Anathic

Anathic (Á h-Ænæþ, pronounced [oɑ ˈhanaθ] in Anathic) is an artlang created by Rhian Davies in February 2012. Its grammar is a priori but it has an a posteriori vocabulary with influences from Old English and the Celtic and Nordic languages. Anathic is spoken in Hoyer (Á h-Ór in Anathic), a fictional island continent in the Denit 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 Ȝȝ 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.

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, ø:	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>

Grammar

Word order is mainly VSO, but OVS can also be used.

Morphology

Noun Class

There are three noun classes in Anathic: Núyæn (sky; aether), Gúyrur (flow) and Celəsə (solidity).

• Núyæn nouns are celestial or abstract concepts. These are marked with the suffix -æn (plural -ýn) or -na:
  • niolæn (night sky); æþæn (language); æmbrna (yellowness)
• Gúyrur nouns are related to fluids, movement, time or change and are marked with the suffix -ur (plural -úyr):
  • treorur (blood); cómur (step); glómur (twilight; dusk); émsur (season).
• Celəsə nouns are any animate or inanimate object that may be experienced directly with the senses. These are marked with the suffix -ə (plural -æ):
  • gerþə (arm); borə (table); úylə (owl).

Adjectives

Anathic has a rather complex adjective system which includes vowel mutation according to speaker attitude. All adjectives have a neutral base vowel which mutates, depending on whether the speaker is using the description positively or negatively. The Colour class may refer to any shade or colour (glæm - dark; rúybæ - pink); Emotive refers to any subjective adjective or emotional state (þeglyn - beautiful, handsome, pretty; mestys - condemned, damned, cursed); State adjectives are those referring to texture, taste, size, form etc (húr - long; múð - soft; læscú - juicy).

Class	Neutral	Positive	Negative
Colour	æ	ý	á
Emotive	y	í	u
State	ú	í	ə́

Example:

• Dryc - 'bad' (Neutral, used in an unbiased news report); Dríc (Positive, meaning 'so bad it's good'); Druc (Negative - extremely bad, wrong, evil.)