Ënokhan

The language of the andeamer is called Ënokhan in its native form. Many have taken to calling it "Enochian" in an anglicized form of its name, however it bears no resemblance to the biblical language of angels. All andeamer speak Ënokhan with very little regional variation. Literacy varies by region however, and it is largely dependent on a particular kingdom, nation, or city-state. Just as on Earth, literacy appears to decline in rural regions and even more so among nomadic peoples. The nomadic people across Ënokh instead utilize oral tradition as seen in many human cultures across times.

The sound production andeamer use and humans use is similar yet different. Andeamer project a more guttural tone and what may sound to humans as growls and even hisses. Some of these phonemes are difficult for humans to reproduce, but the andeamer have been quick to pick this up and so far, there is seldom misunderstanding. On the other hand, andeamer have somewhat less labial articulation than humans, so our human labial phonemes will sound less pronounced with andeamer speakers.

Ënokhan evolution is split into four eras; proto-Ënokhan, early Ënokhan, middle Ënokhan, and modern Ënokhan. Proto-Ënokhan is the theorized synthesis of Ënokhan and where language began among the andeamer. Unfortunately, there is seldom documentation and evidence of what it may have looked or even sounded like. Early Ënokhan as suggested is the earliest recognizable form of Ënokhan but is very detached from modern Ënokhan. Similarly, to proto-Ënokhan evidence and documentation is scarce. Middle Ënokhan is more well documented and more recognizable to the modern Ënokhan speaker. It permeated the early, pre-war era of Nir Rizaal and it is from recovered documents and discoveries in the ruins where andeamer have their knowledge of proto-Ënokhan and early Ënokhan. Among the recent layers of ruins, the slow, but observable transition into modern Ënokhan is found, but this linguistic evolution did not fully take hold until after the war when we see a major migration of andeamer to the far coastal reaches of the continent.

The established knowledge of Ënokhan for human education.

Naming Conventions

Names are derived from words, sometimes more than one and recreated into a unique name. Names for the andeamer are unique to the individual and rarely repeated. The word of origin however is obviously reused but when recreated into a name, there may be a resemblance between names. Surnames may follow the same pattern but typically use indicators to location of origin, profession, or similar status indicators.

Names may not always be indicative of one's gender, but gender can be conveyed by the syllables stressed in the name just as with regular words. Children are typically not given a name until they reach one year of age. To give a name earlier than this is thought of as "bad luck" and provoking some creature of the void to abduct or even kill the child.

Some examples of known given names:

• Läthe Mäs: Possibly gold star or gold light, läthelul (gold), mäs (star). Feminine syllable pattern.
• Mäsihlul, Mässäthelul: Same as Läthe Mäs, but with a masculine pattern.
• Välarä: Gray and possibly calm, väl (gray), lahss (calm), neutral syllable pattern.
• Emë Lëas: The emësa flower and Älëas. The emësa flower is a vibrant magenta color and magenta itself is ehmëe. Feminine syllable pattern
• Zetakh: From Zättekhän; a vassal of Fesäd who embodies hunting, tracking, and survival skills. Masculine syllable pattern.
• Vellarän: Artful or artistic, velis (art), vellisär (artistic). Feminine syllable pattern.
• Valsähr: Vählsaar (honor). Masculine syllable pattern.
• Mässihdyrr: Starry-ocean, or ocean star. From star (mäs) and ocean or ocean blue (dyrnahvel).

Examples of surnames:

• Laelis: Derived from Laeselis; a vassal to Fesäd so a spirit of skill, leadership, and combat
• Ahskhäsuthen: From the Ahs mountain range in Mäsvell Dinmaar, and khäsuthen (mountain)
• Nihndävilärr: Cloud-bather, nihn (cloud), dävilärr (bather). Alludes to origins from a place of high altitude and people who live in mountainous regions.
• Sahfïsvä: White-water, sahfïs (white), rahsvä (water). Implies origin near rapids or body of rough-water.

