Chealain (Extinct)

Natively known as: Cheǎlǎn /ʧeˈɑlɑn/

Chealain, or now more commonly referred to as Ancient Chealain, this was used in Cheala before the empire collapsed. The language is now considered a dead language and it is not an official language of any nation, though it is still frequently used in academia as well as methods for passing secret information. Despite its status as a dead language, its influence and occasional use can be found across the continent, though most heavily focused in Bakianna, Camantha, Evevon, Galanese, Innarea, Phamos, Tajarat, and Teluque. In relation to other languages, it is succeeded by the following: Attano and Common. While its sibling language, Gylane, continues to be used to this day in several locations throughout the continent. Finally, Shesaen has been shown to have some connection to both Ancient Chealain and Gylane, though scholars remain uncertain about this old script.

…and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

…ǎ weǐg waǐb sudhyǔj weǐg dhivgav ǎ vǎsh weǐg fǔb karlu reǐzh dhezh 

Pronunciation: /ɑ weɪg waɪb ˈsuðjʌʤ weɪg ˈðivgæv ɑ vɑʃ weɪg fʌb ˈkæɹlu ɹeɪʒ ðɛʒ/ 

Chealain word order: and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind

Dictionary – Coming Soon

Phonology and Spelling

Consonant inventory: /b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʒ ʤ ʧ θ/

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			t d			k g
Affricate					ʧ ʤ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ ʒ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labio-velar
Approximant	w

Vowel inventory: /aɪ aʊ eɪ i u æ ɑ ɔɪ ɛ ɪ ʊ ʌ/ 

Diphthongs: aɪ, aʊ, eɪ, ɔɪ ?

	Front	Back
High	i	u
Near-high	ɪ	ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ʌ
Near-low	æ
Low		ɑ

Syllable structure: (C)V(C) ? 

Stress pattern: Penultimate — stress is on the second last syllable ? 

Word initial consonants: d, f, g, h, j, k, l, n, p, s, v, w, ð, ɹ, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ, θ 

Mid-word consonants: b, bj, bn, bs, bɹ, bʃ, d, df, dj, dm, dn, dw, dʒ, dʤ, f, fd, fg, fh, fj, fn, ft, fw, fɹ, g, gh, gj, gm, gv, gɹ, gʃ, gʒ, h, hb, hj, hl, ht, hw, j, jb, jd, jf, jj, jk, jl, jn, jt, jð, jʃ, k, kd, kf, kh, km, ks, kv, kz, kɹ, kʃ, kʧ, l, ld, lf, lg, lj, ll, ln, lp, lɹ, lʒ, lʧ, m, mf, mh, mj, mm, mn, mv, mw, mɹ, mʒ, mʤ, mʧ, mθ, n, nd, nj, nl, nn, np, ns, nv, nð, nɹ, nʒ, nʤ, p, pj, pl, pm, pv, pz, pʧ, s, sb, sd, sl, sp, ss, sv, sw, sz, sʧ, t, tf, tg, tk, tm, tn, ts, tt, tv, tʤ, tʧ, v, vb, vd, vg, vw, vɹ, w, wd, wk, wl, wm, ws, wt, wð, wʤ, z, zb, zg, zj, zk, zl, zm, zn, zp, ð, ðj, ŋ, ŋd, ŋj, ŋk, ŋp, ŋs, ŋt, ŋθ, ɹ, ɹd, ɹk, ɹl, ɹn, ɹs, ɹt, ɹw, ɹð, ɹʧ, ʃ, ʃj, ʃk, ʃp, ʃt, ʃʧ, ʒ, ʒb, ʒj, ʒn, ʤ, ʤm, ʤt, ʧ, ʧf, ʧg, ʧk, ʧm, θ, θd, θh, θɹ 

Word final consonants: b, d, f, g, k, l, m, n, p, s, t, v, z, ð, ŋ, ɹ, ʃ, ʒ, ʤ, ʧ, θ 

Phonological changes (in order of application): ? 

