Kalhan language

 

Kalhan
Kalșerian
Kalhan
Pronunciation	[ˈkaɫxɐn]
Native to	Kalseri
Region	Eastern North America
Ethnicity	Kalșerian
Native speakers	~3,000,000 (2018) L2 speakers: 2.5 million
Language family	Language isolate (Kalhanic)
Early forms	Proto-Kalhanic Old Kalhan Middle Kalhan Kalhan
Dialects	New Lothianer Evalrian Kaluonic Loscafian Henrien Takalese
Writing system	Latin script Old Kalhan alphabet
Signed forms	Kalhan Sign Language
Official status
Regulated by	Kalhan Raladure
Language codes
ISO 639-1	kh
ISO 639-2	ksr
ISO 639-3	kar

Kalhan (Kalhan [ˈkaɫxɐn] or Kalhan rala [ˈkaɫxɐn ˈralɐ]) is a language spoken primarily in Kalșeri. Linguistically, Kalhan is a language isolate, as it has no relations to any other known living languages. Kalhan is spoken natively by three million people, of which 97% live in Kalșeri, plus another 2.5 million people.

Name

The official name of the language is Kalhan, as declared by the Kalhan Raladure, the regulatory body of the language; the institute argues that this is because the language came into existence before the modern country of Kalșeri, whose name is a corruption of Kalhanseri ("Home of Kalhan").

Foreign entities and people may also call Kalhan "Kalșerian", even though the Raladure has labelled the usage of the demonym to denote the language "anachronistic".

History

Proto-Kalhan began to be spoken around 3500 BCE, with several Kalhanic languages being spoken in the islands. The co-existence ended with the Lág conquest of the other chiefdoms, with acts being passed by the royal authority that would force new subjects to learn the Égiaton variant spoken in Lág.

In 1583, Philip I introduced the Latin alphabet, which substituted the Old Kalhan alphabet for official purposes.

In 1941, the Kalhan Raladure issued a language reform, abolishing the letters C, Ç, Ļ, Ñ, Ø, Y and Z, the ergative, intrative and "circumessive" cases and removing acute accents from words where they were deemed unnecessary. Many foreign words introduced into the Kalhan vocabulary by scholars during the Age of Enlightenment, deemed redundant by the Language Review Commission, were removed from the Official Vocabulary and replaced with existing words or calques.

In 1995, the Old Kalhan alphabet was reintroduced as part of the curriculum of some schools nationwide, at the behest of the religious institution Șin Gea.

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant Phonemes of Standard Kalhan

				Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive			voiceless	⟨p⟩ p		⟨t⟩ t (t̪)			⟨k⟩ k
			voiced	⟨b⟩ b		⟨d⟩ d (d̪)			⟨g⟩ g
Nasal				⟨m⟩ m		⟨n⟩ n			(ŋ)
Fricative		voiceless			⟨f⟩ f		⟨s⟩ s ⟨ș⟩ ʃ		⟨h⟩ x
		voiced			⟨v⟩ v		(z) ⟨j⟩ ʒ
Trill							⟨r⟩ r
Approximant						⟨l⟩ l (ɫ)			j
Flap						(ɾ)

• In colloquial speech, [x] is often either rendered as [h] or not pronounced at all.
• [l] is "darkened" into [ɫ] at the end of words and before [x]. In spoken Kalhan, [l] is often dropped when followed by [j] or r.
• [n] is rendered as [m] before p or b and dropped when followed by r.
• [s] is voiced ([z]) before r, m, b, v, d or g and between vowels.
• [p] and [b] may be realized as [ɸ] and [β] by some speakers.
  • Some speakers may also merge [p] and [f] into [ɸ], and [b] and [v] into [β].

Vowels

Vowel Phonemes of Standard Kalhan

	Front	Central	Back
Close	⟨i⟩ [i]		⟨u⟩ [u]
Near-close	([ɪ])		([ʊ])
Close-mid	⟨e⟩ [e]		⟨o⟩ [o]
Mid		([ə])
Open-mid	([ɛ])		([ɔ])
Near-open		([ɐ])
Open	⟨a⟩ [a]

• In unstressed syllables, [a], [e], [i], [o] and [u] become [ɐ], [ə], [ɪ], [ɔ] and [ʊ].
• [e] is often lowered to [ɛ] in monosyllabic words and, in a syllable of a non-monosyllabic word, before m, n, l and r.

