Rhavanese language
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| Nhai | |
|---|---|
| Rhavanese, Rhavan Speak | |
| Native to |  Rhava |
| Ethnicity | Rhavanese |
Native speakers | 30,000,000 |
Huang
| |
Standard forms | Northern (standard script)
|
| Dialects |
|
| 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. It's one of the indigenous languages spoken in Alharu. It's the official working language of the nation of Rhava, spoken in the majority of the country.
50,000 years ago Rhavanese sailors, crossed the ocean as a nomadic peoples going from island to island. They speak a language which is referred to as Ancestral Nhai. When they arrived where modern day Rhava is, they decided to stay in this paradise. These seafarers intermixed with the peoples already living on the western part of the island, who also were distant relatives of Metztlitlatca, and spoke the same language. Rhavanese grew with these new sounds, creating a fully new language, with aspects of both cultures. Another evolution in the language happened later on, and it would be the last. This was when the Yellow Empire took over the north, and both cultures intermixed even more, bringing Huang aspects to Rhava.
Writing System
Writing system
Nhai (Rhavanese) is written in the Anglo-Rhav Alphabet, which is a modified Latin alphabet used for Rhavanese languages.
| Order | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Majuscule | Ă | Â | E | Ê | I | O | Ô | Ơ | U | Ư | B | C | D | Đ | G | H | J | K | L | M | N | P | Ts | Q | R | S | T | V | X | Y | |
| Minuscule | ă | â | e | ê | i | o | ô | ơ | u | ư | b | c | d | đ | g | h | j | k | l | m | n | p | ts | q | r | s | t | v | x | y |
Rhavanese Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Dental/ Alveolar |
Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m [m] | m [m] | nh [ɲ] | ng [ŋ] | |||
| Stop/ Affricate |
tenuis | p ([p]) | t [t] | tr [ʈ] | ch [c] | k [k] | (oi ([ʔ]) |
| aspirated | th tʰ tl[t͡ɬ] |
||||||
| glottalized | b [ɓ] | d [ɗ] | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | ph [f] | [s] | sh [ʂ] | kh [x] | h [h] | |
| voiced | [v]/y/ | z [z] | gh [ɣ] | ||||
| Approximant | l [l] | y [j] | w [w] | ||||
| Rhotic | r [ɹ] | ||||||
- - only found in the Northern Dialect
- - only found in the Southern Dialect
Vowels
Rhavanese, or Nhai has many different vowels. Though not labeled in the chart, there are also added long vowels such as; aa, and oo.
Front Central Back Centering ia/iê [iə̯] ưa/ươ [ɨə̯] ua/uô [uə̯] Close i/y [i] ư [ɨ] u [u] Close-mid/
Midê [e] ơ [əː]
â [ə]ô [o] Open-mid/
Opene a [aː]
ă [a]o [ɔ]
Centering diphthongs are formed with only the three vowels; i, ư, u. They are usually spelled as ia, ưa, ua when they end a word and are spelled iê, ươ, uô, when they are followed by a consonant.
In addition to Nhai's many vowels, there are also diphthongs and triphthongs. The closing diphthongs and triphthongs consist of a main vowel component followed by a shorter semivowel wikipedia:offglide /j/ or /w/.
/w/ offglide /j/ offglide Centering iêu [iə̯w ươu [ɯə̯w ươi [ɯə̯j uôi [uə̯j Close iu [iw] ưu [ɯw] ưi [ɯj] ui [uj] Close-mid êu [ew] –
âu [ʌw]ơi [ɤj]
ây [ʌj]ôi [oj] Open-mid eo [ɛw] oi [ɔj] Open ao [aw]
au [ɐw]ai [aj]
ay [ɐj]
</ref> There are restrictions on the high offglides: /j/ cannot occur after a front vowel (i, ê, e) nucleus and /w/ cannot occur after a back vowel (u, ô, o) nucleus.[1]
/w/ offglide /j/ offglide Front Central Back Centering iêu [iə̯w] ươu [ɨə̯w] ươi [ɨə̯j] uôi [uə̯j] Close iu [iw] ưu [ɨw] ưi [ɨj] ui [uj] Close-mid/
Midêu [ew] –
âu[əw]ơi [əːj]
ây [əj]ôi [oj] Open-mid/
Openeo [ɛw] ao [aːw]
au [aw]ai [aːj]
ay [aj]oi [ɔj]
Diaeresis (diacritic)
| letter | sound |
|---|---|
| ü | oo-weeh |
| ë | ooh-weh |
| ö | er |
| ä | ay |
Rhavanese Phonetics
| Name | Description | Diacritic | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ngang 'level' | mid level | (no mark) | ma 'ghost' |
| huyền 'deep' | low falling (often breathy) | ◌̀ (wikipedia:grave accent) | mà 'but' |
| sắc 'sharp' | high rising | ◌́ (wikipedia:acute accent) | má 'cheek, mother (southern)' |
| hỏi 'questioning' | mid dipping-rising | ◌̉ (wikipedia:hook above) | mả 'tomb, grave' |
| ngã 'tumbling' | creaky high breaking-rising | ◌̃ (wikipedia: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' |
Language Examples
Basic greetings and phrases
| Mokha | Translation | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Greetings | ||
| Naam Châu! | Hello! | A formal way of saying hello |
| Châu! | Hey/ whats up | Less formal way of saying hello |
| Tôtl'rí | Good Morning | |
| Tôtl'yuè | Good Night | |
| Châm | Welcome | |
| Dăn Ý Lại | Goodbye/see you again | |
| Đẹp Đāng | Hello and Welcome | Very formal, directly translates to; beautiful opportunities |
| Useful Expressions | ||
| Khonaar | Thanks | You can add a pronoun to the back |
| Lâu Tián | Please | |
| Lâu Sơi Lại | Please Say it Again | |