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Rhavanese language

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Nhai
Rhavanese, Rhavan Speak
Native toRhavaFlag4.jpg Rhava
EthnicityRhavanese
Native speakers
10,500,052
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. It's one of the indigenous languages spoken in Alharu.

50,000 years ago Rhavanese seafarers, crossed the ocean as a nomadic peoples going from island to island. They spoke a language which is referred to as Adisian. When they arrived where modern day Rhava is, they decided to stay permanently. These seafarers intermixed with the peoples already living on the eastern part of the island, adding the consonants of tl and ts. 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 Rhavanese.

Nhai is a standard dialect of Rhava, and a subset of the Rhavaic language group along with Nalinese. Nhai is a mix of Mesothalassan, Huang, and Adisian languages. The modern day Nhai language is reasonably different from the old tongue because of the merge with other language groups like the Kertic group for instance.

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 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38
Majuscule Ă Â E Ê I O Ô Ơ U Ư B C CH D Đ G GH H DIY/DY K KH L M N NH NG P PH TS Q R S SH T TR V X Y
Minuscule ă â e ê i o ô ơ u ư b c ch d đ g gh h diy/dy k kh l m n nh ng p ph ts q r s sh t tr 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, ph ([p]) t [t] tr [ʈ] dy []
ch []
k [k] (awh ([ʔ])
aspirated th
ts
tl []
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] qu [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/
Mid
ê [e] ơ [əː]
â [ə]
ô [o]
Open-mid/
Open
e 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/
Mid
êu [ew]
âu[əw]
ơi [əːj]
ây [əj]
ôi [oj]
Open-mid/
Open
eo [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)  'but'
sắc   'sharp' high rising ◌́ (wikipedia:acute accent)  'cheek, mother (southern)'
hỏi   'questioning' mid dipping-rising ◌̉ (wikipedia:hook above) mả  'tomb, grave'
ngã   'tumbling' creaky high breaking-rising ◌̃ (wikipedia:tilde)  'horse
nặng   'heavy' falling ◌̣ (dot below) mạ  'rice seedling'
Vēn   'continuation' straight tone (medium length) ◌̣ (straight line above)  'used before Tü to symbolize ownership of subject'


Personal Pronouns

Number Word Definition
Singular
1st I, me
2nd Lạm you (older male)
2nd Lạn you (older female)
2nd Sōng you (younger male)
2nd Sāng you (younger female)
2nd Niẩ you (close friend)
3rd Lạm Vên he (older male)
3rd Lạn Vên she (older female)
3rd Sōng Vên he (younger male)
3rd Sāng Vên She (younger female)
3rd Họ They

[2]

Rhavanese Numerals

Cardinal numbers' table
Literary
Rhavanese
1 Một
2 Gấu
3 Săn
4 Sể
5 Qui
6 Cỏ
7 Cëm
8 Tún
9 Dyẽm
10 Dyiă
11 Dyiă Một
12 Dyiă Gấu
13 Dyiă Săn
14 Dyiă Sể
15 Dyiă Qui
16 Dyiă Cỏ
17 Dyiă Cëm
18 Dyiă Tún
19 Dyiă Dyẽm
20 Gấu Dyiă
21 Gấu Dyiă Một
30 Săn Dyiă
40 Sể Dyiă
50 Qui Dyiă
60 Cỏ Dyiă
70 Cëm Dyiă
80 Tún Dyiă
90 Dyẽm Dyiă
100 Tian

Language Examples

Basic greetings and phrases

Rhavanese Translation Notes
Greetings
Namchao! Hello! A formal way of saying hello
Chao! Hey/ whats up Less formal way of saying hello
Chao Chasao Good Morning
Chao Amaelnh Good Night
Cham Welcome
Khivsam Sabit Goodbye/see you again
Dep Chonleuok Hello and Welcome Very formal, directly translates to; beautiful opportunities
Namchao Khoediv How are you?
Useful Expressions
Khobonh Thanks You can add a pronoun to the back, you can also say Shukran, or Khonaar
Kalinh Please
Kalinh Saoilai Please Say it Again
Kalinh Laplai Please repeat
Ntxua Nawh Lah How old are you You can put any pronoun at the beginning
Kalinhkao Sorry Alternative is Kaling-tlao
Kalinhkao, Nhai Mā Tuy Laemn Boun Khandiv Sorry, My Rhavanese is not good
Banay Souaphomnh Khatroi What time is it
Tuy Nahivtom I am hungry
Honh-am Naiuhdao Where is the bathroom?
Kalinh Hawivdee Please stop

Universal Decleration of Human Rights: article 1:

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
Thanhmop Nguy Sinra Dopniv Ya Kintheoathiam Naiuh Phamkyiv Ya Quyen. Hawh Chawbhai Livphon Ya Lungsoanuk Ya Kuanhpativ Zhaikap Ntxoeng-au Naiuh Tinhchai Lamntxanh.

  1. The lack of diphthong consisting of a ơ + back offglide (i.e., [əːw]) is an apparent gap.
  2. you can add to any personal pronoun and it will change the meaning to have ownership