A conlang is announced

(Blare of trumpets, trombones, and a sheep barking frantically in the
background) I have decided to release some preliminary information on my
conlang efforts.

My current effort is called Lakhavala - "free language", the language of the
Lakhabrech - "Free Blood" of Alpha Centauri Alpha.  The Lakhabrech are
genetically mutated humans abducted several tens of thousands of years ago by
aliens - hey, you gotta have a laugh somewhere along the line - to help
restock a seriously ecologically wasted planet.  They are a matriarchy,
having been remodeled after crocuta crocuta - the spotted hyena - as in that
song,
"I met crocuta, way across the sea,
"I met crocuta, way across the sea,
"she didn't write me no letters,
"she didn't care for me."

Phonology
Its phonology is basic: includes some interesting sounds like the aspirated
voiced bilabial represented as |vh|; the voiced uvular trill represented by
|rr|; the aspirated semivowel represented by |yh|; and various voiced and
unvoiced sounds.  At the moment I have no system to it, but they use the
sounds I find interesting.

I am using the doubled vowel to indicate length, though that is going to be
troubling if the Lakhabrech suddenly decide to lengthen their |i|, |e|, and
|o|.

Grammar
The grammar is simple, being essentailly agglutinating, though often
isolating, particularly when it comes to describing/declaring emotions,
potentialities, possibilities, etc;
eg:  naayeri maazhi Yerini yhe berine - I may just spare Yerini the woman.
      I spare   maybe  Y"     the  woman.
The speaker has just had a dispute with Yerini - Yeri - to spare, forgive;
-ni, aorist passive ending.

A verb is always prefixed by its pronominal subject.  A noun always by its
possessive pronominal subject.

Relationships between nominals are indicated by either particles preposed or
occasionally postposed, or in the case of very close relationship - what we
use "of" for in English - the simple juxtaposition of the two, eg :
Khavh-Praleyo - Praleyo's Prey.

Negatives are prefixed directly to the words they qualify.

And here's the piece de resistance, a list of phrases I made up to develop
the species' character:

Nyaberiti, ya ratwa ya nipia - "A man is both a summons and a challenge"
[for being] a man, which is a summons which is a challenge.

Syafta kha ya naivar teina karasenai - "Sweet are the waters you share with
your love."

E liyhita, ara naatai eyatnai teia itay taap-harenai  - "Now that I kneel at
the throne, O Queen"
O midwife, now I bend my knee before the ancestress's/sacred house.

yhei anitti wahai, feran yhei yanti - "For the young, love; for the old,
memories"

Nyaberi eifayakhauni, khavha eifataini; berine eiyakhauni mara inai yhei
pevhroti liyhita. - "An unmarried man is prey unclaimed; an unmarried woman
is a boil on the backside of the midwife."  (They suffer from a 2 female:1
male ratio mismatch of the sexes, and consequently the midwife/chieftainess
suffers from angry losers.)

Ayaara yhe gheivhe yempro tauinya yhe abiwa - "When the stars threw down
their spears"
When    the  stars      down    throw    the foreign sticks (Lakhabrech don't
much care for spears, not when their claws and teeth can do so much more
damamge.)

Narta iyhe, iyhe revo eiwarta - "For this is no ordinary sun"
for     this,   this  sun  not ordinary

Ya trau ya shawi ya brech - "It's claws, it's teeth, it's blood"  (Lakhabrech
death challenge over a man.)

(Yhei) Brechati, ya trau ya shawi - "[For being] blood, it's claws, it's
teeth"  (arbitrator's opinion from the sideline.)

Naaratwa ara yhe trau liyhita - "I summon the claw of the midwife" (appeal to
the midwife to break up a fight and impose suitable non-captial punishment on
the women concerned.)

Ima ya rakhzhaima yhe ranao - "We who eat the distance" (male response to
female pressure - males do the much of the trading, and they serve as caravan
guard for the inter-City trading carried out by the non-GE humans)

Well, bombs away.  Comment all you like.  And just remember, conlanging is
addictive.  I have a few others related to similar worlds that are bubbling
away.  the language of the Ineya Khara-Ansha, the People of the Sacred Hunt,
the Rakhebuitya - Fisheaters, the Erava and Tanala languages of Keraii-Sero
and Kero-Siritse, and there are a few others that I'd like to fiddle around
with as well.

Wesley Parish

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