Hilichurlian

Hilichurlian is one of the main languages of Teyvat spoken and is spoken predominantly by hilichurls.
==Overview==
Hilichurlian is the language spoken by hilichurls. It is unknown if hilichurls have a writing system for their language. 
Hilichurlian isn't well understood in Teyvat as few people are interested in hilichurls; According to Ella Musk, Hilichurlian Linguistics is an underdeveloped academic field. Due to the risk of humans interacting with hilichurls, its study is limited by the researcher's ability to complete field work. Due to this, the study of Hilichurlian Linguistics is predominantly driven by Ella Musk's ongoing research and that of her ancestor — most likely her grandfather — Jacob Musk. Jacob Musk was described as the "Poet Laureate" of Hilichurlian for his book, Hilichurl Ballad Selection, an accolade he was not fond of. Ella Musk introduces her self as a professor of Hilichurlian Linguistics specializing in "applied grammar for vernacular Hilichurlian."
Materials on the language of the hilichurls are scarce and most are written by the same small group of scholars — Jacob Musk and Ella Musk. Additionally, as both were based in Mondstadt, much of their research has been only on the hilichurl tribes local to the region. Their attempts to understand Hilichulian language and customs has had mixed results. Ella Musk admits that without more field work, she is uncertain of the meaning behind several words. During Ella Musk's commissions, the Traveler attempts to speak Hilichurlian with varying degrees of success depending on the player's choices. If the player selects the correct words, the hilichurls respond with dancing. If an incorrect word is selected, they grow aggressive leading immediately to a fight. Before Mika joined the Knights of Favonius as a cartographer, he went with Ella Musk on one of her "language exchange" trips to get some expedition practice. While conversing with a hilichurl, Ella Musk made a mistake which ended in both of them getting beat up.
Kaeya and Venti have been observed to hold some level of proficiency in Hilichulian, but it is unknown how or when they studied the language. Venti claims to have learned it to help with his songwriting, but states he hasn't actually written any ballads in Hilichurlian. The Traveler also exercises their Hilichurlian during Lionfang's Legacy, the third part of Venti's Story Quest Carmen Dei Chapter: Act I - Should You Be Trapped in a Windless Land.
Hilichurls "across the continent" have been observed singing.
Abyss mages can speak Hilichurlian. 
===Translation===
Real world attempts to decipher the language of the Hilichurls have been made using a combination of sources including the official manga, books such as Hilichurl Ballad Selection, Hilichurl Cultural Customs, and Ella Musk's commissions. Hilichurlian is the most understood distinct language of Teyvat. Unlike most other languages in Teyvat, which are real life languages such as English and Latin written with a custom alphabet, Hilichurlian is a and is therefore linguistically distinct, with distinct phonology, words, phrases, and grammar.
A key part of understanding the language comes from the second episode of the official Chinese livestream "Mondstadt Tea Party," which gives two translated phrases: Mosi mita and Mosi gusha, which literally mean "eat meat" and "eat vegetables" respectively, and are used figuratively as expressions of happiness and sadness, respectively.Reddit: Hilichurl Language Research (Translation from CN)NGA: 本丘学家宣布已经基本破译了丘丘人语，并发现了丘丘人的神灵乌努
A major source of information on Hilichurlian is the Handy Handbook of Hilichurlian (HHH), written by Ella Musk's grandfather. The HHH can be treated as generally correct as the Traveler will not run into issues when using the HHH as a guide. However, it may have dubious accuracy when it comes to the exact nuances of Hilichurlian due to Ella's own errors in the language as well as any errors in understanding that the original author had.
==Lexicon==
A list of known common words of Hilichurlian. Please pay attention to the references.
==Phonology==
Hilichurlian vowels
		 	
		 	
		*	
		 	
Allophonic vowels
			
			
			
