Fole Enkan (language)

This article is about the official and majority spoken language in Fole Enkan. For information on the country, see Fole Enkan (country).

Fole Enkan is the official and majority spoken language of Fole Enkan. A member of the Enkan language family, it was historically considered the most prestigious language in the Empire of Enkan, and Classical Fole Enkan remains the most prestigious language in the Universal Temple to this day.

Classification

Fole Enkan is considered to be a member of the Enkan languages.

History

The Enkan languages are believed to have originated in what is now Fole Enkan, with multiple varieties having prominence in different regions. Fole Enkan originated from the Dyaša variety of Enkan, while Šelva Enkan originated from the Zanhhuiltya variety. The Dyaša variety of Enkan spread to all of Fole Enkan from roughly 40 to roughly 500, establishing the language of Fole Enkan as it is known today.

Distribution of speakers

95 percent of Fole Enkan residents speak Fole Enkan as a first language. Fole Enkan is spoken to a much smaller extent in the various countries of Šelva Enkan. There are a few more speakers around the world.

Modern Fole Enkan

Phonology

Consonant phonemes

		Bilabial		Labiodental		Alveolar		Post-alveolar		Palatal		Velar
Plosive	Plain	p	b			t	d					k	g
	Palatalised					tj	dj
Fricative				f	v	s	z	ʃ	ʒ			x
Nasal			m				n
Approximant	Central										j		w
	Lateral						l

Vowel phonemes

	Front	Mid	Back
High	i		u
Mid	e		o
Low		a

Fole Enkan allows one consonant in the onset (before the vowel), and one in the coda (after the vowel). Both consonants are optional, but the vowel is not.

Stress is penultimate. Fole Enkan is syllable-timed.

Transcription

While Fole Enkan uses a syllabary for writing, this is the Latin-script transcription, used for now.

Transcription of Fole Enkan

Letter	Sound (IPA)
a	a
b	b
d	d
dy	dj
e	e
f	f
g	g
i	i
k	k
l	l
m	m
n	n
o	o
p	p
s	s
š	ʃ
t	t
ty	tj
u	u
v	v
w	w
y	j
z	z
ž	ʒ

Grammar

Word order

Strict SVO word order throughout, although some older texts use SOV in dependent clauses.

Nouns

Nouns have two genders – either male or female. Male nouns mostly start with stops, affricates, or null onsets (starts with a vowel). Male people, male animals, items created by humans, concrete items, and items that are not fixed in place are usually male nouns.

Female nouns mostly start with fricatives or approximates. Female people, female animals, natural features, geography, abstract ideas, and items that are fixed in place are usually female nouns.

Adjectives all have male and female forms. These usually begin similarly to same-gendered nouns. However, exactly which two consonants (or lack thereof) depends on the adjective and must be memorised.

Nouns do not have case. To pluralise a noun, add the prefix y-, or the infix -y- after the initial vowel in a body part or personal relation.

Verbs

To conjugate a verb, remove the final -un and add the following:

Present tense

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-ež	-aši
2nd person	-eš	-aši
3rd person	-ež	-ež

Past tense

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-on	-on
2nd person	-on	-onu
3rd person	-on	-on

The future tense is formed using the helping verb povnun, then the infinitive of the verb.

Modern Fole Enkan is not a pro-drop language. Verbs must have a subject. Pronouns are:

Pronouns

	Singular	Plural
1st person	ityen	atyen
2nd person	notyen	soletyen
3rd person	žatyen	potyen

Useful morphology

-fi (or variations): enderative

See also

Livusle dictionary - a dictionary for languages of Livusle, including Fole Enkan.