Swyr

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Humpback Whelsh (Mór fîl) is a tonal language with a Welsh aesthetic. It is meant to be spoken in Humpback Wales, and Old Humpback Whelsh has lent some words to Tigal. It is an in-universe conlang in Verse:Tricin.

Phonology

Consonants

Humpback Whelsh uses these consonants:

Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Glottal
Nasal voiceless mh /m̥/ nh /n̥/ ngh /ŋ̊/
voiced m /m/ n /n/ ng /ŋ/ ngw /ŋʷ/
Plosive aspirated p /pʰ/ t /tʰ/ c /kʰ/
unaspirated b /p/ d /t/ g /k/ gw /kʷ/
Fricative voiceless ff, ph /f/ th /θ/ s /s/ si /ʃ/ ch /χ/ chw /xʷ/ h /h/
voiced f /v/ dd /ð/
Trill voiceless rh /r̥/
voiced r /r/
Approximant voiceless ll /l̥~ɬ/
voiced l /l/ i /j/ w /w/

Unlike in Welsh, the consonants written mh nh ngh are true voiceless nasals.

Finals

Humpback Whelsh allows these finals: -b, -d, -g, -m, -n, -ng, -l and -r. The first three are unreleased stops /-p̚ -t̚ -k̚/.

Vowels

Front Central Back
Close i /i/ y /ɨ/ w /w/
Mid e /e/ (ə) o /o/
Open a /a/


Diphthongs Second component
First component front central back
close wy /ʊi/ iw /ɪu/, yw /ɨu/
mid ei /əi/, oe /ɔi/ eu /əɨ/ ew /ɛu/
open ae /aɨ, ɑːɨ/ aw /au/

The schwa /ə/ is written y and shows up in unstressed words.

Tones

Humpback Whelsh has four contrastive tones: level, rising, falling and peaking.

Tone Example Notes
Level llyr (blow) /ɬɨr˧/
Rising séng (place) /seŋ˨˥/
Falling chà (assist) /xa˨˩/ May be slightly creaky voiced.
Peaking rhêud (pebble) /r̥eɨt̚˦˥˩/

Mutations

Humpback Whelsh uses three kinds of initial consonant mutations for derivational purposes: the soft (chweul mỳng), the nasal (chweul nhẁd) and the aspirate (chweul sŷr) mutations.

Numbers

0. ngéud 1. ỳd 2. cêng 3. rhâw 4. nod 5. thẁy 6. lleb 7. sèun 8. fen 9. llawr 10. hwr 11. chwàed 12. góed 144. máe 1728. ddẃyl 1728^2. óng