Lashe Felse

Lashe Felse (/la.ʃe ɸel.ze/) is the language of the Ankacau tribes and the official language of Nacafi. It is a descendant of Proto-Southern and the only member of the Cafian language branch.
== Etymology ==
The name Lashe Felse is an endonym and translates to "healthy tongue".
== Phonology ==
=== Vowels ===
Lashe Felse has a simple vowel system with 5 values.
 	Front	Central	Back
Close	i 	 	u
Mid 	e 	 	o
Open 	 	ä <a> 	
There are four diphthongs: ai, oi, ui and au.
=== Consonants ===
 	Labial 	Alveolar	Post-Alveolar	Palatal	Velar 	Glottal
Stop 	p; b 	t; d 	t; d 	 	k; g 	ʔ
Fricative 	ɸ~f; v 	s; z 	ʃ <sh> 	 	x <kh>	h
Affricate 	pɸ <pf>	ts 	tʃ <c> 	 	kx 	
Trill 	 	r 	r 	 	 	
Nasal 	m 	n 	n 	 	ŋ <ng>	
Approximant	 	l 	l 	j 	 	
=== Phonotactics ===
Lashe Felse generally has a CVC syllable structure. Stops can occur in coda position, but not at the end of a word. Affricates and the palatal approximant /j/ can only occur in onset position and /ŋ/ can only be in coda position.
=== Stress ===
Stress in Lashe Felse depends on the weight of the syllable. There are three types of syllables:
* Light syllables have the pattern CV
* Medium syllables have the pattern CVX, with X being any coda consonant other than nasals
* Heavy syllables have the pattern CVN and CVV, with N being a nasal and VV expressing a diphthong
Stress falls on the first heavy syllable. If there is no heavy syllable, it falls on the first medium syllable. If there is no medium syllable present, stress falls on the penultimate syllable.
== Grammar ==
=== Syntax ===
The Syntax is S-V-O. Lashe Felse is strongly head-initial; most adjectives follow the noun they modify, the possessor follows the possessee and appositions are postpositional. Auxiliary verbs come before the modified verbs.
=== Nouns ===
Nouns can take three different cases (nominative, genitive and object case) and two numbers (singular and plural). The case marker is suffixed while the plural marker is prefixed. Nouns are also either of common or neuter gender, and the number and case marking is different for the two genders.
=== Verbs and Adjectives ===
(tbc)
The majority of adjectives in Lashe Felse behave similar to verbs and can be conjugated.
Many aspects are expressed by adding converbal suffixes to the verb stem.
== Example Word Lists ==
=== Numbers ===
Lashe Felse has a decimal number system.
This section is currently being revised as part of LF's harmonisation with the Southern Languages.
Cardinal Numbers
Numeral	Lashe Felse	IPA	Numeral	Lashe Felse	IPA
1 	 	 	11 	 	
2 	1, 2 	 	12 	 	
3 	 	 	13 	 	
4 	 	 	20 	 	
5 	cila 	 	21 	 	
6 	 	 	30 	 	
7 	kxeni 	 	40 	 	
8 	dam 	 	100 	anka 	
9 	daca 	 	1000 	 	
10 	hung 	 	 	 	
1 common gender; 2 neuter gender
=== Nouns ===
Nouns of the Common Gender
Lashe Felse	IPA 	English 	
Birma 	/bir.ma/	fruit 	
Ca 	/͜tʃa/ 	river 	
Cile 	/͜tʃi.le/	hand 	
Esh 	/eʃ/ 	olive tree 	
Finge 	/fiŋ.ge/	corsac fox 	
Kame 	/ka.me/ 	antelope 	
Kapte 	/kap.te/	woman 	
Lashe 	/la.ʃe/ 	tongue, language 	
Len 	/len/ 	water 	
Mete 	/me.te/ 	horse 	
Mina 	/mi.na/ 	head, skull 	
Musu 	/mu.zu/ 	buffalo, cow, bovine	
Naba 	/na.ba/ 	bird 	
Nakh 	/nax/ 	wind, air 	
Namfa 	/nam.ɸa/	 	
Omon 	/o.mon/ 	heron 	
Pfovo 	/͜pfo.vo/	man, person 	
Rafa 	/ra.ɸa/ 	sun 	
Tse 	/t͜se/ 	egg 	
Tongu 	/toŋ.gu/	food, bread 	
Nouns of the Neuter Gender
Lashe Felse	IPA 	English 	
Doculu	/do.͜tʃu.lu/	desert 	
Dolo 	/do.lo/ 	life 	
 	 	sky 	
Kxi 	/͜kxi/ 	milk 	
Lira 	/li.ra/ 	fire 	
Loise 	/loɪ̯.ze/ 	rock 	
Luka 	/lu.ka/ 	night 	
Pfau 	/͜pfau/ 	ford, crossing	
Set 	/set/ 	day 	
Selko 	/sel.ko/ 	skin 	
Serke 	/ser.ke/ 	death, passing	
Sho 	/ʃo/ 	forest 	
Tsirna	/t͜sir.na/ 	coast, edge 	
Ui 	/uɪ̯/ 	leaf 	
Unda 	/un.da/ 	tree 	
=== Verbs and Adjectives ===
(tbc)
== Translations ==
Musu hafa nush kxi i natse sho mo ute. 
/mu.zu ha.fa nuʃ ͜kxi i na͜tse ʃo mo u.te/ 
buffalo find take milk CONJ PL.C-egg forest PREP be.close
The buffalo collects/collected milk and eggs in the forest that is close.
Category:Languages
Category:Nacafi