Eldarin

This is the High Elvish language. For the language of the Grey Elves, see Edhellen.
Eldarin is the language of the Eldar.
== Phonetics ==
 	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar 	Glottal
Nasal 	m 	n 	 	ŋ ŋʷ 	
Stop 	p b 	t d 	c 	k kʷ g	
Fricative 	ɸ f v 	s 	ç 	x 	h
Tap 	 	ɾ̥ ɾ 	 	 	
Trill 	 	r̥ r 	 	 	
Liquid 	 	l̥ l 	 	 	
Approximant	ʍ w 	 	j 	 	
== Phonology ==
 	Labial 	Alveolar 	Palatal	Velar 	Glottal
Nasal 	/m/ 	/n/ 	 	/ŋ/ 	
Stop 	/p/ /ᵐb/	/t/ /ⁿd/ 	/c/ 	/k/ /kʷ/	
Fricative 	/f/ /v/ 	/s/ 	/ç/ 	 	/h/
Approximant	/ʍ/ /w/ 	/ɾ̥/ /ɾ/ /l̥/ /l/	/j/ 	 	
23 consonant phonemes
 	Front	Back
Close 	i iː 	u uː
Close-mid	eː 	oː
Open-mid 	ɛ 	ɔ
Open 	a aː 	a aː
 	Front
Offglide	Back
Offglide
i	 	iu
u	ui	
e	 	eu
o	oi	
a	ai	au
16 vowel phonemes
== Phonotactics ==
=== Initials ===
m, n, ngw, p, t, ty, c, qu, f, v, s, hy, h, hr, r, hl, l, hw, w, y, ny, ps, x, ly
i, u, e, o, a, iu, ui, eu, oi, ai, au
==== Nuclear ====
i, í, u, ú e, é, o, ó, a, á, iu, ui, eu, oi, ai, au
Long vowels can stand alone. They can be initial in compounds, from standalone long vowel words, i.e. #V́# + #CV#. Long vowels can also occur initially when length phonologically shifts to the first syllable.
=== Medials ===
==== Segments ====
m, mm, n, nn, ng, p, pp, t, tt, ty, c, cc, qu, f, v, s, ss, h, r, rr, l, ll, w, y
==== Sequences ====
mn, mp, mb, my, nt, nd, ny, nc, nqu, nw, ngw, ps, ts, tw, pt, x, st, sty, sc, squ, sw, hty, ht, rm, rn, rp, rt, rd, rty, rc, rqu, rv, rs, rhw, rw, ry, lm, lp, lt, ld, lty, lc, lqu, lf, lv, lhy, lw, ly
i, í, u, ú e, é, o, ó, a, á, iu, ui, eu, oi, ai, au
=== Finals ===
n, nt, t, r, l
i, u, e, o, a, iu, ui, eu, oi, ai, au
í, ú é, ó, á
Long vowels rare. Usually in function words (e.g. locatives/prepositions, proforms) and compounds.
=== Syllabification ===
* V, VV, VC, VCV, VCVC, VCCV, VCCVC, VCCVCC, ...
* CV, CVC, CVCC, CVCV, CVCCV, CVCVC, CVCCVC, CVCCVCC, ...
==== Explicit ====
* Vn
* ViCm
* CiVf
* ViCmVm
* ...
=== Phonosemantics ===
All adjectives–adverbs end in -a, -e, -o, -n. The -n adjectives almost always become -nd in the plural.
