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, an Old Nurian-imitating word ďaccerabaccera is used for 'unintelligible', cf. Japanese chinpunkanpun.)

(Nurian goes extinct in CF Tricin by the time Irtans arrive, but Old Nurian influences Wiebisch vocab.)

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