Geoff's homepage -> Artificial Languages -> Liotic -> Lemython

Last update: 2 April 2007

Lemython

Lemython is treated here as a single language, although it is actually a group of closely-related survivors of the Eastern branch of Liotic. It is confined to the heavily forested regions of the Kabra peninsula, where it developed largely in isolation from other languages, and as a result is the most idiosyncratic Liotic language. Its speakers number 120 thousand.

Phonology

Lemython has a smaller inventory of phonemes than any of its relatives, due largely to mergers and losses in the consonant system.

Stress

Like Kadhrein and unlike Liotan, Lemython is syllable-timed, i.e. all syllables are the same length. The main stress is on the first syllable after any prefixes.

Vowels

Lemython has the same seven vowels /i e a o u 2 y/ as Astarien, and they operate in vowel harmony in the same way; there are no long vowels or diphthongs. The need for diacritics to indicate tone precludes the use of umlauts; /2 y/ are thus transcribed W Y. [Suggestions for better transcriptions are welcome, as long as they're practical :-]

Tones

Lemython is unique in Liotic in that it features four tones - in effect transitions between high and low pitches - on stressed vowels. The tones are level, rising, falling, or circumflex (rising and falling); they are indicated with accents on the vowels, respectively none, acute, grave, and circumflex. You'll need a Unicode font in order to see some of the accented letters on this page; if you can see three accented W's and two accented Y's on the following line, you're OK.

ŵ ẁ ẃ ỳ ŷ

The tones developed in two stages. In the first stage, the palatal onset after a slender consonant or initial /j/ changed to a rising tonal contour; in the second, the diphthongs collapsed into single vowels with a falling contour. The circumflex tone resulted when both contours developed on the same vowel. Thus feil "fast" /fjel_j/ > fél, gól "ear" > /goul/ gòl, and rreóch "thing" /r_joux/ > rôh. The developments of the vowels and diphthongs were as follows:

Short stressed /a o u/ fronted to /e 2 y/ before a slender consonant: duirr "gold" > dyrth, ait "sharp" > echt, oit "strong" > wcht.
The second element (/i u/) in /ai ei ii/ and /au ou uu/ developed into a falling contour: déiph "thumb" > dêf, gól "ear" > /goula/ > gòl. /ai au/ thus became /a/ in Lemython, unlike the /ai au/ or /e o/ of other Liotic languages; compare dán "father" > dàn and báill "secure" > bàth with Chastuvien dóna wéthe and Astarien dauna vaitha.
/oi eu/ and /ui iu/ became rounded front vowels /2/ and /y/: cúinh "orange, amber" > kỳnsh.
/ia ie/ fell together in /e/: diara "finger" > dèr, siail "start" > shèl.
/ua ue/ developed separately to /o 2/: cuath "side" > kòs, but tuaich "shake, tremor" > tẁch.

As many of the above examples show, final vowels were lost in polysyllables.

A rule of later Lemython tonemics prevented two low pitches from occuring together. In practice this means that if the first syllable of a polysyllabic word contains a falling or circumflex tone, the fall to the low pitch is delayed until the final syllable of the word; thus rôho "the thing" has a rising tone on the first syllable and a falling tone on the second, and would be more accurately transcribed róxò.

Consonants

Lemython has sixteen consonant phonemes: six stops /p b t d k g/, two nasals /m n/, two liquids /l r/, and six fricatives /f T s S C x/. The fricatives are normally voiceless with voiced allophones [v D z Z j\ G] before voiced stops and occasionally between vowels, for example reachad "pillar, column" > ráhd /ráGd/, éhw "the family" /éG2/. The consonants are all transcribed straightforwardly, with the exception of /T S C x/ which are here transcribed TH SH CH H.

/s z/ merged in /s/, while /S Z/ became /C S/. Some of the other rather curious developments of the consonants in Lemython were:

Initial /sp st sk/ > /f T x/: sbaogha "tin", sdarr "beard", sgaoin "shell" > fẁh tharh xin.
Slender /k g sk/ > /x Sk x/: biúiceach "waits", boigeach "praises", eisg "family" > bŷheh bwshkeh éh.
Slender /t d/ > /Ct St/: paoit "vertical" > picht, foid "pale, white" > fwsht.
Voiced fricatives all devoiced: rreigh "seagull" > réch, adha "soft" > as.