Orthography

The Latin alphabet was introduced in 1583 by Philip I, to help Spanish missionaries print a bible in Kalhan. It was adapted from the Spanish alphabet and consisted of twenty-eight letters:

Capital letters

A

B

C

Ch

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

Ll

M

N

Ñ

O

Oe

P

R

S

T

U

V

X

Y

Z

Lower case letters

a

b

c

ch

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

ll

m

n

ñ

o

oe

p

r

s

t

u

v

x

y

z

In 1698, a spelling reform was introduced, redefining Ch as Ç, Ll as Ļ, Oe as Ø and X as Ș.

Capital letters

A

B

C

Ç

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

Ļ

M

N

Ñ

O

Ø

P

R

S

Ș

T

U

V

Y

Z

Lower case letters

a

b

c

ç

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

ļ

m

n

ñ

o

ø

p

r

s

ș

t

u

v

y

z

In 1811, Jean-Raymond Palices, a French-Kalșerian priest in Henriville, introduced an updated version of the 1698 alphabet, scrapping the letters Ñ, Ø, Y and Z. His ortographic reform saw moderate success, especially in northern Kalșeri, but it was not officially adopted by the Kalhan Raladure. The modern Kalhan alphabet, introduced in 1941, acknowledged Palices's changes and discarded the letters C, Ç, Ļ, Ñ, Ø, Y and Z, as they were deemed phonetically redundant. The modern Kalhan alphabet is thus twenty-one letters long:

Capital letters

A

B

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

Ș

T

U

V

Lower case letters

a

b

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

o

p

r

s

ș

t

u

v

Words containing the scrapped letters were rewritten according to their pronunciation:

1698 spelling	Middle Kalhan pronunciation	Modern pronunciation	1941 respelling
cem ("sorry", "excuse me")	[tʃɛm]	[ʃɛm]	șem
eçan ("three")	[ˈeçɐn]	[ˈeʃɐn]	eșan
ļa ("night", "nighttime")	[ʎa]	[lja]	lia
aña ("other", "another")	[ˈaɲɐ]	[ˈanjɐ]	ania
øve ("near, around")	[ˈøvə]	[ˈovə]	ove
ølor ("first")	[ˈølɔr]	[ˈoilɔr]	oilor
kym ("time", "when")	[kʉm]	[kim]	kim
teza ("to hope", "to wish")	[ˈtezɐ]		tesa

Pronunciation

Letter	Name	IPA	Notes
A   a	a	/a ~ ɐ/
B   b	be	/b/
C   c	ce	/tʃ ~ ʃ/	Abolished in 1941, rewritten as Ș. Now a "foreign" letter.
Ç   ç	çe franston ce ("French C")	/ç ~ ʃ/	Ch until 1698. Abolished in 1941, rewritten as Ș.
D   D	de	/d/
Dj   dj	dja	/dʒ/	Diphthong.
E   e	e	/e ~ ə ~ ɛ/
F   f	ef	/f ~ ɸ/
G   g	ga	/g ~ ɣ/
H   h	ha	/x ~ h ~ ∅/
I   i	i	/i ~ ɪ ~ j/
J   j	je	/ʒ/
K   k	ka	/k/
L   l	el	/l ~ ɫ/
Ļ   ļ	ļa	/ʎ ~ lj ~ j/	Abolished in 1941, rewritten as li or i.
M   m	em	/m/
N   n	en	/n/
Ñ   ñ	ña	/ɲ ~ nj/	Abolished in 1941, rewritten as ni.
O   o	o	/o ~ ɔ/
Ø   ø	lanni o ("O with line")	/ø ~ œ ~ o/	Oe until 1698. Abolished in 1941, rewritten as O or Oi.
P   p	pe	/p/
Q   q	kua Spanton ka ("Spanish K")	/kw/	"Foreign" letter.
R   r	er	/r ~ ɾ/
S   s	es	/s/, /z/ between vowels
Ș   ș	șa	/ʃ/	X until 1698.
T   t	te	/t/
Ts   ts	–	/s/	Diphthong, employed to force /s/ between vowels, e.g. Teknetsium /təkˈnesjʊm/.
Tș   tș	tșa	/tʃ/	Diphthong.
U   u	u	/u ~ ʊ ~ w/
V   v	ve	/v ~ β ~ w ~ ∅/
W   w	simlor ve Almanton ve ("German V")	/w ~ v/	"Foreign" letter.
X   x	eks	/ks ~ gz ~ ʃ/	Abolished in 1698.
Y   Y	élenton i ("Greek I")	/y ~ ʉ ~ i/	Abolished in 1941, rewritten as I. Now a "foreign" letter.
Z   Z	zeta	/z/	Abolished in 1941, rewritten as S. Now a "foreign" letter.

