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SHPRE
S H P R E
P H P E N Y E
T H E H E K E N I C T O N G U E S O F 6 6 A
CW KE SH PRE HEI
L E A R N T H E L A N G U A G E
Local residents of the Heken Islands speak several different varieties of what we call Shpre, the language family that spans to the far reaches of the archipelago. While many of them are now learning English, many tourists might find it useful to learn the local dialects to connect further with the Phpenye people!
We currently support travel to the islands of Henya (Solar), Haqah (Martian), and Yhngnyem (Neptunian). Though these islands speak very similar languages, there are many key differences that set them apart. On this page we've denoted specifics about Solar in yellow, Martian in red, and Neptunian in blue! Pay careful attention to these if you wish to learn one language in particular.
Other documentation may refer to these dialects' native names of Täbäsä Nya, Tehprä Nah, and Shpre Yhng, respectively. For ease of communication we'll be using the exonyms instead here!
SHPREYHG
t2hp2r2 naq
t2hp2r2 nya
If you haven't seen this video, we highly recommend you watch it before going further to familiarize yourself with Phpenye language and culture!
Hekenic languages are, by default, Subject-Verb-Object, and adjectives come after nouns. Despite this, it should be noted that they all use prepositions instead of postpositions.
They are relatively analytic, but some aspects of their grammar display some agglutinative properties.
C H A P T E R S
Click a section to skip to it.
n i h t 2 h k y 2 q
P H O N O L O G Y
Below are phonologies for Solar (present and future), Martian, and Neptunian. This is one of the places where there's a fair amount of variation between them! Keep in mind that Phpenye anatomy is of course different from ours, so these are approximations adapted for our interspecies communication! Notice that what they use for an alveolar ridge is further up in the mouth, and that all consonants palatal and back must be pharyngealized thanks to them needing to restrict their airways in order to produce those consonants.
The Hekenic languages have no pitch accent or tone. They also don't have any phonemic stress, though Solar and Neptunian both have non-phonemic stress patterns in day-to-day speech.
The above is the phonology for Solar. Take note of its long vowels, as these are characteristic of their branch of the Hekenic family, along with its closed-open vowel harmony. It's common to see many homonyms in this language!
Some specifics about this phonology ;;
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The vowel harmony separates I and U from Ä and A, with an opaque E blocking it.
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There is no EE, as this long vowel has been replaced with the diphthong EA.
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Solar uses a (C)V(C) structure, where nasals and fricatives are valid codas.
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NG can only appear at the end of syllables.
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B is an allophone of P, and G is an allophone of K. These are never seen at the beginning of words.
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EI only shows up in a few specific, common words as a result of resisting historical sound changes.
The future evolution of Solar features a couple of changes, though leaves the main phonology intact.
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Y has been fronted to RH.
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Non-final F has been replaced with U, except in front of the vowel U.
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Voiced plosives B and G have been fully realized as phonemes.
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There are some palatal sounds which have come up as a result of some consonant clusters merging.
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Voiceless plosives are now generally aspirated, like they would be in English.
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P turns to V intervocalically.
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Future Solar now exhibits a non-phonemic stress pattern effectively identical to English, though still respects long vowels and generally shifts stress toward them.
Martian is notable for its many plosives (reminiscent of the rocks and stones that are common to see in the quarries around the island) and having only front vowels.*
Some specifics about this phonology ;;
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Martian uses a (C)V(C) syllable structure, where consonants P, T, K, M, N, and H are valid codas.
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Between voiceless plosives and R, H can serve as a nucleus. In this case, R is voiceless.
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That means Qh and Krh are valid syllables!
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The combinations HY and IH make a palatal fricative çˤ.
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T, C, K, Q, N, and Y can geminate. These geminates may never be at the beginning or end of words.
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Geminated R is instead trilled.
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B is an allophone of P, D is an allophone of T, and G is an allophone of K. These are never seen at the beginning of words.
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P, M, and N can combine with Y to create onsets PY, MY, and NY. Allophone BY can be seen occasionally.
