ízhez

ízhez is a constructed language (conlang) designed for speculative fiction and used in worldbuilding and role-playing communities. It originated as a collaborative project in the early 2010s and has since accumulated a small corpus of grammars, dictionaries, and sample texts. The language is intended to be easy to learn for beginners while offering expressive options for nuanced dialogue.

Phonology and writing: izhez has five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and a modest consonant inventory including p, t, k, s, ʃ, m, n, l, r. Stress falls on the penultimate syllable. The writing system is Latin-based, augmented with diacritics to indicate vowel quality and palatalization, such as í for a close front vowel and ň for palatal nasal.

Grammar: The basic word order is subject–object–verb (SOV). Nouns take case markings to indicate subject, object, and possessor. Adjectives follow nouns. Verbs encode aspect and mood through affixes rather than separate auxiliaries. Personal pronouns mark inclusive and exclusive in the first person, and evidential markers appear in some verb forms.

Usage and status: izhez is primarily used in fan fiction and educational materials for language learners within its community. A community-maintained grammar, lexicon, and phrasebook exist online, alongside sample dialogues and music lyrics. It remains a niche language, with most resources available to hobbyists rather than a broad audience.