Heiyin language

Heiyin
海宮話 / 海宮话, Hei-giúng vài 海人話 / 海人话, Hei-ín vài 海語 / 海语, hei-viú
Pronunciation	[hèɪk̬ýŋ vȁɪ], [hèɪín vȁɪ], [hèɪvý]
Native to	Hondonia, Kentalis
Region	Heigiung Autonomous Region and surrounding Coasta de Ploaie, Giulce island, Hrastmozh island
Ethnicity	Heiyin people
Native speakers	around 1 million (2018)
Language family	Oriental Sinitic Yu Common Yu Heiyin
Writing system	Sinitic characters, Cyrillic script (Kentalis)
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

The Heiyin language, also known as the Heigiung language, or simply Hei language, is a variety of Yu spoken in the majority of the Heigiung Autonomous Region of Hondonia and its surrounding areas, as well as the island of Hrastmozh in Kentalis. It is classified as part of the Oriental language family.

Heiyin belongs to the Common Yu subgroup of the Yu languages. With around 1 million speakers, Heiyin is also the largest single form of Yu and used as the standard form of the Yu languages. It used to serve as the lingua franca of the entire western Laurentine bay region, but after the 17th century its status and use declined due to dominating Thuado-Thrismaran languages, which most Heiyin speakers can also speak, and the decline of the Heigiung Kingdom.

Like other Yu varieties, Heiyin has a large number of vowels and consonants, comepared to it's surrounding non-Thuado-Thrismaran languages, with around fifteen unique vowel qualities, six of which are phonemic. Heiyin also has a low number of tones compared to other Oriental languages, and has a system of tone sandhi similar to the Hoterallian pitch accent.

Phonology

Following conventions of Sinitic syllable structure, Heiyin syllables can be divided into initials and finals. The initial occupies the first part of the syllable. The final occupies the second part of the syllable and can be divided further into an optional medial and an obligatory rime (sometimes spelled rhyme). Tone is also a feature of the syllable in Heiyin.

Initials

The following is a list of all initials in Heiyin, as well as the Heiviu romanization:

		Labial	Coronal	Palatal	Dorsal
Nasal		m ⟨m⟩	n ⟨n⟩		(ŋ ⟨ng⟩)
Plosive	plain	p ⟨b⟩	t ⟨d⟩		k ⟨g⟩
	aspirated	pʰ ⟨p⟩	tʰ ⟨t⟩		kʰ ⟨k⟩
Affricate	plain		t͡s ⟨j⟩	t͡ɕ ⟨jy⟩
	aspirated		t͡sʰ ⟨c⟩	t͡ɕʰ ⟨cy⟩
Fricative	voiced	v ⟨v⟩	z ⟨z⟩	ʑ ⟨zy⟩	ɦ~h ⟨h⟩
	voiceless	f ⟨f⟩	s ⟨s⟩	ɕ ⟨sy⟩
Approximant			l~ɫ ⟨l⟩	j ⟨y/i⟩

• The velar nasal /ŋ/ dosen't appear as an initial in modern Heiyin, however it is found in some dialects as an allophone of plain /k/ after nasals.
• The plain plosives and affricates /p/, /t/, /k/, /t͡s/ and /t͡ɕ/ can be realized as voiced /b/, /d/, /ɡ/, /d͡z/ and /d͡ʑ/.
• In modern Heiyin the fricatives /ɦ/ and /h/ have merged and are allophones of eachother.

Finals

The following is a list of the phonemic vowel sounds in Heiyin, as well as the Heiviu romanization::

		Front	back
Close	unrounded	i ⟨i⟩
	rounded	y ⟨iu/u⟩	u ⟨u⟩
Mid	unrounded	e ⟨e⟩	ɤ ⟨eo⟩
	rounded		o ⟨o⟩
Open		a ⟨a⟩
Diphthongs		aɪ, eɪ, yɪ, oɪ, ɤɪ, oʊ, ɤʊ

The following is a list of all possible finals in Heiyin, as well as the Heiviu romanisation:

	Codas
	∅	ɪ	ʊ	m	n	ŋ	ɫ
a	a ⟨a⟩	aɪ ⟨ai⟩		am ⟨am⟩	an ⟨an⟩	aŋ ⟨ang⟩	aɫ ⟨al⟩
ja	ja ⟨ya/ia⟩
e	e ⟨e⟩	eɪ ⟨ei⟩		em ⟨em⟩	en ⟨en⟩	eŋ ⟨eng⟩	eɫ ⟨el⟩
je	je ⟨ye/ie⟩*				jen ⟨yen⟩
y	y ⟨iu/yu⟩				yn ⟨iun/yun⟩	yŋ ⟨iung/yung⟩
u	u ⟨u⟩					uŋ ⟨ung⟩	uɫ ⟨ul⟩
o	o ⟨o⟩	oɪ ⟨oi⟩	oʊ ⟨ou⟩	om om⟨⟩	on ⟨on⟩	oŋ ⟨ong⟩	oɫ ⟨ol⟩
ɤ	ɤ ⟨oe⟩	ɤɪ ⟨oei⟩	ɤʊ ⟨oeu⟩	ɤm ⟨oem⟩	ɤn ⟨oen⟩	ɤŋ ⟨oeng⟩	ɤɫ ⟨oel⟩
jɤ	jɤ ⟨yoe⟩

• Some dialects preserve medial /je/, but in the standard language it has dissapeared.