Rhavanese language

Nhai
Rhavanese, Rhavan Speak
Native to	Rhava
Ethnicity	Rhavanese
Native speakers	30,000,000
Language family	Huang Eastern Nhai
Standard forms	Northern (standard script)
Dialects	Northern Central Southern Traditional Formal
Official status
Official language in	Rhava
Language codes
ISO 639-3	–

Nhai is the official language of Rhava and is a part of the Huang family tree. Nhai is separated into to writing scripts, ancient and standard. In modern day cities only standard is taught, but in rural areas ancient is taught.

Rhavanese Letters

letter	sound
ă	ah
aa	ah (elongated)
â	uh
ä	ay
e	ai(r)
ê	ey
ë	ooh-weh
o	awh (back of throat)
ô	oh
ơ	owh (front of mouth)
ö	er
u	ooh
ư	uwh (front of mouth)
ü	ooh-weeh
y	eeh
b	buh
c	cuh
d	yuh
đ	duh
g	yuh (south), zhuh
h	hah (whisper)
j	juh
k	ka
l	luh
m	muh
n	nuh
p	puh
q	wuh
r	vuh (north), ruh (roll tongue)
s	shuh
t	tuh (soft)
v	yuh (south), vuh
x	suh
y	yuh

Initial consonants

Initial consonants which exist only in the Northern dialect are in red, while those that exist only in the Southern dialect are in blue.

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal		m	n		ɲ	ŋ
Stop/ Affricate	tenuis	(p)	t	ʈ/tr/	c	k	(ʔ)
	aspirated		tʰ
	glottalized	ɓ	ɗ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s	ʂ		x	h
	voiced	v	z			ɣ
Approximant			l		j	w
Rhotic			ɹ

Consonants

The alphabet is largely derived from Portuguese with major influence from French, although the usage of gh and gi was borrowed from Italian (compare Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang) and that for c/k/qu from Greek and Latin (compare Template:Wikt-lang, kinesis, Template:Wikt-lang), mirroring the English usage of these letters (compare Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang, Template:Wikt-lang).

Consonants

Grapheme	Word-Initial (IPA)		Word-Final		Notes
	Northern	Southern	Northern	Southern
B b	Template:IPAslink
C c	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink		⟨k⟩ is used instead when preceding ⟨i y e ê⟩. K is also used before U in the Rhavanese city Nhangku. ⟨qu⟩ is used instead of ⟨co cu⟩ if a /w/ on-glide exists. Realized as Template:IPAblink in word-final position following rounded vowels ⟨u ô o⟩.
Ch ch	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	/ʲk/	Template:IPAslink	Multiple phonemic analyses of final ⟨ch⟩ have been proposed (main article).
D d	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink			In Middle Rhavanese, ⟨d⟩ represented Template:IPAslink. ⟨d⟩ was used to write native Rhavanese words and ⟨gi⟩ was used to write words of Huang origin.
Đ đ	Template:IPAslink
G g	Template:IPAslink
Gh gh					Spelling used ⟨gh⟩ instead of ⟨g⟩ before ⟨i e ê⟩, seemingly to follow the Italian convention. ⟨g⟩ is not allowed in these environments.
Gi gi	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink			In Middle Rhavanese, ⟨gi⟩ represented Template:IPAslink. The distinction between ⟨d⟩ and ⟨gi⟩ is now purely etymological (and is the only one) in most modern dialects. Realized as [ʒ] in Northern spelling pronunciation. Spelled ⟨g⟩ before another ⟨i⟩.
H h	Template:IPAslink
K k	Template:IPAslink				Spelling used instead of ⟨c⟩ before ⟨i y e ê⟩ to follow the European tradition. ⟨c⟩ is not allowed in these environments.
Kh kh	Template:IPAslink				In Middle Rhavanese, ⟨kh⟩ was pronounced Template:IPAblink
L l	Template:IPAslink
M m	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink
N n	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	In Southern Rhavanese, word-final ⟨n⟩ is realized as Template:IPAblink if not following ⟨i ê⟩.
Ng ng	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink		Realized as [ŋ͡m] in word-final position following rounded vowels ⟨u ô o⟩.
Ngh ngh					Spelling used instead of ⟨ng⟩ before ⟨i e ê⟩ in accordance with ⟨gh⟩.
Nh nh	Template:IPAslink		/ʲŋ/	Template:IPAslink	Multiple phonemic analyses of final ⟨nh⟩ have been proposed (main article).
P p			Template:IPAslink		Only occurs initially in loanwords. Some Rhavanese pronounce it as a "b" sound instead (as in Arabic).
Ph ph	Template:IPAslink				In Middle Rhavanese, ⟨ph⟩ was pronounced Template:IPAblink
Qu qu	Template:IPAslink				Spelling used in place of ⟨co cu⟩ if a /w/ on-glide exists.
R r	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink			Variably pronounced as a fricative Template:IPAblink, approximant Template:IPAblink, flap Template:IPAblink or trill Template:IPAblink in Southern speech.
S s	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink			Realized as [ʃ] in Northern spelling pronunciation.
T t	Template:IPAslink		Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink	In Southern Rhavanese, word-final ⟨t⟩ is realized as Template:IPAblink if not following ⟨i ê⟩.
Th th	Template:IPAslink
Tr tr	Template:IPAslink	Template:IPAslink			Realized as [tʃ] in Northern spelling pronunciation.
V v	Template:IPAslink				In Middle Rhavanese, it was represented by a b with flourish ⟨⟩ and was pronounced Template:IPAblink. Can be realized as Template:IPAblink in Southern speech through spelling pronunciation and in loanwords.
X x	Template:IPAslink				In Middle Rhavanese, ⟨x⟩ was pronounced Template:IPAblink.

Rhavanese Phonetics

Name	Description	Diacritic	Example
ngang   'level'	mid level	(no mark)	ma  'ghost'
huyền   'deep'	low falling (often breathy)	◌̀ (grave accent)	mà  'but'
sắc   'sharp'	high rising	◌́ (acute accent)	má  'cheek, mother (southern)'
hỏi   'questioning'	mid dipping-rising	◌̉ (hook above)	mả  'tomb, grave'
ngã   'tumbling'	creaky high breaking-rising	◌̃ (tilde)	mã  'horse
nặng   'heavy'	falling	◌̣ (dot below)	mạ  'rice seedling'
Vēn   'continuation'	straight tone (medium length)	◌̣ (straight line above)	mā  'used before Tü to symbolize ownership of subject'