An overview to Eleutean
Some grammatical notions on the fair tongue
Anthologica Universe Atlas / Universes / Ybrearmèlleon / The Eleutean language / An overview to Eleutean

Writing and phonology


The pronunciation of letters should be taken with a pinch of salt, since the phonemes shown below represent the ideal pronunciation of the language, at least as understood by the social and cultural elites of the hiperurànic realm. Here we show, then, the idea and consensus for the classical language, used by the official culture, and the administration. Eleutean has several dialects, many of them with diverging phonologies.

The language uses an alphabetical writing accompanied by several auxiliary sigla (scribal abbreviations), with some of them having evolved into a sort of ideograms.

Vowels


Eleutean has six vowels: a, e, i, y, o, u. Alone, combined in pairs, or accompanied by a diacritical mark, they're used to represent twelve vocalic phonemes:

  • a /a/; when atonic, it ends to /æ/.
  • ae /æ/, which represents Old Eleutean ‹æ› /æ:/, a letter that was lost due to its similarity with ‹e›. When atonic it can remain the same or be realized as /ɛ/.
  • e /ɛ/; when atonic, /ɐ/.
  • ë /ə:~œ:/, which comes from Old Eleutean ‹ë› /ə:/ (the result of vowel merging or compensatory lengthening, in both cases due to contraction) or atonic ‹eo›. The length is lost in the common language.
  • ea /ɶ:/, which represents the evolution of Old Eleutean ‹ea›, and tonic ‹eo›. The length is lost in the common language.
  • i /ɪ/; when atonic it can remain the same or be realized as /i/.
  • ie /i:/. When placed at the end of word, it's most common position, it's tonic, and the length is usually kept. At the beginning of a word and between vowels it's usually /i/, although the modern spelling reduces it to ‹i›.
  • y /y/. From Old Eleutean ‹iu› /iw/ and ‹ui› /uj/.
  • o /ɔ/; ö /ɔə~ɔ:/, which can come from archaic vowes, or from Old Eleutean ‹oe›.
  • ou /ɔw~ʊ:/, the evolution of Old Eleutean ‹ou› /ɔw/.
  • u /ʏ/. From Old Eleutean /ʊ/.

This is the pronunciation in Chancellery Eleutean, the ideal form of the classic language. In the vulgar, the distinction between short and long vowels was gradually lost, and by the late imperial times it was completely lost. In modern Eleutean there's only short vowels, and the phonetic values of vowels are a little more simple, as shown below:

  • a /a/. When atonic, /ɐ/.
  • ae /æ/ or /ɛ/, depending on the dialect. When atonic, /ɐ/.
  • e /ɛ/, although it tends towards /e/ when followed by palatals. When atonic, /ə/.
  • ë /ə/, tonic and atonic, although some dialects and idiolects have /ɐ/ when tonic.
  • ea /ɐ/.
  • i /ɪ/ or /i/, even among speakers of the same dialect. When atonic, /i/. Only Norsybrean shows a consistent differentiation between /ɪ/ (tonic) and /i/ (atonic).
  • ie /i/, with a common and widespread tendency to write it ‹i›. The old spelling is kept in proper names.
  • y /y/.
  • o /ɔ/, although it tends towards /o/ when followed by palatals. When atonic, /o/ with a tendency towards /ʊ~u/. The feminine ending –, which is always atonic, has the dialectal variation [ɔ~œ]. Only Norsybrean and some central regional dialects (like Arverniethan) realize it as [o͜ə].
  • ou /ɔw~ʊ/, with Norsybrean and some central and Brynthean dialects realizing it as /aw~ɒw/.
  • u /ʏ/. When atonic, /ɪ/.

Length of vowels


In Chancellery Eleutean vowels may be short or long. Long vowels are marked by a preceding ‹h›:

Chalimahtë [kæ:ɫɪ'maʔtə]
athhobla [æ'θɔ:bɫæ]


When ‹h› is used to mark a long vowel at the beginning of a word, it's written <'h> to avoid confusion with ‹h› /h/.

'hodhes ['ɔ:ðɐs] "dark"


The length distinction is lost in modern Eleutean as a result of changes in the vocalic system, as shown above.

Consonants


The Eleutean consonants are b, c, d, f, g, h, l, m, n, p, qu, r, s, t, v, x, y, z.