As in South Liotic, the Liotan mutation system does not survive in Lemython.

Phonotactics

Lemython final consonant clusters are limited to nasal + obstruent (fánd "tree"), liquid + obstruent (shált "confusion, panic"), and fricative + stop (picht "vertical"). Other clusters are broken up with an epenthetic /a/ or /e/, for example géadhail "feeble" > /gŵzl/ > ŵsel.

Grammar

As with the phonology, the isolation of Lemython was responsible for many idiosyncratic features of the grammar. The grammar is more isolating than that of North or South Liotic, but less so than that of Kadhrein.

Nouns

As in Astarien, the operation of vowel harmony caused the original masculine and feminine genders of Liotan to coalesce into one common gender in Lemython. Uniquely in contemporary Liotic, Lemython retains an inflected dual number, and inflects nouns for definiteness and not case. The full declensions of nél "woman", gàl "man", gŵrh "stick", and rôh "thing" are shown below.

	Common		Neuter
Number	Front	Back	Front	Back
Indef sing	nél	gàl	gŵrh	rôh
Indef dual	néle	gàla	gŵrhe	rôha
Indef plural	néles	gàlas	gŵrhws	rôhos
Def sing	nélw	gàlo	gŵrhw	rôho
Def dual	nélek	gàlak	gŵrhwk	rôhok
Def plural	nélen	gàlan	gŵrhwn	rôhon

Possession and other genitive relations are expressed with prepositions; in this respect Lemython resembles Kadhrein, except that the possessed noun may be definite or indefinite. For example fílekw tí fándo "the leaves on the tree", "the tree's leaves". fílen tí fándo, with the first noun indefinite, meant "some of the tree's leaves".

Adjectives

Adjectives inflect for gender, number, and definiteness. The inflections are the same as for nouns; in other words, the distinction of gender is not made in the indefinite singular or dual, nor in the definite singular. The adjective always follows the noun: gàl hast "a tall man", gàlas hastas "tall men", gàlo hasto "the tall man".

Comparisons are formed with -om -wm (superiority), -acht -echt (inferiority), and -arh -erh (equality), and the comparand is preceded by as:

hasdom as gàlo "taller than the man"
hasdacht as gàlo "not as tall as the man"
hasdarth as gàlo "as tall as the man"
gàlo hasdom "the tallest man"
gàlo hasdacht "the least tall man"

Adverbs are simply formed by suffixing -ash -esh: dìchtash "slowly", félesh "quickly", fòrash "coldly".

Demonstratives

The demonstrative particles are em ah orh, and followed the noun, which may be definite or indefinite: gòlo em "this man", gòl em "one of these men".

Pronouns

Personal pronouns are used much more in Lemython than elsewhere in Liotic. The polite second person and inclusive first person pronouns were lost, but the duals have been retained, and gender-specific third person forms were created in the dual and plural. The resulting pronouns are the following:

Person	Singular	Dual	Plural
1	sòm	gánsa	gáns
2	mo	mánsa	máns
3 masc	an	ana	ans
3 fem	el	ele	els
3 neut	or	ora	ors
3 gen	al	gar	in

plus the indefinite kòm, the relative to, the reflexive bur, and a special second person form dráns. This special form, which was a relic of the first person inclusive plural, is used in restricted situations such as addressing crowds and religious ceremonies.

Pronouns do not inflect. Possession is expressed by placing the possessor after the possessed noun: êshtw el "her house", êsht el "one of her houses".

Prepositions

Unlike in other Liotic languages, the prepositions are always independent words in Lemython. They are usually used in combination with râ, mí "from", and nú "at, by"; for example, fú "in" and râ are used together as fú râ or (more usually) râ fú to make "into".

The prepositions have not combined with pronouns at any point in the history of Lemython; "to me" is simply râ sòm, and "hither" was similarly râ em /rá èm/.

