Nurian/Old

Pages with the prefix 'Nurian/Old' in the and 'Talk' namespaces:

Nurian/Old

• Nurian/Old/Lexicon

Nurian/Old/Morphology

Nurian/Old/Names

Nurian/Old/Phrasebook

Nurian/Old/Swadesh list

Nurian/Old/Wordlist

Talk:

Nurian/Old
nūrimai
Pronunciation	[/ˈnˠuːrʲɪmˠɐɪ/]
Created by	IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Language family	Quame Talmic Nurian/Old
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qnr

Nurian (/ˈnʊəɹiən/, Nurian: gaffai nūrimai /ˈgɐfˠːɐɪ ˈnˠuːrʲɪmˠɐɪ/, Eevo: Nwrib or brits Nwrée) is a Talmic language and a sister of Tigol, aesthetically inspired by Pali, Italian, Lithuanian and Arabic. Nurian is one of the classical languages of Bjeheond, along with Classical Netagin. (In Modern Netagin, ďaccara baccara is used for 'unintelligible nonsense', cf. Japanese chinpunkanpun.)

Todo

• Explain Lithuanian-like vowel system as a result of Idavic substrate?
• should be P-Talmic
• Did Thensarian have intensive noun/adjective suffixes that Nurian preserves?
• -tl-, -dl- > -ċċ-, -ġġ- used mainly in names
• -tą = instrument/patient suffix
• massah = dark
• Tamīħinai = Wen Dămea
• ħammih = wheat (~ sñyrm)
• dallhatuh = strife
• hienaθini = sleep soundly
• -zzah = deverbal noun
  • muoġiazzah = food
• nhuobai = jaw
• natterai = chain

Historical phonology

• -am -em -im -om -um -ām -ēm -īm -ōm -ūm > -ą -ę -į -ą -ų -ą -ę -į -ų -ų
• -s > -h
• Thn. cia ce ci cio ciu gia ge gi gio giu > ċia ċe ċi ċio ċiu ġia ġe ġi ġio ġiu
• e ē ei ea eā > e ē ei ia iā
• o, ō > a, uo; word final -uo > -ū
• ae oe ui ao eo iu > ai ȳ ui au iuo iū

Cluster assimilations

Nurian is rich in geminate consonants, most of which arise from the following historical assimilations. Geminate consonants become degeminate word-initially.

• bl ml fl tl dl θl δl cl gl ngl > bbi mmi ffi ċċi ġġi ṡṡi żżi kki ggi ngi
• ħl, ȝl > ħħ, ȝȝ
• nl, rl > both ll
• sp, st, sc, sȝ, sn, sl, sr > pph, tth, kkh, ħħ, tth, nnh, llh, rrh
• sb, sd, sg > bb, zz, gg
• pr, fr, tr, θr, cr, ngr, ħr > pph, ff, tth, θθ, kkh, ng, ħħ
• br, dr, δr, gr, ȝr > bb, dd, δδ, gg, ȝȝ
• mr > mm
• cn, gn > ngh, ng
• mn > nn
• rC > CC
• lC > :C; lv > vv
• ct > tt
• VN + fricative > V[+nasal] + fricative
• tv dv θv δv > pp bb ff vv

Co-reflexes with Eevo

• aw ~ uo, ā, a+C
• ia ~ ei
• i ~ ȳ, ī, ē, a/e/i+C

Phonology

The Old Nurian sound system has a large inventory of around 58 consonants and 10 vowels. A notable feature of the phonology of most Nurian accents is phonemic velarization vs. palatalization in hard-soft pairs. All consonants except /ħ ʕ h j/ are members of a hard-soft-pair. /ħ ʕ h j/ color the /a/ vowel as if they were soft, and /ħ ʕ/ tend to lower adjacent vowels.

Phonotactics

Old Nurian forbids all consonant clusters other than those of the form homorganic nasal + consonant. Word-medially, every consonant can be geminated except /j/ and /h/. Word-finally, usually only /n/, /l/, /ʔ/ (as an allophone of /r/), /h/, /s/, /t/, and vowels are allowed.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Old Nurian