  • b /b/; essentially, the same letter as in Old Eleutean. bh /v/ is the evolution of an archaic labiodental /b̪/. The classical orthography merged it with ‹v›, but bh can still be seen in some placenames, names of lineages, and archaizing words.
  • c /k/ becomes /c/ before ‹e, i›. ch /k/ is used at the end of a word in order to not be confused with ç /s/, which is a letter inexistent in Old Eleutean.
  • d /d/ becomes /ð/ between vowels. ‹dh› represented an unvoiced /d/, soon merged with ‹th› /θ/ in the classical spelling. Now dh is used to represent /ð/ in non-intervocalic positions; essentially, at the beginning of a word.
  • f /f/.
  • g /g/ becomes /ɟ/ before ‹e, i›. ggy /dʒ/. gn /ŋ/. ‹gt› is an old digraph, the result of old word contractions. At the end of a word it was simplified to ‹t› /t/, and in the middle of words it's ‹tt› in the classical spelling, although gt /t:~ŋt/ may survive in some words and archaizing names.
  • h /h/, as in Old Eleutean, where it was the soft counterpart of ‹x› /ʁ/. In modern Eleutean it has a few additional uses, as well: it's placed after a consonant to unvoiced it (rh, mh...), although dialectal pronunciations may vary. Another use for h is to indicate a long vowel; in that case, the consonant is placed before the marked vowel (ha /a:/...). It also appears in the digraph ht /ʔt/, a product of old contractions. hy /ɧ/ comes from ancient ‹hy› /hʲ/ and ‹cy› /kʲ/.
  • l /ɫ/, is fully labialized (/w/) in the dialects north of the Glavi.
  • m /m/, but mh /m̥/, the result of an archaic ‹sm›, as well as ‹my›. Many dialects realize it as /ɱ/.
  • n /n/, but nh /n̥/, the result of an archaic ‹sn›. Usually realized it as /ð/. nn stands for /n:/ between vowels, which is dn /n: ~ nd/ at the end of word (originated from old ‹gd, nn, nd, nt, dn, tn›).
  • p /p/, as in Old Eleutean, but in the old language initial /p/ was lost. ph /ɸ/, the pronunciation kept in the formal and cult language, but /f/ elsewhere. The dialects north of the Glavi realize it as /ɱ/.
  • qu /kʷ/. Although rare, it can appear at the end of a word due to vowel loss, but in that case it tends to /kʊ/.
  • r /ɾ/, but rr /r/. rh /ɾ̥/, but in many dialects is realized /ʋ/ or /v/.
  • s /s/, but between vowels it becomes /z/; ss /s/, between vowels; sy /ʃ/.
  • t /t/. th /θ/, but tends to /s/ in most dialects.
  • v /v/. In Old Eleutean it was /ʋ~v/.
  • x /ɦ/, the evolution of Old Eleutean ‹x› /ʁ/, the hard counterpart of ‹h› /h/.
  • y indicates palatalization. See below.
  • z /z/, but zy /zʲ~ʒ/. It can be syllabic, carrying with it an optional /ə/ or /i/ sound (znè and zënè "ten"; zdie and zidie "bee").

Palatal series


In the romanization of Eleutean, ‹y› is used to represent the "half-consonant" used in the native alphabet to show palatalization. The half-letter has a value of /ʲ/ in Old Eleutean, showing a series of evolution in Middle Eleutean. It's generally placed after the affected consonant, with the exceptions of letters l and n, which put the palatalizing half letter before them between vowels (‹...yl..., ...yn...›) and at the end of word (‹...yl, ...yn›), but after them at the beginning of a word (‹ly..., ny...›).
    The palatalized consonants are by, cy, dy, fy, gy, hy, ly, my, ny, py, phy, ry, sy, ty, zy.

  • by /bʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it merged with ‹v› /v/ in its way to Middle Eleutean.
  • cy /kʲ/ in the archaic language, rapidly became /c/ in Old Eleutean. In its way to the modern language, it evolved into ‹ç› /s/ or, in rare occasions, it merged with ‹hy› /ɧ/. In the modern language, ‹cy› may be used to represent /c/ in loanwords.
  • dy /dʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it evolved into /ʒ/ in Early Middle Eleutean, to be completely merged with ‹zy› /zʲ~ʒ/ in the modern language.
  • fy /fʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it merged with ‹v› /v/ in Early Middle Eleutean.
  • gy /gʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it rapidly became /ɟ/ in the old language. In the modern language, it's used to represent /ɟ/ before ‹a, o, u, y›. The variant ‹ggy› is for /dʒ/, which is the normal evolution of older ‹dgy, lgy, ngy›.
  • hy /hʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it evolved into modern /ɧ/.
  • ly /ɫʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it became the modern ‹yl› /ʲʎ/ - ‹ly› /ʎ/.
  • my /mʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it underwent several changes throughout the old language until it finally merged with ‹mh› /m̥~ɱ/ in Middle Eleutean.
  • ny /nʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it became the modern ‹yn› /ʲɲ/ - ‹ny› /ɲ/.
  • py /pʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it merged with ‹f› in its way to Middle Eleutean. Such change took place before the loss of initial /p/, so in Middle Eleutean it's possible to find /f/ from old ‹py› at the beginning of a word.
  • phy /ɸʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it rapidly became /f/ in the old language. In Middle Eleutean it's ‹f› /f/, which can be find between vowels as well as at the beginning of a word.
  • ry /ɾʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it tended to evolve into /ɾi/, although in some cases it was lost when placed at the beginning of a word and followed by a close vowel.
  • sy /sʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it gave /ʃ/ in the modern language.
  • ty /tʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it had several evolutions in its way to Middle Eleutean. In general, it gave ‹zy› /zʲ~ʒ/ before closed vowels, but ‹ti› /ti/ before open vowels. In the modern language, ‹ty› may be used for /tʃ/ in loanwords, although that's usually realized as /ʃ/ or, between vowels, even /dʒ/.
  • zy /zʲ/ in Old Eleutean, it's realized as /zʲ~ʒ/ in the modern language.