• s → h / V_V
• m → w / B_#
• S → Ø / #_F
• θ → s / _k
• w → Ø / i_#
• l → h / _k

Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
aɪ	ie
aʊ	ou
eɪ	ay
j	y
æ	a
ð	dh
ŋ	ng
ɑ	ǎ
ɔɪ	oi
ɛ	e
ɪ	ǐ
ɹ	r
ʃ	sh
ʊ	o
ʌ	ǔ
ʒ	zh
ʤ	j
ʧ	ch
θ	th

Grammar

Main word order: Subject-Verb-Object-Oblique. “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key. 

Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned before the noun. 

Adposition: prepositions ? 

Nouns

	Masculine	Feminine
Singular	No affix  lu /lu/ man	No affix  shǐm /ʃɪm/ woman
Plural	If ends with vowel: Suffix -kʧæ Else: Suffix -eɪkʧæ  lukcha /ˈlukʧæ/ men	Suffix -ʌ  shǐmǔ /ˈʃɪmʌ/ women

Articles

 Chealain has no definite article ‘the’, or indefinite article ‘a’. 

Pronouns

1st singular	zhɔǐ /ʒɔɪ/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	shi /ʃi/ you, yours
3rd singular masc	weǐg /weɪg/ he, him, his
3rd singular fem	heǐ /heɪ/ she, her, hers
1st plural	lǐth /lɪθ/ we, us, ours
2nd plural	rof /ɹʊf/ you (all), yours
3rd plural masc	gǎ /gɑ/ they, them, theirs
3rd plural fem	dhe /ðɛ/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

1st singular	zhɔǐ /ʒɔɪ/ my
2nd singular	shi /ʃi/ your
3rd singular masc	weǐg /weɪg/ his
3rd singular fem	heǐ /heɪ/ her
1st plural	lǐth /lɪθ/ our
2nd plural	shi /ʃi/ your
3rd plural masc	gǎ /gɑ/ their
3rd plural fem	gǎ /gɑ/ their

Verbs

Present	No affix  chaǐs /ʧaɪs/ study
Past	If ends with vowel: Suffix -s Else: Suffix -us  chaǐsus /ˈʧaɪsus/ studied
Future	Suffix -aʊb  chaǐsaob /ˈʧaɪsaʊb/ will study

Perfect aspect

The 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. Chealain uses the word for ‘finish’ emwǎ for the perfect aspect. 

Numbers

 Chealain has a base-10 number system: 

• 1 – daǐ 
• 2 – shǐ 
• 3 – ke 
• 4 – vǎm 
• 5 – dɔǐ 
• 6 – iwsaǐbreǐd 
• 7 – nǎ 
• 8 – ye 
• 9 – nǎs 
• 10 – wɔǐng 
• 11 – wɔǐngdaǐ “ten-one” 
• 100 – thusha “hundred” 
• 101 – thusha ǎ daǐ “hundred and one” 
• 200 – shǐ thusha 
• 1000 – rǔk “thousand”

Morphology

Derivational morphology

• Adjective → adverb = Prefix ɹeɪ- 
• Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix æ- 
• Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix waʊ- 
• Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = Prefix ʧʊ- 
• Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
  • Else: Prefix hʌ- 
• Noun → verb (to create [noun]) =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix h-
  • Else: Prefix hʌ- 
• Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix θɪ- 
• Verb → adjective (likely to do [verb]) = Prefix aɪ- 
• Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix w-
  • Else: Prefix waɪ- 
• Verb → noun that verb physically produces (e.g. build → building) =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix ʧ-
  • Else: Prefix ʧeɪ- 
• One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix ɪð-
  • Else: Prefix ɪðɛ- 
• Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix jɑ- 
• Diminutive =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix ɛtg-
  • Else: Prefix ɛtgɔɪ- 
• Augmentative =
  • If starts with vowel: Prefix ɑdʒ-
  • Else: Prefix ɑdʒu-