Omolain language
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The Omolain language is the official language and lingua franca of Okrit, and the majority language of the Oye ethnic group.
History
Omolain is a language within the lowland family as part of the central lowland branch. It is heavily influenced by Ukubian.
Phonology
Omolain is noteworthy for having a relatively small phonological inventory and simple phonotactics.
Consonants
Omolain has a small inventory of 20 consonants, and is noteworthy for having only prenasalised voiced plosives in the majority of dialects and registers.
| Stops | Fricatives | Liquids | Nasals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unvoiced | Voiced | Unvoiced | Voiced | |||
| Labial | /p/ | /mb/ [b] | /f/ | /v/ | /w/ | /m/ |
| Dento-Alveolar | /t/ | /nd/ [d] | /s/ | /z/ | /r~ɾ/ [r] | /n/ |
| Palatal | /c/ | /ɲɟ/ [j] | /l/ | /ɲ/ [ny] | ||
| Velar | /k/ | /ŋg/ [g] | /j/ [y] | /ŋ/ [q] | ||
The alveolar trill /r/ is often realised as a tap /ɾ/ especially in lower registers. The palatal stops /c/ and /ɲɟ/ have the common allophones /tʃ/ and /ndʒ/ respectively. All allowed syllable initial consonant clusters are those with the liquids /w/, /r/, /l/ and /j/, with all other consonant clusters only allowed in word medial positions on syllable margins. In southern Omolain dialects, where pre-nasalization is not obligatory, nasal-initial clusters are also allowed, causing various sets of words that are distinct in southern Omolain to be homophones in the Standard and northern varieties.
Vowels
Omolain has a 6 vowel system often split into 2 sets of 3 'light' and 'heavy' vowels, with two 'short' and one 'long' vowel in each set.
| Light | Heavy | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Short | /e~ɛ/ [e] | /ɪ~i/ | /o~ɔ/ [o] | /ɐ~a/ [a] |
| Long | /i:/ [ii] | /ɑ:/ [aa] | ||
The heavy short vowels transcribed as 'o' and 'a' have the allophones /ɒ/ and /æ/ respectively in the low register of the southern dialects of Kafotwo, Makwe and Ikanata
Grammar
Omolain word order is verb initial and is primarily verb-object-subject however allows for other constructions, and is more accurately described as verb-patient in order
Writing system
Omolain is written using an alpha-syllabic system invented by Agak Omonyeje Degi. The Omolain syllabary has been adopted for use in various other Okriti languages.