Lavoda (/laˈvoda/)

Lavoda is a linguistic descendant of Lüota, which was brought by halflings to Eden during the First Age. Originally spoken only by the lost halflings who founded the doomsday cult of Ni Hüre Lena, Lavoda now functions as the language of magic in this post-apocalyptic paradise—and is therefore spoken by far more folks than it was originally.

Interestingly, the Wemu of Ni Hüre Lena now refuse to speak the language they brought here. They fear that the power summoned by incantations in Lavoda is being supplied by Aiki I—the vengeful god of earth and stillness, who is offering this power as part of his plan to unleash The Four Helmsmen and unmake the world.

Sound Changes from Lüota

The following sound changes occurred after the ancestors of the Wemu were separated from the rest of their people and spent several millennia isolated on the continent of Australia during the Earth-665 iteration of reality.

1. Vowels were lost between the letters /p/,/t/,/k/, and /h/ in unstressed syllables.
2. /h/ was lost between vowels.
3. /i/ became /ij/ when bordering another vowel.
4. /u/ became /w/ when bordering another vowel.
5. /p/ became /b/ when between vowels.
6. /t/ became /d/ when between vowels.
7. /k/ became /g/ when between vowels.
8. When two consonants bordered each other, an /a/ was inserted after the first consonant.
9. /w/ became /v/ when between vowels.
10. /ʌ/ became /ʌs/ at the end of words, in order to better distinguish it from the /a/ sound.
11. When two instances of /b/, /t/, and/or /k/ clustered, the first instance was dropped.
12. Vowels were lost in unstressed syllables when appearing between a nasal consonant and a stop, except at the beginning of words.
13. /h/ was lost when appearing between a vowel and a consonant.
14. At the beginning of a word, if a /ʌ/ appeared before another vowel, a glottal stop /ʔ/ was inserted between the two vowels.

Phonology

Consonant Inventory

Vowel Inventory

Syllable Structure

(C)V(C)

Word Initial Consonants

m l n k t b p d g r w h s j

Mid-Word Consonants

m k n t g p b l d ʔ r w s v j

Word Final Consonants

m k n t g p b l d r s

Stress Pattern

Stress falls on the penultimate (second-to-last) syllable.

Spelling & Pronunciation

• ʔ is spelled ‘
• ʌ is spelled u
• u is spelled ü
• j is spelled y

Lavoda has no dipthongs. Every vowel is pronounced as an individual syllable. For instance, “hoi” is pronounced hoh-ee.  

Grammar

Word Order

The main word order is verb–subject–object. Adjectives come after the noun, adpositions come before the noun (prepositions), and possessors come before possessees.

Nouns

There are five grammatical numbers in Lavoda: singular, dual, plural, paucal, and collective. For example:

• ki: person
• a‘ki: two people
• o‘ki: people
• u‘ki: some people
• e‘ki: all people

Nouns also have 7 cases: ablative, accusative, allative, genitive, instrumental, locative, and nominative.

There are 3 grammatical genders: feminine, masculine, and neuter. Feminine nouns begin with the vowel ü and masculine nouns begin with the vowel i; all other nouns are considered neuter.

Verbs

Verbs in Lüota have a past, present, and future tense. For instance, here is how you would conjugate the verb bü (to walk):

Numbers

Lavoda has a base-10 number system.

1. ha
2. aa
3. hüa
4. kie
5. tudus
6. oo
7. udi
8. pibo
9. ago
10. luli

Derivational Morphology

• Adjective → adverb = add suffix -pe
• Adjective → noun (the quality of being X) = add suffix -pus
• Adjective → verb (to make something X) = add prefix pa-
• Noun → adjective = add suffix -po
• Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = ra-
• Noun to verb = add prefix du-
• Verb → adjective (result of doing X) = add suffix -e
• Tending to = re-
• Verb → noun (the act of X) = add suffix -hus
• Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = add suffix -ho
• Verb → noun used to accomplish X = add suffix -kus
• One who Xs (e.g. paint → painter) = add suffix -ki
• Place where the verb is enacted = add suffix -we
• Place where things are = add suffix -wa
• The stuff something is made of = add suffix -ba
• The smallest unit of X = add prefix hü-
• Diminutive = add suffix -hü
• Augmentative = add suffix -dü
• To form the ordinal number from the cardinal number, add suffix -po