View source for Kin-elleth (language)

The language of the [[Kin-elleth]] people, as well as the main lingua franca of the [[Endri-n&acirc;i Confederation]].

==Phonology==

Letters represent standard orthography when written in Latin characters. Where letters appear in pairs, the one on the right is voiced. 

===Consonants===
The Kin-elleth language uses between 19&ndash;21 consonants, with some having regional variants. Note that &lt;f> and &lt;v> are bilabial, not labiodental as in English. 

{| class="wikitable"
|+ <center>Consonants</center>
|-
!&nbsp;!!Bilabial!!Dental!!Alveolar!!Velar!!Uvular!!Glottal
|-
|'''Plosive'''||<center> p b </center>||&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;||<center> t d </center>||<center> k g </center>||<center> c&thinsp;<ref name="lcv">Less common variant.</ref></center>||<center> c&nbsp;&nbsp;</center>
|-
|'''Nasal'''||<center> m </center>||&nbsp;||<center> n </center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;
|-
|'''Trill'''||&nbsp;||colspan="2"|<center>r</center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;
|-
|'''Tap'''||&nbsp;||colspan="2"|<center>r</center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;
|-
|'''Fricative'''||<center> f v </center>||<center> th dh </center>||<center> s z </center>||<center> h&thinsp;<ref name="lcv" />&nbsp;</center>||<center> h&thinsp;<ref name="lcv" />&nbsp;</center>||<center> h&nbsp;&nbsp;</center>
|-
|'''Lateral Approximant'''||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||<center> l </center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;
|}

<references />

===Vowels===

The Kin-elleth languages uses from 12&ndash;14 vowel sounds. The chart below shows the common orthography when transcribed to the Latin alphabet. Vowels to the left of a {{!}} are unrounded; vowels to the right of a {{!}} are rounded. Note that a vowel letter may have different sounds, depending on context in a word or by regional variation. 

{| class="wikitable" 
|+ <center>Vowels</center>
|-
!&nbsp;!!Front!!Near-front!!Central!!Near-back!!Back
|-
|'''Close'''||<center> &icirc; &vert; </center>||&nbsp;||<center> &icirc;&thinsp;<ref name="lcv">Less common variant.</ref> &vert; </center>||&nbsp;||<center> &vert; u </center>
|-
|'''Near-close'''||&nbsp;||<center> i &vert; </center>||&nbsp;||<center> &ocirc; &vert; </center>||&nbsp;
|-
|'''Close-mid'''||<center> &ecirc; &vert; </center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||<center> &vert; o </center>
|-
|'''Mid'''||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||<center>e,&ucirc;,o</center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;
|-
|'''Open-mid'''||<center> e &vert; &ucirc; </center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||<center> &vert; &acirc; </center>
|-
|'''Open'''||<center> a &vert; </center>||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||&nbsp;||<center> &acirc; &vert; </center>
|}
<references />

====Diphthongs====
Common diphthongs are ai, ei, oi, ui, âi, êi&thinsp;<ref>Very uncommon; most commonly reduced to ei.</ref>, ôi, ûi.

<references />

===Vowel Reduction===
The main vowel in a Kin-elleth word will typically undergo vowel reduction when the word is inflected:
{| class="wikitable"|style="text-align:center"
|-
|'''Original'''||'''Reduced'''
|-
|a||ei
|-
|e/&ucirc;||&ecirc;
|-
|&ecirc;||&icirc;
|-
|i||&ucirc;
|-
|&icirc;||ie/e
|-
|u||&ocirc;i/&icirc;
|-
|&ocirc;||&ucirc;i
|-
|o||&ocirc;
|-
|&acirc;||oi

|}