+# Ifadätels
+
+**WARNING: Players in the _Great Labyrinth_ game should not read this
+page.**
+
+Ifadätels [if.'ɑd.æt.els] is a constructed language being developed by
+[][@:Rinna] for use in one of faese role-playing games.
+It is intended for use as a language used by some sort of mysterious
+beings in the titular labyrinth of that, mostly evidenced in
+inscriptions and other ancient texts.
+
+It is very much a work-in-progress.
+
+## Phonology
+
+### Phonemic inventory
+
+Ifadätels uses the following vowels (notated using the
+[International Phonetic
+Alphabet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Phonetic_Alphabet){title="Wikipedia
+on the International Phonetic Alphabet"}):
+
+| | front | central | back |
+|--------|-------|---------|------|
+| high | i | | u |
+| middle | e | | |
+| low | æ | | ɑ |
+
+and these consonants :
+
+| | bilabial | labio-dental | dental | alveolar | post-alvelolar |
+|-------------|----------|--------------|--------|----------|----------------|
+| stop | p b | | t d | | |
+| nasal | m | | | n | |
+| fricative | | | | s z | ʃ ʒ |
+| approximant | | f v | | | ɹ |
+| lateral | | | | l | |
+
+### Phonotactics
+
+Phonemes other than /l/ and /ɹ/ are categorized into one of two
+classes: the I-class and the A-class.
+The I-class includes /n/, voiceless consonants, and front vowels.
+The A-class includes /m/, voiced consonants, and back vowels.
+The vowel /e/ is special and may function as either class.
+Liquid consonants have a special role and are not considered to belong
+to either class.
+
+A syllable consists of a vowel followed by a consonant of the same
+class as the vowel.
+The syllable is said to have the same class as its vowel and
+consonant.
+For example, /æp/ is an I-class syllable, while /ev/ is an A-class
+syllable.
+An I-class syllable _may_ include either /l/ between the vowel and
+consonant or /ɹ/ after the consonant, but not both.
+An A-class syllable _may_ include either /ɹ/ between the vowel and
+consonant or /l/ after the consonant, but not both.
+
+## Orthography
+
+Ifadätels is romanized using the following rules:
+
+* /æ/ is written ä,
+* /ɑ/ is written a,
+* /ɹ/ is written r,
+* /ʃ/ is written š (with a caron) or sh (when technical limitations
+ interfere),
+* /ʒ/ is written ž or zh,
+* and other phonemes are written with the same character as in IPA.
+
+[][@:Rinna] hopes to eventually develop a native writing system for
+Ifadätels, but has not yet done so.
+
+## Morphology
+
+### Class alternation and syllabic structure of words
+
+In general, a word may begin with either class of syllable and
+alternates classes.
+Syllables containing liquids in either position are special, and must
+instead be of the same class as the preceding syllable.
+Loan words and certain other words may deviate from these rules, but
+unsurprisingly they often undergo regularization (either through the
+addition of a liquid or modification of a syllable to a similar
+syllable of the alternate class).
+
+A word may not begin with a syllable that contains a liquid and cannot
+end with a syllable that ends with a liquid.
+
+Root content words typically have an odd number of syllables (prior to
+any inflection or other derivation), while function words typically
+have either one syllable or an even number of syllables.
+
+### Stress
+
+The primary stress within a word falls on the last syllable of a
+different class than the final syllable of a word. For words whose
+syllables all share a class, the penultimate syllable is stressed.
+
+### Inflection of nouns
+
+At one point, Ifadätels heavily declined nouns, but by the time of the
+texts surviving in the Labyrinth, all but pluralization and the
+genitive case were lost.
+
+Non-genitive nouns are pluralized by duplicating the initial syllable
+at the end, adding the appropriate liquid between the vowel and
+consonant if necessary for class alternation.
+
+For example, «änitrum» (enclosed space, room, forest clearing, etc.)
+has the plural «änitrumän», while «ezetum» (individual person) has the
+plural «ezetumerz» (the "r" is necessary to allow a second consecutive
+A-class syllable).
+
+The genitive case is marked in the singular with the suffix «-iš» or
+«-už» according to the final syllable of the noun.
+Genitive plurals use the suffix «-emliš» or «-enriž», a borrowing from
+another now-extinct language.
+
+<!-- TODO(rinna) maybe add an archaic native genitive plural form that
+can be found in some surviving texts -->
+
+## A very partial lexicon
+
+Each word is labelled with its part of speech, an English gloss, and
+optionally additional notes.
+
+The repository for the wiki also contains a record-jar-format lexicon
+next to the source for this page.
+That lexicon is currently approximately equally partial but will
+probably get more things added to it than the one here.
+
+* _änitrum_ • noun • enclosed space • a room in a building, a clearing
+ in a forest, or an area marked out by lines drawn on the ground are
+ all änitrumän
+* _ezetum_ • noun • individual person • primarily refers to a legally
+ independent person under an archaic legal system
Lady’s Gitweb / Wiki / commitdiff