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P, T, K, Q, and V can combine with R to create onsets PR, TR, KR, QR, and VR. Allophones BR, DR, and GR can be seen occasionally.
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Geminated R can create PRR, KRR, QRR, and VRR rarely.
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I following Q becomes QAI.
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In the event a word-final vowel meets a word-initial vowel in speech, the word final vowel gains an empathetic H coda. If a final H meets an initial H, that initial H fortifies to a K. But if this K is followed by a Q, the K backs to a Q as well.
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So "Eqa et" becomes Eqah et, "Cih haqah" becomes "Cih kaqah", and then Cih qaqah.
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Martian completely lacks stress ; syllables can be stressed however the speaker wishes and still be considered normal speech.
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*phonemically, A is understood as a front vowel, but it is sometimes backed, particularly by those with a lot of contact with Solar speakers.
Neptunian has retained the Old Hekenic vowel /ɯ/, often lost or altered in other varieties. Also note its lack of alveolar (or in this case, mandibular) plosives, instead leniting to ɕ̟ and ð̟.
Some specifics about this phonology ;;
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Neptunian uses a CV(C) structure, which means all words must have an onset consonant. Every consonant is a valid coda besides B, G, R, F, and Y (which is analyzed as a diphthong)
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When transcribing loanwords without an initial consonant, an epenthetic F is inserted.
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Between voiceless plosives plus Y, NG, and R, H can serve as a nucleus. In this case, Y/NG/R become voiceless.
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That means Khng and Yhp are valid syllables!
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T only appears when N follows a syllabic H, which instead turns to "aht"
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P, K, N, NG, F, D, S, Y, and CH can geminate. These geminates may never be at the beginning or end of words.
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For ease of writing, geminated NG is transliterated as “nng”, and geminated CH is transliterated as “cch”
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B is an allophone of P, V is an allophone of F, and G is an allophone of K. These are never seen at the beginning of words.
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P, M, and N can combine with Y to create onsets PY, MY, and NY. Allophone BY can be seen occasionally.
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P, K, and F can combine with R to create onsets PR, KR, and FR. Allophones BR, GR, and VR can be seen occasionally.
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R may never be at the beginning or end of words.
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NG may only be an onset before vowels I and W.
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Stress usually falls on the second syllable in the word, unless the first syllable is followed by a geminated consonant, or the second syllable is a grammatical suffix.
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This stress has developed relatively recently, and can vary from speaker to speaker ; it carries little meaning other than a natural rhythm of speech for Neptunians.
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pr2 p2 f fa f2
P L U R A L S
Plurals in the Hekenic languages originated as reduplicated initial syllables, which have since diverged over time to create the patterns we see today. As a result, in order to pluralize a word, learners are advised to reference the charts below! The columns represent the initial consonant, and the rows represent the vowel of the first syllable. Replace the first syllable with the pattern(s) listed in the corresponding cell!
Take note that many of these combinations have more than one pattern ; which of these is actually correct is dependent on the word itself, and therefore something learners just have to memorize. This also means most words which are homonyms in the singular are differentiated in their plural forms! When pluralizing loanwords, generally the top pattern of the cell is used if there are multiple.
It's important to remember though that there are many exceptions to these patterns, so keep an eye out for outliers!
Solar's pluralization chart is noticeably larger than Martian's or Neptunian's, primarily due to its phonotactics, plus the special initials of SEP and SEK which require separate patterns to properly analyze.
Note the addition of G for initial vowels with no consonant, the merging of many F and H patterns, and the many (though rare) ways we can pluralize an initial Z.
This is Martian's plurals, which is understood to have best preserved the regularity of the old system.
Take note of the frequent geminates in this chart, which are common in plurals among younger speakers but rarer to find in the older generation.
Comparable to Martian's, Neptunian's plurals are not without their quirks. The Y column in particular stands out with its surprise initial F!
This pluralization isn't just for nouns ; when the subject of a sentence is plural, the verb gets pluralized too.
hang ya.
