Fecharese language

Fecharese (Fecharese: Fecarimisu ) is a Fecharic language of the North-Socoan language family, originating in Fechara.

Phonology
Fecharese phonology varies among dialects, being influenced by local languages, in some extreme cases leading to some difficulties in intelligibitily. Unless otherwise noted, the article refers to Standard Fecharese (also known as Heartland Fecharese).

Consonants

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! colspan=2| ! Labial ! Orbicular ! Dental/ Alveolar ! Palatal ! Velar ! colspan=2|Nasal ! rowspan=2|Plosive ! voiceless ! voiced ! rowspan=2 | Affricate ! central ! lateral ! colspan=2|Fricative ! colspan=2|Approximant ! colspan=2|Tap
 * + Consonant phonemes of Standard Fecharese
 * m ⟨m⟩ || μ ⟨n⟩ || || ɲ ⟨ñ⟩ ||
 * || ꝥ ⟨p⟩ || t ⟨t⟩ || || k ⟨q⟩
 * || ȸ ⟨b⟩ || d ⟨d⟩ || || ɡ ⟨g⟩
 * || || t͡s ⟨z⟩ || t͡ɕ ⟨c⟩ ||
 * || || t͡ɬ ⟨tl⟩ || ||
 * ɬ̼ ⟨f⟩ || || s ⟨s⟩ || ||
 * || || l ⟨l⟩ || j ⟨j⟩ || w ⟨w⟩
 * || || ɾ ⟨r⟩ || ||
 * }


 * /t/ is dentialveolar [t̪].
 * /μ, ꝥ, ȸ/ become [n, p̼, b̼] when adjacent to alveolar and velar plosives.
 * /ꝥ, t, k/ become voiced [ȸ, d, ɡ] syllable-finally.
 * /t͡ɕ/ becomes [ʃ] syllable-finally.



The phoneme /ɬ̼/ has a variety of realisations depending on the dialect: [ɸ, θ, ɬ̼, h, ʍ, f, λ̝̊], as pronounced in the east of Copalcocon (due to Winqomtaj influence), the north of the Copalcocon, central Fechara, the east of Stomach Lake, northern Fechara (due to Akandateloko'o influence), coastal regions south of the east lake, eastern Fechara and the Nocoan colonies (due to Doño influence).

Vowels

 * {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"

! ! Front ! Central ! Back ! Close ! Mid ! Open
 * + Vowel phonemes of Standard Fecharese
 * i ⟨i⟩ || || u ⟨u⟩
 * ɛ ⟨e⟩ || || o ⟨o⟩
 * || a ⟨a⟩ ||
 * }

Writing system


Fecharese is written using the Fecharese script. It is a featural script; each consonant is made up of three parts, representing the manner of articulation, place of articulation and an optional modifier. Vowels are written connected to the previous letter. It is written from bottom to top, right across the page.

Varieties
Fecharese is spoken primarily in Fechara, including the Doño Archipelago. With the colonisation of Noco, Fecharese is also spoken in their colonies. The spoken dialects form a dialect continuum and is broadly divided into the following varieties:


 * Heartland dialect
 * Coastal dialect
 * East Lake dialect
 * Eastern Heartland dialect
 * Northern dialect
 * Southern dialect
 * Copalcocon dialect

Nouns
Nouns are declined for number and case. Fecharese does not have the indefinite article, but only the definite article quñe placed after the noun.

Number
Fecharese has four numbers: singular, plural, greater plural and collective. The plural is formed using reduplication of syllables of the noun, while the collective is formed with the suffix -le.

Case
Fecharese nouns can be marked for 16 cases. The intransitive, ergative and accusative cases are used in formal speech and to avoid ambiguity, often they are omitted and inferred from context. Fecharese has the antiaccusative case, used to mark the patient subject of a passive clause.

In compounds, the modifier follows the head. For example, cefuru 'hair loss' is derived from cefi 'hair' and furu 'to fall'.

Pronouns
Personal pronouns are marked for person, number, case and clusivity.

Verbs
Verbs in Fecharese are marked for tense and aspect using particles following the verb.

Negation is expressed with the suffix -fae on the verb.


 * Tobna fojpilozi pajawulozu. — The meerkat eats the corn.
 * Tobnafae fojpilozi pajawulozu. — The meerkat doesn't eat the corn.

Syntax
The basic word order in Fecharese is verb–object–subject (VOS). Fecharese is a mostly head-initial language, meaning that modifiers follow the words that they modify. Adjectives follow nouns (with the most notable exceptions being the names of languages); adverbs and auxiliaries follow verbs; Possessors precede nouns. Fecharese mostly uses postpositions.

Relative clauses are ended by the particle en. The relative pronoun is the determiner ice ('this, that') For example:


 * Abpo roziru nezo (icowzi) ice en, icawe ajrifeca isafejzini icowzo ice.
 * The person that I saw yesterday went home. (lit. I saw this [person] yesterday, this person went home.)

Vocabulary
Through contact with neighbouring peoples in Fechara, the Fecharese people have adopted many words from Akandateloko'o, Doqemba, Taw Jad, among other languages. Loanwords comprise almost a third of the total vocaulary.

Numbers
Fecharese has a vigesimal (base-20) numeric system, which was entirely borrowed from Doqemba, replacing the previous North-Socoan decimal (base-10) system.