== Orthography ==
=== Segments ===
Eldarin	IPA
m 	m
mm 	mː
n 	n
n 	nː
ng 	ŋ
ngw 	ŋʷ
p 	p
pp 	pː
b 	b
t 	t
tt 	tː
d 	d
ty 	c
c 	k
cc 	kː
qu 	kʷ
g 	g
f 	f
v 	v
s 	s
ss 	sː
hy 	ç
h 	h
hr 	ɾ̥~r̥
r 	ɾ~r
rr 	rː
hl 	l̥
l 	l
ll 	lː
hw 	ʍ
w 	w
y 	j
=== Sequences ===
Eldarin 	IPA
ny 	nj
nc 	ŋk
ps 	ps
x 	ks
pt 	ɸt
ht 	xt
eht, iht	ɛçt, içt
hty 	çc
ly 	lj
== Morphosyntax ==
=== Noun Declensions ===
Singular 	-a 	-e 	-o 	-u 	-i 	-n 	-r 	-l 	-s 	-t 	-nt
Nominative 	a 	ë 	o 	u 	i 	∅ 	∅ 	∅ 	∅ 	∅ 	∅
Accusative 	á 	é 	o 	ú 	í 	a 	∅ 	a 	ra 	ë 	a
Genitive 	o 	ëo 	o 	u 	o 	o 	o 	o 	ro 	o 	o
Instrumental	anen	enen	oinen	uinen	inen	den	inen	den	rinen 	nten	inen
Allative 	anna	enna	onta 	unta 	inna	na 	ta 	da 	ta 	enna	anna
Dative 	an 	en 	or 	ur 	in 	en 	ren 	en 	ren 	en 	an
Locative 	assë	essë	ossë 	ussë 	issë	dë 	issë	dë 	ssë 	së 	issë
Respective 	as 	es 	os 	us 	is 	es 	is 	es 	∅ 	es 	as
Ablative 	allo	ello	ollo 	ullo 	illo	llo	ullo	lo 	llo/rullo	ello	allo
Dual 	-a 	-e 	-o 	-u 	-i 	-n 	-r 	-l 	-s 	-t 	-nt
Nominative 	at 	et 	os 	us 	is 	et 	et 	et 	et 	u 	u
Accusative 	at 	et 	os 	us 	is 	et 	et 	et 	et 	u 	u
Genitive 	ato 	eto 	u 	o 	u 	to 	to 	to 	to 	wo 	o
Instrumental	anten	enten	oinent	uinent	inten	ten 	enten	enten	enten	unen	unen
Allative 	anta 	enta 	ontas 	untas 	inta 	enta	enta 	enta 	enta 	unna	unna
Dative 	ant 	ent 	ur 	or 	int 	ent 	ent 	ent 	ren 	un 	un
Locative 	atsë 	etsë 	oset 	uset 	itsë 	etsë	etsë 	etsë 	etsë 	ussë	ussë
Respective 	ates 	etes 	ostë 	ustë 	ites 	etes	etes 	etes 	etes 	us 	us
Ablative 	alto 	elto 	ollut 	ullut 	ilto 	elto	elto 	elto 	elto 	ullo	ullo
Body part words ending in a consonant always take the -t paradigm.
Some -a and -o words take the -t paradigm (with vowel replacement, not approximation and other vowel sequence resolutions).
Partitive 	-a, -e, -i 	-o, -u 	-n 	-r 	-l 	-s 	-t 	-nt
Nominative 	li 	li 	lli 	lli 	li 	lli 	eli 	ali
Accusative 	lí 	li 	llí 	llí 	lí 	llí 	elí 	alí
Genitive 	lion 	lion 	llion 	llion 	lion 	llion 	elion 	alion
Instrumental	línen 	línen 	llinen 	llinen 	linen 	llinen 	elínen 	alínen
Allative 	linna, linnar 	linta, lintan	llinnan	llinnar	linnar	llinna, llinnar 	elinna, elinnar 	alinnar
Dative 	lin 	lir 	llin 	llir 	lir 	llin 	elin 	alin
Locative 	lissë,
lissen 	lissën 	llissën	llissë 	lissë 	llissën 	elissë,
elissen 	alissë
Respective 	lis 	lis 	llis 	llis 	lis 	llis 	elis 	alis
Ablative 	lillo, lillon, lillor	lillon 	llillon	llillor	lillor	llillon, llillor	elillon, elillor	alillor
At times the partitive functions as the indefinite, while at other times it specifies 'more than one but not all'.
Plural 	-a, -o, -u, -i, -ie	-e 	-n, -r, -l, -t, -nt	-s
Nominative 	r 	→ í 	i 	i
Accusative 	i 	→ í 	í 	í
Genitive 	ron 	→ ion 	ion 	ion
Instrumental	inen 	→ ínen	inen 	inen
Allative 	nnar 	nnar 	innar 	innar
Dative 	in 	→ ín 	in 	in
Locative 	ssen 	ssen 	issen 	ssen
Respective 	is 	→ ís 	is 	is
Ablative 	llon 	llon 	illon, illor 	illon, illor
Nouns ending in ⟨ië⟩ take the -a paradigm. (All other -ie nouns follow the -e paradigms.)