Hang ya.
A rock falls.
haq ya..
Hak ya.
A rock falls.
HAGYA.
Hang ya.
A rock falls.
Haeng yaye.
Rocks fall.
hah2ng yay2.
Haqek yacä.
Rocks fall.
hah2q yac2..
Hakeng fayye.
Rocks fall.
HAKEGFAYYE.
PRE PEI RI
V E R B A G R E E M E N T
First, second, and third person pronouns are rather transparently attached to the front of verbs, which for the most part only change vowel quality in a consistent pattern according to the charts below. An exception to this is Solar, which has created a lot of homonyms and irregularities in verb forms due to the way its vowel harmony works, which extends from the pronoun into the verb.
To read these charts, combine the pronoun and plurality with the initial consonant of the verb to get the correct form, most of the time. Remember that for plural subjects, you'll also need to pluralize the verb too!
If the subject of the sentence is not one of those pronouns, the unmarked form of the verb is used.
As evident in the above charts, the third person has merged with its plural form in the majority of instances. Plurality is therefore only indicated by the verb itself in that instance!
p2ngei
Päge
I see
p2qE
Peqei
I see
PHNYEI
Pahnyei
I see
Päpegi
We see
p2pngeiki
Peqegi
We see
p2qEki
Penyeigi
We see
PENYEIGI
t2ngei
Täge
You see
t2qE
Teqei
You see
SHNYEI
Sahnyei
You see
Tätegi
Y'all see
t2tngeiki
Teqegi
Y'all see
t2qEki
Sanyeigi
Y'all see
SANYEIGI
k2ngei
Kege
They see
k2qE
Ekkei
They see
KHNYEI
Kahnyei
They see
Kegegi
They (p) see
k2ngeiki
Ekkegi
They (p) see
k2qEki
Kahnyeigi
They (p) see
KHNYEIGI
In addition to those pronouns, Solar also has a special form of the verb to Be that attaches to the demonstrative He.
heimw
Hem
This/That is
h2heimw
Heam
These/Those are
t 2 t E p E
T E N S E S
(and related verbal stuff)
Tense, aspect and mood are largely expressed analytically. The primary exceptions to this are Neptunian suffixing the simple past with -de/-dei or -se/-sei and simple future with -be/-bei/-pe/-pei, and Solar suffixing the simple past with -s or -nde. (Future Solar has shortened -nde to -nd.) These past markers also double as an indicator for a Perfective aspect as well.
p2ngeit
Päges
I saw
p2qE tE
Peqei tei
I saw
PHNYEISE
Pahnyeise
I saw
PHNYEIPE
Pahnyeipe
I will see
p2qE pE
Peqei pei
I will see
p2ngei pei
Päge pe
I will see
Martian also features a specific marker for the far past, Tein tEn. Martian is also unique in its attachment of the question particle to tense markers, creating interrogative forms Teinye, Tebye, and Pebye. All other Hekenic languages use a simple question particle like Pye / Pyei after the verb to specify yes/no questions, though it is very common to drop this in favor of simple rising intonation when it is clear from context that a question is being asked.
Unmarked verbs are inherently in the present tense, and additionally function both as Imperfective aspects and Infinitive forms, except for Solar which indicates infinitives with a prefix En-, Em-, or Eng- depending on the articulation of the following consonant.
pi
Pi
Move
ngeinpi
Embi
To move
Passives are expressed by switching the word order to VOS, and adding Sa / Tra / Sa before the subject. This word is very semantically weak, meaning something along the lines of "As" or "By". This same word can instead be placed before a verb to create a verbal adjective, which in Solar has been prefixed onto the verb. And though considerably rarer, using OVS instead in the passive construction is also accepted as a more poetic rendering to emphasize the object.
pi tra p2
Pi sa pä
I am moved
pi tra p2
Pi tra pä
I am moved
PISAPA
Pi sa pa
I am moved
PHPWPADASAPI
Phpw pada sa pi
I am a moving person
p2mih pata tra pi
Pämih pada tra pi
I am a moving person
p2ma pata trap2
Päma pada sapä
I am a moving person
Here are some more examples of common analytic constructions used for tense, aspect, and mood ;;
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The Perfect Aspect is made by putting a passive sentence in the past tense.
