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word-break:keep-all !important;
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<div style="position:relative; margin-right:-20%;">
{{Infobox language|country=[[Hárǝsi]] (national) <br> [[Coldba]] (recognised)|family=[[Hakhpha]]|lang-code=LEN|name=Léna|scripts=Latin Alphabet<br> Cyrillic Alphabet (sporadic)|regulator=[[Hárǝsi Xánǝc uwArássezú]] (Hárǝsi Ministry of Culture)|number=unknown|demonym=Léna, Énnga uLéna}}
</div>

'''Léna''' /lé.na/ is a Western Hakhpha language spoken primarily in Hárǝsi, where it is the majority and only national language. It is also a recognised minority language in the Empire of Coldba.

== Classification ==
<div style="position:relative; margin-right:-20%;">
[[File:Lena dialects.png|thumb|the dialects of Léna spoken in Hárǝsi]]
</div>
The Hakhpha language family comprises two main branches, Eastern and Western, the latter containing both Léna and the [[Kkeṛhaqom]] language spoken in central and eastern Coldba. Léna itself is a polydialectal language with four main dialect groups spoken throughout the urheimat (i.e. Hárǝsi and the small amount of overspill across the border into Coldba), with the standard variety being based on the dialect of the largest city [[Ƨxeylá]].

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
Standard Léna has 30 phonemic consonants.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
!
!
!Labial
!Alveolar
!Palatal
!Velar
!Glottal
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Nasal
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| m
| n
|
| ŋ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
|
|
|
| ŋʷ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Plosive
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| p b
| t d
|
| k g
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
|
|
|
| kʷ gʷ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Affricate
|
| t͡s d͡z
| c͡ɕ ɟ͡ʑ
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Fricative
| f
| s z
| ɕ ʑ
| x ɣ
| h
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Liquid
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" | w
| r
| j
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" | (w)
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
| rʷ
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Lateral
|
| l
| ʎ
|
|
|}
All consonants except /ʎ/ and /h/ can be geminated and are pronounced longer than their ungeminated counterparts. Geminated /w/ is very rare however.

Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ are realised advanced [x̟, ɣ̟] or occasionally as palatalised [ç, ʝ] around front vowels /e, i/.

=== Vowels ===
Standard Léna has 7 phonemic vowel qualities and distinguishes two phonemic tones.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
!
! Front
! Central
! Back
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | High
| i
| ɨ
| u
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Mid
| e
| ǝ
| o
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Low
| colspan="2" | a
|
|}

Central vowels /ɨ, ǝ/ are often pronounced as [ɪ, ʌ] by younger speakers or in informal speech.

Léna also has some diphthongs, namely vowels followed by /u̯/ or /i̯/. Sequences of two vowels are also permitted, but are usually analysed as two syllables.

The tone levels are high /a˦/ and mid /a˧/, though the mid tone is often described as a low tone in literature. In Léna they are called ''xéggwo eili'' "narrow voice" and ''mox eili'' "wide voice" respectively.

=== Syllable Structure and Phonotactics ===
Léna has a fairly simple syllable structure of (C)V(C), where C is any consonant or affricate and V is any vowel or diphthong. However, fricatives and plosives/affricates (together "stops") may not cluster with themselves, so the only clusters permitted are Fricative-Stop and Stop-Fricative. Approximants /w/, /r/ and /j/ can cluster in any order with most any consonant, but /w/ and /j/ cannot cluster with each other (see below). Additionally, laterals do not cluster with other consonants, labialised consonants cannot occur in initial position of a cluster, and nasals cannot occur in final position.

There is a broad phonotactic rule that labials and palatals cannot interact, and whenever a labial consonant and a palatal consonant would occur in sequence, an epenthetic vowel (usually /e/) is inserted between them, see sentence (_) below. In the same vein, labial consonants cannot usually precede high vowels /i, u/, except in some very rare cases where they would cluster with /j/ and the vowel /i/ is inserted, such as in the name of the town ''[[Gwiyƨxxǝp]]''. There is an increasing tendency among speakers to also do away with this, rendering that word instead ''*Gweyƨxxǝp''.

Geminates can also only occur inbetween vowels.

Typically, sequences of two vowels cannot occur in closed-syllable environments, i.e. CVVC. As always in language, there are some limited exceptions to this, such as the word ''gauk'' 'to search'. In the same vein, like vowels are not usually permitted in sequence.

