The Hidden Language of The Guardians

Natively known as: Ihal /ˈihaɬː/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
ke lu fich huntil tanhit yin ke lupa si fich mit pesi sil>
Pronunciation: /kɛ ɬʊ fiʧ ˈhʊntiɬ ˈtanhit jin kɛ ˈɬːʊpa si fiʧ mːit ˈpɛsi siɬ/
Ihalish word order: and he his hat holding stood and the wind to his wet face turned

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: /f fː h j k l lː m mː n p s sː t ɬ ɬː ʧ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m mː		n
Stop	p		t			k
Affricate				ʧ
Fricative		f fː	s sː				h
Approximant					j
Lateral fricative			ɬ ɬː
Lateral approximant			l lː

Vowel inventory: /a i ɔ ɛ ʊ/

	Front	Back
High	i
Near-high		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Low	a

Syllable structure: (C)V(C)
Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable
Word initial consonants: f, fː, h, j, k, l, lː, m, mː, n, p, s, sː, t, ɬ, ɬː, ʧ
Mid-word consonants[pg]: f, fː, h, j, k, kp, ks, l, lk, lʧ, lː, m, mː, n, nf, nh, nt, p, s, sː, t, tk, tʧ, ɬ, ɬː, ʧ
Word final consonants: fː, l, lː, mː, n, p, sː, t, ɬ, ɬː, ʧ

Show frequency stats

Word initial: m*24 k*18 j*15 p*14 n*13 s*12 t*11 l*11 h*10 f*10 ʧ*9 ɬ*9 ɬ*9 mː*9 lː*9 sː*9 fː*9 ɬː*9
Mid-word: m*24 k*18 j*15 p*14 n*13 s*12 t*11 l*11 h*10 f*10 ʧ*9 ɬ*9 ɬ*9 mː*9 lː*9 sː*9 fː*9 ɬː*9 nh*24 nt*18 tʧ*13 ks*10 tk*9 nf*9 kp*8 lk*8 lʧ*7
Word final: p*14 n*13 t*11 l*11 ʧ*9 ɬ*9 ɬ*9 mː*9 lː*9 sː*9 fː*9 ɬː*9

Phonological changes (in order of application):

• j → d / _#
• h → Ø / V_V
• t → s / _#
• h → Ø / V_V
• m → w / #_
• k → c / V_V
• h → Ø / V_V
• m → w / #_
• ja → aː / C_
• j → ʧ / V_V
• N → n / _V

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
j	y>
ɔ	o>
ɛ	e>
ɬ	l>
ʊ	u>
ʧ	ch>
ː	double vowel>

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Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Oblique-Object-Verb. "Mary opened the door with a key" turns into Mary with a key the door opened.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun.
Adposition: postpositions

Noun

Nouns form plural with separate plural word:

Plural

i> /i/ plural particle

Nouns have five cases:
Ergative is the doer of a verb: dog bites man
The ergative affix only appears if there is an absolutive in the sentence
Absolutive is the done-to of a verb: man bites dog
Absolutives are always no affix
Genitive is the possessor of something: dog’s tail hits man
Dative is the recipeint of something: man gives ball to dog
Locative is the location of something: man goes to town

Ergative	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧa- chasalchuku> /ˌʧasːalˈʧʊkʊ/
Absolutive	No affix salchuku> /sːalˈʧʊkʊ/
Genitive	Prefix lːa- lasalchuku> /ˌlːasːalˈʧʊkʊ/
Dative	If starts with vowel: Prefix il- Else: Prefix ilɔ- ilosalchuku> /iˌlɔsːalˈʧʊkʊ/
Locative	If starts with vowel: Prefix k- Else: Prefix kɔ- kosalchuku> /ˌkɔsːalˈʧʊkʊ/

Articles

	Definite	Indefinite
Singular	ach> /aʧ/ the	a> /a/ a
Plural	hu> /hʊ/ the	fol> /fːɔɬ/ some

Pronouns

	Ergative	Absolutive	Genitive	Dative	Locative
1st singular	ku> /kʊ/ I	fe> /fːɛ/ me	lep> /ɬɛp/ my, mine	lil> /lːil/ to me	i> /i/
2nd singular	let> /ɬɛt/ you	si> /si/ you	pe> /pɛ/ your, yours	lu> /ɬːʊ/ to you	nul> /nʊɬ/
3rd singular	lu> /ɬʊ/ he, she, it	me> /mɛ/ him, her, it	fich> /fiʧ/ his, her, hers, its	on> /ɔn/ to him, to her	mif> /mifː/
1st plural	mal> /maɬ/ we	e> /ɛ/ us	chach> /ʧaʧ/ our, ours	a> /a/ to us	el> /ɛl/
2nd plural	ko> /kɔ/ you (all)	tel> /tɛɬ/ you (all)	chal> /ʧaɬ/ your, yours (all)	sil> /siɬ/ to you (all)	la> /lːa/
3rd plural	nul> /nʊɬː/ they	che> /ʧɛ/ them	li> /lːi/ their, theirs	kup> /kʊp/ to them	lup> /ɬːʊp/

Verbs

	Singular	Plural
Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʊnf- Else: Prefix ʊnfɛ- unfehuma> /ˌʊnfɛˈhʊma/	If starts with vowel: Prefix itk- Else: Prefix itka- itkahuma> /ˌitkaˈhʊma/
Past	If starts with vowel: Prefix h- Else: Prefix hi- hihuma> /hiˈhʊma/	If starts with vowel: Prefix f- Else: Prefix fi- fihuma> /fiˈhʊma/
Future	Prefix ɬʊ- luhuma> /ɬʊˈhʊma/	If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ- Else: Prefix ʧa- chahuma> /ʧaˈhʊma/

Perfect aspect

Perfect aspect in English is exemplified in ‘I have read this book’,
which expresses an event that took place before the time spoken
but which has an effect on or is in some way still relevant to the present.

In Ihalish, the perfect is constructed with the word for ‘finish’ mːʊtiʧ + present tense of the verb.

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix i-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix a-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix fi-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix si-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = If starts with vowel: Prefix an-
Else: Prefix ani-
Noun → verb (to create [noun]) = Prefix ʊ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix j-
Else: Prefix ji-
Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix ji-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ʊnf-
Else: Prefix ʊnfɛ-
Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) = Prefix ɬɛ-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = Prefix pɛ-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix si-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix l-
Else: Prefix lɛ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix p-
Else: Prefix pa-

Dictionary

4241 Words.