			
Full monophthongs
Hilichurlian	Vowel	Allophone
ika 	æ 	a
celi 	ɛ 	
mani 	i 	
movo 	ə 	ʌ
movo 	ʌ 	ɔ
gusha 	ɯ 	
 Consonants
Tenuis	Tenuis 	Aspriate	Aspriate	Voiced	Voiced 	Nasal	Nasal 	Approximant 	Approximant
/p/ 	Allophone of /b/ 	/pʰ/ 	plata 	/b/ 	buka 	/m/ 	mita 	 	
/t/ 	Allophone of /d/ 	/tʰ/ 	tiga 	/d/ 	dala 	/n/ 	nini 	/l/ 	lata
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	/ɹ̠/, /r/ 	beru
/k/ 	Allophone of /g/ 	/kʰ/ 	kundala 	/ɡ/ 	guru-guru	/ŋ/ 	Allophone of /n/	/w/ 	lawa
 	 	/t͡ʃʰ/ 	kucha 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	 	 	 	/β/ 	vin 	 	 	 	
/s/ 	sada 	 	 	/z/ 	zido 	 	 	 	
/ʃ/ 	shato 	 	 	 	 	 	 	/j/The glide /j/ is not present in front of the vowel /i/.	ya
/h/ 	homuHomu is a name referenced by the Unusual Hilichurl and not a word. It is a reference to the mascot in previous games of HoYoverse.	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Hilichurlian is observed to have high allophonic variation. Some speakers may pronounce the graphemes ⟨a⟩ and ⟨e⟩ as both /æ/. Voiced consonants may sometimes be pronounced with tenuis consonants instead.
The mid central vowel, /ə/, although present in Hilichurlian, is not very common. It only appears as the rendition of the grapheme ⟨o⟩ in special cases. ⟨o⟩ is normally pronounced as /ʌ/. For example, the word movo is pronounced with /ə/ in the first ⟨o⟩ and the regular reading of /ʌ/ in the second ⟨o⟩.
Official Transcription	Voice-Over
Odomu Movo! 	
Hilichurlian does not appear to have diphthongs. In words where vowels are adjacent to each other, such as biadam, hiatus is employed instead and ⟨bi⟩ and ⟨a⟩ are considered separate morae.
Official Transcription	Voice-Over
Biadam! 	
==Morphosyntactic Alignment==
Hilichurlian is generally an ergative-absolutive language, however it does not purely abide by the rules of ergative-absolutive morphosyntactic alignment.
One main example is the interrogative mood of a transitive verb; in a classical ergative-absolutive language, the agent of a transitive verb is always the ergative, and never the absolutive. However, in Hilichurlian, when a transitive verb takes the interrogative dala as the object, the agent must be marked in absolutive case. For example, ye muhe dala? instead of yo muhe dala?
The following table lists ergative-absolutive pairs.
Pronoun 	Ergative	Absolutive
First-person 	mi 	mi
First-person plural 	mimi 	mimi
Second-person 	yo 	ye
Second-person plural	yoyo 	yeye
==Orthography==
Hilichurlian is written with the Latin alphabet, however it is unclear if the Hilichurls write Hilichurlian themselves or if the orthography was simply developed by humans such as Jacob Musk to transcribe the sounds of Hilichurlian.
Hilichurlian is observed to not use the letters f, j, q, and x. Therefore, the Hilichurlian alphabet contains 22 letters: 5 vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and 17 consonants.
*A a
*B b
*C c
*D d
*E e
*G g
*H h
*I i
*K k
*L l
*M m
*N n
*O o
*P p
*R r
*S s
*T t
*U u
* V v
* W w
*Y y
*Z z
==Pluralization==
In Hilichurlian, nouns and pronouns are abstractly pluralized through reduplication. The first-person singular pronoun mi is reduplicated to become the first-person plural pronoun mimi.
==Verbs==
In Hilichurlian, verbs are not inflectionally distinguished from nouns or adjectives. A verb as a headword can be used as a noun and adjective too in some cases. They do not inflect or conjugate, but have some main constructions.
Hilichurlian is a subject-verb-object (SVO) language, like English and Chinese. The direct object is placed directly after the verb, and the subject precedes the verb.
Hilichurlian does not have definite or indefinite articles, much like Chinese or Japanese.
SUBJECT	VERB 	OBJECT
Mi 	muhe 	ye.
I-erg 	likeor win (over)	you-abs.
SUBJECT 	VERB 	OBJECT
Yoyo 	zido 	ika.
You (plural)-erg	fightor kill	(the) enemy-abs.
SUBJECT 	VERB 	OBJECT
Ye 	muhe 	dala?
You-abs 	wantor like 	what?-abs
What do you want/like?	What do you want/like?	What do you want/like?
However, the locative case is marked by placing the location prior to an intransitive movement verb.
qualifier 	SUBJECT 	locative 	VERB
Kuzi 	Unu 	ya 	zido.
Mighty 	Unu-erg [a god] 	(the) human-abs-loc 	goes (to)
The mighty Unu goes to the human.	The mighty Unu goes to the human.	The mighty Unu goes to the human.	The mighty Unu goes to the human.
Hilichurlian has 9 grammatical moods in a total of 2 grammatical mood categories:
*Realis (real)
*# Declarative (decl). This mood is used to declare that something is the case.
*#Negative (neg). This mood is used to encode negative (non-affirmative) polarity into an utterance.
*#Immediate (imm). This mood is used to signify that a verb is being performed in the immediate present.
*#Emphatic (emp). This mood is used to stress and emphasize a verb.
*Irrealis (irr)