== Orthography ==
As it was primarily an oral language prior to prolonged contact with other Ŋations, there is no native writing system for Léna, though some modern attempts have gained traction in recent years. Instead, a modified Latin alphabet is used, as below. Additionally, since a Cyrillic variant has been used in some limited unofficial capacity, it is displayed as well.
{| style="width:100%; border-collapse:collapse; border:none;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| style="width:20%; padding:0;" |
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-right:4%;"
|+
!Léna (Latin)
!IPA
!Léna (Latin)
!IPA
|-
|a
|/a/
|l
|/l/
|-
|b
|/b/
|ly
|/ʎ/
|-
|c
|/c͡ɕ/
|m
|/m/
|-
|ch
|/ɕ/
|n
|/n/
|-
|d
|/d/
|ng
|/ŋ/
|-
|dz
|/d͡z/
|ngw
|/ŋʷ/
|-
|e
|/e/
|o
|/o/
|-
|ǝ
|/ǝ/
|p
|/p/
|-
|f
|/f/
|r
|/r/
|-
|g
|/g/
|rw
|/rʷ/
|-
|gh
|/ɣ/
|s
|/s/
|-
|gw
|/gʷ/
|t
|/t/
|-
|h
|/h/
|ts
|/t͡s/
|-
|i
|/i/
|u
|/u/
|-
|ƨ
|/ɨ/
|w
|/w/
|-
|j
|/ɟ͡ʑ/
|x
|/x/
|-
|jh
|/ʑ/
|y
|/j/
|-
|k
|/k/
|z
|/z/
|-
|kw
|/kʷ/
! colspan="2" |
|}
| style="width:48%; padding:0;" |
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Léna (Cyrillic)
! IPA
! Léna (Cyrillic)
! IPA
|-
| а
| /a/
| н
| /n/
|-
| б
| /b/
| ң
| /ŋ/
|-
|в
|/w/
|ңв
|/ŋʷ/
|-
|г
|/ɣ/
|о
|/o/
|-
|ґ
|/g/
|п
|/p/
|-
|ґв
|/gʷ/
|р
|/r/
|-
|д
|/d/
|рв
|/rʷ/
|-
|е
|/e/
|с
|/s/
|-
|ж
|/ʑ/
|ц
|/t͡s/
|-
|џ
|/ɟ͡ʑ/
|т
|/t/
|-
|з
|/z/
|у / ў
|/u/
|-
|ѕ
|/d͡z/
|ф
|/f/
|-
|и / й
|/i/
|х
|/x/
|-
|ј
|/j/
|ҳ
|/h/
|-
|к
|/k/
|ш
|/ɕ/
|-
|кв
|/kʷ/
|ч
|/c͡ɕ/
|-
|л
|/l/
|ъ
|/ǝ/
|-
|љ
|/ʎ/
|ы
|/ɨ/
|-
|м
|/m/
! colspan="2" |
|}
|}

High tone is represented by an acute accent over the vowel; ⟨á, é, ǝ́, í, ƨ́, ó, ú⟩, or ⟨а́, е́, и́, о́, у́, ъ́, ы́⟩.

Gemination is represented by doubling the consonant.

In polygraphs, only the first element is capitalised, and only the first element is doubled to represent gemination, e.g. '''⟨'''Ch, nngw'''⟩'''.

The Cyrillic glyphs '''⟨'''й'''⟩''' and '''⟨'''ў'''⟩''' are used in phonemic diphthongs such as /ai̯/, /au̯/ to contrast them from /a.i/, /a.u/.

=== Capitalisation of Prefixes ===
Léna employs a number of gender- and number-agreement prefixes on nouns, reminiscent of the Bantu Languages. When these are placed before proper nouns, they do not take capitalisation, and instead the first consonant of the word takes the capitalisation. If the whole word would be capitalised anyway, for example it is at the beginning of a sentence or in title case, then both the prefix and the head word would be capitalised.

<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Hárǝsi ƨ-Kízzí-a''<br>
    Hárǝsi HUM.SG.POSS–person–PL<br>
    /há.rǝ.si ɨ.kíz.zí.a/<br>
    'The People of Hárǝsi'<br>
</div>
== Syntax and Sentence Structure ==
The syntactic system of Léna is primarily oriented around the prominence of clausal heads. It also relies heavily on the verb form called the Null Form, which functions similarly to a converb, for clause chaining.

=== Phrase Structure ===

==== Noun Phrase ====
The Noun Phrase in Léna comprises a minimum of a noun and a maximum of a demonstrative/possessor + a quantifier + an adjective + a noun, in that order. A possessed noun must agree with its possessor in gender and number by means of a prefix, such as in (_). Additionally, a noun modified by a numeral must take a prefix that agrees with itself in gender and number, as in (_), (_) and (_).
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''hí''<br>
    egg<br>
    /hí/<br>
    'an egg / the egg'<br>

(_) ''o-hí''<br>
    1SG.POSS-egg<br>
    /o.hí/<br>
    'my egg'<br>

(_) ''oh-ifi chi-hí-mi''<br>
    1SG.POSS–three INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /o.hi.fi ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'my three eggs'<br>

(_) ''oh-ifi wǝc chi-hí-mi''<br>
    1SG.POSS–three large INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /o.hi.fi wǝc͡ɕ ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'my three large eggs'<br>

(_) ''gwezí ak-ifi wǝc chi-hí-mi''<br>
    albatross ANI.SG.POSS–three large INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /gʷe.zí a.ki.fi wǝc͡ɕ ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'the albatross' three large eggs'<br>
</div>

It is helpful to think of the sentences such as (3) as meaning more literally something like "my trio of eggs", as numerals are treated largely as nouns in their own right.

==== Verb Phrase ====
A verb is the only part of a sentence fundamentally required to make it so. This is because subjects can most often be inferred through context and objects are marked on the verb; Léna is as a result a fairly heavily pro-drop language, and sentences such as that in (_) would be fairly uncommon unless expressly emphasising the subject. Because Léna does not employ case marking, role-marking is done by means of verbal object suffixes.