Writing System

Phonology

Vowels:

• A (a)
• Ä (eɪ)
• Ë (i)
• E (ɛ)
• I (ɪ)
• Ï (aɪ)
• U (u)
• Ü (ʌ)
• O (o)
• Y (j)
• Oi (oi)
• Au (ao)

Consonants:

• B (b)
• S (s)
• D (d)
• F (f)
• G (g)
• Kh (χ)
• L (l)
• M (m)
• N (n)
• P (p)
• R (ɾ)
• Sh (ʂ)
• T (t)
• Th (θ)
• V (v)
• Z (z)
• Zh (ʐ)

Morphology

Nouns

Nouns in Ënokhan aren’t used very differently as they are in any Earth language. Nouns refer to a person, place, or thing, etc,. This table is the common list of pronouns one would hear everyday conversation. Just as on Earth, the people Ënokh have colloquial versions of words in their dialects. These dialects often just shorten words and can tell the listener where the speaker may come from. See “formal pronouns” for all variations and formality.
COMMON NOUNS

• I, Myself Zhä - My, Mine Zän
• You Ït - Your, Yours Ïtän
• He, Him Zhelïse - His Zhelïsen
• She, Her Frolis - Hers Frolisen
• They, Them Volse - Theirs Volger
• We Sädz - Ours Thernis

Noun Classes

In Ënokhan nouns are put into specific categories. Every noun falls into one of these categories, beginning with being either animate or inanimate. As per their categories, the class of nouns are straightforward. Objects such cooking utensils or any tools will fall under into the category of Inanimate, non-living, everyday objects.However, within the noun classification of Ënokhan, there are some irregularities. For example, hair. Uncut, still on one’s scalp it is an animate, living, gendered, Andeamer noun. Once cut off and thus no longer attached it simply becomes that status of an everyday object and is no longer living nor Andeamer. But even within irregularities, there is some logic. The same pattern can be described for anything other than hair, the reverse is even possible; inanimate nouns becoming animate.

The case of the reverse happening is very common in religious texts. Which makes sense given how the Andeamer gods speak through statues which become animate when used and once they stop using the statues as their vessel, they become inanimate objects again, no longer animate nor divine. In the divine class, the subclass of “other spiritual beings” is essentially any being not Mazarath or the gods, but also not Ënokh, since Ënokh is an inanimate, but living thing and as per Andeamer beliefs about their planet is their planet. This other category would then include ätherä, Akhemaaz, the Greater Voids, Mazarath’s vassals, and any Void being. Mind that words can move freely in between categories thus changing the meaning conveyed in a sentence. The signal of categorization can be suffixes, prefixes, or even articles.

Example: The statues of the gods are alive or the living statues of the gods: Are thïlasyërdath ar’khïsuleth

• “lasyërdath” means statues, naturally inanimate, but “thïlasyërdath” is animate and divine. Adding the “ar’” to “khïsuleth” is not entirely needed as the “thï” in thïlasyërdath denotes what subcategory of divine the statue is and that is the subcategory of gods.

• The Animate
  • The Living
    • Male, Female, Nueter
      • Andeamer
      • Animal
  • The Divine
    • Mazarath
    • Thïsenyarr
    • Other Beings (atherä, athehlï, sädthasan, etc,..)

• The Inanimate
  • The Living
    • Geography
    • The Natural Word
    • Plant Life
  • Non Living
    • Everyday objects

Non-Living Objects

Non-living objects are everyday things from pans, clothes, home décor, etc,.. These words are noted as being non-living things by their own “the” and “a”. Instead of the common “are” you would use “pes” instead. These will follow the same pattern of genders seen in the animate forms; gender is determined by the stressed syllable.

Example

• The (living) statues vs the (inanimate) statues: Are lasyërdath vs. pes lasyërdath
• The statues are made of granite: Pes lasyërdath zhidïsle nihnlähsërd

Living Objects

The inanimate living categories are sometimes thought of as their own category under divine, because to the Andeamer, their planet Ënokh is a divine being itself. So because of these beliefs, what you may consider just a mountain or common foliage is considered alive and a part of Ënokh. This subclass does not have genders. Living Inanimate: Ënokh This category concerns seasons, weather, geographical formations, colors, and all the is the natural world. These words will the following syllables stressed. These syllables can also give insight as to what part of this class the word relates to. Colors are an exception to this syllable stress rule; they are by default apart of the grammatical class that concerns Ënokh so they don’t need to conform to nouns already in the same class.

• Geographic formations such as mountains are kh, khä, kha, and kho stressed
• Water and aquatic bodies are svä stressed
• Terrestrial flora has lä, las, and lath stressed
• Aquatic flora has shä, shë stressed
• Anything relating to Ënokh will have “En” and “Ën” as prefixes.

