The creator of Leerish, Aryo Nazaradeh , asks of all not to alter this page in any way.

The Leerish language is still undergoing construction of its foundation. Some details may be inconsistent. Comments and concerns are welcome. Seriously though, if you edit this page without my permission, I will find you...

Progress 74% Stats Nouns 100% Verbs 83% Adjectives 70% Syntax 63% Words 130 of 1500

Leerish

Lheere Type Agglutinative Alignment Nominative-Accusative Head direction Final Tonal No Declensions Yes Conjugations Yes Genders Neutral Nouns decline according to... Case Number Definiteness Gender Verbs conjugate according to... Voice Mood Person Number Tense Aspect





Leerish (natively lheere [ˈɬəɦəɾə]) is an experimental language, created in 2015 by Aryo Nazaradeh, based on the idea of having only one vowel. The language was first introduced in its proto stage by Nazaradeh on /r/conlangs under the username /u/the-postminimalist, on June 4th, 2015.

Leerish is an SOV, head-final language with the use of postpositions. Its vocabulary is heavily based on Iranian languages, such as Persian, Balochi, and Avestan. Other words are entirely artificial, like yee (IPA [ˈjəɦə]; English: to be).

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Phonology

Inventory

The Leerish language contains one vowel /ə/, and 28 consonants. Unlike the majority of languages, Leerish contains no nasal phonemes or allophones.

Proto-Leerish

The short-lived Proto-Leerish (natively lheeri [ˈɬəːɾə̤]) had a few differences, mainly in inventory. The vowel would appear as either oral e /ə/, with the addition of a long vowel ee /əː/ (which later became a two-syllable /əɦə/), a breathy vowel i /ə̤/, and a creaky vowel a /ə̰/. In the very early stages of Proto-Leerish, the vowel was a front central /e/ instead of the mid central vowel it is now. Consonant differences would include /v/ instead of the current /β/, as well as the lack of /b/, /p͡ɸ/, /b͡β/, /d͡z/, /ɡ͡ʟ̝/, /ɮ/, /ʝ/, /ʁ/, and /ɦ/. These letters were added to compensate for the loss of the breathy and creaky vowels, as well as to make the consonantal inventory more natural and less random.

Consonants

Bilabial Alveolar Palatal Velar Uvular Glottal Central Lateral Central Lateral Plosive p b t d k ɡ ʔ Affricate p͡ɸ b͡β t͡s d͡z k͡ʟ̝̊ ɡ͡ʟ̝ Fricative ɸ β s z ɬ ɮ ç ʝ χ ʁ h ɦ Flap ɾ Approximant l j

Chart

Leerish can be written in one of two possible scripts: the Latin script, and the Leerish script. The Latin variant includes 17 letters and 11 multigraphs, each representing one unique phoneme. The Leerish script includes 14 letters, most of which can be "squished" together to act like multigraphs.