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The Perfect of Recency can be made by adding De / Dei after the tense marker, and replacing Tei with Tere or Teci in Martian, the latter derived from the word for Mercury!
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Tere is usually heard in the eastern half of the island, while Teci is heard more on the west.
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Note that this means the Hekenic languages do not distinguish between present, past, and future perfect aspects!
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The Imperative mood is expressed by taking the base form of a verb and adding Daa / Ca'a / Chav to the beginning of the sentence.
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The Permissive mood is expressed by adding Pächaae / Pädravä / Pedave after the verb. This is also used as an alternative to the archaic Abilitive mood, an infix which is generally only heard in formal Neptunian speech nowadays.
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Future Solar has replaced Pächaae after the verb with Mei before the verb.
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The Obligative and Commissive moods are expressed by adding Dusun / Hrren / Dwren after the verb. This word is a form of the root Du / Rh / Dw, meaning Jupiter!
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The Potential and Epistemic moods are expressed by marking the verb in the future tense, and adding Säs / -ret / Frhs afterward.
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Note that Martian's is a suffix attached to the tense marker!
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Martian also makes use of an additional construction using the past tense instead, indicating a Hypothetical mood.
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Instead of Säs, Future Solar uses the phrase Mebi ue in front of the verb. This is also the most common way to specify the Abilitive mood in Future Solar.
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The Conditional moods are expressed by putting Peiin / Peifaht in the beginning of the sentence.
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Martian has two Conditional moods ; Pei'än which indicates an Implicative mood, and Vret which indicates a Predictive or Counterfactual mood.
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Future solar has replaced Peiin with Ef.
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Martian features a few additional, more specific mood distinctions not present in other dialects. See the table below! The highlighted boxes are unique to Martian within the Hekenic family.
kr2 k2 n
N E G A T I O N
Negation in the Hekenic languages can occur on any part of speech, generally via a suffix like -jä/-ji, -grä/krä, and -grh/gre/krh/kre. This has the effect of emphasizing a particular aspect of the sentence, how we would use stress to indicate this emphasis in English. Note that when this negation is applied to the pronoun, that pronoun is not attached to the verb.
Extra negatives in the sentence strengthen the negativity instead of cancelling them out. While it's not very common to see double, triple, or any higher degree negatives, they do exist and are more frequent to hear in conversational Neptunian than in Martian.
p2kr2 pi c2hE..
Pägrä pi cehei.
I'm not moving the box.
PAKRHPICH.
Pagrh pi chh.
I'm not moving the box.
Epikrä cehei.
I'm not moving the box.
p2pikr2 c2hE..
Phpikre chh.
I'm not moving the box.
PHPIKRECH.
Epi cägrähei.
I'm not moving the box.
p2pi c2kr2hE..
Phpi chahgre.
I'm not moving the box.
PHPICHKRE
This tactic is still present in Solar, but it is getting increasingly common to simply put the preposition Na before the verb (and attached pronoun, if there is one), likely coming from English "Not". Interestingly, we have found that putting this preposition in front of any other part of speech is not considered grammatical by younger Solar speakers... Though exceptions are certainly made for certain words and phrases. Future Solar has likely lost the older negation strategy entirely.
na p2p2 ky2h.
Na päpä kyeh.
I'm not moving the box.
HAI HEI
D E F I N I T E N E S S
Solar and Martian attach the demonstrative He / Hei to nouns, which in practice effectively acts as marking definiteness. While this does indeed happen in Neptunian, it is not suffixed and (generally) has much more of a true "demonstrative" connotation.
