Ancient Hand Signals

History

While it used to be wide spread across the Kingdom of Aon, and mainly as a way to 'swear', it became more, a way to communicate silently. Soldiers quickly learned that it was a great way to communicate with each other, especially in the heat of battle when they don't want the enemy to hear their plans. It was also a good way to relay orders before hand.
Supernaturals picked up using this method and became proficient in it. For them, it allowed them to silently communicate with each other, because not all Supernaturals are Telepaths.
Now, only the soldiers and Darktide Defenders of the Kingdom of Merkan use this language.

Natively known as: nerem /nɛə̯m/

...and he stood holding his hat and turned his wet face to the wind...
clur may aped purm snear preeth clur drampshay snear gro echear thray bri
Pronunciation: /klɜː meɪ̯ ɑːpt pɜːm snɪə̯ pɹiːθ klɜː dɹɑːmpˈʃeɪ̯ snɪə̯ gɹoʊ̯ ɛˈʧɪə̯ θɹeɪ̯ bɹaɪ̯/
Ancient Hand Signals word order: and he stood holding hat his and turned his face wet to the wind

Spelling & Phonology

Consonant inventory: b d f g h j k l m n p s t v w z ð ŋ ɹ ʃ ʍ ʤ ʧ θ

↓Manner/Place→	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palato-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n			ŋ
Stop	p b			d t			k g
Affricate					ʤ ʧ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ			h
Approximant				ɹ		j
Lateral approximant				l

Co-articulated phonemes

↓Manner/Place→	Labial-velar
Approximant	w ʍ

Vowel inventory: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ iː oʊ̯ uː æ ɑ ɑː ɔɪ̯ ɔː ɛ ɛə̯ ɜː ɪ ɪə̯ ʊ ʊə̯ ʌ
Diphthongs: aɪ̯ aʊ̯ eɪ̯ oʊ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɛə̯ ɪə̯ ʊə̯ ?

	Front	Central	Back
High	iː		uː
Near-high	ɪ		ʊ
Low-mid	ɛ	ɜː	ʌ ɔː
Near-low	æ
Low			ɑ ɑː

Syllable structure: Custom defined ?
Stress pattern: Ultimate — stress is on the last syllable ?
Spelling rules:

Pronunciation	Spelling
kw	qu
kt	cked / _#
k	c / !_{ɪ,i,ɛ,e,s}
oʊ̯C₁	oC₁e / _#
uːC₁	uC₁e / _#
eɪ̯C₁	aC₁e / _#
eɪ̯	ay / _#
eɪ̯	a
ð	th
θ	th
ʍ	wh
ŋg	ng
ŋ{k,c}	nk
ŋ	ng
ʧ	ch
ʃ	sh
ɹ	r
z	s / _#
ju	u / C_
cc	ck
c	k / _#
{t,d}	ed / C_#
aʊ̯	ow / _#
aʊ̯	ou
ʊə̯	ou
ɔɪ̯	oi
ɪə̯	ear
aɪ̯	i
ɪ	y / _#
ɪ	i
ji	yi
j	y
iː	y / _#
yy	yi / _#
y	i / #_#
ʌ	u
iː	ee
oʊ̯	o
ʊ	oo
ɛ	e
ɑ(ː)	a
t	tt / æ_#
l	ll / æ_#
s	ss / æ_#
z	zz / æ_#
æ	a
ʤ	j / #_
ʤ	ge / _#
ʤ	dg
ɜː	ur
ɔː	or
uː	u
quur	quir
eə̯	ere

---

Grammar

Main word order: Subject Verb Object (Prepositional phrase). “Mary opened the door with a key” turns into Mary opened the door with a key.
Adjective order: Adjectives are positioned after the noun.
Adposition: prepositions ?

Nouns

	Singular	Plural
Definite	If starts with vowel: Prefix b- Else: Prefix biː- beeres /biːˈɹɛs/ the dog	Prefix ðɛə̯- thereres /ðɛə̯ˈɹɛs/ the dogs
Indefinite	If starts with vowel: Prefix s- Else: Prefix soʊ̯- sores /soʊ̯ˈɹɛs/ a dog	If starts with vowel: Prefix aʊ̯mpl- Else: Prefix aʊ̯mpleɪ̯- oumplares /aʊ̯mpleɪ̯ˈɹɛs/ some dogs

Articles

Ancient Hand Signals encodes definite article ‘the’, and indefinite article ‘a’ in noun affixes. See Noun section.

Pronouns

1st singular	storrm /stɔːɹm/ I, me, mine
2nd singular	noumed /naʊ̯md/ you, yours
3rd singular	may /meɪ̯/ he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its
1st plural inclusive	fy /fiː/ we (including you), us (including you), ours (including you)
1st plural exclusive	vay /veɪ̯/ we (excluding you), us (excluding you), ours (excluding you)
2nd plural	squired /skwʌɹt/ you all, yours (pl)
3rd plural	chow /ʧaʊ̯/ they, them, theirs

Possessive determiners

	Possessive
1st singular	grees /gɹiːs/ my
2nd singular	fegs /fɛgz/ your
3rd singular	snear /snɪə̯/ his, her, its
1st plural inclusive	dangs /dæŋz/ our (including you)
1st plural exclusive	ow /aʊ̯/ our (excluding you)
2nd plural	sear /sɪə̯/ your (pl)
3rd plural	himp /hɪmp/ their

Verbs

Present	If starts with vowel: Prefix oʊ̯sf- Else: Prefix oʊ̯sfɛ- osfefere /oʊ̯sfɛˈfɛə̯/ learn
Past	Prefix blɪə̯- blearfere /blɪə̯ˈfɛə̯/ learned
Future	If starts with vowel: Prefix ɔɪ̯ɹl- Else: Prefix ɔɪ̯ɹliː- oirleefere /ɔɪ̯ɹliːˈfɛə̯/ will learn

Imperfective aspect

The ‘imperfective’ aspect refers to ongoing actions, such as I am learning and habitual actions, such as I learn (something new every day).
Ancient Hand Signals uses a standalone particle word for imperfective:

Imperfective

Particle before the verb: piː - py fere /piː fɛə̯/ learn

Numbers

Ancient Hand Signals has a base-10 number system:
1 - glow
2 - sperks
3 - splis
4 - thunge
5 - bro
6 - way
7 - eembro
8 - ur
9 - ins
10 - so
100 - cly
1000 - ump

Derivational morphology

Adjective → adverb = Prefix kɹɪ-
Adjective → noun (the quality of being [adj]) = Prefix ɑː-
Adjective → verb (to make something [adj]) = Prefix ɪə̯-
Noun → adjective (having the quality of [noun]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix fɹ-
Else: Prefix fɹɛ-
Noun → adjective relating to noun (e.g. economy → economic) = Prefix peɪ̯-
Noun to verb = Prefix kʊ-
Verb → adjective (result of doing [verb]) = Prefix aɪ̯-
Tending to = Prefix veɪ̯-
Verb → noun (the act of [verb]) = If starts with vowel: Prefix d-
Else: Prefix daʊ̯-
Verb → noun that verb produces (e.g. know → knowledge) = If starts with vowel: Prefix ɑgz-
Else: Prefix ɑgzeɪ̯-
One who [verb]s (e.g. paint → painter) = If starts with vowel: Prefix k-
Else: Prefix kɜː-
Place of (e.g. wine → winery) = Prefix dɹʊ-
Diminutive = If starts with vowel: Prefix fɹ-
Else: Prefix fɹɪ-
Augmentative = If starts with vowel: Prefix s-
Else: Prefix siː-

Dictionary

3038 Words.

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