Léna Language
| Léna | |
|---|---|
| Language family | Hakhpha |
| Writing system | Latin Alphabet |
| 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 national language. It is also a recognised minority language in the Empire of Coldba.
Classification
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.
Velar fricatives /x, ɣ/ are realised advanced [x̟, ɣ̟] around front vowels /e, i/.
Vowels
Standard Léna has 7 vowel qualities and distinguishes two phonemic tones.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | ɨ | u |
| Mid | e | ǝ | o |
| Low | a | ||
The tone levels in Léna 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.