Letters Latin script Name (Latin script) Leerish script Name (Leerish script) IPA Example, meaning Ee e [ə] pfekht [p͡ɸʰəχtʰ] /ə/ eder [ˈədəːɾ] "fire" Bb be [bə] bet [bətʰ] /b/ beele [ˈbəɦələ] "up" Cc ces [çəs] helcyep [ˈhəlçəpʰ] /ç/ ceb [çəb] "night" Dd de [də] del [dəl] /d/ der [dəːɾ] "door" Ff fes [ɸəs] helfyet [ˈhəlɸjətʰ] /ɸ/ ferde [ˈɸəːɾdə] "tomorrow" Gg ge [ɡə] gep [ɡəpʰ] /ɡ/ gel [ɡəl] "flower" Hh he [hə] hel [həl] /h/ hevel [ˈhəβəl] "air" Jj je [ʝə] jep [ʝəpʰ] /ʝ/ jeyee [ʝəˈjəɦə] "to live" Kk kes [kʰəs] helkep [ˈhəlkʰəpʰ] /k/ keree [kʰəˈɾəɦə] "to do" Ll le [lə] lep [ləpʰ] /l/ lebes [ˈləbəs] "clothing" Pp pe [pʰəs] helpet [ˈhəlpʰətʰ] /p/ peeye [ˈpʰəɦəjə] "down" Rr re [rə] repʰ [rəpʰ] /ɾ/ rez [rəz] "day" Ss ses [səs] helsyel [ˈhəlsjəl] /s/ sel [səl] "year" Tt tes [tʰəs] heltel [ˈhəltʰəl] /t/ teg [tʰəɡ] "blood" Vv ve [βə] vyet [βjətʰ] /β/ vet [βətʰ] "wind" Yy ye [jə] yep [jəpʰ] /j/ yed [jəd] "memory" Zz ze [zə] zyel [zjəl] /z/ zeye [ˈzəjə] "yesterday" Multigraphs Latin script Name (Latin script) Leerish script Name (Leerish script) IPA Example, meaning Pf pf pes fes [pʰəs ɸəs] helpetefyet [ˈhəlpʰətʰəɸjətʰ] /p͡ɸ/ pfekhte [ˈp͡ɸʰəχtʰə] "open" Bv bv be ve [bə βə] [ˈbətʰəβjətʰ] /b͡β/ bverez [ˈb͡βəːɾez] "tall/long" Ts ts tes ses [tʰəs səs] heltelesyel [ˈhəltʰələsjəl] /t͡s/ tseze [ˈt͡sʰəzə] "recent" Dz dz de ze [də zə] delezyel [ˈdələzjəl] /d͡z/ dzel [d͡zəl] "bread" Lh lh le he [lə hə] hellhek [ˈhəlɬəkʰ] /ɬ/ lhetfe [ˈɬətɸə] "please" Jh jh je he [ʝə hə] jhek [ɮəkʰ] /ɮ/ jhelek [ˈɮələkʰ] "female" Klh klh kes le he [kʰəs lə hə] helkepelhek [ˈhəlkʰəpʰəɬəkʰ] /k͡ʟ̝̊/ klhedze [ˈk͡ʟ̝̊ʰəd͡zə] "where" Gjh gjh ge je he [ɡə ʝə hə] gepejhek [ˈgəpʰəɮəkʰ] /ɡ͡ʟ̝/ gjheze [ˈɡ͡ʟ̝əzə] "food" Kh kh kes he [kʰəs hə] helkher [ˈhəlχəːɾ] /χ/ kheyeg [ˈχəjəɡ] "egg" Rh rh re he [rə hə] rher [ʁəːɾ] /ʁ/ rher [ʁəːɾ] "cave" Hh hh1 he he [hə hə] khert [χəːɾ̥tʰ] /ʔ/ preehher [ˈpr̥əɦəʔəːɾ] "parent"

<Hh hh>1 never appears at the beginning of a word.

Allophonic variants

The vowel /ə/ elongates before the alveolar flap and the voiced uvular fricative /ɾ, ʁ/ when either-or occures in the syllable coda.

The alveolar flap /ɾ/ becomes a trill [r] when it occures at the beginning of a word (more specifically when preceded by a pause / no other words), or as the second consonant of a syllable onset.

The alveolar flap /ɾ/ devoices before voiceless consonants.

The liquids /ɾ, l/ devoice when it occures directly after a voiceless consonant in the same syllable.

The voiceless obstruents /p, t, k, p͡ɸ, t͡s, k͡ʟ̝̊/ become aspirated before vowels as well as word-finally, though aspiration is not contrastive.

Phonotactics

(C)(C)V(s)(C)(C), where (s) represents the optional sonorant consonant (/l/, /ɾ/, or /j/). The one to two consonants may follow the vowel whether or not the optional sonorant consonant is present.

Grammar

Under construction, please take the detour to your right.

Writing systems

Latin script

Standard Latin script

Diacritical Latin script

For a balance between practicality and artistic purposes, while still keeping the capability of having the text typed out, Leerish may be written in the Latin script with macrons replacing <e> in the standard Latin script.

This script is as of yet a work in progress.