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar/Retroflex		Postalveolar	Velar		Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft		soft	hard
Nasal	voiceless	mh m̊ˠ	mhi m̊ʲ	nh n̪̊ˠ			nhi n̊ʲ		nghi ŋ̊ʲ	ngh ŋ̊
	voiced	m mˠ	mi mʲ	n n̪ˠ			ni nʲ		ngi ŋʲ	ng ŋ
Stop	tenuis	p pˠ	pi pʲ	θ t̪ˠ	θi t̪ˢʲ	t tˠ~ʈˠ	ti tʲ	ċi tʃ	ki kʲ	k k		-r ʔ
	aspirated	ph pˠʰ	phi pʲʰ	θh t̪ˠʰ	θhi t̪ˢʲʰ	th tˠʰ~ʈˠʰ	thi tʲʰ	ċhi tʃʰ	khi kʲʰ	kh kʰ
	voiced	b bˠ	bi bʲ	δ d̪ˠ	δi d̪ᶻʲ	d dˠ~ɖˠ	di dʲ	ġi dʒ	gi ɡʲ	g ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f fˠ	fi fʲ	s s̪ˠ			si sʲ	ṡi ʃ			ħ, ħi ħ	h, hi h
	voiced	v vˠ	vi vʲ	z z̪ˠ			zi zʲ	żi ʒ
Trill	voiceless					rh r̥ˠ	rhi r̥ʲ
	voiced					r rˠ	ri rʲ
Lateral	voiceless			lh l̥ˠ			lhi l̥ʲ
	voiced			l lˠ			li lʲ
Approximant									j j		ȝ, ȝi ʕ

Notes

• Voiceless stops and affricates are unaspirated.
• All hard consonants are velarized (especially /rˠ, lˠ, t̪ˠ, d̪ˠ/, which are uvularized).
• All consonants are labialized before the back vowels /u, uː, uɔ/.
• /rˠ/ is uvularized apical alveolar [r̺ʶ] or postalveolar [r̠ʶ]. When not geminated, it can either be a trill [rʶ] or a flap [ɾʶ].
• /rʲ/ is palatalized alveolar flap [ɾ̪ʲ] and less commonly a trill [r̺ʲ]. It is always a trill [r̺ːʲ] when geminated.
• /lˠ/ is a uvularized apical alveolar [l̺ʶ] or uvularized laminal denti-alveolar [l̪ʶ].
• /lʲ/ is laminal alveolar [l̻ʲ].
• /ɲ/ is postpalatal [ɲ̄].
• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are laminal palatalized alveolar [tʃʲ, dʒʲ, ʃʲ, ʒʲ].
• Before /k, ɡ/, /n/ is realized as velar [ŋ].
• /ħ/ has been variously described as pharyngeal [ħ] and epiglottal [ʜ].
• /ʕ/ is an epiglottal approximant [ʕ̞].
• /h/ is voiced [ɦ] after vowels and voiced consonants.

Vowels

Old Nurian has three short, three long and three nasal monophthongs. There is a considerable degree of allophony in low vowels.

Vowel phonemes

	Front			Central			Back
	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal	short	long	nasal
Close	/ɪ~ɪ̞/	/iː/	/ĩː/				/ʊ/	/uː/	/ũː/
Open	[ɛ~æ]	[æː]		/a/	/aː/	/ãː/	[ɑ]	[ɑː]

Diphthongs: /aɪ aʊ iɛ uɔ ʊi/

Notes

• /a aː/ each have three allophones:
  • [ɐ~ɑ ɑː] after non-radical hard consonants. /aː/ in this environment may be pronounced [ɔː] or [ʌː] by many younger speakers of the Fiuṡṡērah accent.
  • [ɛ~æ æː] after soft consonants, radicals and /h/
• Allophony of /a aː/ is, however, reduced in the speech of many younger speakers of the Dagȳne accent, who pronounce both as [ɐ aː]

Stress

Nurian stress is similar to Modern Standard Arabic:

• Stress falls on the heavy (CV: or CVC) syllable closest to the end, if it is not the final syllable;
• if neither the penult nor the antepenult are heavy, the antepenult is stressed.

Orthography

Nurian is written in an Ancient Gwnax-based script.

Consonants

Consonants

Grapheme	m	p	b	f	v	n	t	d	θ	δ	s	z	r	l	ng	k	g	ħ	ȝ	h	j
Hard	/mˠ/	/pˠ/	/bˠ/	/fˠ/	/vˠ/	/nˠ/	/tˠ/	/dˠ/	/θˠ/	/ðˠ/	/sˠ/	/zˠ/	/rˠ/	/ɫ/	/ŋ/	/k/	/ɡ/	/ħ/	/ʕ/	/h/	/j/
Soft	/mʲ/	/pʲ/	/bʲ/	/fʲ/	/vʲ/	/nʲ/	/tʲ/	/dʲ/	/θ/	/ð/	/sʲ/	/zʲ/	/rʲ/	/lʲ/	/ɲ/	/t͡ʃ/	/d͡ʒ/

The pairs of aspirated plosives and voiceless resonants /pʰˠ pʰʲ/, /tʰˠ tʰʲ/, /tʃʰ/, /kʲʰ kʰ/, /m̊ˠ m̊ʲ/, /n̪̊ˠ n̊ʲ/, /ɲ̊ ŋ̊/, /l̥ˠ l̥ʲ/, /r̥ˠ r̥ʲ/ are written ⟨ph, th, ċh, kh, mh, nh, ngh, lh, rh⟩.

