Wallen language
| Ońilo | |
|---|---|
| Pronunciation | [oˈŋilo] |
| Native to | Wallenland and worldwide diaspora |
Native speakers | L1: 11,800,000 (2020) L2: 700,000 (no date) |
isolate
| |
Early form | Proto-Ońilo
|
| Latin script | |
| Official status | |
Official language in |  Wallenland |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-1 | on |
| ISO 639-3 | onl |
Ońilo is a language isolate in Iearth. Natively spoken in Wallenland and abroad by 11,800,000 people and spoken as a second language by the various diasporas in Wallenland, numbering at around 700,000.
History
Prehistory
Though Ońilo has no relation to any modern Adulan languages, linguistic historians strongly believe its proto-form (Proto-Ońilo) was originally situated on the modern-day Terehan coast before emigrating to the Wallene islands.
Adulan Contact
The existence of Old Ońilo was unchallenged until Emmirian contact in the 900s, changing traditional life through religion, customs, ideas and language, all of which still resounds with Emmirian loanwords in Wallene vocabulary - one example is bándaril (port; harbour), phonemes from Emmirian phonology and the formation of a creole language - Banaḫdālemērai. The next point of change was Quetanan colonisation, beginning with efforts in the 1540s by companies tasked to establish settlements. By the beginning of the 1700s, Qoati was the language of trade and governance for the Companhia Imperial das Ilhas das Especiarias Quetanan
Suppression and Decline of Ońilo
Revival attempts
Wallenland Renaissance
Alberto Jámalpāfiolò and Written Ońilo
Post-War and 'Decolonisation of Ońilo'
After the World War, the question of Wallene independence rose into prominence once again
Phonology
Vowels
|
|
Consonants
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Labialvelar | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | ɱ | n | ŋ | |||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k͡p ɡ͡b | k g | ʔ | ||||
| Affricate | t͡ʃ d͡ʒ | ||||||||
| Lateral affricate | t͡ɬ d͡ɮ | ||||||||
| Fricative | f v | s z | ʃ ʒ | x (ɣ) | χ (ʁ) | ||||
| Lateral fricative | ɬ ɮ | ||||||||
| Approximant | j | w | |||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | (ʎ) | |||||||
| Liquid | ɾ |
Tone
Ońilo is a tonal language with three tones and is used only for vowels: a high tone which is marked by an acute accent (⟨á⟩), a mid tone which is unmarked as the macron is reserved for long vowels, and a low tone which is marked by a grave accent (⟨à⟩).
- H: apa pédak []
- M: apa pedak []
- L: apa pèdak []
Orthography
Grammar
Syntax
Ońilo is unique in its word order as it follows two: Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) for formal occasions and (VOS) for informal occasions.