Red Laqi language

The Red Laqi language (RL. Plyžlaqebze) is the variety of Laqi speech most closely associated with the Red Laqs. Red Laqs originate from the Laqi Homeland in the grasslands of Brookshire, but split off to migrate west as Ashkenatza fell to ruin.

Phonology

		Labial		Alveolar		Postalveolar		Alveolopalatal	Retroflex	Velar		Uvular		Pharyngeal	Glottal
		plain	lab.	plain	lab.	plain	lab.			plain	lab.	plain	lab.		plain	lab.
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	voiceless	p		t							kʷ	q	qʷ		ʔ	ʔʷ
	voiced	b		d							gʷ
	ejective	p'	pʷ'	t'	tʷ'						kʷ'
Affricate	voiceless			t͡s	t͡sʷ	t͡ʃ			t͡ʂ
	voiced			d͡z	d͡zʷ	d͡ʒ
	ejective			t͡s'		t͡ʃ'			t͡ʂ'
Fricative	voiceless	f		s	ɬ	ʃ	ʃʷ	ɕ	ʂ	x	xʷ	χ	χʷ	ħ
	voiced			z	ɮ	ʒ	ʒʷ	ʑ	ʐ	ɣ		ʁ	ʁʷ
	ejective				ɬ'	ʃ'	ʃʷ'
Approximant								j			w
Trill				r

	Central
Close-mid	ə
Open	a aː

Orthography

Character		Phoneme	Examples
A a		/aː/	aban "hole"
B b		/b/	be "a lot (of)"
C	C c	/t͡s/	cage "rib", cy "body hair"
	C° c°	/t͡sʷ/	c°y "ox"
	C' c'	/t͡s'/	c'yfy "person"
	Ć ć	/t͡ʃ/	ćefy "cheerful, pleased"
	Ć' ć'	/t͡ʃ'/	ć'ymafe "winter", ćase "late", ćyg°e "land"
	Ĉ ĉ	/t͡ʂ/	ĉy'e "cold"
	Ĉ' ĉ'	/t͡ʂ'/	ĉyfe "debt"
D	D d	/d/	dedźe "bitter"
	Dz dz	/d͡z/	dzeue "bag", dze "combat, war"
	Dz° dz°	/d͡zʷ/	ḥandz°e "rick, 1.208 m3"
	Dź dź	/d͡ʒ/	dźane "dress, robe, shirt", łamydź "bridge"
E e		/a/	'eneẑ, neneẑ "grandmother"
F f		/f/	fyžy "white"
G	G g	/ɣ/	gyć'yġ "laundry", ge "gonad"
	G° g°	/gʷ/	g°y "heart"
	Ġ ġ	/ʁ/	ġathe "spring", -ġe "-ity, -ness"
	Ġ° ġ°	/ʁʷ/	ġ°yneġ°y "neighbour"
H	H h	/x/	-he "-s (plural marker)"
	Ḥ ḥ	/ħ/	ḥe "dog"
I i		/j/	iai "theirs", iat'e "dirt"
K	K° k°	/kʷ/	k°y "cart"
	K°' k°'	/kʷ'/	k°'akle "strong", -k°'e "-er"
L	L l	/ɮ/	ly "meat"
	Ł ł	/ɬ/	łaše "weak"
	Ł' ł'	/ɬ'/	ł'y "man"
M m		/m/	maze "moon", mepy "sheep"
N n		/n/	ne "eye", ny "mother"
P	P p	/p/	plyžy "red" paie "for, in order to"
	P' p'	/p'/	p'e "bed"
	P°'	/pʷ'/	p°'yr "apprentice"
Q	Q q	/q/	qek°'eḥyn "to stroll, roam" maq "voice"
	Q° q°	/qʷ/	q°yŝe "mountain", q°e "-son (patronymic)"
R r		/r/	rezeġen "to become content"
S	S s	/s/	se "I, me", seśh°e "sabre"
	Ś ś	/ʃ/	śy "horse, brother"
	Ś° ś°	/ʃʷ/	ś°y- "you all (imperative plural marker)", ś°ece "black"
	Š š	/ɕ/	šy "three"
	Ŝ ŝ	/ʂ/	ŝe "hundred", ŝabe "soft, meek"
T	T t	/t/	te "we"
	T' t'	/t'/	nyt'e "yes"
	T°' t°'	/tʷ'/	t°'yrys "old"
U u		/w/	uyben "to tamp, make smooth"
X	X x	/χ/	xyien "to move"
	X° x°	/χʷ/	-x°y "male ___"
Z	Z z	/z/	-bze "female ___, -speech"
	Ź ź	/ʒ/	bźyḥe "autumn"
	Ź° ź°	/ʒʷ/	ź°aġ°e "star"
	Ž ž	/ʑ/	žaua "shadow"
	Ẑ ẑ	/ʐ/	ẑy "old", ẑaẑe "slow"
'	'	/ʔ/	'e "hand"
	'°	/ʔʷ/	'°yćen "to meet"

