Ayu

Ayu language (αγιυ αγιανεο /'ajy 'ajaneo/ "Ayu wordstream", αγιυ χοα /'ajy 'ɦoa/ "Ayu language", sometimes spelled ⲀⲨu·ⲬⲞⲀ in Coptic script and AYV·HOA in Latin script, as a project, referred to as "seventeen", code 17A) - multipurpose conlang of Canis designed in 2011 and used for several projects, most notably for the country of Tangia in Kyon since 2015, in Mavi (where it was called "muri"), Aoma, where it was used in the state of Nirane, and Kaeri region of scrapped Ahari worldbuilding sketch. Actively, it is being developed as part of Tangia, in Kyon.

The language was proposed in 2010 as "language object number 17" and the first sketch was drafted in 2011. The core idea was to design a pretty, yet simple language, as opposed to much older and unnecessarily complicated Ahtialan language. Initial morpho-phonetic inspiration were the Polinesian languages, such as Hawaiian, and some specifically structured Greek words (especially containing -ευ-), and from there, the language evolved in its own way.

Until 2016, it practically did not develop, and when Kyon project took off in late 2015, development progressed slowly. That was the first version of the conlang. Only February 2020, and the COVID-19 lockdown that followed, brought an explosion of creativity associated with extensive work over Tangia and the language was reformed, bringing it up to the second version. May 2020 brought some socio-economic scenarios over Ahari conworld and the first in the past decade focus on the language itself, including texts in Ayu, among others, the Lord's Prayer, and the translation of "Davy Jones" lyrics of YouTuber Fialeja under tune from "Pirates of the Carribean". This elevated the language to its third version. Rapid continuation of the work over Tangia reformed the languages grammar even further, expanded vocabulary, and gave birth to Tangian cuneiform writing, which resulted in the languages current, fourth version.

Ayu is not a monolithic language. While today there is a standard of it, it is a dialectal continuum, of which the two key offshoots are Ayu (so-called 17A) and Mahan (17B). This article describes the Ayu (17A) standard, unless specified otherwise.

Phonology

Ayu uses a Polynesian-like simplified phonemic inventory.

Vowels

Cardinal vowels are /a/ (technically, [ä]), /e/, /i/, /o/ and /ʉ/. In Kyon, the last vowel is split geographically between [u] and [ʉ], but [ʉ] generally prevails. In that case, it tends to display instability, shifting directly into [y] after /j/ and into [u] after /w/. Additionally, it tends to destabilise other vowels if it comes into a vowel chain with them, mostly affecting the "ou" diphthong, knocking the ancient [ow] into modern [œʉ], and the "au" diphthong, turning into the long [œː], as in: "Τουναραο" ['tœ^ʉnaɾao], "Ταυριαν" ['tœːɾjan]/

Stress is predominantly initial, and where it is not, it is marked with acute. Ayu used to have a polytonic stress system which shifted by version 2, while the polytony was maintained in the sister Mahan language (Obj-17B). Some words differ by stress only: "έον" ("in") vs "εόν" ("is", "be), although language has tendencies to simplify such words over time (shifting "έον" to "έν" and "εόν" to "όν", uniquely marked with acute). Stress is set and will not move even if prefixes, especially personal possessive prefixes, are attached, and when that happens, the acute reappears; see: "λαυ" ("heart") vs. "ελάυ" ("your heart"). In music and for emphasis, the stress is allowed to be shifted freely.

Except as described earlier, vowels can appear in long chains, one after another. There is no distinction between pitch tone and any vowel length.

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i	ʉ
Near-close
Mid-close	e		o
Mid	œʉ	(ə)
Mid-open
Open		ä

Consonants

Consonantal system is highly simplified and lacks any s-like fricatives, although the sound is generally known to Tangian population much like "English r" and "French r" are known to broad European population. For this fact, Greek-spelled Ayu does have a sigma "σ/ς" and its cuneiform abugida has an equivalent, although it is pronounced /h/ and appears only in foreign words.

In general, Ayu has a Hawaiian-style consonantal system, although with notable differences. It uses a dark l [ɫ] by default for an /l/, and the /h/ tends to be breathy-voiced more than not. There is a fifty-fifty geographic split between pronouncing /ŋ/ as either [ŋ] or [ŋg] if a vowel follows, giving rise to [g] not seen in any other context, compare "Χατλανγαο" as either /'hatlaŋao/ or /'hatlaŋgao/ and "Φανγ Απορι" as either /faŋ 'ʔapoɾi/ or /faŋ 'gapoɾi/, by year 9750 EK (Tangian golden age), the latter prevails.

The glottal stop often appears between vowels. Example: "ρε'α'ιλο" ("basilosaurus").

General syllable structure is CV(CV+). Words that do not begin with another consonant will be pre-glottalised, but the apostrophe letter is then omitted. Consontant clusters that are commonly seen are only /tɫ/, /ft/ and /ŋk/. Ancient clusters /mp/, /np/, /nt/, /nl/, /ŋh/, /nh/ got almost entirely simplified. Words can end with a /n/, /j/, /w/, and rarely with /ɫ/.

	Labial	Labiodental	Dent./Alv.	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m		n			ŋ(g)
Plosives	p		t			k		ʔ
Fricatives		f						h~ɦ
Approximants	w		ɫ ɾ		j

Writing standards

Ayu can be written in multiple writing systems, although the use of anything but Greek and Tangian cuneiform is discouraged. There are a few standards within one writing system. Apart from Greek and the native cuneiform system, Coptic is used for decorative purposes, more in form a font overlaying Greek than recognised as a separate system, and Latin is sometimes used for transliterating. Cyrillic, while technically possible, has never been used.

The Greek standard uses two standards: textual and casual. Textual one uses only capital letters, uses ";" (semicolon) instead of a question mark, and uses a middle dot "·" to separate words. Bustrophedon is not used. Casual style uses modern Greek orthographic rules. Coptic standard follows the same rules as textual style Greek. Latin also distinguishes the two standards, although with it, spaces instead of middle dots and modern question marks are used in textual style, and in textual style "V" is used instead of casual style's "U u".

Greek	Coptic	Latin	IPA
Α α		A a	/a/
Ε ε		E e	/e/
Η η		Ei ei	/ej/
Ι ι		I i	/i/
Ο ο		O o	/o/
Υ υ		U u	/ʉ/
Μ μ		M m	/m/
Ν ν		N n	/n/
Νγ νγ		Ng ng	/ŋ/
Π π		P p	/p/
Τ τ		T t	/t/
Κ κ		K k	/k/
'		'	/ʔ/
Φ φ		F f	/f/
Χ χ		H h	/h/
Υ υ		W w	/w/
Λ λ		L l	/ɫ/
Ρ ρ		R r	/ɾ/
Γι γι		Y y	/j/