Example

• Blue mountain range: Aläns khasümaar
  • Alä is aläns because it is describing khasümaar. Colors as nouns and adjectives are already apart of the same grammatical classification so nothing needs to be changed in this sentence.

• Spänskhä khasümaar: tall mountain range
  • Späns becomes spänskhä because the noun being described belongs to the living inanimate gender and further into the sub category of geographic formations

The flowers of Mäsvell Dinmaar are beautiful: Belasath an’mäsvell dinmaar vë fëryalänsenBelas: flower; belasath: flowers. (Plurality won't change gender)
• • Fëryal: beauty
    • fëryalänsa: beautiful(fem)
    • fëryaläns; beautiful(neut)
    • fëryalänsez: beautiful(masc)
    • fëryalänsen;fëryalänskhä;fëryalänshe;fëryalänsvä(ën)
    • fëryalänsäd;fërylänsth(div)
    • fëryalänstihn(cel)
    • läthfëryaläns(maz)
The AnimateThis category holds the most subcategories and can often appear very specific. In the living categories which concerns Andeamer and animals, the gender of the object will follow the gender that corresponds to its sex. For children, juvenile animals, or what is not discernable the neuter gender is used.AndeamerAndeamer have many combinations that are used in gendered words. They can appear and prefixes and suffixes. The gender of the word can also be noted by stress; a stressed suffix will determine gender, same for a stressed prefix, or even infix. Otherwise, gender is determined by a physical gender especially with people. Yorlis, yelis, and yoilis are all suffixes and are used in words to describe an occupation or position.
• Male: zha, zhä, zhï, zhe, zhë, zho, set, seth, säth, säd, sïd, sol, sos, süs, sahl, gä, gë, gï, gi, khe, khä, khë, kho, khü, khu, vol, vel, vil, vä, väl, vïl, vï,
  • Female: lih, lis, san, sahn, la, lä, las, läs, le, les, lë, lës, lï, lïs, lä, läs, ma, mas, mes, mäs, thï, thä, thë, the, tha, tho
  • Neuter: Anü, and, änd, aun, ahrs, bän, ban, bel, bël, bol, bäth, bath, bïth, beth, len, lon, lin, nün, nan, non, nal, nis, nes, nel, nos, yar, yan, yen, ya, yï, yor, yel, yal, yez, yäs

Animals have the simplest system suing only prefixes. Without a prefix they are neutral.

• Male: Zh-
• Female: Lis-
• Nueter: no prefix

The Divine

This category is reserved entirely for the spiritual world of the Andeamer. These words can have prefixes, infixes, suffixes, and “floating” words that don’t have meaning by themselves, but are instead used similarly to “the”, “a”, or as pronouns.For Mazarath, Läth always addresses her and is also solely her pronoun. So instead of frolis, läth is used. The same is true for the gods; Värth always addresses the Gods and is also their pronouns. For other beings Var is used and any celestial body Vehr is used. The same pronoun pattern follows.Placement of some suffixes and prefixes don’t matter are usually up to the speaker’s preference. There isn’t a pattern or rule that dictates uses the suffix of ahs, orhs, ohs, or styn over one or the other. The same applies to säd, säth, and säs prefixes.

• Mazarath: Läth, leth
  • Läth is her title
  • Leth is her pronoun and also makes a word relate or belong to her

• Thïsenyarr: The Gods: Yär, -yärreth, thï-, Värth, -lähyrss
  • Yär itself is an equivalent to the word “god”
  • -yärreth, thï, lähryss made a noun or adjective related or belonging to the thïsenyärr
  • Värth is the pronoun belonging to the thïsenyär

• Other Celestial Beings: Atherä, athehlï, and sädthäsan: Khï, Var, -venth, säd-, säth-, -sahs, -säs
  • Khï prefix will make a noun divine
  • -venth suffix is for a being of unknown origin and intention
  • Säd, säth, säs are used specifically for the Void
  • -sahs is a neutral suffix similarl to -venth

• Celestial Bodies: Vehr, -erihs, -ahs, -orhs, -ohs, -urhs, -urs, -styn, -stihn
  • -erihs is used for stars or bright objects
  • -ahs, orhs, ohs, styn, are reserved for common objects such as planets
  • -urs, urhs, stihn, and styn are saved for celestial bodies related to the gods and portals

Example:

Our lady is Mazarath: Thernis bälvaarleth vë Läth Mazarath

Mars is the red planet: Marzahs vë vehr stynmoryäns ärihstyn

• Mohry; the color of rust. Morüstyn ärihstyn; red/rust planet.
• Mohry becomes morüstyn instead of mohrystyn due to a phoneme harmony pattern. Similar to how adverbs are created and why vowels may be omitted from conjugated verbs.

