Vas'hehr

Typology

Vas'hehr is a mildly agglutinative language with default VSO word order and little or no inflection. Application of singular and plural suffixes are optional, and grammatical gender is largely restricted to pronouns. The language has four primary linguistic registers: formal, informal, intimate, and authoritative.

History

Meta History

This project was my first conlang. It began as Senetari Shuril, then became Kalyeshur and closer to something worthwhile, then became Vas'hehr, a fully cultural language with a large number of revisions in store.

Several later conlangs have roots in Vas'hehr and its vocabulary, perhaps as loanwords, perhaps as actual descendants. One of my goals is to re-develop Vas'hehr to the point that I can use it as a protolang and be satisfied with a final-revised form.

In-World History

Vas'hehr was the cultural native language of the Shuril people with ample borrowings from the somewhat creolized Senetari Shuril, "common language of the Shuril".

Phonology

Vowels

Vowels

	front / unrounded			central / unrounded			back / rounded
	extra-short	short	long	extra-short	short	long	extra-short	short	long
close	í [ĭ]	i [i]	i~ [i:]				ú [ŭ]	u [u]	u~ [u:]
near close		y [ɪ]
mid		ei [e]	e~ [e:]		r [ɚ]		ó [ŏ̞]	o [o̞]	o~ [o̞:]
near open	é [ɛ̆]	e [ɛ]
open				á [ä̆]	a [ä]	a~ [ä:]
Diphthongs	oral	ai [aɪ̯], iý [iɪ̭], uy [ei̯], y [ai̯]
	nasal	aì [ãi̯], aè [ãɛ̯], eì [ẽi̯], oì [õi̯]

The letter "r" is both a syllabic in post-consonantal word-final positions and a consonantal approximant in this language. The other two rhotics do not have syllabic forms.

All standard short and long vowels (with the exception of ei) can also be preceded by a breathy-voiced phonation marker. Extra-short vowels are called "clipped" by speakers and may be glottalized.

Pronunciations of diphthongs do not always carefully preserve distinctions. Very similar sounds may be pronounced the same but are orthographically separate and have not merged in all conditions.

Consonants

Authorial Note: Non-tenuis sibilants and labial plosives are subject to change, as I've been working on the analysis to see how much is "historical" and how much currently in the language.

Phonemic Consonants

		Labial	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
nasal		m	n			(ɲ)
plosive / affricate	ejective	(p')					k'
	fortis	p	t	tʃ			k	q
	lenis	b	d	dʒ			g
fricative	geminate		s:	ʃ:
	fortis	f	s	ʃ	ʂ̻		x		h
	lenis	v	z	ʒ	(ʂ̺)
approximant	central		ɺ		ɻ	j	w
	lateral				ɭ
flap	central	ⱱ	ɾ
	lateral		l

Consonants in parentheses are allophones.