C, Q, W, X, Y and Z, while not part of the standard Kalhan alphabet, may appear in proper names and loanwords. The Raladure recommends using the letter X only when the letter Ș, or similar-looking character Ş, is unavailable.

Grammar

Kalhan is a fusional language similar to many Indo-European languages as well as an ergative language.

Verbs

Kalhan conjugation is affected by mood, person, tense and number.

Up to Middle Kalhan, verbs were indicated by the suffix -și, which was gradually eliminated in most verbs.

Kalhan has eleven inflections:

Mood	Ending	Example (ed, "to hide")	Example (ronși, "to wash")	Usage
Present	∅	eden ("I hide/I am hiding")	ronen ("I wash/I am washing")	Events happening in the present Habitual actions Current states of being and conditions
Past	-na	édenan ("I hid/have hidden/have been hiding")	ronnan ("I washed/have washed/have been washing")	Actions or events started in the past that may or may not influence the present
Future	-rki	éderkin ("I will hide")	rorkin ("I will wash")	Planned or unplanned future events
Reflexive	-(e)șo	edeșon ("I hide myself/I am hiding myself")	ronșon ("I wash myself/I am getting washed")	Subject performs the action to itself
Potential	-ve	edeven ("I might hide")	ronven ("I might wash")	Actions that have a chance of happening Events that are dependent upon another event occurring Politely asking for something
Dynamic	-hi	edehin ("I can/may hide")	ronhin ("I can/may wash")	Subject is able or allowed perform the action specified by the verb
Deontic	-șa/-ra	edeșan ("I need to/have to/must hide")	ronșan ("I need to/have to/must wash")	Subject is obliged to perform the action specified by the verb
Volitive	-do	edon ("I want to hide")	rondon ("I want to wash")	Subject wishes to perform the action specified by the verb
Conditional	-ba	édeban ("I would hide")	ronban ("I would wash")
Imperative	-ș- + personal pronoun	édeșki! ("Hide!")	ronșki! ("Wash!")	Giving commands
Passive	-ien	édienen ("I am hidden")	ronienen ("I am washed")	Subject is the destination of an action

Until 1941, verbs in Kalhan had to finish with one of the six persons:

Person	Ending
First singular	-(e)n
Second singular	-(e)s
Third singular	-(e)d
First plural	-(e)tan
Second plural	-(e)tas
Third plural	-(e)rd

Following the language reform, the personal suffixes were no longer mandatory, thus validating the use of the personal suffixes alone, personal suffixes with pronouns and pronouns alone, i.e. Naksin ginago, Ho naksin ginago and Ho naksi ginago ("I go to the store") are all equally valid.

Nouns

Like verbs, most nouns in Kalhan have no clear affix denoting their syntactic property. However, some nouns use a system of suffixes denoting their semantic properties:

• -(a)rdo for nouns related to feelings;
• -(a)rfa for nouns related to nature and natural events;
• -(a)rso for nouns related to time;
• -re for tools and actions;
• -gi for types of people (such as ethnicities and jobs);
• -hal for places.