With just a lone verb as the minimum, a maximal verb phrase can consist of the subject + the predicate + any adjuncts/adverbials, and these can be placed virtually anywhere in the VP, though placing them after the verb is uncommon.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ǝchékw-eye.''<br>
    cook-PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷe.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking.'<br>

(_) ''ǝchékw-ǝwǝ-ye.''<br>
    cook–ABST–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷǝ.wǝ.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking something.'<br>

(_) ''lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking meat.'<br>

(_) ''rói rúc lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    here1 now meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /rói̯ rúc͡ɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking meat right now.'<br>

(_) ''ǝch rói rúc lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    1SG here1 now meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝɕ rói̯ rúc͡ɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    'I'm cooking meat right now.'<br>

</div>
A very common type of adverbial is another verb in the Null Form (explained in more detail below) which is used to combine two or more syntactically-related verbs into one clause.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''za chíakƨ́x an-ngi ikongá-e-che.''<br>
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG<br>
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/<br>
    'we walked through the forest.'<br>

(_) ''za chíakƨ́x an-ngi uwóin-i-ke ikongá-e-che.''<br>
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through sing–PROG–NULL walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG<br>
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi u.wói̯.ni.ke i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/<br>
    'we walked singing through the forest.'<br>
</div>
The Null Form can also be used where a verbal infinitive might be used in Indo-European languages:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''gégwez-á áhpewaly-ifa-rwe-ke zé-innekw.''<br>
    child–PL teach–PASS–PRES.INCH–NULL REFL–jump<br>
    /gé.gʷe.zá áh.pe.wa.ʎi.fa.rʷe.ke zé.in.nekʷ/<br>
    'the children are excited to learn.'
<br>
</div>

==== Postpositions and Adverbs ====
The morphology of Léna postpositions is very similar to other head-marking languages such as Nāhuatl, in that they take possessive affixes that agree with the noun being modified by the adposition.

=== Word Order ===
Léna is transparently an SOV language, with all indicative sentences taking this basic shape. The imperative mood is marked by inverting this word order to VOS, though the subject is not strictly necessary in most imperative statements.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ne gwowoijh-í kwǝ-ssi-rwe.''<br>
    2SG mushroom–PL eat–INAN2.PL–PRES.INCH<br>
    /ne gʷo.woi̯.ʑí kʷəs.si.rʷe/<br>
    'you eat (the) mushrooms.'<br>

(_) ''kwǝ-ssi-rwe gwowoijh-í (ne)!''<br>
    eat–INAN2.PL–PRES.INCH mushroom–PL 2SG<br>
    /kʷəs.si.rʷe gʷo.woi̯.ʑí (ne)/<br>
    'eat (the) mushrooms(, you)!'<br>
</div>

=== Questions ===
Perhaps somewhat boringly, there is no explicit question morphology in Léna. They are usually expressed by a change in the pitch of the final syllable of the question utterance, though this does change depending on the tone of the final syllable of the word involved.

Words with high tone:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái.''<br>
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG<br>
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˦]<br>
    'You will be staying at home.'<br>

(_) ''Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái?''<br>
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG<br>
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˥˩˧]<br>
    'Will you be staying at home?'<br>
</div>
And words with mid tone:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se.''<br>
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST<br>
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˧]<br>
    'You touched the squid.'<br>

(_) ''Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se?''<br>
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST<br>
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˩˦]<br>
    'Did you touch the squid?'<br>
</div>
If a word has a continuous phonemic tone before the final syllable the first phonetic tone will be held for the duration of that tone throughout the whole word.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ichaza-e-ke ikéké-ná-hé?''<br>
    arrive–INAN3.SG–NULL persevere–FUT–OPT<br>
    /i.ɕa.za.e.ke i.ké.ké.ná.hé/ […ke˥.ke˥.na˥.he˥˩˧]<br>
    'Are you going to reach the end?'<br>
</div>

</div>

Léna Language

2026-02-07T03:21:28Z

Omaatje:

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<div style="position:relative; margin-right:-20%;">
{{Infobox language|country=[[Hárǝsi]] (national) <br> [[Coldba]] (recognised)|family=[[Hakhpha]]|lang-code=LEN|name=Léna|scripts=Latin Alphabet<br> Cyrillic Alphabet (sporadic)|regulator=[[Hárǝsi Xánǝc uwArássezú]] (Hárǝsi Ministry of Culture)|number=unknown|demonym=Léna, Énnga uLéna}}
</div>

'''Léna''' /lé.na/ is a Western Hakhpha language spoken primarily in Hárǝsi, where it is the majority and only national language. It is also a recognised minority language in the Empire of Coldba.

== Classification ==
<div style="position:relative; margin-right:-20%;">
[[File:Lena dialects.png|thumb|the dialects of Léna spoken in Hárǝsi]]
</div>
The Hakhpha language family comprises two main branches, Eastern and Western, the latter containing both Léna and the [[Kkeṛhaqom]] language spoken in central and eastern Coldba. Léna itself is a polydialectal language with four main dialect groups spoken throughout the urheimat (i.e. Hárǝsi and the small amount of overspill across the border into Coldba), with the standard variety being based on the dialect of the largest city [[Ƨxeylá]].

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
Standard Léna has 30 phonemic consonants.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
!
!
!Labial
!Alveolar
!Palatal
!Velar
!Glottal
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Nasal
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| m
| n
|
| ŋ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
|
|
|
| ŋʷ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Plosive
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| p b
| t d
|
| k g
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
|
|
|
| kʷ gʷ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Affricate
|
| t͡s d͡z
| c͡ɕ ɟ͡ʑ
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Fricative
| f
| s z
| ɕ ʑ
| x ɣ
| h
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Liquid
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" | w
| r
| j
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" | (w)
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
| rʷ
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Lateral
|
| l
| ʎ
|
|
|}
All consonants except /ʎ/ and /h/ can be geminated and are pronounced longer than their ungeminated counterparts. Geminated /w/ is very rare however.

Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ are realised advanced [x̟, ɣ̟] or occasionally as palatalised [ç, ʝ] around front vowels /e, i/.

=== Vowels ===
Standard Léna has 7 phonemic vowel qualities and distinguishes two phonemic tones.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
!
! Front
! Central
! Back
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | High
| i
| ɨ
| u
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Mid
| e
| ǝ
| o
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Low
| colspan="2" | a
|
|}

Central vowels /ɨ, ǝ/ are often pronounced as [ɪ, ʌ] by younger speakers or in informal speech.

Léna also has some diphthongs, namely vowels followed by /u̯/ or /i̯/. Sequences of two vowels are also permitted, but are usually analysed as two syllables.

The tone levels are high /a˦/ and mid /a˧/, though the mid tone is often described as a low tone in literature. In Léna they are called ''xéggwo eili'' "narrow voice" and ''mox eili'' "wide voice" respectively.

=== Syllable Structure and Phonotactics ===
Léna has a fairly simple syllable structure of (C)V(C), where C is any consonant or affricate and V is any vowel or diphthong. However, fricatives and plosives/affricates (together "stops") may not cluster with themselves, so the only clusters permitted are Fricative-Stop and Stop-Fricative. Approximants /w/, /r/ and /j/ can cluster in any order with most any consonant, but /w/ and /j/ cannot cluster with each other (see below). Additionally, laterals do not cluster with other consonants, labialised consonants cannot occur in initial position of a cluster, and nasals cannot occur in final position.

There is a broad phonotactic rule that labials and palatals cannot interact, and whenever a labial consonant and a palatal consonant would occur in sequence, an epenthetic vowel (usually /e/) is inserted between them, see sentence (_) below. In the same vein, labial consonants cannot usually precede high vowels /i, u/, except in some very rare cases where they would cluster with /j/ and the vowel /i/ is inserted, such as in the name of the town ''[[Gwiyƨxxǝp]]''. There is an increasing tendency among speakers to also do away with this, rendering that word instead ''*Gweyƨxxǝp''.

Geminates can also only occur inbetween vowels.

Typically, sequences of two vowels cannot occur in closed-syllable environments, i.e. CVVC. As always in language, there are some limited exceptions to this, such as the word ''gauk'' 'to search'. In the same vein, like vowels are not usually permitted in sequence.

== Orthography ==
As it was primarily an oral language prior to prolonged contact with other Ŋations, there is no native writing system for Léna, though some modern attempts have gained traction in recent years. Instead, a modified Latin alphabet is used, as below. Additionally, since a Cyrillic variant has been used in some limited unofficial capacity, it is displayed as well.
{| style="width:100%; border-collapse:collapse; border:none;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| style="width:20%; padding:0;" |
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-right:4%;"
|+
!Léna (Latin)
!IPA
!Léna (Latin)
!IPA
|-
|a
|/a/
|l
|/l/
|-
|b
|/b/
|ly
|/ʎ/
|-
|c
|/c͡ɕ/
|m
|/m/
|-
|ch
|/ɕ/
|n
|/n/
|-
|d
|/d/
|ng
|/ŋ/
|-
|dz
|/d͡z/
|ngw
|/ŋʷ/
|-
|e
|/e/
|o
|/o/
|-
|ǝ
|/ǝ/
|p
|/p/
|-
|f
|/f/
|r
|/r/
|-
|g
|/g/
|rw
|/rʷ/
|-
|gh
|/ɣ/
|s
|/s/
|-
|gw
|/gʷ/
|t
|/t/
|-
|h
|/h/
|ts
|/t͡s/
|-
|i
|/i/
|u
|/u/
|-
|ƨ
|/ɨ/
|w
|/w/
|-
|j
|/ɟ͡ʑ/
|x
|/x/
|-
|jh
|/ʑ/
|y
|/j/
|-
|k
|/k/
|z
|/z/
|-
|kw
|/kʷ/
! colspan="2" |
|}
| style="width:48%; padding:0;" |
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Léna (Cyrillic)
! IPA
! Léna (Cyrillic)
! IPA
|-
| а
| /a/
| н
| /n/
|-
| б
| /b/
| ң
| /ŋ/
|-
|в
|/w/
|ңв
|/ŋʷ/
|-
|г
|/ɣ/
|о
|/o/
|-
|ґ
|/g/
|п
|/p/
|-
|ґв
|/gʷ/
|р
|/r/
|-
|д
|/d/
|рв
|/rʷ/
|-
|е
|/e/
|с
|/s/
|-
|ж
|/ʑ/
|ц
|/t͡s/
|-
|џ
|/ɟ͡ʑ/
|т
|/t/
|-
|з
|/z/
|у / ў
|/u/
|-
|ѕ
|/d͡z/
|ф
|/f/
|-
|и / й
|/i/
|х
|/x/
|-
|ј
|/j/
|ҳ
|/h/
|-
|к
|/k/
|ш
|/ɕ/
|-
|кв
|/kʷ/
|ч
|/c͡ɕ/
|-
|л
|/l/
|ъ
|/ǝ/
|-
|љ
|/ʎ/
|ы
|/ɨ/
|-
|м
|/m/
! colspan="2" |
|}
|}

High tone is represented by an acute accent over the vowel; ⟨á, é, ǝ́, í, ƨ́, ó, ú⟩, or ⟨а́, е́, и́, о́, у́, ъ́, ы́⟩.

