Hlotderb
Hlotderb (/ɬoʈ.ɛʁb/) is the language spoken in Pôkingaadjikastaan (/pɔ.kiŋ.æ.ʒi.kɑ.stæn/). It is believed to be a language isolate, but with heavy influence from Turkic and Altic languages. The name Hlotderb is derived from Hlotde(/ɬoʈ.e/), the largest Hloterb-speaking city in the world as well as the larest city in Pôkingajikistan.
Brought to you by Schwhatever/Humancadaver101/Buckfush530, the creator of Faranit, Etimri, and Sezara.
Phonology
- Consonants: /tˁ dˁ kˁ gˁ t p b d k g n ŋ m v f ʒ ʃ z s ç ʝ ɬ l ʁ r̝ ʣ ʤ ʂ ʐ ʈ ɖ/
- Romanized As:
- Exceptions:
- /tˁ dˁ kˁ gˁ r̝/ are marked as <t' d' k' g' r'> before <hl>
- Allophones:
- /t d k g p b/ become [tʰ dʰ kʰ gʰ pʰ bʰ/ initially
- /l/ becomes [ɭ] after /ʂ ʐ ʈ ɖ/
| Bilabial | Labio-Dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | p b | t d | ʈ ɖ | k g | ||||||
| Emphatic Stops | tˁ dˁ | kˁ gˁ | ||||||||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | |||||||
| Fricatives | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | ʂ ʐ | ç ʝ | |||||
| Approximants | r̝ | ɬ | ɭ | ʁ | ||||||
| Affricates | ʣ | ʤ |
- Vowels: /e i ɛ æ ə ɑ ɔ o u/
- Romanized As: <e i eh aa y a ô o u>
- Differentiation:
- /e/ proceding a /K/ is denoted by <e'l> instead of <eh>, /ɛ/
- Differentiation:
- Romanized As: <e i eh aa y a ô o u>
- Phonological Constraints: (S or F)(S or F)(N)(A)V(N)(A)(F)(P)
- Where S=stop, F=fricative, A=approximant, N=nasal, and V=vowel
- Also with identical voicing and usually similar point of articulation
Pronouns
Nominative:
| Singular | Plural | |
| First Person, Exclusive | ghro (/gˁʁo/) | bim (/bim/) |
| First Person, Inclusive | - | bij (/biʒ/) |
| Second Person | dja (/ʤɑ/) | sse (/ʃe/) |
| Third Person, Animate | cuÿ (/çuʝ/) | tcom (/tçom/) |
| Third Person, Cultural | coss (/çoʃ/) | côtd (/çɔʈ/) |
| Third Person, Natural | côsz (/çɔʂ/) | côtd (/çɔʈ/) |
Voice
There are four grammatical voices in Hloterb: Active, Passive, Locative, Reflexive. The first three are distiguished by prefixes (or in the case of the active voice, the lack of a prefix), whereas the reflexive voice is simply active voice with a corresponding reflexive pronoun as the object.
A few examples:
Dhlap ssônirh jaadz Herding -produce.PRES wool Herding produces wool
an active sentence,
Jaadz ossônirh dhlap Wool PASS.produce.PRES herding Wool is produced by herding
a passive sentence,
Hlotde aassônirh jaadz Hlotde LOC.produce.PRES wool At Hlotde wool is produced
a locative sentence,
Ghro ssônirh kehsz I produce myself I made myself
a reflexive sentence.
Syntax and Morphology
Hloterb is SVO, resulting in the abandonment of case endings, except for the locative case -aa, which survived attached to the verb as a voice ending. Direct objects proceed indirect objects. The locative and genitive cases are now formed from prepositions, which vary depending on dialect, case, and gender.
Hloterb distinguishes three genders: natural, cultural, and animate. The last is reserved for humans and beloved pets. The first includes general household items (with a few exceptions), living organisms (not scanned as animate), and natural formations (mountains, deserts, etc.). The cultural gender is used in relation to all remaining nouns, commonly less ordinary produced items (Cotton, the final product, for instance)
Adjectives decline for the gender but fairly straightforwardly. Verbal adverbs also agree with the voice of the verb. It has been suggested that this reduces confusion in multiple verb predicates. Adverbial Adverbs and Adjective Adverbs agree with the modifier that they modify.
Verbs are conjugated for voice and tense, but no other issue. Mood and aspect are often worked into a sentence through various adverbs. Person and number are determined from context or the nominative pronoun. In this respect, Hloterb is highly isolating.