In Solar, nouns ending in a, ä, or e will gain a final -h, regardless of plurality. If the word ends in i, the definite will likely take a -ye ending instead, replacing that i. If the word ends in u, it is simply replaced with e.
Many singular nouns that end in a consonant will have a final -e attached, and plural nouns will have a final -ä (or -e if the preceding consonant is velar or palatal). This -ä is, notably, resistant to Solar's vowel harmony, therefore making a word like Sepipinä ("the lakes") possible.
Keep an eye out for the exceptions, though! Words like Täbäsä ("language") and Täbäsää ("the language") seem to entirely disobey this rule.
mya,myah,myam2,myam2h
Mya, Myah, Myamä, Myamäh
A planet, The planet, Planets, The planets
Eng, Ege, Eging, Egige
An eye, The eye, Eyes, The eyes
ngeing,ngeingei,ngeiking,ngeikingei
kri,krihei,krikin,krikin2
Ji, Jye, Jikin, Jikinä
A place, The place, Places, The places
he,hehei,hehw,hehwh2
Hu, He, Hui, Huye
A leg, The leg, Legs, The legs
Martian's system is very similar, and it's unclear whether Solar or Martian was the first to innovate this feature. Regardless, it likely started in one of them and spread to the other, rather than both of them inheriting it.
Martian's is slightly more conservative ; if a word ends in a vowel, -hei is tacked on unchanged for singular nouns, and -hä for plural nouns. In some Martian dialects, you may hear this h replaced with a y for certain words! And if there is an h preceding in the word, these suffixes will turn to -qei and -qä respectively.
mya. myahE. myam2. myam2h2
Mya, Myahei, Myamä, Myamähä/Myamäyä
A planet, The planet, Planets, The planets
Qäh, Qähei/Qäyei, Qegih, Qegyä
An eye, The eye, Eyes, The eyes
q2q. q2qE. qEkiq. qEkiq2
kri. krihei. krikin. krikin2
Kri, Krye, Krikin, Krikinä
A place, The place, Places, The places
He, Heqei, Heqaih, Heqahä/Heqaqä/Heqayä
A leg, The leg, Legs, The legs
he. hehE. hehih. hehih2
f a ty a c i
N U M B E R S
The Hekenic languages etymologically identify numbers using Base 4, but in practical use for counting it's better analyzed as Base 8 with a subbase of 4. Here are the four numbers in the three primary dialects ;;
fa
fa
FA
Fa
One
A
One
Fa
One
Tya
Two
tya
Ca
Two
tya
Cha
Two
CA
trei
cE
CEI
Se
Three
Cei
Three
Chei
Three
He
Four
hei
Hei
Four
hE
Hei
Four
HEI
These numbers then combine with each other to create numbers 5-8 ;;
heini
hEn2
HEINH
Heni*
Five
Heinä
Five
Heinah
Five
Hendye
Six
heintyei
Hendyä
Six
hEnty2
Heinchh
Six
HEINCH
heinti
hEti
HEINDI
Hendi
Seven
Hedi
Seven
Heindi
Seven
Hetye
Eight
heityei
Heicä
Eight
hEty2
Heichh
Eight
HEICH
*Future Solar has replaced Heni with the loanword Uaef, though Heni is still often used to varying degrees in many dialects.
Any numbers 9 and above are usually described in an analytic construction using the preposition Sa / Tra / Sa. Below is a table of common ways to create larger numbers, though keep in mind these are simply the most common ways of saying these. They might change depending on what mathematical context they're being used for!
These numbers have many different forms depending on the noun they modify. This is comparable to the "measure words" of Chinese and Japanese ; depending on the type of object, the form of the number you'll use will change. These forms aren't just for numbers, they're also used in any quantifying words like "most", "each", or "a few". And take note that when we use these numbers and quantifiers, the noun getting modified is not pluralized.
These forms can also stand on their own as nouns to indicate a more broad meaning.
If the number is above 8 and therefore consists of multiple words, only the first number is given this form. So for example, "Nineteen people" would be Hef sa heni niji / Heip tra heinä nikrä / Heip sa heinah nikrh.