Gemination is represented by doubling the consonant.

In polygraphs, only the first element is capitalised, and only the first element is doubled to represent gemination, e.g. '''⟨'''Ch, nngw'''⟩'''.

The Cyrillic glyphs '''⟨'''й'''⟩''' and '''⟨'''ў'''⟩''' are used in phonemic diphthongs such as /ai̯/, /au̯/ to contrast them from /a.i/, /a.u/.

=== Capitalisation of Prefixes ===
Léna employs a number of gender- and number-agreement prefixes on nouns, reminiscent of the Bantu Languages. When these are placed before proper nouns, they do not take capitalisation, and instead the first consonant of the word takes the capitalisation. If the whole word would be capitalised anyway, for example it is at the beginning of a sentence or in title case, then both the prefix and the head word would be capitalised.

<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Hárǝsi ƨ-Kízzí-a''<br>
    Hárǝsi HUM.SG.POSS–person–PL<br>
    /há.rǝ.si ɨ.kíz.zí.a/<br>
    'The People of Hárǝsi'<br>
</div>
== Syntax and Sentence Structure ==
The syntactic system of Léna is primarily oriented around the prominence of clausal heads. It also relies heavily on the verb form called the Null Form, which functions similarly to a converb, for clause chaining.

=== Phrase Structure ===

==== Noun Phrase ====
The Noun Phrase in Léna comprises a minimum of a noun and a maximum of a demonstrative/possessor + a quantifier + an adjective + a noun, in that order. A possessed noun must agree with its possessor in gender and number by means of a prefix, such as in (_). Additionally, a noun modified by a numeral must take a prefix that agrees with itself in gender and number, as in (_), (_) and (_).
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''hí''<br>
    egg<br>
    /hí/<br>
    'an egg / the egg'<br>

(_) ''o-hí''<br>
    1SG.POSS-egg<br>
    /o.hí/<br>
    'my egg'<br>

(_) ''oh-ifi chi-hí-mi''<br>
    1SG.POSS–three INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /o.hi.fi ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'my three eggs'<br>

(_) ''oh-ifi wǝc chi-hí-mi''<br>
    1SG.POSS–three large INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /o.hi.fi wǝc͡ɕ ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'my three large eggs'<br>

(_) ''gwezí ak-ifi wǝc chi-hí-mi''<br>
    albatross ANI.SG.POSS–three large INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /gʷe.zí a.ki.fi wǝc͡ɕ ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'the albatross' three large eggs'<br>
</div>

It is helpful to think of the sentences such as (3) as meaning more literally something like "my trio of eggs", as numerals are treated largely as nouns in their own right.

==== Verb Phrase ====
A verb is the only part of a sentence fundamentally required to make it so. This is because subjects can most often be inferred through context and objects are marked on the verb; Léna is as a result a fairly heavily pro-drop language, and sentences such as that in (_) would be fairly uncommon unless expressly emphasising the subject. Because Léna does not employ case marking, role-marking is done by means of verbal object suffixes.

With just a lone verb as the minimum, a maximal verb phrase can consist of the subject + the predicate + any adjuncts/adverbials, and these can be placed virtually anywhere in the VP, though placing them after the verb is uncommon.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ǝchékw-eye.''<br>
    cook-PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷe.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking.'<br>

(_) ''ǝchékw-ǝwǝ-ye.''<br>
    cook–ABST–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷǝ.wǝ.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking something.'<br>

(_) ''lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking meat.'<br>

(_) ''rói rúc lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    here1 now meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /rói̯ rúc͡ɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking meat right now.'<br>

(_) ''ǝch rói rúc lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    1SG here1 now meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝɕ rói̯ rúc͡ɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    'I'm cooking meat right now.'<br>

</div>
A very common type of adverbial is another verb in the Null Form (explained in more detail below) which is used to combine two or more syntactically-related verbs into one clause.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''za chíakƨ́x an-ngi ikongá-e-che.''<br>
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG<br>
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/<br>
    'we walked through the forest.'<br>

(_) ''za chíakƨ́x an-ngi uwóin-i-ke ikongá-e-che.''<br>
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through sing–PROG–NULL walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG<br>
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi u.wói̯.ni.ke i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/<br>
    'we walked singing through the forest.'<br>
</div>
The Null Form can also be used where a verbal infinitive might be used in Indo-European languages:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''gégwez-á áhpewaly-ifa-rwe-ke zé-innekw.''<br>
    child–PL teach–PASS–PRES.INCH–NULL REFL–jump<br>
    /gé.gʷe.zá áh.pe.wa.ʎi.fa.rʷe.ke zé.in.nekʷ/<br>
    'the children are excited to learn.'
<br>
</div>

==== Postpositions and Adverbs ====
The morphology of Léna postpositions is very similar to other head-marking languages such as Nāhuatl, in that they take possessive affixes that agree with the noun being modified by the adposition.

=== Word Order ===
Léna is transparently an SOV language, with all indicative sentences taking this basic shape. The imperative mood is marked by inverting this word order to VOS, though the subject is not strictly necessary in most imperative statements.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ne gwowoijh-í kwǝ-ssi-rwe.''<br>
    2SG mushroom–PL eat–INAN2.PL–PRES.INCH<br>
    /ne gʷo.woi̯.ʑí kʷəs.si.rʷe/<br>
    'you eat (the) mushrooms.'<br>

(_) ''kwǝ-ssi-rwe gwowoijh-í (ne)!''<br>
    eat–INAN2.PL–PRES.INCH mushroom–PL 2SG<br>
    /kʷəs.si.rʷe gʷo.woi̯.ʑí (ne)/<br>
    'eat (the) mushrooms(, you)!'<br>
</div>

=== Questions ===
Perhaps somewhat boringly, there is no explicit question morphology in Léna. They are usually expressed by a change in the pitch of the final syllable of the question utterance, though this does change depending on the tone of the final syllable of the word involved.

