Thulean

Introduction

Thulean (endonym: Migkatsi) is spoken by the Selhar people of Thule (endonym: Telku) an island in the North Atlantic, west of Scotland and north of Ireland. The Selhar are a nation of thurses (AKA European pygmies) noted for their neoteny, androgyny and distinctive striped epidermises. Thulean has approximately 30 million native speakers. The language is agglutinative and polysynthetic with a split intransitive fluid-S morphosyntax. It is a language isolate and has not been proven to be related to any other languages even those of other thurse groups on the European mainland.

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Phonology

Orthography

Thulean is written with the Thulean alphabet. The Thulean government endorses a romanised orthography for the purpose of transliterating Thulean proper names in foreign media. This is also increasingly used in foreign scholarly works on the language. This orthography is as follows:

"a" = /A/

"e" = /E/

"g" = /N/

"h" = /M\/

"i" = /i/

"j" = /j/

"k" = /k/

"l" = /l/

"m" = /m/

"n" = /n/

"p" = /p/

"q" = /K/

"r" = /r/

"s" = /s/

"t" = /t/

"u" = /u/

"v" = /w/

"x" = /x/

Consonants

NASAL: /m, n, N/

PLOSIVE: /p, t, k/

FRICATIVE: /s, K, x/

LIQUID: /r, l/

APPROXIMANT: /j, M\, w/

Vowels

HIGH: /i, u/

LOW: /E, A/

Allophones

1) /N/ is realised as [g] in word-initial position and in onset position following a coda consonant.

2) Plosives are aspirated in word-initial position.

3) /p, t, k, s/ are voiced in intervocalic position.

4) /K/ is realised as [T] in coda position and in onset position following a coda consonant.

5) /K/ is realised as [D] in intervocalic position.

6) /x/ is realised as [S] in coda position.

7) /x/ is realised as [Z] in intervocalic position.

8) The geminate clusters /mm, nn, NN, rr, ll/ are realised as [mb, nd, Ng, rd, ld].

9) The geminate clusters /pp, tt, kk, ss, KK, xx/ are realised as [p, t, k, s, K, x].

10) The onset cluster /Nj/ is realised as [dZ] in word-initial position and in onset position following a coda consonant.

11) The onset clusters /tr, tl/ are realised as [ts`, tK].

12) The onset clusters /kj, kM\, kw/ are realised as [tS, kx, kW].

Prosody

Stress

Thulean has stress accent. Primary stress falls within the root. Open syllables are light, closed syllables are heavy. Syllable onset clusters do not close the preceding syllable. If the first syllable of a root is heavy then the primary stress falls there otherwise it falls upon the second syllable of the root.

Intonation

Secondary stress falls upon every alternate syllable after the primary stress. This gives Thulean a broadly iambic rhythm. Thulean does not have phonemic tone.

Phonotactics

1) The maximal syllable in Thulean is CCVC.

2) Permitted syllable codas:

a) Morpheme-medial only: /N, p/

b) Morpheme-medial and morpheme-final: /m, n, t, k, s, K, x, r, l/

3) Consonant clusters may have no more than two segments.

4) Consonant clusters may not occur in morpheme-final position.

5) Permitted syllable onset clusters: /Nj, NM\, Nw, tr, tl, kj, kM\, kw/. These consonant clusters are the only ones permitted to occur in prefix-initial or root-initial position.

6) Permitted syllable boundary clusters:

a) /m/ + /m, p/

b) /n/ + /n, t, s, K/

c) /N/ + /N, k, x/

d) /p/ + /p, s/

e) /t/ + /t, s/

f) /k/ + /k, s/

g) /s/ + /p, t, k, s/

h) /K/ + /p, t, k, K/

i) /x/ + /p, t, k, x/

j) /r/ + /m, n, N, p, t, k, s, K, x, r, j, M\, w/

k) /l/ + /m, n, N, p, t, k, s, K, x, l, j, M\, w/

7) Geminate plosive clusters may not occur before a closed syllable.

8) All roots are disyllabic.

9) All suffixes must begin with either a single consonant, a syllable onset cluster or a syllable boundary cluster.

10) Vowel clusters or diphthongs do not occur.

11) High vowels may not occur before a liquid onset.

Consonant Gradation

1) If a syllable should be closed by suffixation and should it begin with a geminate plosive or a single plosive following a nasal, a liquid or a vowel then those plosives undergo lenition. This is usually referred to as consonant gradation.

2) The sequences of consonant gradation are as follows:

a) pp > p > w

b) tt > t > r

c) kk > k > M\

d) mp > mm

e) nt > nn

f) Nk > NN

g) rp > rw

h) rt > rr

i) rk > rM\

j) lp > lw

k) lt > ll

l) lk > lM\

3) Consonant gradation occurs after metathesis from sandhi.

Sandhi

1) If a triconsonantal cluster should result from affixation then the first segment of the forbidden cluster is deleted.

2) Other forbidden clusters resulting from affixation are treated as follows:

i) /m/ + /n, N/ > [nn, NN]

ii) /m/ + /t, k/ > [nt, Nk]

iii) /m/ + /s, K, x/ > [ns, nK, Nx]

iv) /m/ + /r, l/ > [rr, ll]

v) /m/ + /j, M\, w/ > [Nj, NM\, Nw]

vi) /n/ + /m, N/ > [mm, NN]

vii) /n/ + /p, k/ > [mp, Nk]

viii) /n/ + /x/ > [Nx]

ix) /n/ + /r, l/ > [rr, ll]

x) /n/ + /j, M\, w/ > [Nj, NM\, Nw]

xi) /t/ + /m, n, N/ > [nt, nt, nt]

xii) /t/ + /p, k] > [pp, kk]

xiii) /t/ + /K, x/ > [Kt, xt]

xiv) /t/ + /j, M\, w/ > [kj, kM\, kw]

xv) /k/ + /m, n, N/ > [Nk, Nk, Nk]

xvi) /k/ + /p, t/ > [pp, tt]

xvii) /k/ + /K, x/ > [Kk, xk]

xviii) /k/ + /r, l/ > [tr, tl]

xix)/s/ + /m, n, N/ > [ns, ns, ns]

xx) /s/ + /K, x/ > [KK, xx]

xxi) /s/ + /r, l/ > [rs, ls]

xxii) /s/ + /j, M\, w/ > [ss, ss, ss]

xxiii) /K/ + /m, n, N/ > [nK, nK, nK]

xxiv) /K/ + /s, x/ > [ss, xx]

xxv) /K/ + /r, l/ > [rK, lK]

xxvi) /K/ + /j, M\, w/ > [KK, KK, KK]

xxvii) /x/ + /m, n, N/ > [Nx, Nx, Nx]

xxviii) /x/ + /s, K/ > [ss, KK]

xxix) /x/ + /r, l/ > [rx, lx]

xxx) /x/ + /j, M\, w/ > [xx, xx, xx]

xxxi) /r/ + /l/ > [ll]

xxxii) /l/ + /r/ > [rr]

3) If owing to affixation a high vowel should precede a liquid coda then it is lowered to its corresponding low vowel.