With the advent of English speakers frequenting the region, it is common to now hear Phpenye adopting a semi-base 10 system, where they simply list all the digits of a base 10 number in order, with 0 said as Nuji / Nihkrä / Nwkrh and 9 loaned in as Naen / Nain / Nain ; So the year 2106 is pronounced Tya fa nuji hendye / Cah a nihkrä hendyä / Cha fa nwkrh heinchh. Literally "Two one zero six"!
pr2 p2 f fa ng
A D J E C T I V E S
Adjectives can take many suffixes in the Hekenic languages, which modify the word to add comparatives and superlatives. Some of these forms have been lost in Solar in favor of more analytic constructions, and the rest are becoming increasingly rare outside of special phrases.
hakrem
hakkrem
HAKKREM
Hajum
Hotter
Hakkrem
Hotter
Hakkrem
Hotter
HANIF
Haniv
Hottest
hanii
Hani'i
Hottest
han2f
Hanää
Hottest
ha faf2
hacche
HACCWF
Ha faae
Too hot*
Hacceh'e
Too hot
Hacchwv
Too hot
HAKWN
Hakwn
Very hot
hahiht
Haqaiht
Very hot
hahan
Haan
Very hot
hahan
haan
HAFFAN
Haan
So hot
Ha'an
So hot
Haffan
So hot
HAKREF
Hagrev
A bit hot
hakr22
Hagrä'ä
A bit hot
ha tri
Ha si
A bit hot*
*The construction ha faf2 (Ha faae) has been replaced with du ha (Du ha) in Future Solar.
*The construction ha tri (Ha si) has been replaced with si ha (Si ha) in Future Solar.
NI DH
P O S S E S S I O N
While Martian and Neptunian simply put a conjugated form of the verb Rä / Dah ("to have") after a noun being modified to make it possessive, Solar has attached these forms as suffixes. While the specific way these attach can differ by region and age group, here's a generally accepted standardized list ;;
tre
Su
Money
trep2r2
Suusä
My money
tret2r2
Suchä
Your money
trep2tr2
tret2pr2
Supääsä
Our money
Sutächä
Your (pl.) money
trek2r2
Sujä
Their money
trek2r2r2
Sukesä
Their (pl.) money
Note that these suffixes do not adhere to Solar's vowel harmony, and thus the lack of harmony is only thing that separates the 3rd person singular possessive from a negative suffix when spoken!
n i h n 2
W R I T I N G
The Heken islands are a very diverse region for writing, as the ancient logography of the Phpenye was still being used and innovated as the culture was expanding to nearby lands. This means many islands have writing systems that share a common ancestor, but are sometimes wildly different from each other in the way they work.
There are, however, still a couple similarities that all three of these systems share ;;
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Text is written left to right.
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There are three punctuation marks: a single dot, two dots, and three dots. These indicate different levels of pauses. They roughly correspond to a comma, a period, and the end of a paragraph.
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With a careful eye, many letter shapes look similar to each other thanks to their shared origin! Notice f, f, and FA, or perhaps m, m, and MA!
Solar writing is probably best described as an alphasyllabary, as it takes base consonant characters and modifies them to indicate vowel quality.
The shapes of some consonant and vowel combinations have led to characters like me and ki, where they have merged into a shape more streamlined for for writing.
Notice TI, TU(1), and YI are greyed out but still filled in ; these letters are indeed used, but are often replaced with other letters as they were not phonologically present when spelling was standardized.
On that topic, spelling was standardized quite a while ago and features a couple quirks in the modern-day. Here's some spelling rules to watch out for ;;
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The consonant ng is silent at the beginning of words, G in the middle of words, and NG at the end.
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The consonant f is only F at the beginning of words. It usually lengthens the preceding vowel otherwise.
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p, t, and k are pronounced F, S, and H at the end of words.
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h followed by another h is usually not pronounced.
