The phonemic consonants of Lodeen are :

plosives : /p/ /t/ /k/

fricatives : /f/ /s/

nasals : /m/ /n/

liquids : /l/

approximants : /w/ /j/

Lodeen phonemic vowels are :

/a/ /e/ /i/ /o/ /u/.

A wide range of free allophony might occur depending on the locutor's habits of speaking, like for example, /e/ and /o/ might become /ɛ/ and /ɔ/ in word-final position when followed by a consonant.

Though, plosives and fricatives voiced counterparts occur as allophones in complementary distribution in intervocalic position.

Mid-word consonants clusters are voiced too unless they be comprised of a /l/ and a plosive/fricative (in any order), then in this case the allophonic voicing phenomenon described above isn't mandatory but subject to free variation.

An exception is also the mid-word consonants cluster /n/ + /t/, where /t/ might not be voiced either.

An allophonic /ŋ/ might occur in free variation when n is before a k.

The syllable structure of Lodeen is: (C)(C)V(C)(C) where V can be a monophtongue or a diphtongue.

Any consonant can begin a syllable and any consonant excepted /w/ can end a syllable. Any sole consonant can appear intervocally.

Besides, the approximant /w/ can never appear in a consonants cluster.

Phonologic constraints on consonants clusters are:

An onset consonants cluster can be comprised of:

* a plosive followed by /s/, /l/ or /j/ except for /t/ which can't be followed by /l/;
* /s/ followed by any plosive;
* /f/ followed by /l/ or /j/;
* a nasal followed by /j/;
* a liquid followed by /j/.

Thus, all consonant clusters allowed at the beginning of a syllable are:

ps, pl, pj, ts, tj, ks, kl, kj, sp, st, sk, fl, fj, mj, nj, lj.


A word-ending coda consonants cluster can be:

kt, st, sk, lt, lk.

A cross-syllable consonants cluster can involve any of the onset and coda clusters plus some others, the whole set of rules being:

* a plosive /p/ or /k/ followed by any consonant excepted nasals and /w/;
* /t/ followed by /p/, fricatives or /j/;
* /f/ followed by /l/ or /j/;
* /s/ followed by any consonant except for /j/ or /w/;
* /m/ followed by any consonants excepted nasals and /w/;
* /n/ followed by a fricative, /t/, /k/ or /j/;
* /l/ followed by any consonant except for /w/;
* /j/ followed by any consonant except for /w/.

Note that, being intervocalic, those consonants clusters will get voiced, and will be written as such; thus, all consonants clusters allowed cross-syllabically are :

bd, bg, bv, bz, bl/pl, bj ; gb, gd, gv, gz, gl/kl, gj ; db, dv, dz, dj ; vl/fl, vj ; zb, zd, zg, zv, zm, zn, zl/sl ; mb, md, mg, mv, mz, ml, mj ; nd, ng, nv, nz, nj ; lb/lp, ld/lt, lg/lk, lv/lf, lz/ls, lm, ln, lj ; jb, jd, jg, jv, jz, jm, jn, jl.

------

Note that, a word might be written with two same consonants or vowels, mostly for morphological consistency or for differentiating some homophones; the consonant might then be geminated or the vowel lengthened but such phenomena have no phonemic reality.

There is no phonemic stress. Stress is subject to the locutor's habits of speaking.

As has been written above, the vowels -a- and -u- mark, respectively, the feminine and the masculine genders. Though, as there is no phenomenon of agreement and as this marking isn't mandatory, Lodeen isn't to be considered as having genders.

The marker for the plural is "i". It is a suffix, unless the word contains a prefix; in this case, the "i" will move to the prefix: a "neutral" prefix is usually comprised of a consonant or a consonants cluster + the "neutral" vowel /e/. But when the word is plural, the "e" drops and is replaced by the "i".

The "i" itself is part of a system of marker vowels wich indicate number and, optionally, gender : a(feminine), u(masculine), i(plural). The vowel "e" is neutral in the sense it is a default vowel, which doesn't represent any gender or number.

When there are two adjacent vowel markers (possiblities are a+i and u+i), the gender marker is placed before the number marker when they are in a suffix position, and after when they are in a prefix position; in both cases, they diphtong and become -aj, -uj, -ja or -ju.

Some examples:

PAN, a person, someone; PANI: some people, PANU: a man, PANAJ: some women.
KEBAN, a child (literally, a "little person/human": ke- is a diminutive prefix–note the /p/ of "pan" gets voiced); KIBAN: some children, KABAN: a little girl, KJUBAN: some little boys.

Affixes can be added one to each other: as "le-" is a determining prefix (which plays the role of determined article); "LEBAN" will be "the person, this person" and "LEGEBAN" will be "the child, this child"; in this case, only one suffix will be modified by vowel markers if needed, the first one. Note, that a determining prefix will always come before a diminutive prefix.
So "the children, these children" will be "LIGEBAN".

It is a matter of interpretation to determine if those affixes are polysemic or not. Indeed, we can see the -e- as euphonic, serving only to link the consonantal prefix to the base and thus its dropping would only be the lack of need for it to be, as another prefix (i, a, u, ja, ju) follows the consonantal prefix. This way, the diminutive prefix is k-, and a gender or number prefix can be added to the base too, so "ka" would be prefix 'k' + prefix 'a'. Else, if there is no gender or number prefix, a euphonic /e/ is inserted.
But we can also consider a 'composed' prefix, like "li", to be a declension of the basic-neutral prefix "le", as -i marks the plural. Affixes would thus be declined in gender and number.

The definite article is a prefix, le- (also li-, la-, lu-, lju-, lja- depending on number and 'gender'–though, this precise prefix might also show the variants laj- and luj- for lja- and lju-).

When the context might seem obvious, or the locutor is speaking about their direct environment, the definite article might not be used.

Ex. : Mela tame nezol, ta kado klale stol

mother mine think, that cat pretty be

We will translate this as "My mother thinks the cat is pretty" and not "My mother thinks some cat/any cat is pretty", as the locutor probably speaks of their familial pet.

Indefinite article is "ne", plural "ni". It is placed before the noun, and isn't mandatory as an absence of definite prefix might as well indicate the indefinite property of the object.

Lodeen has three aspects : the action begins or will soon begin; the action is being done; the action is over.

We could define them as debutive/prospective, progressive, and perfective aspects, rather than perfective/imperfective.

They are marked by suffixes, -jen, -jol and -jga respectively, and are added to the verb whose final -l has been dropped.

Verbs finish in -ol when in the infinitive or in the present tense.

To form the past tense, the -o- turns to a -e-.

"Stol", to be, am, are, is; "stel", was, were.

The future is formed by changing the -o- of the infinitive/present ending to a -i-:

"Stol", to be, am, are, is; "stil", will be.

It's a fauxauxlang.