Vokaleve

Vokaleve is a fictional linguistic framework used in worldbuilding and experimental phonology to describe vowel systems that interact with morphology through vowel harmony. The term is presented as a compact model rather than a widely attested theory, and it is commonly used to illustrate how vowels can constrain affix vowels in a language's grammar.

In a typical vokaleve system, vowels are organized along a small, closed inventory defined by height (high, mid, low), backness (front, central, back), and rounding. Vowel harmony is the central feature: vowels within a morphological domain, such as a stem and its affixes, must share a common quality across one or more features (for example backness or rounding). This results in vowel shape consistency across related syllables and can affect both suffix vowels and inflectional markers.

Vokaleve allows variation in how strictly harmony operates. Some realizations emphasize front-back harmony, others rounding harmony, and some combine multiple features. The model also accommodates permitted exceptions, loanwords, or phonotactic constraints that influence how strictly harmony applies in practice. Proponents use vokaleve to compare potential vowel inventories, predict possible word forms, or design conlangs with coherent phonological rules.

Because vokaleve originates in scholarly imagination and hobbyist communities, it is described as a hypothetical or illustrative framework rather than a canonical theory in contemporary linguistics. It serves as a teaching and worldbuilding tool to explore how vowel systems can shape morphology and syntax. See also: vowel harmony, phonology, constructed languages.