Cases

Kalhan has eleven cases, often separated in two groups: syntactic and spatiotemporal. Case endings are attached to the main word in three ways:

• if the last letter of a main word is a vowel (except for [ə]), the suffix is simply attached to the main word, with the first letter of the suffix being a consonant;
• if the last letter of a main word is a consonant, the suffix is simply attached to the main word, with the first letter of the suffix being either a vowel or a consonant, depending on the case, and the main word may be changed to better fit the suffix;
• if the last letter of a main word is an unstressed e and the first letter of a suffix is a vowel or a liquid consonant, the last letter is dropped and the full suffix is attached to the main word.

Case	Ending	Example (șorna, "table")	Example (lem, "end")	Example (terre, "accession")	Notes
Nominative	∅	șorna ("table")	lem ("end")	terre ("accession")	Up to Middle Kalhan, the nominative case functioned as the intransitive case.
Genitive	-si	șórnasi ("belonging to the table")	lensi ("of the end")	térresi ("of the accession")
Dative	-u	șornau ("to the table")	lemu ("to the end")	terru ("to the accession")
Accusative	-ta	șornata ("the table [patient of a transitive verb]")	lenta ("the end")	térreta ("the accession")	Also denotes the agent in passive sentences.
Comitative	-ni	șornani ("[along] with the table")	lenni ("with the end")	térreni ("with the accession")
Instrumental	-ku	șornaku ("using the table")	lenku ("using the end")	térreku ("using the accession")
Oblique	-(a)lko	șornalko ("concerning the table")	lemalko ("concerning the end")	térralko ("concerning the accession")
Inessive	-(i)e	șornaie ("in/inside/at the table")	lemie ("in the end")	terrie ("in the accession")	Also functions as a temporal case. If the noun is plural, the suffix is -ke.
Ablative	-fi	șornafi ("[motion] from/by/out of the table")	lenfi ("[motion] from the end")	térrefi ("[motion] from the accession")	The ablative case also functions as an initiative case.
Allative	-go/-io	șornago ("[motion] to/into the table")	lemio ("[motion] to the end")	térrio ("[motion] to the accession")	The allative case also functions as a terminative case.
Perlative	-(a)ha	șornaha ("through the table")	lenha ("through the end")	térraha ("through the accession")	The perlative case also expresses duration in time.

There are eleven more cases that are no longer used in everyday speech:

Case	Ending	Example (șorna, "table")	Example (lem, "end")	Example (terre, "accession")	Notes
Intransitive	∅	șorna ("table")	lem ("end")	terre ("accession")	Became the nominative case in spoken language by Middle Kalhan; the change was acknowledged in 1941.
Ergative	-le	șornale ("the table [agent of a transitive verb]")	lemle ("the end")	terrele ("the accession")	Fell out of use by Middle Kalhan and abolished in 1941; only appears in ancient texts and sayings.
Semblative	-(e)niu	șornaniu ("[something that seems/acts] like a table, table-like")	lenniu ("end-like")	terreniu ("accession-like")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition genu.
Causative	-ksa	șornaksa ("[action done] because of/thanks to/by the table")	lenksa ("by the end")	terreksa ("by the accession")
Intrative	-(e)kia	șornakia ("between the table")	lenkia ("between the end")	terrekia ("between the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition kiha.
Distantitive	-(a)rka	șornarka ("far from the table")	lemmarka ("far from the end")	terrarka ("far from the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition arka.
Adessive	-(o)ve	șornave ("near/by/around the table")	lenve ("between the end")	terrove ("between the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition ove.
Subessive	-(o)nta	șornanta ("under/below the table")	lenta ("under the end")	terronta ("under the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition onta.
Superessive	-(a)lme	șornalme ("on top of/above/over the table")	lemalme ("over the end")	terralme ("over the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition lume.
Antessive	-(a)llu	șornallu ("before/in front of/against the table")	lemallu ("in front of the end")	terrallu ("in front of the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition ol.
Postessive	-(e)lto	șornalto ("after/behind the table")	lemelto ("behind the end")	terrelto ("behind the accession")	Replaced by the self-standing preposition el.
"Circumessive"	-(e)rtu	șornartu ("around the table")	lemertu ("around the end")	terrertu ("around the accession")	Tentative name. Replaced by the self-standing preposition ertu.