Nothing good came from the Void: Vthyaläs sährath tärarethäz sädthäsano Lit: Good things come not from the Void

Syntax

Syntax in Ënokhan is very flexible given verb conjugations and word classes. Pronouns can be dropped entirely given that the conjugation of the verb directly tells of the tense and noun. However, that is only done in informal settings.
The only observable rule in structure is that verbs either come first or second in a sentence.
The most common form follows a liberal subject-verb-object flow. However, there are some parts of Ënokh, mainly in the remote Northern tribe and villages, that use more ridged rules. These forms follow a verb-subject-object and commonly these speakers won’t use pronouns since they follow a very informal pattern of speech.

Syntax examples:

"We went to Mäsvell Dinmaar by carriage". All these sentences have the same meaning in spite how they are structured.
• Sädzäse gerekhoslï Mäsvell Dinmaar vin’mässar.
  • We-to went Mäsvell Dinmaar by-carriage
• Gerekholsï Mäsvell Dinmaar vin’mässar
  • (we [to]) Went Mäsvell Dinmaar by carriage
    • In this sentence sädzäse is implied. However, through the verb conjugation we know that the pronoun would be sädz
  • • This sentence is an informal structure. This particular form of informality is seen between family and close friends as it is very blunt.
• Gerekhsle sädzäse Mäsvell Dinmaar vin’mässar
  • Went we to Mäsvell Dinmaar by carriage
• Gerekhsle sädzäse vin’mässar Mäsvell Dinmaar
  • Went we by carriage to Mäsvell Dinmaar
• Vin’mässar gerekholsï sädzäse Mäsvell Dinmaar
  • By carriage went we to Mäsvell Dinmaar

Ginthalihlleth vënessïolsü. Valzhetur are rahsvä mat’Vellï. Valzhe, saulolsü dath lyävahlü’vagh. Yanalähs esä fahväleäs. Rayagashäns, voithenäns dath sädthäsan din’mahz—Valis, lasüdäns dath lahsäns, selïsän Änderath. Volse bïsolsü’vagh are melul Ar’Ënokh. Sihr illinis zhdïssen vin’selï. Volse vaalüvarthrahn din’Ënokh. Vaalüvarthrahn din’Ya. Volse yavahlolsü’vagh dath fahlolsü’vagh melul’vagh valis vahlyaäs esä are sädthäs ihnesvä dath vishin vehr Delvënyahs.

The leviathans do exist, deep in the water of our father. Deep they grow and without restraint. They will surface when they desire. Enormous, bizarre, and monstrous in appearance, but they are peaceful and gentle, my children. They do no harm to any being born of Ënokh. These giants were created by I. They are the divine guardians of Ënokh. Guardians of all life. They need and want for nothing other than to protect when the Void opens to swallow the Universe. (Suilagon, Marëkhs)

Dictionary

126 Words.

Common Phrases

Basics

Yes: restate the inquiry: Did you eat? I ate.

No, vaagn

Please, vyäsleth

Thank you, sïrihs leth

You're welcome, sïrihs leth; vaalüt sïrihnth

Excuse me, bytü'vagh

I'm sorry, pelïthet'vagh; pelsvan

Honorifics

Thän:

Common. Used in daily speech, this puts you below whoever you speak to. Suffix

Leth:

Formal and common. Can be used with anyone you are unfamiliar with or those above your rank. Suffix

Lethïlas:

Very formal. Used with clergy or anyone far above your rank; clan-kin, clergy, low politicians. Prefix

Vinïlas:

Very formal. Used when speaking in a political setting; clan-kin, vothihyaal mat’Dïbe, and councilors. Prefix

Vinthyari:

Used exclusively for high clergy. Prefix

Virzangest:

Very formal. Now used exclusively for the chosen Virzangest when needed, it was originally used for all ruling bodies or individuals. Prefix

Virsïne:

Very formal. Used for any ruler; king, queen, emperor, etc,.. Prefix