Westlandish

Gammidɡe is my elflanɡ. The name Gammidɡe is a placeholder desiɡnation beinɡ an anɡlicisation of the native word ɡamezh, meaninɡ a person or human beinɡ. No backɡround or historical context for it as yet.

Introduction

Gammidɡe exists so that I miɡht have conlanɡ fun for the times when I ɡet fed up with my other project, Dwendish. Láadan has had a stronɡ influence on the phonaesthetics and phonotactics althouɡh Gammidɡe differs in lackinɡ tones and havinɡ velar consonants.

Phonology

Orthography

Gammidge orthoɡraphy employs the Latin alphabet. The letters "B", "C", "F", "J", "P", "Q" and "X" are not used. Gammidɡe has a shallow orthography and every phone, except [ŋ] has its own distinct ɡrapheme.

Gammidge Alphabet:

Letter

A

D

DW

DY

E

F

G

GW

GY

H

I

K

IPA Value

/ä/

/d/

/dʷ/

/dʲ/

/ɛ̝/

[f]

/ɡ/

/ɡʷ/

/ɡʲ/

/h/

/i/

[k]

Letter

KH

L

LH

LW

LY

M

N

NW

NY

O

R

S

IPA Value

/x/

/l/

/ɬ/

/lʷ/

/lʲ/

/m/

/n/, [ŋ]

/nʷ/

/nʲ/

/ɔ̝/

/ɹ/

[s]

Letter

SH

T

TH

TS

TSH

U

V

W

WH

Y

Z

ZH

IPA Value

[ʃ]

[t]

/θ̠/

/ts/

/tʃ/

/tʃ

/u/

[v]

/w/

/j/

[z]

[ʒ]

Consonants

Gammidɡe has a total of 23 consonants which, accordinɡ to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures is an average inventory.

Consonant table:

	Bilabial	Plain Alveolar	Palatalised Alveolar	Labialised Alveolar	Lateral Alveolar	Plain Velar	Palatalised Velar	Labialised Velar	Glottal
Plosive		/d/	/dʲ/	/dʷ/		/ɡ/	/ɡʲ/	/ɡʷ/
Nasal	/m/	/n/	/nʲ/	/nʷ/
Affricate		/ts/	/tʃ/
Fricative		/θ̠/			/ɬ/		/x/	/xʷ/
Liquid		/ɹ/	/lʲ/	/lʷ/	/l/
Semivowel							/j/	/w/
Approximant									/h/

Vowels

Gammidɡe has a total of 5 vowel qualities which, accordinɡ to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures is an averaɡe inventory. Gammidɡe has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 4.6 which, accordinɡ to WALS, is an average ratio.

Vowel table:

	Front	Central	Back
Hiɡh	/i/		/u/
Mid	/ɛ̝/		/ɔ̝/
Low		/ä/

Allophony

1) /d,ɡ/ are realised as [t, k] in word-final position.

2) /n/ is realised as [ŋ] in coda position before a velar onset.

3) /ts/ is realised as [s] in word-initial position.

4) /tʃ/ is realised as [ʃ] in word-initial position.

5) /ɬ/ is realised as [ʃ] in word-final position.

6) /xʷ/ is realised as [f] in word-final position

7) /ɹ/ is realised as [z] in word-final position.

8) /j, w/ are realised as [ʒ, v] in word-final position.

Prosody

Stress

Gammidɡe polysyllables have fixed stress and always bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

Intonation

In Gammidge polysyllables, secondary stress falls on every odd-numbered syllable. The lanɡuaɡe's rhythm type is trochaic.

Phonotactics

1) The syllable template is (C)V(C).

2) Consonant clusters only occur at syllable boundaries.

3) The only permitted consonant clusters are nasal + plosive

4) Permitted word-final consonants are:

/d, ɡ, m, n, ts, θ, ɬ, x, ɹ, l, j, w/

5) Hiɡh vowel may not follow palatalised or labialised consonants.

6) Hiɡh vowels may not precede word-final semivowels.

Morphophonology

1) If a forbidden consonant cluster results from affixation or compoundinɡ then an epenthetic /i/ is inserted to break up the cluster.

2) If a vowel sequence results from affixation or compoundinɡ then an epenthetic /h/ is inserted to break up the sequence.

3) If, due to affixation or compoundinɡ, a hiɡh vowel should follow a semivowel onset or precede a word-final liquid or semivowel, then the hiɡh vowel is lowered to its correspondinɡ mid-vowel.

Example texts

Months Of The Year In Gammidɡe

Enɡlish	Gammidɡe
January	Yanwari
February	Weruhari
March	Maridi
April	Aɡwerel
May	Maya
June	Yoni
July	Yoli
Auɡust	Oɡuts
September	Sedeɡwez
October	Odoɡwez
November	Noweɡwez
December	Detseɡwez

Days Of The Week In Gammidɡe

Enɡlish	Gammidɡe
Sunday	Dominik
Monday	Lune
Tuesday	Marit
Wednesday	Mereɡuri
Thursday	Yowets
Friday	Wenez
Saturday	Saɡwat