Island, People and Language
Welcome to my website which is a study of the island of Mohai, its people the Romohai, and their language Lemohai. Mohai is a large island nation off the continent of Aheku, on a fictional world called Tekuo.
Tekuo is an Earth-like planet, inhabited by a race of sentient hominids called the Ike. They share their home planet with a range of supernatural beings.
I hope you enjoy your visit.
Classical Lecekhon was the language of the ancient Empire of Cekhon. It had twenty-eight phonemes. It was characterised by five points of vowel articulation, a plain/aspirate contrast and the prominence of velar and palatal sounds. Syllables were simple or moderately complex.
A wide range of writings in Classical Lecekhon have survived to the modern era. These range from the popular and practical to the advanced and academic. They even include grammars of C Lec written by native speakers. We can, therefore, describe the formal registers of the language with confidence.
Continue reading “What did Classical Lecekhon sound like?”What can we know about the planet’s first language?
In our world, those who think there was once a Proto-Human language have a tough time of it. They are told there is no reason to assume such a language ever existed. They are told they cannot say where or when it existed.
Supporters of the theory are also said to read what they want into the data when deriving words for the purported language. Some world-wide similarities, it is said, might be better explained as onomatopeia or sound symbolism.
Continue reading “In search of Proto-Tekuo”How ancient people spoke on Mohai.
When the ancient Kuna Empire was at its zenith, Classical Lekuna had twenty-four phonemes. It was characterised by four points of vowel articulation, a plain/aspirate contrast and the prominence of velar and glottal sounds. Syllables were simple or moderately complex.
Many written examples of Classical Lekuna have survived to the modern era. These range from graffiti and laundry lists to philosophy and epic poetry. They even include grammars of C Lek written by native speakers. We can, therefore, describe the formal registers of the language with confidence.
Continue reading “What did Classical Lekuna sound like?”Notes on a living planet
Earlier posts have alluded to a supernatural presence on the planet Tekuo, something that does not conform to the laws of nature as they are generally understood on Earth. It is now time to examine these claims in more detail.
Since ancient times, many Tekuan religions have viewed the planet itself as a living system rather than an inanimate object. They have noted Tekuo’s ability to self-regulate. They have noted that living systems adapt to their environment and in turn adapt the environment to suit themselves.
Continue reading “Mother Tekuo: planet, system and goddess”How prehistoric people talked on the north-east coast of Aheku.
Proto-Maritime is reconstructed as having twenty phonemes. It was characterised by three points of vowel articulation, a lack of contrastive voice and the prominence of velar, uvular and glottal sounds. Syllables were simple or moderately complex.
The standard model of PM phonology has stood the test of time, but some uncertainties remain. The language was unwritten. It is believed that there were two dialects, one spoken in what is now Kuna, one in what is now Cekhon. Little is known about them, however.
Continue reading “What did Proto-Maritime sound like?”How people talk on Mohai today
Modern Standard Lemohai has a total of twenty-six phonemes. Their sounds vary a little according to their phonetic environment. They are arranged in simple syllables.
Continue reading “What does Modern Lemohai sound like?”The planet’s dominant species are a lot like us. Except when they’re not …
The planet Tekuo is home to 4.2 billion Ike. They are sapient primates who resemble the humans of Earth. We should not be surprised by this as they fill a similar ecological niche and are faced with similar problems. For the same reasons, several other Tekuan species have close Earthly analogues.
Our early ancestors left the rainforest for the savannah. The Ike, however, stayed longer in the rainforest. This single fact accounts for the main differences between the Ike and ourselves.
Continue reading “Meet the Ike, sapient hominids of Tekuo”A great typography resource for the conlang blogger.
Google Fonts has now been added to this website and has massively extended my display options. The free version currently gives you over 800 fonts to use on your site.
Continue reading ““Google Fonts” added”