Words with high tone:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái.''<br>
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG<br>
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˦]<br>
    'You will be staying at home.'<br>

(_) ''Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái?''<br>
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG<br>
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˥˩˧]<br>
    'Will you be staying at home?'<br>
</div>
And words with mid tone:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se.''<br>
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST<br>
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˧]<br>
    'You touched the squid.'<br>

(_) ''Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se?''<br>
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST<br>
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˩˦]<br>
    'Did you touch the squid?'<br>
</div>
If a word has a continuous phonemic tone before the final syllable the first phonetic tone will be held for the duration of that tone through the syllables of a word.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ichaza-e-ke ikéké-ná-hé?''<br>
    arrive–INAN3.SG–NULL persevere–FUT–OPT<br>
    /i.ɕa.za.e.ke i.ké.ké.ná.hé/ […ke˥.ke˥.na˥.he˥˩˧]<br>
    'Are you going to reach the end?'<br>
</div>

</div>

Léna Language

2026-02-07T03:21:09Z

Omaatje:

<div style="
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word-break:keep-all !important;
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<div style="position:relative; margin-right:-20%;">
{{Infobox language|country=[[Hárǝsi]] (national) <br> [[Coldba]] (recognised)|family=[[Hakhpha]]|lang-code=LEN|name=Léna|scripts=Latin Alphabet<br> Cyrillic Alphabet (sporadic)|regulator=[[Hárǝsi Xánǝc uwArássezú]] (Hárǝsi Ministry of Culture)|number=unknown|demonym=Léna, Énnga uLéna}}
</div>

'''Léna''' /lé.na/ is a Western Hakhpha language spoken primarily in Hárǝsi, where it is the majority and only national language. It is also a recognised minority language in the Empire of Coldba.

== Classification ==
<div style="position:relative; margin-right:-20%;">
[[File:Lena dialects.png|thumb|the dialects of Léna spoken in Hárǝsi]]
</div>
The Hakhpha language family comprises two main branches, Eastern and Western, the latter containing both Léna and the [[Kkeṛhaqom]] language spoken in central and eastern Coldba. Léna itself is a polydialectal language with four main dialect groups spoken throughout the urheimat (i.e. Hárǝsi and the small amount of overspill across the border into Coldba), with the standard variety being based on the dialect of the largest city [[Ƨxeylá]].

== Phonology ==

=== Consonants ===
Standard Léna has 30 phonemic consonants.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
!
!
!Labial
!Alveolar
!Palatal
!Velar
!Glottal
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Nasal
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| m
| n
|
| ŋ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
|
|
|
| ŋʷ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Plosive
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| p b
| t d
|
| k g
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
|
|
|
| kʷ gʷ
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Affricate
|
| t͡s d͡z
| c͡ɕ ɟ͡ʑ
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Fricative
| f
| s z
| ɕ ʑ
| x ɣ
| h
|-
! style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2" | Liquid
! style="text-align:left;" | plain
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" | w
| r
| j
| colspan="1" rowspan="2" | (w)
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | labialised
| rʷ
|
|
|-
! style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" | Lateral
|
| l
| ʎ
|
|
|}
All consonants except /ʎ/ and /h/ can be geminated and are pronounced longer than their ungeminated counterparts. Geminated /w/ is very rare however.

Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ are realised advanced [x̟, ɣ̟] or occasionally as palatalised [ç, ʝ] around front vowels /e, i/.

=== Vowels ===
Standard Léna has 7 phonemic vowel qualities and distinguishes two phonemic tones.
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+
!
! Front
! Central
! Back
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | High
| i
| ɨ
| u
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Mid
| e
| ǝ
| o
|-
! style="text-align:left;" | Low
| colspan="2" | a
|
|}

Central vowels /ɨ, ǝ/ are often pronounced as [ɪ, ʌ] by younger speakers or in informal speech.

Léna also has some diphthongs, namely vowels followed by /u̯/ or /i̯/. Sequences of two vowels are also permitted, but are usually analysed as two syllables.

The tone levels are high /a˦/ and mid /a˧/, though the mid tone is often described as a low tone in literature. In Léna they are called ''xéggwo eili'' "narrow voice" and ''mox eili'' "wide voice" respectively.

=== Syllable Structure and Phonotactics ===
Léna has a fairly simple syllable structure of (C)V(C), where C is any consonant or affricate and V is any vowel or diphthong. However, fricatives and plosives/affricates (together "stops") may not cluster with themselves, so the only clusters permitted are Fricative-Stop and Stop-Fricative. Approximants /w/, /r/ and /j/ can cluster in any order with most any consonant, but /w/ and /j/ cannot cluster with each other (see below). Additionally, laterals do not cluster with other consonants, labialised consonants cannot occur in initial position of a cluster, and nasals cannot occur in final position.