Gender and number


From a Eleutean cultural point of view, substantives and adjectives are considered within the same grammatical category, emne "noun" (plural, emnyr "nouns"), which groups our concepts of substantive and adjective. In the Dhammaratian system, substantives are emnyr rrum "strong nouns" and adjectives are emnyr feldë "weak nouns". Strong nouns, that is, substantives, inflect gender and number, while weak nouns don't; they always remain the same.

The number


So the plural is inflected on nouns, not adjectives. The standard plural ending is –yr. Words ending in a consonant derive the plural attaching –yr, while in words ending in a vowel, the plural suffix substitutes such vowel.

nes "lake, pool" → nesyr "lakes, pools"
centhë "prairie" → centhyr "prairies"


If an adjective appears in the plural (adjective+yr), it means that it has been turned into a strong noun. The new word is a substantive with the same form in the singular and the plural.

dhaur "high, tall" → dhauryr "heigth(s)"


Collective nouns are derived with –an, which gives the noun a sense of plurality, although it's grammatically singular (ellui "hill" → ellyan, ellan "group of hills; hill region"). The suffix is also used on uncountable nouns to derive words with a vague sense of plurality (tos "dust" → tossan "pinch of dust, amount of dust").

Syntax


Adjectives are placed after the noun they modify. A few adjectives can be put before the noun, though: dhaula "final, ultimate last", erna "great, grand".

Some notes on the evolution from Old Eleutean to classic Eleutean



In classic Eleutean (Cel), initial Old Eleutean (Oel) p has been lost before vowels standing alone, short or long. It is retained before diphthong (pai, pei, poi...) or sonorant (pr, pl...).
The same occurs with ph, but in the case of lone vowels, a /h/ sound is kept, so: phV- → hV-. There are some cases of ph- → b- when a liquid is close (PherenixseBerenissë).

tr → rh, unless found between vowels or preceded by a sonorant, in which case, → dr.

The case system in Old Eleutean


Old Eleutean had a case system. The direct case grouped the nominative and the vocative, while the oblique case grouped the accusative-causative and the dative.

The nominative (transitive: –ax sg, –air pl / intransitive: –ixe sg, –ier pl) marks the active subject of a sentence ("He goes home").
The vocative (–eax sg, –eir pl) marks a person (human or non-human) being addressed ("I assure you, Arimè", "Brothers, I salute you!"), as well as the passive subject of a sentence (scholar.voc work review.3s.pret "The work was reviewed by the scholar").

The vocative was kept in Middle Eleutean as –è, used to derive male personal names, and –ie, used to derive feminine personal names.

The accusative-causative (–éntom sg, –éntuir pl) marks the direct object ("She reads a book") and the object of a preposition (the cause, hence 'causative') (She paid for the book). The tonic syllable (ént) is used, as an infix, to derive causative verbs from their present forms (alestsehe "to run" → alestse– (present) → alestse-ént– (causative root) + –ehe (infinitive suffix) → alestséntehe "to make run").
The dative (–en sg, –ennuir pl) marks the beneficiary of the verb's action (She the.pl keys aunt.dat hers give.3s.pret "She gave her aunt the keys"). With certain prepositions, it marks the locative (He (with)in pantry.dat the jar put.3s.pret "He put the jar in the pantry", "They live in Mareio").

An archaic locative survived as sufix –oe, used in the derivation of placenames, but no longer productive in Old Eleutean's case system.

Verbs


Word order is VSO.

Present: -ea -o -i -aer -ur -er
Preterite: -evet -ovet -avet -ervet -yrvet -irvet
Conditional: -on -eu -agn -envi -ynvi -invi
Future: - - - - - -