Xhami

Xhami is a constructed language created for a fictional world and used by online communities, writers, and role-playing games. It is associated with the Xhami people, who are imagined as living on a coastal archipelago. The language originated in a collaborative worldbuilding project in the early 2000s and has since appeared in novels and fan materials.

Phonology and writing: Xhami has a five-vowel system (a, e, i, o, u) and a consonant inventory resembling many natural languages, including stops, fricatives, nasals, and liquids. Syllables are typically CV or CVC, with occasional clusters restricted to a few positions. In modern texts, Xhami is usually written with a Latin-based alphabet with diacritics to mark vowel quality and stress; ancient inscriptions are depicted as a separate syllabary within in-world lore.

Grammar: Xhami is designed as mostly analytic, with some incorporated affixes to mark tense, aspect, mood, and evidentiality. Nouns mark number and demonstratives, while verbs combine with particles and affixes to indicate person and tense. Basic word order is subject–verb–object, but topics and focus can influence sentence structure.

Lexicon and usage: The vocabulary blends original roots with in-world loanwords from neighboring languages. The language features a rich set of demonstratives and a developed evidential system. Texts in Xhami range from poetry to dialogue and are used in worldbuilding settings to convey cultural nuance.

Status: Xhami remains a living project within online communities and creative writing circles. Grammar descriptions, lexicons, and example texts are periodically expanded, and the language is studied by enthusiasts for linguistic experimentation and immersive storytelling.