A very small class of -e nouns takes the -a paradigm, ex: mallë, rotsë, tyávë, tyellë.
Compound noun semantics is prepositive (see below).
See also: two letter words and alternating stems
=== Pronouns ===
...
=== Verbs ===
==== Optional Evidentiality ====
reportative
direct
=== Adjectives ===
Free modifiers: adjective–adverb–noun
Prepositive more often, but also postpositive.
Agree in number, but not case. All plural endings are -i, except for -a adjectives which use -ë. The ending -ëa has the plural -ië. All dual endings are -t. All partative endings are -li.
==== Comparison ====
...
=== Locatives ===
preposition–adverb
=== Determiners ===
...
=== Word Order ===
SVO
== Semantics ==
Compound nouns are prepositive, that is, the first word modifies the meaning of the second.
For example:
* Fire flower = a flower that has a quality of fire
* Flower fire = a fire that has a quality of a flower
=== Affixes ===
=== ===
=== Vocabulary ===
== Pragmatics ==
== Dialectology ==
=== Variation ===
Stylistic varation between continents. Monolitholectal when it comes to regionalism: in the couse of immortal lives, words are shared and diffuse across all regions.
=== Registers ===
* Hundaquesta ('low language')
* Tarquesta ('high language'): Tarquesta Odenno and Tarquesta Elladoro
* Parmaquesta ('book language')
==== Hundaquesta ====
Noun declensions for -o and -u nouns are regularized.
==== Parmaquesta ====
Plural ending -i is long: -í.
Partative ending -li is long: -lí.
=== Dialects ===
==== Parassin ====
Or Parassindori Eldarin. The Elvish of the black elves of Parassindor (Mburime).
 	Labial	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar 	Glottal
Nasal 	m 	n 	 	ŋ ŋʷ 	
Stop 	p b 	t d 	tʃ dʒ 	k kʷ g	
Fricative 	ɸ f v 	θ s z 	ʃ 	x 	h
Tap 	 	ɾ̥ ɾ 	 	 	
Trill 	 	r̥ r 	 	 	
Liquid 	 	l̥ l 	 	 	
Approximant	ʍ w 	 	j 	 	
⟨hy⟩ [ʃ], ⟨ty⟩ [tʃ], ⟨dy⟩ [dʒ], ⟨ndy⟩ [ndʒ] (medial), ⟨ny⟩ [nj]
Initial w, d, ng. Clusters ndy, lb.
Initial Eldarin /f/ always [ɸ]. Phones /z/ and /r/ have not merged.
==== Lómëarin ====
⟨k⟩ [k], ⟨cu⟩ [kʷ ]
geminate final consonants
[ai] as coda of open syllables
/eo/ diphthong, more free vowel combinations
# /kʷ / > /k/, vowel harmony and assimilation
# /kʷ / > /kɥ/ // /kɥ̊/, no singular or plural marker
# /kʷ / > /ʍ/, loss of all voiced plosives
# /kʷ / > /w/, /e/ > /i/, final /e/ > /a/, plural -n (< *-m)
# /kʷ / > /k/, consonant cluster simplification (often assimilation incl. gemination as resolution), /ie/ > /ai/
# consonant cluster assimilation
## /kʷ / > /k͡p/ > /p/ before short vowels, /kʷ / retained before long vowels / diphthongs
## /kʷ / > /k͡p/ > /p/
== Diachrony ==
=== Eldarin ===
ngw > nw
#w > v
[θ] > [s]
-xë > -s
⟨dy⟩ [ɟ] > ∅
⟨ndy⟩ [ⁿɟ] > ∅
⟨ny⟩ [ɲ] > [nj]
PE *sm > hm > m̥ > m
PE *sn > hn > n̥ > n
=== Parassin ===
⟨py⟩ [pç] > [pʃ]
=== Proto-Eldarin ===
⟨mb⟩ [ᵐb] ⟨nd⟩ [ⁿd] ⟨ndy⟩ [ᶮɟ] ⟨ng⟩ [ᵑɡ]Category:Elvish
Category:Eldarin
Category:Languages