Final -r is pronounced /ʔ/.

Vowels

• a: hard /a/ [ɐ~ɑ]
• ā: hard /aː/ [ɑː]
• ą: hard /ãː/
• ai: hard /aɪ/ [ɐɪ~ɑɪ]
• au: hard /aʊ/ [ɐʊ~ɑʊ]
• u: hard /ʊ/
• ui: hard /ʊɪ/
• uo: hard /uɔ/
• ū: hard /uː/
• ų: hard /ũː/

• ia, e: soft /a/ [ɛ]
• iā, ē: soft /aː/ [æː]
• ią, ę: soft /ãː/
• iai, ei: soft /aɪ/ [ɛɪ]
• iau: soft /aʊ/ [ɛʊ]
• i: soft /ɪ/
• ī: soft /iː/
• į: soft /ĩː/
• iu: soft /ʊ/
• ui: soft /ʊɪ/
• iuo: soft /uɔ/
• iū: soft /uː/
• ių: soft /ũː/
• ie: soft /iə/

Morphology

Main article: Nurian/Old/Morphology

Numerals

Nurian uses a vigesimal numeral system. 1-20: pēm, θiuor, naġġį, δiaubį, salle, thām, ruodih, laddih, habbih, ħuor, ħuopphēm, ħuoθθhiur, ħuonnaġġį, ħuonδiaubį, ħųsalle, ħųthām, ħuorruodih, ħuolladdih, ħuorrhabbih, miekah

• pēm, pēmai, pēmah '1', thām, thāmai, thāmah '6' and their teen counterparts decline as o-stem adjectives
• θiuor '2', ħuor '10', and ħuoθθiur '12' decline like a dual adjective
• naġġį '3', δiaubį '4' and their teen counterparts are i-stem masculines
• salle (< saliθe) '5' is indeclinable
• ruodih, laddih, habbih are i-stem neuters
• miekah is an o-stem noun

Syntax

Nurian uses SVO, head-initial syntax. There are no articles.

Guoδati damibeh jāni betthar.

[ˈguɔðˠɑtʲi ˈdˠɑmʲɪbʲæh ˈjæːnʲi ˈbʲættʰˠɑɾ]

guoδ-ti tam-ibeh jāni betth-ar

remain-3PL leaf-PL.CST laurel.SG.ABS.NOM green-PL.F.ABS.NOM

Laurel leaves stay green.

Particles

• kaC-, kat = 'and'
  • ħuġġiah kap pālei = 'bread and milk'
• ei (/ɛɪ/) = 'not'
• fī /fʲiː/ = 'if'

Relative clauses

Nurian uses the resumptive pronoun strategy when the head is not the subject. A resumptive pronoun must be fronted, if it is not embedded in another clause within the relative clause.

Sample texts

UDHR, Article 1

Kakarai ħausį gatthāną kaθ θeθeivų di khussiū kat iġġiatū; ammimīdīnį nai ȝabbī kad dȳkaluttī, ṡiūȝą danθū hieθariākah ħaibatthah di helą venghimę.

[ˈkɐkɐrˠɐɪ ˈħæʊsʲĩː gɐˈtʰˠːɑːnˠɑ̃ː kɐθ θʲɛˈθʲɛɪvˠũː dʲɪ ˈkʰʊsʲːuː kɐʔ ˈɪdʒːætˠuː | æmʲːɪmʲiːˈdʲiːnʲĩː nɐɪ ʕæbʲːiː kɐd dˠiːkɐlˠʊtʲːiː, ʃuːʕãː dˠɐnθˠuː fʲɛɪtˠɐrʲæːkɐh ħæɪbˠɐtʰˠːɐh dʲɪ hælˠɑ̃ː vʲɛŋ̊ʲːɪmʲæ̃ː]

human.COL.DEF be.born-3SG.M.PRES free.COL.INDEF.M and equal.COL.INDEF.M in dignity-3SG.M and right-3SG.M; gifted-COL.INDEF.M INS reason and conscience, duty upon-3SG.M behave-INFV mutually in spirit-SGV.DEF brotherly-SGV.DEF.F

All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.

Poetry

Greek and Latin quantitative meters, no rhyming