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Many consonant+vowel combinations are now pronounced identically, like pw and pe or k2 and kei. As such, spelling alone distinguishes some homonyms, and it is therefore impossible to fully determine spelling from pronunciation.
When digitizing this writing system into interdimensional unicode (unfortunately not backwards compatible with 21st century unicode), scholars repurposed the glyphs of the antiquated Osmanya script, which was no longer in use and best fit the written shapes of Solar handwriting.
nwnyapri t2hnangtrafeit p2 niri ninifwm ni y2y2fyann2 kin.
f2ntei tra kritrwfeiff2 r2heipi hihwmein ni m2nteit
When digitizing Solar for actual, everyday use in devices however, Future Solar has instead adopted an alphabet from modified Roman characters that looked, for the most part, vaguely similar to the original written counterparts. This was in an effort to create a keyboard on small, interdimensional devices that were made for English text communication and therefore did not support ligatures. Its prominence will have rendered the old writing entirely obsolete after only a few generations of use.
As a result of this change, most spelling quirks have been removed and is largely phonetic outside some digraphs.
Here's some things to look out for ;;
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f is pronounced like U before vowels except for U.
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y combines with several consonants to create different sounds.
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dy sounds like J
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gy sounds like NY
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ngy sounds like U
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by sounds like R
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hy sounds like SCH
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fy sounds like V
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p2, pa, and pe are syllabic characters that have been preserved thanks to them being somewhat common syllables and mapped well enough to letter shapes to be included.
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These characters along with p are pronounced like V in the middle of words.
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nunyuuze t2hnangzaaes p2 nisi niniim ni yeyeayan2 kin.
f2nd sa kumide d2hepi hyumen ni m2ntes.
It would be amiss to mention Solar's new alphabet without acknowledging what is known as the Pä-Pa-Pe Controversy, regarding a sentiment by some speakers that those syllabic characters are entirely out of place. While we at Laghari Portals wish to stay impartial on the matter, it is only fair for us to state the views of those who oppose their inclusion and the context that surrounds it.
The original proponent for the inclusion of these characters stemmed from a sentiment that they are common syllables to come by and mapped well to preexisting Roman characters. That being said, while Pä is indeed somewhat common, Pa and Pe usually come up only in specific semantic contexts and are far outpaced by syllables like Tä, which marks a second person subject, plus Se, Ni, and many others. Some opponents say the inclusion of these syllables is the antithesis to the idea of the alphabet as a whole and believe they are useless to hold on to.
There is also quite a bit of ambiguity on when these letters should be used in the first place! For example, should Pae be written pa&e, p&ae, or even the special character pae which was proposed but rarely used? How about syllables like Pää, Paa, or Pea? Generally either spelling has been accepted, as some fonts use ligatures to create them (making pa&e easier) and others bake the characters in as separate letters (making p&ae easier).
So with all this, why are these letters included in the first place? Why have they stuck?
The reasoning likely goes back to a misunderstanding from the Phpenye who were originally working on this project. Since the previous Solar writing system did indeed already have characters for single consonants, many claim they were probably under the wrong impression that they were digitizing the whole writing system, plus some additions for new consonants like ch and z along with solo vowels like e and 2 which hadn't existed before. Regardless of the reason, the current version was pushed into interdimentional unicode in a potentially rushed job to standardize Solar devices in the year 2191 and has stuck, since everyone's devices switched to it (less than) seamlessly.
Some have praised the inclusion, claiming it to be a good mix of new and old, and has a distinct groundedness in Solar culture and history. Some intently refuse to use them until either more are added or they're taken away entirely... Though most simply pay it no mind after a few years of getting used to the new system. Especially with fonts that use ligatures for them, it's incredibly easy to just type normally and they get filled in for the writer anyway!
Originally conceived as a simplification of Solar's alphasyllabary, the Martian alphabet (known as Nävein) now stands on its own as a defining pillar of Martian identity. Its simple sharp lines reflect its history of being carved into the stones of the many cities around the island. Because it was primarily carved into stone, it is notorious for having spelling which has largely diverged from its pronunciation. While this is indeed the case for many extreme examples, is a bit unfair to Martian, as it often spells words phonetically in many cases where Solar's alphasyllabary system does not.
