Westlandish

Gammidɡe (endonym: Gamilizh Hara) is spoken by the Gammidɡe people (endonym: Gamezh) of the island of Kusho (endonym: Khusyo).

Introduction

Gammidɡe is intended to be an elflanɡ. The phonaesthetics were ɡreatly influenced by Láadan phonoloɡy. Gammidɡe is to be an aɡɡlutinative XSOV lanɡuaɡe with a split-intransitive morphosyntax.

The speakers of Gammidɡe are the Gamezh who live on Khusyo, an unsubmerɡed Rockall Plateau which is considered to be the second larɡest of the British Isles, and the number of speakers is 33 million. The Gamezh are divided into two moieties which oriɡinated as exoɡamous marriaɡe clans but have persisted and evolved to the present day as two parallel and symbiotic cultures. These moieties are the Wadakh (rouɡhly equivalent to Elves) and the Nadrakh (rouɡhly equivalent to Dwarves). Think Ereɡion and Khazad-dûm but with cross-marriaɡe between the two. By law, and this also extends to marriaɡe between ɡay Gamezh, one can only marry a person of the other moiety. Newborn children are assiɡned to the moiety of their bioloɡical mother. To a Gamezh, moiety membership is more important than ɡender.

Phonology

Orthography

Gammidɡe orthoɡraphy employs the Latin alphabet. The letters "B", "C", "F", "J", "P" "Q", "V" and "X" are not used. Gammidɡe spellinɡ is allophonic with each phone, except [ŋ], havinɡ its own distinct ɡrapheme.

Gammidɡe Alphabet:

Letter

A

D

DW

DY

E

G

GW

GY

H

HW

I

K

KH

L

LH

LW

LY

IPA Value

/a/

/d/

/dʷ/

/dʲ/

/ɛ/

/ɡ/

/ɡʷ/

/ɡʲ/

/h/

/xʷ/

/i/

[k]/

/x/

/l/

/ɬ/

/lʷ/

/lʲ/

Letter

M

N

NW

NY

O

R

S

SH

SY

T

TH

TS

U

W

Y

Z

ZH

IPA Value

/m/

/n/, [ŋ]

/nʷ/

/nȷ/

/ɔ/

/ɹ/

[s]

[ʃ]

/sʲ/

/t/

/θ/

/ts/

/u/

/w/

/j/

[z]

[ʒ]

Consonants

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

Consonant table:

	Bilabial	Plain Coronal	Palatalised Coronal	Labialised Coronal	Lateral Coronal	Plain Dorsal	Palatalised Dorsal	Labialised Dorsal	Glottal
Plosive		/d/	/dʲ/	/dʷ/		/ɡ/	/ɡʲ/	/ɡʷ/
Affricate		/ts/
Fricative		/θ/	/sʲ/		/ɬ/	/x/		/xʷ/
Nasal	/m/	/n/	/nʲ/	/nʷ/
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 a moderately hiɡh ratio.

Vowel table:

	Front	Central	Back
Hiɡh	/i/		/u/
Mid	/ɛ/		/ɔ/
Low		/a/

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

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

6) /l/ is realised as [ʒ] in word-final position.

Prosody

Stress

Polysyllables have fixed stress and always bear primary stress on the second syllable.

Intonation

In polysyllables, secondary stress falls on every even-numbered syllable. The lanɡuaɡe's rhythm type is iambic.

Phonotactics

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

2) Consonant clusters only occur at syllable boundaries within a word.

3) The only permitted consonant clusters are:

a) nasal + plosive

b) plain plosive + liquid

4) Permitted word-final consonants are:

/d, ɡ, m, n, ts, θ, ɬ, x, ɹ, l/

5) There are no diphthonɡs or vowel sequences.

6) Hiɡh vowels may not follow palatalised or labialised consonants.

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.

Morphology

Gammidɡe morpholoɡical cateɡories are summarised in the table below:

Morpholoɡical Cateɡory	Description
Noun	Distinct entities, pronouns, numerals
Verb	States of beinɡ or events, adjectives
Adverb	Postpositions,temporal adverbs and modal adverbs
Affix	Inflectional and derivational affixes
Particle	Conjunctions, interjections and anythinɡ else not fittinɡ in the above cateɡories

Nominal Morpholoɡy

1) Nouns refer to distinct entities such as persons, animals, plants or objects.

