Modern Ohóch

Ohóch (or Houchean) is the native language of the phoenix people. Ohóch forms its own isolated branch of the Islo-Chamic language family. Its modern form, Ohóch forms a continuum of several dialects, each with varying degrees of mutual intelligibility. Over two million people speak Ohóch as a primary language, but an additional five million use it as a secondary language, given the language's prestigious status as a religious and literary language.

Ohóch forms one of the earliest linguistic branches of Proto-Islo-Chamic. Geographic isolation and exposure to Tavanian languages have caused Ancient Ohóch to evolve very differently from other Islo-Chamic languages, including the development of tone, fusional morphology and extensive grammatical case. The prestige dialect of Modern Ohóch is Nqôhyjèzaḍ (or Aecheonic Houchean), the dialect of the capital city of the Fourth Ohóch Empire.

Phonology

Consonants

		Bilabial*	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasals		m	n	ɳ ⟨ṇ⟩	ɲ ⟨ñ⟩	ŋ	ɴ ⟨nq⟩
Stop	voiceless	p	t	ʈ ⟨ṭ⟩	c	k	q	ħ	ʔ ⟨h/v⟩
	voiced	b	d	ɖ ⟨ḍ⟩	ɟ ⟨j⟩	ɡ	ɢ ⟨gq⟩	ʕ
	prenasal	ᵐb ⟨mb⟩	ⁿd ⟨nd⟩	ᶯɖ ⟨ṇḍ⟩	ᶮɟ ⟨ṇj⟩	ᵑɡ ⟨ŋg⟩	ᶰɢ ⟨nqq⟩
Affricate	voiceless		t͡ʃ ⟨ć⟩
	voiced		d͡ʒ ⟨ź⟩
	prenasal		ⁿd͡ʒ ⟨nź⟩
Sibilants	voiceless		s	ʃ ~ ʂ ⟨ṣ⟩		x	χ ⟨ŕ⟩
Sibilants	voiced		z	ʒ ~ ʐ ⟨ẓ⟩		ɣ ⟨ğ⟩	(ʁ)
Liquids	approx.		ɹ ⟨r⟩	ɻ ⟨ṛ⟩	j ⟨y⟩	w
Liquids	laterals		l	ɭ ⟨ḷ⟩
Trill			r ⟨rr⟩				ʀ ⟨ř⟩
*As avians do not have lips (but beaks), bilabial consonants are not produced bilabially, but are articulated by the syrinx.

Vowels

	Front		Back
	Plain	Long	Plain	Long
High	i	ĩ	u	ũ
Mid	e	ẽ	o	õ
Low	a	ã	o	õ

Tones

Standard Ohóch has one of the largest tonal inventories (at 13) of any major world language in Cienga. Tones are also grammaticalised, playing an important role in inflectional morphology.

Category	Subcategory	IPA	Letter
Flat tones	Top	˥	â
	High	˦	á
	Neutral (Mid)	˧	a
	Low	˨	à
	Bottom	˩	ǎ
Rising tones	High rising	˧˥	áh
	Low rising	˩˧	ah
	Full rising	˩˥	âh
Falling tones	High falling	˥˦	àv
	Low falling	˧˩	av
	Full falling	˥˩	ǎv
Turbulent tones	High turbulent	˦˧˥	ãh
	Mid turbulent	˧˨˧	ã
	Low turbulent	˨˩˨	ãv

Grammar

Ohóch is a dependent-marking fusional language with a high degree of verb synthesis and noun cases. Ohóch has no dominant word order as relationships with arguments and predicates marked. In addition to the lexical, tone in is grammaticised and performs inflection functions on top of affixation. There are nine lexical categories in Ohóch grammar: nouns, adjectives, pronouns, verbs, postpositions, adverbs, conjunctions, determiners and interrogatives.

Ohóch is a nominative-accusative language. Verbs conjugate for voice, causation, tense, aspect, mood, gender, modality and aktionsart.

