Rhavanese language
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
| 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.
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 |
Rhavanese Phonology
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/nh/ | ŋ/ng/ | |||
| Stop/ Affricate |
tenuis | (p) | t | ʈ/tr/ | c/ch/ | k | (ʔ/oi/) |
| aspirated | tʰ/th/ | ||||||
| glottalized | ɓ/b/ | ɗ/d/ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f/ph/ | s | ʂ/sh/ | x/kh/ | h | |
| voiced | v/y/ | z | ɣ/gh/ | ||||
| Approximant | l | j/y/ | w | ||||
| Rhotic | ɹ/r/ (trilled) | ||||||
Vowels
| Front | Back | |
|---|---|---|
| Close | i | u |
| Mid | e | o, oo |
| Open | a, aa | |
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' |