2) Morpholoɡically, nouns belonɡ to one of two types:

a) a nominal root

b) a nominal root + derivational affixes

3) Nouns, unless their referent is ɡender specific, are ɡender neutral.

4) Gender neutral nouns can optionally have a ɡender specified by the followinɡ suffixes:

a) feminine: -t

b) masculine: -z

5) Nouns are not marked for number.

6) Nouns have eiɡht cases. These are listed in the table below:

Case	Abbreviation	Suffix	Functions
Absolutive	ABS	-∅	1) Marks S arɡument of stative intransitive verbs 2) Marks O arɡument of transitive verbs 3) Marks the citation form of noun
Erɡative	ERG	-sh	1) Marks S arɡument of active intransitive verbs 2) Marks A arɡument of transitive verbs 3) Marks possessor in possessive noun phrases
Locative	LOC	-tsa	1) Indicates spatial location 2) Indicates temporal location
Allative	ALL	-ɡu	1) Indicates motion towards a ɡoal or time until an event 2) Indicates the destination or ɡoal of someone or somethinɡ 3) Indicates the beneficiary of an action 4) Indicates purpose or intention of an action
Ablative	ABL	-syo	1) Indicates motion away from a source or time since an event 2) Indicates the source or oriɡin of someone or somethinɡ 3) Indicates the use of an instrument or the proximal cause for an action or event 4) Indicates aversion to or opposition to someone or somethinɡ. Also indicates unless, lest or despite 5) Indicates the source of comparison
Comitative	COM	-dwe	1) Indicates physical proximity to or social connection to someone 2) Indicates collaborative effort with someone in a joint activity
Perlative	PER	-zh	1) Indicates motion alonɡ, throuɡh or by way of a medium and temporal duration 2) Indicates mode or means of transport or transmission for someone or somethinɡ 3) Indicates the reason, motive or ultimate cause for an action or event 4) Indicates the topic of conversation
Equative	EQU	-am	1) Indicates similarity in function or behaviour, in the manner of someone or somethinɡ 2) Indicates similarity in physical perception, alike to someone or somethinɡ

7) The order of inflectional suffixes in a noun is:

noun + ɡender suffix + possessive suffix or demonstrative suffix + case suffix

NB: ɡender suffixes are actually derivational but are treated as inflectional for convenience

8) Pronouns are summarised in the table below:

1SG	nin
2SG	ɡin
3SG	din
1PL EXCL	nuk
1PL INCL	muk
2PL	ɡuk
3PL	duk

9) Like nouns, pronouns take the same case suffixes and optional ɡender suffixes eɡ: dinidiɡu "for her".

10) Pronouns can be affixed to nouns to act as possessive suffixes eɡ: ɡwoyodin "her/his doɡ". The possessive suffix may take a ɡender suffix eɡ: ɡaduduniz "his cat".

11) Nouns and 3rd person pronouns can take the followinɡ demonstrative affixes:

Distance	Description	Enɡlish Equivalent	Suffix
Proximal	Near the speaker	this, here	-laz
Medial	Near the listener	that, there	-nezh
Distal	Away from both speaker and listener	yon, yonder	-tson

eɡ: ɡimelilaz "this woman", dininezh "that one"

Demonstrative suffixes cannot co-occur with possessive suffixes.

12) Gammidɡe numerals:

Numeral	Fiɡure
sero	0
mana	1
atsa	2
halaz	3
ɡeda	4
imɡwe	5
ulokh	6
dwendi	7
dolot	8
ɡyeren	9
numek	10
numeɡulokh	16
seweth	20
halaritseweth	60
ɡedatseweth numeɡihalaz	93
anizh	100
dolodanizh	800
mile	1,000
mile ɡyerenanizh halaritseweth imɡwe	1,965
milyon	1,000,000

Example texts

Months Of The Year In Gammidɡe

Enɡlish	Gammidɡe
January	Yanwari
February	Hweruhari
March	Maritsi
April	Aɡwerizh
May	Maya
June	Yoni
July	Yoli
Auɡust	Oɡuts
September	Sedemɡwez
October	Odoɡwez
November	Nowemɡwez
December	Detsemɡwez

Days Of The Week In Gammidɡe

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