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Herafian [RFL]
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Typology Progressing 532 words
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Herafian
Xrāfel
[xɹɛːθ̼el]
Registered by [Deactivated User] on 8 January 2018
Language type A priori
Species Čvādet
About Herafian
Welcome to Herafian's Summary Page

liskāpe vac xrāfelvi


The official language of interplanetary governance for a country/herd of herbivorous, bipedal, avian/crocodilian/mammalian-ish aliens (Čvādet or Chevadians for short), set in our universe some several thousand years in the future.

Main features of Xrāfel:
  • Split tripartite/transitive alignment
  • Three verb classes; the first incorporates both the subject and object, the second only incorporates the object, while the third are gender-marked to agree with the object
  • Nouns are classed as animate or inanimate, with animate nouns further divided into four age-based genders (Čvādet only have a single biological one), which also have an undercurrent of grammaticalized respect (youngest to oldest, least to most)
  • 10 tenses, 4 aspects, 17 moods, no number (except for pluractionality) and 6 cases (and 2 nominal moods)
Sample of Herafian[view] stixēyjekvafxā rēycef xoxēylerva rēycef xoxēylerǰo

The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.
[view all texts]
Latest vocabulary
stijekvexceed
xolērvread
Phonology
[view]Phonological System: ČvādetČvādet (or Chevadians, to be English) have an oral cavity that's relatively similar to a human's, but there are a few key differences. They don't have lips as their rostral scutes instead merge with the gums. At the front where we have our incisors, they have little rows of teeth (three on the bottom, two on the top), used for gripping plant matter. The jaw has less of a range of vertical motion than ours, and generally speaking less vertical space in the oral cavity itself, going by height-depth ratios. Going back along the gum line deeper into the mouth, there's a gap (like the bars of a horse's mouth), then molars fairly like humans', though more robust, wider and generally more adapted to a herbivorous lifestyle. The tongue isn't attached to the floor of the mouth as far forward as in humans, and is slightly narrowed at the front end. Rather importantly, Čvādet use predominantly esophageal speech. Their tracheas aren't connected to their mouth in any way, as the respiratory and digestive systems are wholly separate.

The symbols for the consonants were adapted from the IPA based mostly on place/manner of articulation, while the vowels were selected based on the phones themselves. The linguo-rostrals are apical and the velars laminar.
Table #1Linguo-rostralLaminal AlveolarApical PostalveolarApical PalatalVelar
Plosive d ȶ c k
Fricative θ̼ z ɕ ç x
Affricate t̼ˢ ȶˢ
Approximant  ɹ   ɰ
Lateral Approximant  l  ʎ̺ 
Table #2FrontCentralBack
Close  ɨ ɨː 
Mid-close e eː  ɤ ɤː
Mid-open  ɜ ɜː 
Orthography
Below is the orthography for Herafian. This includes all graphemes as defined in the language's phonology settings - excluding the non-distinct graphemes/polygraphs.
 HerafianOrthography [edit]
ā
Āā
/ɜː/
a
Aa
/ɜ/
č
Čč
/ȶˢ/
c
Cc
/ɕ/
d
Dd
/ȶ/
ē
Ēē
/eː/
e
Ee
/e/
f
Ff
/θ̼/
b
F̌ f̌
/t̼ˢ/
g
Gg
/c/
ī
Īī
/ɨː/
i
Ii
/ɨ/
j
Jj
/ç/
q
J̌ǰ
/cˢ/
k
Kk
/k/
l
Ll
/l/
o
Oo
/ɤ/
ō
Ōō
/ɤː/
p
Pp
/t̼/
r
Rr
/ɹ/
š
Šš
/dˢ/
s
Ss
/z/
t
Tt
/d/
v
Vv
/ɰ/
x
Xx
/x/
h
X̌ x̌
/kˢ/
y
Yy
/ʎ̺/
✖ Unknown alphabetical order [change]
    Latest 8 related articles listed below.
    Herafian Verbs
    What to use when and why
    30-May-18 23:25
    Typological information for Herafian

    Base counting systemHexadecimal (16)
    Morphological typologyPolysynthetic
    PluractionalityYes
    Past tense remoteness4 or more degrees of remoteness
    Tense/aspect suppletionAspect only

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