Ālen
Phonology
Consonants
Stops: /p b t d k g/ <p b t d k g>
Fricatives: /f s x/ <f s h>
Liquids: /l 4/ <l r>
Vowels
Short oral: /a e i o u/ <a e i o u>
Long oral: /a: e: i: o: u:/ <ā ē ī ō ū>
Short nasal: /a~ e~ i~ o~ u~/ <an en in on un>
Long nasal: /a:~ e:~ i:~ o:~ u:~/ <ān ēn īn ōn ūn>
Syllables are (C)V(C).
After a nasal vowel, /b d l g/ are realized as [m n n N] and written <m n n ng>. /la:~la/ is pronounced [la:~na] and spelled lāna.
Nouns
There are two genders — animate and inanimate. They keep fairly close to natural gender, but there are exceptions: "house" is animate, "nephew" is inanimate, and so on.
A noun that is modified (by another noun, an adjective, a relative clause, etc) is said to be in construct state. An unmodified noun is in absolute state.
The construct state forms of common gender nouns are formed by suffixing -en, -in or -on, or by nasalizing an internal vowel (usually the second-to-last).
- dasū "boy" → dasūon "boy of"
- eli "house" → eni "house of"
- karri "aunt" → karrīn "aunt of"
The construct state forms of neuter nouns are formed by suffixing -el, -il or -ul, or by geminating an internal consonant (usually the initial of the last syllable).
- bis "mouse" → bisel "mouse of"
- hēlu "hair" → hēluil "hair of"
- kurifa "branch" → kuriffa "branch of"
There are a fair number of irregular nouns in which other changes to the stem go along with these endings.
- gauru "dog" → guron "dog of"
- sēsu "wheat" → suessu "wheat of"
When an unmarked noun follows a noun in the construct state, the relationship between them is one of alienable posession.
- guron Iona "John's dog"
- eni ame "my house"
For inalienable posession the posessor is put in the partitive case, marked with the preposition ō.
- karrīn ō Iona "John's aunt"
- eni ō ame "my family, my household"
The partitive is also used to describe the material something is made of or the group it is drawn from.
- piuhta ō sēsu "wheat bread"
- enim ō dasū "one of the boys"
The benefactive and malefactive cases, marked with ni and den respectively, can be used to describe the purpose of a noun.
- fakal ni sēgē "seed corn" [i.e. "corn for the field"]
- ōanillē den kuotta "rat poison" [i.e. "poison against rats"]
They can also be used for indirect objects, as we'll see later.
The locative, allative and ablative cases — marked with the prepositions a, ēn and ko — are used to describe locations, sources and destinations of movement.
- a eli "at the house"
- ēn eli "to the house"
- ko eli "from the house"
Construct state nouns in these cases are used to form more complex descriptions of position or motion.
- sogu "top" → a sogūl "on top of"
- tieka "teeth" → ēn tiekka "into the middle of"
Some commonly used combinations have contracted into one word.
- omā "deep" → ko omāl → kōmāl "up out of"
- lase "eye" → ēn lasse → ēnasse "straight at"
- eli "house" → a eni → anni "at the house of, chez"