Pronouns

Personal

Kalhan has nine personal pronouns:

• ho (I)
• ki (singular you)
• uan (he)
• ian (she)
• uaș (it, for objects)
• ein (singular they, for living beings whose sex is unknown)
• șer (we)
• kinn (plural you)
• eineș (plural they)

Personal pronouns are inflected in the same way as nouns.

Punctuation

Standard punctuation was first codified in 1941. Much of the punctuation of Kalhan and its usage may also be found in other languages; three items, however, are considered uncommon outside of Kalhan, either due to their graphical appearance or due to their usage: ¿, ¡ and ⋮.

Name	Glyph	Usage	Example
Apostrophe (apóstrofo or furfie șaná, "full stop in the air")	'	Denoting a contraption. It is also sometimes used to separate a proper noun from a declension.	Ian vúina kronta Ioen'u ("She gave the book to John")
Colon (sim șanaia, "two full stops")	:	Enumeration and clarification of previous clauses	Skona sim ionia: Ron e Laura. ("There were two children: Ron and Laura.")
Comma (iușaná, "half point")	,	Setting boundaries between clauses and phrases	Șa, nenia e tașa ("Bread, apples and beer")
Dash (lan, "line")	-	Applying a prefix to a word for which there is no canonical compound word. It is also used to separate proper nouns and numbers from the declension, much like the apostrophe.	Kirkia sana(d) Churchill-ta 1952-e. ("Kirkia met Churchill in 1952.")
Ellipsis (eșan șanaia or omisis)	... ⋮	Marking omitted text and long pauses. The vertical variant ( ⋮ ) was used in older texts, and is still sometimes used as a graphical variant of "..."	Ternan... Șil kisi neharnia. ("I made it... Despite your directions.")
En dash (ralton lan, "long line")	–	Replacing a comma when the subsequent clause significantly shifts the primary focus of the preceding text. It is also used to denote where the English verb "to be" would normally be seen.	Serișan – plus tunien serinimi Kalșerie ("The domestic dog is the most common pet in Kalșeri.")
Exclamation mark (ja-șaná, "yes-point")	!	Marking a genuine exclamation.	Votér hotelie, ligi! ("Welcome to the Hotel, Sir!")
Full stop (șaná)	.	Used at the end of affirmative sentences	Mark ron uans auto. ("Mark is washing his car.")
Interrobang (ja-ne-șaná, "yes-what-point")	‽	Marking a sentence with disbelief, surprise or anger. Uncommon, but added to the Jaton Raumkron in 2006; the book recommends the usage of "?!" when the font does not support the interrobang.	Va? Ki édan' ieș‽ ("What? You ate all of it‽")
Inverted exclamationtion mark (sarkaston ja-șaná, "sarcastic yes-point")	¡	Marking a sarcastic exclamation	Lin ja kim narivú fo drid¡ ("I sure love when the computer doesn't work!", hinting that the speaker does not actually like dealing with a broken computer)
Inverted question mark (sarkaston ne-șaná, "sarcastic what-point")	¿	Marking a sarcastic or rhetorical question	Nehal skove uan¿ ("Where could he be?", hinting that the speaker already knows where the subject is)
Question mark (ne-șaná, "what-point")	?	Marking a genuine question. Sometimes separated by a space, especially in Relkaf.	Neu losis nad kisi onkrefi? ("Why is smoke coming out of your oven?")
Quotation marks (nușanaia, "speaking points")	‘...’, “...”, '...', "..."	Reporting a sentence said by someone	"Nehal șalia?", nuna María. ("Where are the keys?", said Mary.)
Semicolon (erinșaná, "combined point")	;	Separating independent but related clauses and separating items in a list when the items have commas	Sanan eșan gia: Ahmed, Ejiptufi; Bernard, henagi; e Ligi Smith, fergi. ("I met three people: Ahmed, from Egypt; Bernard, the chef; and Mr. Smith, the deaf.")
Slash (barra)	/	Indicating alternatives. It is usually read au ("or").	uans/ians ("his/her")