**Deotonic (deo)
**#Imperative (imp). This mood is used to directly issue commands to a second party listener.
**#Optative (opt). This mood is used to indicate a wish or hope to either the speaker themselves or a second party.
**#Desiderative (desi). This mood is used to indicate a speaker's desire.
**# Jussive (jus). This mood is used to issue commands to a third party.
** Epistemic (epi)
**#Interrogative (int). This mood is used to obtain information from a second party listener.
Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive	Conjugation of muhe (to win, to like, to want) transitive
 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis
 	Declarative 	Negative 	Immediate 	Emphatic 	Emphatic negative 	Imperative 	Optative 	Desiderative 	Jussive 	Interrogative
First person (singular) 	Mi muhe 	Mi muhe nye 	Eleka mi muhe 	Mi muhe mita 	Mi muhe mita nye 	- 	- 	Mi muhe muhe 	- 	Mi muhe dala
First person (plural) 	Mimi muhe 	Mimi muhe nye 	Eleka mimi muhe 	Mimi muhe mita 	Mimi muhe mita nye 	- 	- 	Mimi muhe muhe 	- 	Mimi muhe dala
Second person (singular) 	Yo muhe 	Yo muhe nye 	Eleka yo muhe 	Yo muhe mita 	Yo muhe mita nye 	Muhe 	Yo muhe 	Yo muhe muhe 	- 	Ye muhe dala*
Second person (plural) 	Yoyo muhe 	Yoyo muhe nye 	Eleka yoyo muhe 	Yoyo muhe mita 	Yoyo muhe mita nye 	Muhe 	Yoyo muhe 	Yoyo muhe muhe 	- 	Yeye muhe dala*
Third person 	Muhe 	Muhe nye 	Eleka muhe 	Muhe mita 	Muhe mita nye 	- 	Muhe 	Muhe muhe 	Muhe 	Muhe dala
Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive	Conjugation of kundala (to steal, to rob) transitive
 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis
 	Declarative 	Negative 	Immediate 	Emphatic 	Emphatic negative 	Imperative 	Optative 	Desiderative 	Jussive 	Interrogative
First person (singular) 	Mi kundala 	Mi kundala nye 	Eleka mi kundala 	Mi kundala mita 	Mi kundala mita nye 	- 	- 	Mi muhe kundala 	- 	Mi kundala dala
First person (plural) 	Mimi kundala 	Mimi kundala nye 	Eleka mimi kundala 	Mimi kundala mita 	Mimi kundala mita nye 	- 	- 	Mimi muhe kundala 	- 	Mimi kundala dala
Second person (singular) 	Yo kundala 	Yo kundala nye 	Eleka yo kundala 	Yo kundala mita 	Yo kundala mita nye 	Kundala 	Yo kundala 	Yo muhe kundala 	- 	Ye kundala dala*
Second person (plural) 	Yoyo kundala 	Yoyo kundala nye 	Eleka yoyo kundala 	Yoyo kundala mita 	Yoyo kundala mita nye 	Kundala 	Yoyo kundala 	Yoyo muhe kundala 	- 	Yeye kundala dala*
Third person 	Kundala 	Kundala nye 	Eleka kundala 	Kundala mita 	Kundala mita nye 	- 	Kundala 	Muhe kundala 	Kundala 	Kundala dala
Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive	Conjugation of upa (to go beyond) transitive
 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Realis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis 	Irrealis
 	Declarative 	Negative 	Immediate 	Emphatic 	Emphatic negative 	Imperative 	Optative 	Desiderative 	Jussive 	Interrogative
First person (singular) 	Mi upa 	Mi upa nye 	Eleka mi upa 	Mi upa mita 	Mi upa mita nye 	- 	- 	Mi muhe upa 	- 	Mi upa dala
First person (plural) 	Mimi upa 	Mimi upa nye 	Eleka mimi upa 	Mimi upa mita 	Mimi upa mita nye 	- 	- 	Mimi muhe upa 	- 	Mimi upa dala
Second person (singular) 	Yo upa 	Yo upa nye 	Eleka yo upa 	Yo upa mita 	Yo upa mita nye 	Upa 	Yo upa 	Yo muhe upa 	- 	Ye upa dala*
Second person (plural) 	Yoyo upa 	Yoyo upa nye 	Eleka yoyo upa 	Yoyo upa mita 	Yoyo upa mita nye 	Upa 	Yoyo upa 	Yoyo muhe upa 	- 	Yeye upa dala*
Third person 	Upa 	Upa nye 	Eleka upa 	Upa mita 	Upa mita nye 	- 	Upa 	Muhe upa 	Upa 	Upa dala
==Notes==
==Trivia==
*Based on the proposed translations, Ella Musk sometimes says something completely different from what she intends to, especially in dialogue lines available since before the event Mimi Tomo.
*Some of the translations of Hilichurlian were based on the Chinese equivalents provided during an official voice actor livestream.Bilibili: (Timestamp: 6m 30s - 8m 30s)
:
olah.png|Olah!
mosi mita.png|Mosi mita!
mosi gusha.png|Mosi gusha!
*In the official voice actor livestream, Jean's voice actor says that their information comes from Ella Musk, who also approves of their plans to give Hilichurlian lessons.YouTube: Mondstadt Tea Party 2 (Timestamp: 6m 3s - 6m 15s) It's unlikely that this interaction is canon since Jean's voice actor says this as herself, the voice actor in real life. However, it is still noteworthy that the information is presented as information from Ella Musk rather than from anyone in real life who worked on Hilichurlian.
*Non-Hilichurl characters who are known to, claim to, or are implied to know at least some Hilichurlian:
**Jacob Musk, the author of the current major reference materials on Hilichurls and Hilichurlian, including Hilichurl Ballad Selection and Hilichurl Cultural Customs
**Ella Musk
**Venti
**Kaeya
==Other Languages==
==References==
==Navigation==
ja:ヒルチャール語
ru:Хиличурлский язык
vi:Tiếng Hilichurl