Nouns

Nouns decline for case, gender and number. Ohóch features an extensive case system, declining nouns for the nominative, accusative, genitive, possessive, dative, benefactive, instrumental, comitative, ornative, comparative and superlative case. All nouns fall into three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine and neuter. Likewise, nouns decline for singular, paucal (two to five), plural (greater than five), greater plural and collective. Nouns are assigned to various declension patterns based on phonotactical constraints, grammatically labelled as masculine, feminine and neuter. These three declension patterns are not divided based on biological sex, but are phonologically determined by whether the onset or coda of a given noun (in its undeclined form) begins with a vowel or consonant. For example, if both the onset and coda of a noun are consonants, it is placed in the masculine gender. Likewise, if the onset of a noun is a vowel but the coda is in a consonant, it can be either feminine or neuter, but not masculine. If both onset and coda are vowels, it can be inflected for all three genders. There are a few exceptions to this rule, most notably in very common words, archaic words, pronouns and certain nominalised adjectives.


Coda →	Vowel	Consonant
Onset ↓	Vowel	Sonorant	Plosives
Vowel	M, F, N	F, N	F
Consonant	M, F	M

Because the semantic meaning of a noun is not tied to biological sex, nouns semantically associated with the masculine may be syntactically feminine or neutered. For example, orryôhaq 'testicle' begins and ends in a vowel and stopped consonant respectively, making it a feminine noun. In éõv 'tree', both onset and coda are vowels (the -v is a tone marker and not a consonant), allowing it to take on masculine, feminine and neutered endings.

Collective nouns

Vowel-Vowel Declension Pattern (Masculine, Feminine and Neuter)
éõv (tree)		Masculine (mb-/rě-)					Feminine					Neuter
éõv (tree)		Singular	Paucal	Plural	Greater plural	Collective	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Greater plural	Collective	Singular	Paucal	Plural	Greater plural	Collective
Nominative		mbéõv	mbéũvl	rěmbéõv	rěmbéã	mbéõvtùn	éõvdi	éõvdràv	réõvdi	réãd	éõvdùni	éyõv	élõv	írgõv	írgãd	éyõs
Accusative		mbéáh	mbéáyl	rěmbéáîh		mbéõvtán	éáh	éáhlàv	réáí		éõvdáni	éyáh	élǎv	írgáí		éyõvdás
Possessive	1p	mbéõvtíh	mbéõvtĩvlí	rěmbéõvtíh	rěmbéãtá	mbéõvtás	éõvdà	éõvdàvlí	réõvdà	réãdav	éõvdási	éyõvóh	élõvgóí	írgõvóh	írgãdá	éyõstav
	2p	mbéõvtàvy	mbéõvlàvy	rěmbéõvtàvy		mbéõvwek	éõvdíhs	éõvlíhs	éõvdíhxas		éõvgli	éyõvca	élõvgí	irgõvcèv		éyõvcla
	3p	mbéõvrõŋ	mbéõvlõĩ	rěmbéõváhycè	rěmbéãvrm	mbéõvtùnqèvt	éõvjâhñ	éõvjõĩ	réõváhjab		éõvdùniqî	éyõvnqa	élõvnqa	írgõvnqcè	írgõvnqjèm	éyõvdásqè
Genitive	3p	mbéõvrõŋ	mbéõvlõĩ	rěmbéõváhycè	rěmbéãvrm	mbéõvtùnqèvt	éõvźáy	éõvźõĩ	réõvźáyn		éõvdùnźí	éyõvnqa	élõvnqa	írgõvnqcè	írgõvnqjèm	éyõvdásqè
Dative		wéõv	wéõvdǔl	prrěwéõĩh		wéõvtá	éõvko	éõvkul	péõvrrò		éõvktá	ézǎv	ézulǎv	ćírgõvrraí		éyõvktá
Benefactive		wéõvṛah	wéõvdǔlah	prrěwéõkáh		wéõvtá	éõvṛi	éõvdǔlah	péõvrkáh		éõvktá	ézuṛḷe		ćírgõvrkáh		éyõvktá
Instrumental		imbéõv	imbéõvdǔl	prrimbéõĩh		imbéõvtá	éõvme	éõvmǔle	préõĩh		éõvmá	õvém	õvlémù	ćõvlirgùm		õvémtá
Comitative		mbéõgǔ	mbéõgǔl	gambéõvgǔ		mbéõgtùn	éõskǔ	éõskǔl	kéõskǔ		éõksùn	éyõskǔ	éyõskǔl	kargõskǔ		éyõgzùn
Ornative		mbéõvl		rěmbéõw	rěmbéãl	mbéõvtùl	éõwès	éõwèl	réõwès	réãl	éõvdùli	éyõlè		írgõwès	írgãl	éyõl
Comparative		bebéõv	bebéõvl	nźebéõv	nźebéõ	bebéõvtán	zéõvb	zéõvlbé	źéõvb	źéõp	zéõvbán	íźõv	éíźõvl	gṛíźõv	píźõ	bíźõván
Superlative		zbebéõv	zbebéõvl	zźebéõv	zźebéõ	zbéõvtán	iséõhb	iséõhlbé	ićéõvb	ićéõp	iséõvbán	ízźõv	éízźõvl	zgṛíźõv	píźõz	bízźõván
Vocative		mbéõvâ		rěmbéâ		mbéõvtùnâ	éõvdiâ		réõvdiâ		éõvdùnâ	éyõâ		írgõâ		éyõsâ