There is a broad phonotactic rule that labials and palatals cannot interact, and whenever a labial consonant and a palatal consonant would occur in sequence, an epenthetic vowel (usually /e/) is inserted between them, see sentence (_) below. In the same vein, labial consonants cannot usually precede high vowels /i, u/, except in some very rare cases where they would cluster with /j/ and the vowel /i/ is inserted, such as in the name of the town ''[[Gwiyƨxxǝp]]''. There is an increasing tendency among speakers to also do away with this, rendering that word instead ''*Gweyƨxxǝp''.

Geminates can also only occur inbetween vowels.

Typically, sequences of two vowels cannot occur in closed-syllable environments, i.e. CVVC. As always in language, there are some limited exceptions to this, such as the word ''gauk'' 'to search'. In the same vein, like vowels are not usually permitted in sequence.

== Orthography ==
As it was primarily an oral language prior to prolonged contact with other Ŋations, there is no native writing system for Léna, though some modern attempts have gained traction in recent years. Instead, a modified Latin alphabet is used, as below. Additionally, since a Cyrillic variant has been used in some limited unofficial capacity, it is displayed as well.
{| style="width:100%; border-collapse:collapse; border:none;"
|- style="vertical-align:top;"
| style="width:20%; padding:0;" |
{| class="wikitable" style="margin-right:4%;"
|+
!Léna (Latin)
!IPA
!Léna (Latin)
!IPA
|-
|a
|/a/
|l
|/l/
|-
|b
|/b/
|ly
|/ʎ/
|-
|c
|/c͡ɕ/
|m
|/m/
|-
|ch
|/ɕ/
|n
|/n/
|-
|d
|/d/
|ng
|/ŋ/
|-
|dz
|/d͡z/
|ngw
|/ŋʷ/
|-
|e
|/e/
|o
|/o/
|-
|ǝ
|/ǝ/
|p
|/p/
|-
|f
|/f/
|r
|/r/
|-
|g
|/g/
|rw
|/rʷ/
|-
|gh
|/ɣ/
|s
|/s/
|-
|gw
|/gʷ/
|t
|/t/
|-
|h
|/h/
|ts
|/t͡s/
|-
|i
|/i/
|u
|/u/
|-
|ƨ
|/ɨ/
|w
|/w/
|-
|j
|/ɟ͡ʑ/
|x
|/x/
|-
|jh
|/ʑ/
|y
|/j/
|-
|k
|/k/
|z
|/z/
|-
|kw
|/kʷ/
! colspan="2" |
|}
| style="width:48%; padding:0;" |
{| class="wikitable"
|+
! Léna (Cyrillic)
! IPA
! Léna (Cyrillic)
! IPA
|-
| а
| /a/
| н
| /n/
|-
| б
| /b/
| ң
| /ŋ/
|-
|в
|/w/
|ңв
|/ŋʷ/
|-
|г
|/ɣ/
|о
|/o/
|-
|ґ
|/g/
|п
|/p/
|-
|ґв
|/gʷ/
|р
|/r/
|-
|д
|/d/
|рв
|/rʷ/
|-
|е
|/e/
|с
|/s/
|-
|ж
|/ʑ/
|ц
|/t͡s/
|-
|џ
|/ɟ͡ʑ/
|т
|/t/
|-
|з
|/z/
|у / ў
|/u/
|-
|ѕ
|/d͡z/
|ф
|/f/
|-
|и / й
|/i/
|х
|/x/
|-
|ј
|/j/
|ҳ
|/h/
|-
|к
|/k/
|ш
|/ɕ/
|-
|кв
|/kʷ/
|ч
|/c͡ɕ/
|-
|л
|/l/
|ъ
|/ǝ/
|-
|љ
|/ʎ/
|ы
|/ɨ/
|-
|м
|/m/
! colspan="2" |
|}
|}

High tone is represented by an acute accent over the vowel; ⟨á, é, ǝ́, í, ƨ́, ó, ú⟩, or ⟨а́, е́, и́, о́, у́, ъ́, ы́⟩.

Gemination is represented by doubling the consonant.

In polygraphs, only the first element is capitalised, and only the first element is doubled to represent gemination, e.g. '''⟨'''Ch, nngw'''⟩'''.

The Cyrillic glyphs '''⟨'''й'''⟩''' and '''⟨'''ў'''⟩''' are used in phonemic diphthongs such as /ai̯/, /au̯/ to contrast them from /a.i/, /a.u/.

=== Capitalisation of Prefixes ===
Léna employs a number of gender- and number-agreement prefixes on nouns, reminiscent of the Bantu Languages. When these are placed before proper nouns, they do not take capitalisation, and instead the first consonant of the word takes the capitalisation. If the whole word would be capitalised anyway, for example it is at the beginning of a sentence or in title case, then both the prefix and the head word would be capitalised.

<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Hárǝsi ƨ-Kízzí-a''<br>
    Hárǝsi HUM.SG.POSS–person–PL<br>
    /há.rǝ.si ɨ.kíz.zí.a/<br>
    'The People of Hárǝsi'<br>
</div>
== Syntax and Sentence Structure ==
The syntactic system of Léna is primarily oriented around the prominence of clausal heads. It also relies heavily on the verb form called the Null Form, which functions similarly to a converb, for clause chaining.

