Léna Language

Léna
Language family	Hakhpha
Writing system	Latin Alphabet Cyrillic Alphabet (sporadic)
Official status
Spoken in	Hárǝsi (national) Coldba (recognised)
Regulated by	Hárǝsi Xánǝc uwArássezú (Hárǝsi Ministry of Culture)
Speaker
Demonym	Léna, Énnga uLéna
Number of speakers	unknown
Technical information
Language code	LEN

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

the dialects of Léna spoken in Hárǝsi

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.

		Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	plain	m	n		ŋ
	labialised				ŋʷ
Plosive	plain	p b	t d		k g
	labialised				kʷ gʷ
Affricate			t͡s d͡z	c͡ɕ ɟ͡ʑ
Fricative		f	s z	ɕ ʑ	x ɣ	h
Liquid	plain	w	r	j	(w)
	labialised		rʷ
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.

	Front	Central	Back
High	i	ɨ	u
Mid	e	ǝ	o
Low	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.

ɣ-Affection

Many verb roots, particularly older and more commonly-used ones, exhibit a kind of internal mutation caused by a historical /ɣ/ sound. This changes the form of suffixes attached to this root, most notably object suffixes as these tend to come directly after the root (see Verb Template below). Below are a non-ɣ-affected root and a ɣ-affected root.

(_) Bƨzzúw-e enn-í ƨzélye-ksi-xe
    axe–PL 2SG–destined_for send–INAN2.PL–PST
    /bɨz.zú.we en.ní ɨ.zé.ʎek.si.xe/
    'I sent you axes.'

(_) Bƨzzúw-e enn-í ǝxƨ́-ssi-xe.
    axe–PL 2SG–destined_for give–INAN2.PL–PST
    /bɨz.zú.we en.ní ǝ.xɨ́s.si.xe/
    'I gave you axes.'

There is no way to predict this phenomenon, so the individual roots that trigger it must be learnt by heart.

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.

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/

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/

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.

(_) Hárǝsi ƨ-Kízzí-a
    Hárǝsi HUM.SG.POSS–person–PL
    /há.rǝ.si ɨ.kíz.zí.a/
    'The People of Hárǝsi'

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 (_).

(_) hí
    egg
    /hí/
    'an egg / the egg'

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

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

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

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

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.

(_) ǝchékw-eye.
    cook-PRES.PROG
    /ǝ.ɕé.kʷe.je/
    '(I'm) cooking.'

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

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

(_) ǝch lyew ǝchék-fóu-ye.
    1SG meat cook–INAN2.SG–PRES.PROG
    /ǝɕ ʎew ǝ.ɕék.fóu̯.je/
    'I'm cooking meat.'

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

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.

(_) za chíakƨ́x an-ngi ikongá-e-che.
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/
    'we walked through the forest.'

(_) za chíakƨ́x an-ngi uwóin-i-ke ikongá-e-che.
    1PL forest INAN.SG–through sing–PROG–NULL walk–INAN3.SG–PST.PROG
    /za ɕí.a.kɨ́x aŋ.ŋi u.wói̯.ni.ke i.ko.ŋá.e.ɕe/
    'we walked singing through the forest.'

The Null Form can also be used where a verbal infinitive might be used in Indo-European languages:

(_) gégwez-á áhpewaly-ifa-rwe-ke zé-innekw.
    child–PL teach–PASS–PRES.INCH–NULL REFL–jump
    /gé.gʷe.zá áh.pe.wa.ʎi.fa.rʷe.ke zé.in.nekʷ/
    'the children are excited to learn.'

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.

(_) ne gwowoijh-í kwǝ-lle-rwe.
    2SG mushroom–PL eat–INAN3.PL–PRES.INCH
    /ne gʷo.woi̯.ʑí kʷəl.le.rʷe/
    'you eat (the) mushrooms.'

(_) kwǝ-lle-rwe gwowoijh-í (ne)!
    eat–INAN3.PL–PRES.INCH mushroom–PL 2SG
    /kʷəl.le.rʷe gʷo.woi̯.ʑí (ne)/
    'eat (the) mushrooms(, you)!'

Questions

Polar Questions

The type of polar question morphology used in Léna depends on the social context. In most informal speech, 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:

(_) Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái.
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˦]
    'You will be staying at home.'

(_) Ló ax-xoi ǝjjix-xa-nái?
    house INAN–inside stay–INAN2.SG–FUT.PROG
    /ló ax.xoi̯ ǝɟ.ɟ͡ʑix.xa.nái̯/ […nai̯˥˩˧]
    'Will you be staying at home?'

And words with mid tone:

(_) Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se.
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˧]
    'You touched the squid.'

(_) Ezíghekw oggwe-s-se?
    squid touch–ANI2.SG–PST
    /e.zí.ɣekʷ og.gʷes.se/ […se˩˦]
    'Did you touch the squid?'

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.

(_) Ichaza-kch-e-ke ikéké-ná-hé?
    arrive–TEL.APPL–INAN3.SG–NULL persevere–FUT–OPT
    /i.ɕa.zak.ɕe.ke i.ké.ké.ná.hé/ […ke˥.ke˥.na˥.he˥˩˧]
    'Are you going to reach the end?'

However, in formal or official speech, questions make use of the negative copular auxiliary sak to turn the statement into a question.

"(_) Kwǝ-gghǝ-ghan ne-ifettǝk chowƨj-jhá sak?
    eat-ABST-IRR.GER 2SG.POSS-preference know-ACT.PTCP NEG_COP
    /kʷəɣ.ɣə.ɣan ne.i.fet.tək ɕo.wɨʑ.ʑá sak/
    'Do you know what you want to eat?'

The reason this can work unambiguously is that usually if a verb was actually negated, the suffix -(y)ekw would be added to said verb.

Questions with a Qualifier

These kinds of questions are very simple; the question word goes at the beginning of the phrase being turned into a question. However, further detail can be specified for transitive verbs by changing the object suffix on the verb to reflect qualities of the interrogated argument, as below.

(_) Kweffohex ie ne dúyƨp-ǝw-ná?
    dinner what 2SG prepare_food–ABST–FUT
    /kʷef.fo.hex i.e ne dú.jɨ.pəw.ná/
    'What will you make for dinner?'

(_) Kweffohex ie ne dúyƨp-re-ná?
    dinner what 2SG prepare_food–INAN3.PL–FUT
    /kʷef.fo.hex i.e ne dú.jɨp.re.ná/
    'What (vegetables) will you make for dinner?'

Grammar

The grammar of Léna contains most standard features of the Hakhpha languages: a diverse gender system, verbal object agreement and a general tendency towards being head-marking.