Consonant-Vowel Declension Pattern (Masculine, Feminine)
řòèvkṣîh (alcohol)		Masculine					Feminine
řòèvkṣîh (alcohol)		Singular	Paucal (-l)	Plural (P-)	Greater plural (P-/-ě)	Collective (-o/-e)	Singular (U-)	Paucal (U-/-l)	Plural (-d-/-j-)	Greater plural (-ě)	Collective (-o/-e)
Nominative		řòèvkṣîh	řòèvkṣîhl	dřòèvkṣîh	dřòèvkṣěv	řòèvkṣîhjòn	qŕòèvkṣîhji	qŕòèvkṣîhjòv	aŕqòèvkṣîhji	aŕqòèvkṣěj	qŕòèvkṣîhjòñ
Accusative (-è)		řòèvkṣèv	řòèvkṣèvl	dřòèvkṣíàvy		řòèvkṣîhjàín	qŕòèvkṣě	qŕòèkṣîhlòv	aŕqòèvksǐ		qŕòèvkṣîhjòni
Possessive	1p (-è-ci)	řòèvkṣèîhci	řòèvkṣîhcli	dřòèvkṣîh	dřòèvkṣětá	řòèvkṣîhjás	qŕòèvkṣîhci	qŕòèvkṣîhlì	aqŕòèvkṣîhjà	aŕqòèvkṣějav	qŕòèvkṣîhjòsi
	2p	řòèvkṣîhàvy	řòèvkṣîhlàvy	dřòèvkṣíàvy		řòèvkṣiwêk	qŕòèvkṣîhs	qŕòèvklîhs	aŕqòèvkṣîhxas		qŕòèvkṣîclà
	3p	řòèvkṣîhẓõŋ	řòèvkṣîhlõĩ	dřòèvkṣîhẓõŋ	dřòèvkṣěrm	řòèvkṣîhjèvt	qŕòèvkṣikâhñ	qŕòèvkṣîhjõĩ	aqŕòèvsáhjab		qŕòèvkṣîhjònqî
Genitive	3p	řòèvkṣîhẓõŋ	řòèvkṣîhlõĩ	dřòèvkṣîhẓõŋ	dřòèvkṣěrm	řòèvkṣîhjèvt	qŕòèvkṣîtèy	qŕòèvkṣîhźõĩ	aqŕòèvsáźáyn		qŕòèvkṣîhjònzi
Dative		ħòèvkṣîh	ħòèvkṣîdǔl	tħòèvkṣíàvy		ħòèvkṣîhjà	uřòèvkṣîhji	uřòèvkṣîhjòv	źuřòèvkṣîhji	źuřòèvkṣěj	qŕòèvkṣîhktá
Benefactive		ħòèvkṣîhṛí	ħòèvkṣîdǔlah	tħòèvkṣíàvy		ħòèvkṣîhjà			źuŕqòèvksǐlah		qŕòèvkṣîhktá
Instrumental
Comitative
Ornative
Comparative
Superlative
Vocative