Phrygian (Semitic)

Phrygian
ƞpɛ́ucɑı préxay
Pronunciation	[ˈprɛksɛː]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Alt-History Europe
Native to	Phrygia
Ethnicity	Phrygian
Language family	Afroasiatic Semitic West Semitic Central Semitic Phrygian
Early forms	Afro-Asiatic Proto-Semitic Proto-Phrygian Old-Phrygian Classical Phrygian
Standard form	Standard Phrygian (--)
Official status
Official language in	Phrygia
Recognised minority language in	Eretna

Phrygian (endonym: ʌɛcɑ́ү ƞpɛ́ucɑı, Lesán préxay, [lɛˈsaŋ ˈprɛksɛː]), also known as Prexian, is a Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. It is spoken mostly in the Principality of Smyrna, and in north- and southwestern Eretna, concentrated in the western half of Anatolia. The standardized form of Phrygian is mainly based on the metropolitan Smyrna Dialect (ɜíoɛr ᴇɯɛppɑ́, sjíuet Emerrá). The name Phrygian is a misnomer, as the classical Phrygian language, which used to be spoken very near to where the Semitic Phrygian tribes initially settled, is an Indo-European language closely related to Greek.

Classical Phrygian still survives as the liturgical language of the Church of Smyrna, one of the Greek Orthodox Churches.

Phonology

Standard Phrygian Consonants

		Labial	Coronal		Palatal	Velar	Glottal
			Plain	Velarized
Nasal		m	n[1]
Polsive	Voiceless	p	t	tˠ(ː)[2] tˠː[4]	c	k(ː)[2]
	Voiced	b(ː)[3]	d(ː)[3]		ɟ ~ ɡ(ː)[3] [5]
Affricate	Voiceless		t͡ʃ
	Voiced		d͡ʒ
Fricative	Voiceless	f	s ʃ	sˠ ʃˠ		x	h
	Voiced		z			ɣ
Trill/Tap			r
Approximant			l	ɫ(ː)[2]	j

Standard Phrygian Consonants

		Front		Back
		Short	Long	Short	Long
Close		i		u
Mid		e[6] ɛ	ɛː	ɔ	ɔː
Open		a

1. apart from when before velar consonants, /n/ has the allophone [ŋ] in coda positions following a back vowel or /a/.
2. /tˠ k ɫ/ may be unconditionally geminated by depending on speaker such that they do not contrast with /tˠː kː ɫː/.
3. /b d ɡ/ may be unconditionally geminated by older speakers such that they do not contrast with /bː dː ɡː/.
4. the phonemic contrast between /tˠ(ː)/ (spelled ⟨b⟩) and /tˠː/ (spelled ⟨r̃⟩) has largely disappeared among younger speakers, merging both into either /tˠ/ or /tˠː/. Older speakers who still retain the distinction always pronounce /tˠ(ː)/ ⟨b⟩ as [tˠ] and /tˠː/ ⟨r̃⟩ as [tˠː].
5. /ɡ/ is allophonically pronounced as [ɟ] near front vowels
6. /e/ is realized as [e̝~ɪ]

Orthography

Phrygian Alphabet

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Source	Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Source
ᴀ, ɑ	/a/	Greek α	ᴏ, o	/ɔ/	Greek ο
ʙ, ɓ	/f/	Greek β	ᴘ, p	/r/	Greek ρ
ʙ̰, ɓ̰	/b/		ᴄ, c	/s/	Greek ϲ
г, ɼ	/ɣ/, /◌ː/	Greek γ	ᴛ, r	/t/	Greek τ
г̰, ɼ̃	/ɡ/		ᴛ̰, r̃	/tˠ/
ꜱ, s	/d͡ʒ/	Greek δ	ƞ, ƞ	/p/	Greek φ
s̰, s̃	/d/		x, x	/x/	Greek χ
ᴇ, ɛ	/ɛ/	Greek ε	ꝏ, ꝏ	/u/	Greek ω
ч, ɥ	/z/	Greek ζ	m, m	/x/	Aramaic 𐡄
ɋ, q	/t͡ʃ/	Greek θ	n, n		Aramaic 𐡇
ɪ, ı	/i/, /j/	Greek ι	ь, b	/tˠ/	Aramaic 𐡈
u, u	/c/	Greek κ	ⱻ, ɜ	/ʃ/	Aramaic 𐡎
ṵ, ũ	/k/		ᴠ, v	/ɣ/, /◌ː/	Aramaic 𐡏
ʌ, ʌ	/l/	Greek λ	ր, ր	/sˠ/	Aramaic 𐡑
ᴡ, ɯ	/m/	Greek μ	ʟ, ɭ	/ʃˠ/	Aramaic 𐡋
ʏ, ү	/n/	Greek ν

Phrygian Alphabet digraphs

Grapheme	Sound (IPA)	Source
ᴀı, ɑı	/ɛː/	Greek αι
ᴀo, ɑo	/ɔː/	Innovated during Classical Phrygian
ᴇı, ɛı	/e/	Greek ει
oı, oı	/u/	Greek ου
ʟɭ, ɭɭ	/ɫ/	Innovated during Classical Phrygian