. To form a question, the prefix 'dli-' is added to the word being questioned. For example, think of the statement "Ben went out" (ben kholtak ŋifwa). The questional form depends in what is being questioned, which occurs in English by emphasizing that word- for example, "Ben went out?" (dliben kholtak ŋifwa) questions whether Ben went out, while "Ben went out?" (ben kholtak dliŋif) questions whether he went out. It is possible to question more than one word per sentence.
Grammatical cases
Khehesen has 5 cases, 4 marked by suffixes:
Nominative: no suffix
Accusative: '-wa'
Genitive: '-ga'
Locative: '-ba'
Temporal: '-za'
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.