Here's some spelling notes to get you started on reading Martian words ;;
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q is pronounced H at the end of words, or K if there's a h before it.
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h is often pronounced Q when following another h.
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This generally does not include the geminate hh.
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If two vowel characters are written next to each other in a word, it is assumed a glottal stop is between them.
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It is common to see E and A lose their second vowel near each other and the vowel i.
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2 often is pronounced like E between voiceless consonants.
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Initial f is never pronounced, outside the cluster fr.
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In fact, this letter is always used when a word begins with a vowel sound, even in loanwords. Vowel letters are not permitted to begin words.
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There are special combined characters for geminates, clusters with r, and clusters with y. these are entirely optional and only used for stylistic purposes.
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ty is sometimes pronounced C.
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Martian inserts a H when a word ends with a vowel and the following word begins with a vowel, but this is not reflected in spelling.
nihnyaprihE t2hneqefE tE p2 nir2 niniihp ni y2c2fihn2 kin..
f2n te tra kricihfE2 r2hEpi hEmen ni m2ntet
The Neptunian syllabary (known as Nahnya) is by far the most reliable in spelling and also considered the closest in writing to the original ancient logographs. Besides any extra marks, each character is intended to be written in a single stroke of the brush, which has led to this flowing interpretation of the original icons.
Here's an overview of the comparatively few spelling quirks ;;
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FRAI (FRAI) is nearly identical to MYAI (MYAI), and often written the exact same in handwriting.
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FRE (FRE) is identical to MYH (MYH)
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To write consonants on their own, a vertical line is placed after the -H vowel character.
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PH (PH) to P (P)
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The H and NG series don't have a character in this row, so H and G are used.
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In the rare event KI/GI needs to be written, GI is used.
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In the rare event YI or YW need to be written, YE is used.
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Final T is written N.
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Neptunian writing does not use spaces between words!*
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*traditionally. It is getting increasingly common to do so via influence from Martian, Solar, and of course, English.
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NWNYAPRISHNWGCEFEIDEPANIRHNINIFWMNIFHYENNECIN.
FHDEISAKRICWFEIFFHDEHEIPIHWMENNIMENDES
n a n 22 n u a d
L O A N W O R D S
Though all dialects have adopted loanwords from General American English, the future version of Solar has adopted far more over the years, including loanwords baked into particular grammar structures. Here's just a few ;;
ef
Ef
If
mebi
Mebi
Maybe
jumz
Jumz
Drums
senda
Senda
Center
dup2s
Duväs
The Past
ugu
Ugu
Ago
The usage of loanwords is inconsistent by region, age group, formality, and context. Each word can be a case-by-case basis ; For example, you might hear Uas to mean "what" in the same conversation as the native word Sä. It's generally understood that Sä is used for subjects and Uas for objects, but they're largely interchangeable.
A similar situation happens with the word Naeh, which is a preposition that generally means "like" as the comparative or quotative that English uses. It's still common to hear the postposition/adjective Räjää ("similar") as an alternate comparative word, sometimes even within the same sentence as Naeh! But it wouldn't be unheard of for someone to drop the use of Räjää entirely ; Some speakers respect these distinctions, while others don't.
Many common noun loans (but notably, not all of them!) take alternative affixes to indicate definiteness, possession, and rarely, pluralization. You'd likely hear Piich ("beach") turn to Dubiich ("the beach"), or Hend ("hand") turn to Hez ("hands") which turns to Mähez ("my hands").
There are also loan phrases, taken from common English turns of phrase that are used conversationally just how English does.
auadefa
Auadeua
Or whatever
nes ku
Nes ku
Let's go
nunya
Nunrha
None of your business
nuuh
mekesez
aeges
Nuuh
Look (the interjection)
Mekesez
Makes sense
Aeges
I guess