Verbs

The thematic vowel was not lost word-finally, unlike other final vowels, and may be any one of the seven vowels; as in Astarien, the distinctions between the original uses have been blurred by the operations of vowel harmony. In an interesting parallel with the prepositions, Lemython is unique in Liotic (with the possible exception of Kadhrein) in requiring independent subject pronouns as subjects of the verb; the subject, whether a noun or pronoun, is always the first nominal element after the verb, and the object follows it. The simple past is formed by prefixing unstressed on- wn-; for example:

buna an "he is eating", kali or "it is shining"
on-buna an "he ate", wn-kali or "it shone"
buna an tẁkw "he eats the apple", buna sòm or "I eat it"

The participles are formed straightforwardly, with suffixes to the thematic vowel:

Active imperfective: buna-lt "eating"
Active perfective: buna-h "having eaten"
Passive imperfective: buna-cht "being eaten"
Passive perfective: buna-sk "having been eaten"

These are used as verbal nouns in distinctively Lemython descendants of the Liotan construction:

bunalt la sòm "I am eating", on-bunalt la sòm "I was eating"
bunah la sòm "I have eaten", on-bunah la sòm "I had eaten, I ate"

As elsewhere in Liotic, other prepositions may be used for more refined meanings, and the passive voice is expressed by using the indefinite pronoun as the subject:

bunalt dor sòm "I have just eaten"
bunalt nẃ sòm "I am about to eat"
buna kòm or "it is being eaten"

Negation and interrogation are expressed with the particles thé- and fi- before the verb; these particles combine with the marker of the past tense to give thán- amd fèn. Thus:

thé-buna sòm "I am not eating"
fi-buna sòm "Am I eating?"
thán-buna sòm "I did not eat"
fèn-buna sòm "Did i eat?"

"To be"

Both forms of "to be" survive in Lemython, as does the syntax: do hast fú sòm "I am tall" (temporarily), é hast fú sòm "I am tall" naturally".

Numbers

Lemython retains the vigintesmal counting system of Liotan. The cardinal numbers to ten and their twenties are shown below.

	Number	Twenty
1	mál	kâr
2	san	seshker
3	shéth	shélker
4	dín	dínker
5	dar	darkar
6	nab	sòkar
7	nûg	nŷker
8	por	porkar
9	sẁht	sẁher
10	kìsht	kìher

"First" and "second" are shèl and sob; the other ordinals are formed by adding the definite suffix to the cardinal. Thus dar gàlas "five men", dar gàlan "the five men", dara gàla "the fifth man".

Higher numbers are as in Liotan: mal gàl kìsht "11 men", mal gàl kâr "21 men", and so on.

Conjunctions

As in South Liotan, as is the only form of "and" which survives in Lemython. "or" is wsh (exclusive) and lesh (inclusive), and "but" is son. The two forms of "if" are dan and oh.

Derivation

Some of the commoner derivational suffixes are shown below.

Suffix	to	gave	meaning	examples
-ast -est	adj	noun	abstracts	ar "hot" > arast "heat", wcht "strong" > wchtest "strength"
-om -wm	noun	adj	resembling, like	gàl "man" > gàlom "manlike", kŵns "fish" > kŵnswm "fishy"
-ol -wl	noun	adj	lacking	kir "clothing" > kirol "naked", êsht "hand" > êshtwm "with no hands"
-in	noun	adj	having, full of	gwr "dirt" > gwrin "dirty", gras "smoke" > grasin "smoky"
-os -ws	verb	adj	-able	fìrthah "feels" > fìrthos "feelable, detectable", ésheh "says" > éshws "sayable, mentionable"
-axt -ext	verb, noun	common noun	place	éh "family" > éheht "family home", gras "smoke" > grasaht "smoke-house"

Syntax

Word order

Lemython is strictly VSO.

Modal verbs and dependent clauses

Most modal meanings are expressed with prepositions and participles, as with bunalt fú sòm "I can eat", bunalt té sòm "I should eat", and so on. Other modal verbs, and dependent clauses generally, use the familiar Liotan construction:

ínshe sòm bunalt "I want to eat".
ínshe sòm bunalt râ mo "I want you to eat"; note the use of râ "towards" here.
wn tẁxe sòm bunalt mo "I saw you eating".
bŷhe sòm bunah mo "I am waiting for you to finish eating".

Relative clauses, emphasis, interrogatives

Here, again, there is little difference from Liotan:

é kom fû katho a buna to kéthw "the dog which is eating the bone is brown".
é katho a buna to "it is the *dog* which is eating".
gras a buna katho to "what is the dog eating?"
gaoi kéth a buna katho to "which bone is the dog eating?"
gẁs a buna katho fû to "when is the dog eating?"

Indefinites

Unlike the other Liotic languages, the indefinites in Lemython remain separate words: pèsht rìsh "everyone", kin ras "anything", thèn kot "nowhere".