Amilin
Amilin, formally Westi Amilin (the Amilin Language), is a mysterious language that first appeared in early May 2021 in the undercity of Mount September among Squareblobist-Allenist radicals. It is widely suspected that animeme_master may have had a large role in the introduction of Amilin to this section of Septembrian society.
Usage
AllenY has announced plans to name some streets in the MtS undercity with Amilin names.
Writing system
Amilin has so far only been known to be written in the Latin alphabet.
| Name | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| A a | /a/ | |
| B b | /b/ | |
| D d | /d/ [d~dʑ] | Allphonic with [dʑ] before /i/ in some speakers. |
| E e | /ɛ/ | |
| F f | /f/ [f~v] | [v] in consonant sequences containing a voiced consonant. |
| G g | /g/ | |
| I i | /i/ | |
| K k | /k/ | |
| L l | /l/ | May sometimes appear tapped or flapped as [ɾ] or [ɺ]. |
| M m | /m/ | |
| N n | /n/ [n~ŋ] | [ŋ] before a velar consonant. |
| O o | /ɔ/ | |
| P p | /p/ | |
| S s | /s/ [s~z] | [z] in consonant sequences containing a voiced consonant. |
| T t | /t/ [t~tɕ] | Allophonic with [tɕ] before /i/ in some speakers. |
| U u | /u/ | |
| W w | /w/ | |
| Y y | /j/ |
The first letters of sentences and of proper names are capitalised; lowercase is used elsewhere.
The other letters of the Latin alphabet are used only in proper non-Amilin names.
Phonology
Consonants
Unvoiced stop consonants /p/, /t/, /k/ may be slightly geminated.
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | |||
| Stop | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/ | k /k/ | |
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d/ | g /g/ | ||
| Fricative | f /f/ | s /s/ | |||
| Approximant | w /w/ | l /l/ | y /j/ | ||
- Before /i/, /t/ and /d/ may have allophones of [tɕ] and [dʑ] respectively.
Vowels
Monophthongs
| Front | Mid | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | u /u/ | |
| Open | e /ɛ/ | a /a/ | o /ɔ/ |
Diphthongs
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Rising | ai /aj/ | au /aw/ |
Phonotactics and word-accent
Amilin has a (C)V(C) syllable structure. All syllables except the initial one in a word are required to have an onset; the coda is always optional, but can only take a limited range of consonants, this being: /m/, /n/, /f/, /s/, /l/.
Additionally there are a range of forbidden coda-onset and diphthong-onset pairs across syllable boundaries:
| Coda or diphthong | ai | au | m | n | f | s | l |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Onset deletes coda or offglide | y | w | m, n | l, m, n | w, p, b, f | s | y, l, n |
| Onset applies sandhi to coda | t, d | p, b |
Where a coda or diphthong would cause a forbidden pair to occur (for instance in loanwords or transcriptions of proper names), the coda disappears or changes via sandhi rules, or the diphthong is reduced to /a/ (respectively).
Word-accent
All one-syllable words in Amilin are unstressed. Most two-syllable words, except for a small set of prepositions which have no stress, take stress on the first syllable. The vowel of a stressed syllable is pronounced for somewhat longer than that of an unstressed syllable.
Morphology
Amilin is a highly isolating, analytic language with few inflections. It makes heavy use of prepositions to indicate the role of words in a phrase, and most words in the vocabulary can variously be nouns, verbs, adjectives or adverbs depending on word order. Verb particles are used similarly to noun prepositions to indicate the mood and aspect of a verb, which can be imperfect, perfect, optative-imperative, or mark an auxiliary verb. Tense is usually implicit but can be specified or established using a set of auxiliary verbs.
Amilin has a zero copula, with statements such as "This is a house", "This house is red", and "This red house exists" being expressed through word order and use of cases.
Typologically, word order is principally subject-verb-object, noun-adjective. However, word order is partially free, with the first noun in a phrase indicating the topic, followed immediately by the verb; this is especially common with fronted indirect objects acting as topics. Fronted objects are by comparison rare, but correspondingly place especially heavy emphasis on the object noun.
Grammatical cases
There are 12 cases in Amilin. The nominative and genitive cases may be unmarked and indicated by word order; all other cases require their preposition.
- Nominative: unmarked or siba depending on position in the phrase
- Vocative: unmarked subject of a verb in the optative-imperative mood
- Accusative: lef
- Genitive: unmarked, lin, or lef lin depending on position in the phrase
- Dative: de, also used for expressing inalienable or abstract possession or ownership
- Locative: pon
- Ablative: kai
- Instrumental: waiki
- Comitative: elpa, also used for expressing alienable, immediate possession
- Superlative: istuwi
- Adverbial-Comparative: folgu
- Evidential: kosalo
Example sentences
- Gusta ko titau da buyu kai uweli ta gu de sinya Mount Augusta.
- 1PL-EXCL AUX past PERF walk ABL homestead PL 1-EXCL DAT city "Mount Augusta"
- We had walked from our homesteads to the [then-active] city of Mount Augusta.
- Pon sinya elai siba matikabi ta istuwi estu.
- LOC city THIS NOM large-building PL SUP stack-amount
- In this city there were very many large buildings (lit. "more than a stack").