Evermornan Canine

Many augmented animals 'created' through the technological mastery of the Cobalt Protectorate - particularly corvids - are capable of vocalizations that, with the aid of their enhanced intelligence, can be made intelligible to their human counterparts. However, the specific vocalizations they can make is constrained by physiological factors, requiring the creation of an 'interlang' to allow a non-human to 'speak' in a way that humans can hear and understand. Evermornan Canine - or Canine for short - is one such language, developed to allow inter-communication between augmented dogs and humans.

Phonology

Consonants:
/r/, /h/, /w/, /b/, /hⁿ/, /mⁿ/, /f/

Vowels:
/a/, /a˞ /, /ə/, /ə˞ /, /u/, /u˞ /

Tones:
꜕, ꜓, ꜓꜕, ꜕꜓, ꜓꜕꜓, ꜕꜓꜕
The spoken Canine language is unique because it must take into account the comparatively less articulate lips of dogs. Among other things, Canine conveys most of its meaning through vowels, rhotacism, aspirated nasals, and tones rather than consonants, and only a handful of plosives are used.

Syntax

Canine uses an obligate SVO sentence structure ("I like my biscuits."). Adjectives and adverbs immediately follow the parts of speech they modify; the Canine vocabulary for certain qualia is reduced in some cases (i.e. colors) but expanded in others (i.e. scents) due to the difference in sensory faculties between humans and dogs. Speakers of Canine tend not to use recursive statements or more than one adjective or adverb per clause, breaking such sentences into multiple chunks to convey it in a simpler way ("This is my house. It is small. Human lives here, too.").

Vocabulary

When speaking to handlers through direct wireless link, the hardware involved automatically translates the intents of those conversing into a mode each can understand; in these cases, a defined vocabulary is less important than the ability to clearly visualize concepts. For similar reasons, Canine does not have a script of its own, instead relying on a combination of Evermornan orthography and context to express meaning.