Grammar

Nouns

Cases

	Indefinite		Definite
Abs	-	ŝ°yze	-r	ŝ°yzer	"a/some woman" "the woman"
Erg-Obj	-	ŝ°yze	-m	ŝ°yzem	"a/some woman" "the woman"
Inst-Dir	-ć'e	ŝ°yzeć'e	-mć'e	ŝ°yzemć'e	"with a/some woman" "with the woman"
Adv	-u		ŝ°yzeu		"as a/the woman"
Adj	_		ŝ°yz_		"womanly"

Case markers affix to the very end of the noun stem, after all other modifying suffixes have already been attached.

Absolutive

The Absolutive Case marks the subject of an intransitive verb or the direct object of a transitive verb.

Subject of an Intransitive

ć'aler iedźap'em k°'aġe "The boy went to the school."

Direct Object of a Transitive

Pšylym syġ°enćedźeher ieġeqabze. "The slave cleans my trousers."

Ergative-Oblique

Subject of a Transitive

Pšylym syġ°enćedźeher ieġeqabze. "The slave cleans my trousers."

Locative

ć'aler iedźap'em k°'aġe "The boy went to the school."

Ć'ale mezym šy'. "A boy is in the woods."

Adjectival

The Adjectival Case marks when a noun is being used as an adjective to directly modify the following noun.

ġ°yć'y "iron" → ġ°yć' wate "iron hammer"

Formation

The Adjectival Case is notable in that it is marked not with an ending, but with a reduction of the noun stem. For multi-syllabic nouns, the end vowel is clipped:

plyžy "red" (abs) → plyž "red" (adj)

For mono-syllabic nouns, the end vowel is retained; for these nouns, the Adjectival has the same form as the indefinite Absolutive or Ergative-Oblique:

ł'y "man" (abs) → ł'y "manly" (adj)

This absence of clipping extends to compounds in which a monosyllabic noun comes last:

dzeł'y "fighter" (abs) [< dze "army" + ł'y "man"] → dzeł'y "fighter" (adj)

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns can be optional, due subject and object markings on finite verbs. On the other hand, their inclusion in sentences add redundancy and can be used for emphasis. The category of "personal" covers only First and Second Person as well as a Reflexive.

		First	Second	Reflexive
Singular	Abs	se	ue	iež
	Erg-Obj	se	ue	iež
	Inst-Dir	serć'e	uerć'e	iežć'e
	Adv	sereu	uereu	iežeu
Plural	Abs	te	ś°e	iežher
	Erg-Obj	te	ś°e	iežhem
	Inst-Dir	terć'e	ś°erć'e	iežhamć'e
	Adv	tereu	ś°ereu	iežhereu

Possessive Pronouns

Possession can be marked as a prefix on the possessed noun. Red Laqi distinguishes according to alienation. An inalienated noun is one which cannot exist without belonging to someone, e.g. a hand is someone's hand, a mother is someone's mother, by default.

Inalienable Possessive

Inalienable possessive prefixes have two forms, for whether or not the ajoined word begins with a vowel or a consonant.

	Prefix	Meaning
1s	s- / sy-	"my"
2s	w- / wy-	"your (s)"
3s	- / y-	"his, her, its"
1p	t- / te-	"our"
2p	ś°- / ś°e-	"your (pl)"
3p	- / a-	"their"

Alienable Possessive

	Prefix	Meaning
1s	syi-	"my"
2s	wyi-	"your (s)"
3s	iyi-	"his, her, its"
1p	tyi-	"our"
2p	ś°yi-	"your (pl)"
3p	iai-	"their"