Voltan language

Voltan
Voltaern
Native to	Volta
Native speakers	30,000,000
Language family	Creole
Writing system	Voltan alphabet
Official status
Official language in	Volta
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The Voltan language, also known as Voltan Creole, is a Dolch-based creole language spoken in Volta. It is the most commonly spoken language in Volta, and is also one of the two official languages in the country. The language started developing during the 17th century, after Dolchland initially colonized the region.

Phonology

Consonants

		Labial	(Dental)	Alveolar	Post- alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m		n
Plosive	Voiceless	p		t			k	(ʔ)
	Voiced	b		d			ɡ
Affricate	Voiceless			t͡s	t͡ʃ
	Voiced				(d͡ʒ)
Fricative	Voiceless	f		s	ʃ	ç		h
	Voiced	v		z	(ʒ)
Approximant						j
Liquid				l r

• [ŋ] is merged with [n].
• [p͡f] is replaced with either [p] or [f].
• [θ] and [ð], only present for loanwords in Dolch, are dropped entirely and replaced with either [t] or [d].
• [x] pronounced after back-vowels (and allophonic with [ç]) is replaced with [h].
• /j/, realized in Dolch as either the approximant [j] or fricative [ʝ], is only realized as the approximant [j].
• The Dolch /r/, realized in some dialects as the alveolar [r], uvular [ʀ], or uvular [ʁ], is only realized as the alveolar [r].
• The [t͡ɬ] present in Tlaloc languages is not present in Voltan.

Vowels

	Front				Central		Back
	unrounded		rounded		unrounded		rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i	iː					u	uː
Close-mid	e	eː	ø	øː			o	oː
Open					a	aː

• [ɪ] is replaced with [i].
• [ʊ] is replaced with [u].
• [œ] is replaced with [ø].
• [y] and [yː] are merged with [ø] and [øː] respectively.
• [ɛ] is replaced with [e].
• [ɛː] is merged with [eː].
• [ɔ] is replaced with [o]

Dipthongs

	Ending point
	Front	Back
Open-mid	oi̯
Open	ai̯	au̯

• Many of the original Dolch speakers in Volta spoke a dialect where the Standard Dolch dipthong [ɔʏ̯] was actualy pronounced [ɔi̯], thus the dipthong became [oi̯] in Voltan rather than [oø̯].
• Much of the Dolch phonetic dipthongs where a speaker vocalizes /r/ to [ɐ̯] are dropped entirely and instead replaced with long vowels. For example the word "wir" (Dolch: [viːɐ̯]) is pronounced [viː].