Ɛɦɐ

Ɛɦɐ is a language that is hard to understand for many non-native speakers due to the many minute nuances in vowels. The language is restricted by the Deljudi's anatomy as their tongue is not muscular like other humanoids, but a fold on the floor of the mouth that has a limited range of movements. Additionally, the lips of the Deljudi are immobile, incapable of being pursed. This has resulted in the Deljudi being unable to produce many sounds.

Phonology

Consonants

Having a tongue with limited movement means that the Deljudi are unable to pronounce many sounds. Those consonants that they can pronounce are limited to the bilabial, labio-dental, pharyngeal, and glottal places of articulation.

Consonants in Ɛɦɐ are used to attach a basic emotion to words. For example, 'bbæɔɹ', meaning death, expresses great sadness with two 'b's at the front of the word. The placement of consonants tends to denote the strength of the emotion and in this example, the emotion is heavy with two b's.
Meanwhile, consonants located in the middle a word expresses a moderate feeling while a consonant at the end of a word shows a lack of a feeling. In the case of 'bbæɔɹ', the ɹ at the end of the word points at the absence of happiness. In this way, the inclusion of multiple consonants in a word can lead to the expression of more complex emotions.

Vowels

With the tongue having a limited degree of inclination, the Deljudi are unable to produce sounds at the top of their mouth. The small nuances between the vowels of the language can cause some trouble to learners who have a hard time differentiating the sounds.

Vocabulary

Person ēœ

me

fēœ

you

hēfœ

them

ēhfœ

someone

ēfœh

no one

ēœhf

Place - ab

here

fab

there

hafb

somewhere

afbh

nowhere

abhf

Insults

ħœvɒɦ

This term refers to the predecessors of the Deljudi, who were starting to take humanoid shape but were considered to be monsters and thus hunted down.

aħɜf

To call someone 'aħɜv' is to say that they are an idiot and might as well be a lowly fish.

ɞʔœf

Basically bottomfeeder; a worthless person.

...

Cut-hair. Someone of low standing and worth. Comes from the tradition of shaving off a servant's hair.

Spoken By

Deljudi