=== Phrase Structure ===

==== Noun Phrase ====
The Noun Phrase in Léna comprises a minimum of a noun and a maximum of a demonstrative/possessor + a quantifier + an adjective + a noun, in that order. A possessed noun must agree with its possessor in gender and number by means of a prefix, such as in (_). Additionally, a noun modified by a numeral must take a prefix that agrees with itself in gender and number, as in (_), (_) and (_).
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''hí''<br>
    egg<br>
    /hí/<br>
    'an egg / the egg'<br>

(_) ''o-hí''<br>
    1SG.POSS-egg<br>
    /o.hí/<br>
    'my egg'<br>

(_) ''oh-ifi chi-hí-mi''<br>
    1SG.POSS–three INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /o.hi.fi ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'my three eggs'<br>

(_) ''oh-ifi wǝc chi-hí-mi''<br>
    1SG.POSS–three large INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /o.hi.fi wǝc͡ɕ ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'my three large eggs'<br>

(_) ''gwezí ak-ifi wǝc chi-hí-mi''<br>
    albatross ANI.SG.POSS–three large INAN.PL.POSS–egg–PL<br>
    /gʷe.zí a.ki.fi wǝc͡ɕ ɕi.hí.mi/<br>
    'the albatross' three large eggs'<br>
</div>

It is helpful to think of the sentences such as (3) as meaning more literally something like "my trio of eggs", as numerals are treated largely as nouns in their own right.

==== Verb Phrase ====
A verb is the only part of a sentence fundamentally required to make it so. This is because subjects can most often be inferred through context and objects are marked on the verb; Léna is as a result a fairly heavily pro-drop language, and sentences such as that in (_) would be fairly uncommon unless expressly emphasising the subject. Because Léna does not employ case marking, role-marking is done by means of verbal object suffixes.

With just a lone verb as the minimum, a maximal verb phrase can consist of the subject + the predicate + any adjuncts/adverbials, and these can be placed virtually anywhere in the VP, though placing them after the verb is uncommon.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ǝchékw-eye.''<br>
    cook-PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷe.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking.'<br>

(_) ''ǝchékw-ǝwǝ-ye.''<br>
    cook–ABST–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷǝ.wǝ.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking something.'<br>

(_) ''lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking meat.'<br>

(_) ''rói rúc lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    here1 now meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /rói̯ rúc͡ɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    '(I'm) cooking meat right now.'<br>

(_) ''ǝch rói rúc lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye''<br>
    1SG here1 now meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG<br>
    /ǝɕ rói̯ rúc͡ɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/<br>
    'I'm cooking meat right now.'<br>

</div>
A very common type of adverbial is another verb in the Null Form (explained in more detail below) which is used to combine two or more syntactically-related verbs into one clause.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''za chíakƨ́x an-ngi ikongá-e-che.''<br>
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG<br>
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/<br>
    'we walked through the forest.'<br>

(_) ''za chíakƨ́x an-ngi uwóin-i-ke ikongá-e-che.''<br>
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through sing–PROG–NULL walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG<br>
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi u.wói̯.ni.ke i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/<br>
    'we walked singing through the forest.'<br>
</div>
The Null Form can also be used where a verbal infinitive might be used in Indo-European languages:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''gégwez-á áhpewaly-ifa-rwe-ke zé-innekw.''<br>
    child–PL teach–PASS–PRES.INCH–NULL REFL–jump<br>
    /gé.gʷe.zá áh.pe.wa.ʎi.fa.rʷe.ke zé.in.nekʷ/<br>
    'the children are excited to learn.'
<br>
</div>

==== Postpositions and Adverbs ====
The morphology of Léna postpositions is very similar to other head-marking languages such as Nāhuatl, in that they take possessive affixes that agree with the noun being modified by the adposition.

=== Word Order ===
Léna is transparently an SOV language, with all indicative sentences taking this basic shape. The imperative mood is marked by inverting this word order to VOS, though the subject is not strictly necessary in most imperative statements.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ne gwowoijh-í kwǝ-ssi-rwe.''<br>
    2SG mushroom–PL eat–INAN2.PL–PRES.INCH<br>
    /ne gʷo.woi̯.ʑí kʷəs.si.rʷe/<br>
    'you eat (the) mushrooms.'<br>

(_) ''kwǝ-ssi-rwe gwowoijh-í (ne)!''<br>
    eat–INAN2.PL–PRES.INCH mushroom–PL 2SG<br>
    /kʷəs.si.rʷe gʷo.woi̯.ʑí (ne)/<br>
    'eat (the) mushrooms(, you)!'<br>
</div>

=== Questions ===
Perhaps somewhat boringly, there is no explicit question morphology in Léna. They are usually expressed by a change in the pitch of the final syllable of the question utterance, though this does change depending on the tone of the final syllable of the word involved.

Words with high tone:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái.''<br>
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG<br>
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˦]<br>
    'You will be staying at home.'<br>

(_) ''Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái?''<br>
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG<br>
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˥˩˧]<br>
    'Will you be staying at home?'<br>
</div>
And words with mid tone:
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se.''<br>
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST<br>
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˧]<br>
    'You touched the squid.'<br>

(_) ''Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se?''<br>
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST<br>
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˩˦]<br>
    'Did you touch the squid?'<br>
</div>
If a word has a continuous phonemic tone before the final syllable the first phonetic tone will be held for the duration of that tone through the syllables of a word.
<div style="margin-left:2em; line-height:1.5;">
(_) ''ichaza-e-ke ikéké-ná-hé?''<br>
    arrive–INAN3.SG–NULL persevere–FUT–OPT<br>
    /i.ɕa.za.e.ke i.ké.ké.ná.hé/ […ke˥.ke˥.na˥.he˥˩˧]<br>
    'Are you going to reach the end?'<br>
</div>

</div>