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Magellanican (c) Rebecca Ashling 2019-2020. I assert that the Magellanican conlang presented here is my intellectual property and confirm that Linguifex may post this material on their site.

Magellanican (Mag:Tinnakva Teljuq) is a polysynthetic, nominative-accusative language (but using ergative morphology) with VSOX word order which is the official language and lingua franca of Magellanica (Mag: Telku) and has approximately 300 million speakers. The Commonwealth of Magellanica (Mag: Tiqkara Anakte Teljuq) comprises the entirety of the fictional continent of Magellanica which lies in the southern Pacific Ocean from 35°S to 65°S, north to south, and from 110°W to 140°W, east to west. Its nearest continental neighbour is Antarctica which is about 1100 km due south of Magellanica.  

==Introduction==

The initial group of colonisers was very small and the founder effect is evident in the modern Magellanican phenotype. Most of the population are of unusually short stature, averaging about 1.4 metres in height. It is believed early mutations in the early generations resulted in red and blonde hair occurring in a sizeable majority as well as the presence of blue, grey and green eye colours in a somewhat smaller minority.

The original speakers of Magellanican, the Yamik people, originated from the Rutheri region of Magellanica which borders the Heart Sea. From about one thousand years ago it became the lingua franca of the entire area surrounding the Heart Sea, and then the entire continent following the advent of smallpox in the 16th Century.

Magellanican is a language isolate and has no traceable genealogical relation to any other language, ancient or modern. It does however form a sprachbund with its neighbours, sharing such features as a bisyllabic root structure, primary stress on the first syllable, consonant gradation and the opposition of voiceless plosives vs voiced fricatives or approximants. The dialect described below is the standard variety promulgated by the Commonwealth of Magellanica.

Magellanican is written in a native script (Mag: Tinuljejat Teljuq) which is an alphabet derived from an earlier featural abugida. It is written from left to right.

The Latin script was introduced in the 18th Century in order to take advantage of imported printing presses from Europe. The current situation is one of digraphia with the Tinuljejat Ūravaq (Latin Alphabet) being primarily used for scientific, engineering and technical publications and the Tinuljejat Teljuq being mostly used for literature, religion and art. Outside these domains, for more mundane matters, the Latin Alphabet tends to be used by the upper echelons of society and the Magellanic Alphabet by the lower.

 

====Magellanican Alphabet====

| Magellanican Letter || IPA Value||Latin Letter

|⟨o⟩||/m/||⟨m⟩

|⟨c⟩||/p/||⟨p⟩

|⟨ɔ⟩||/w/||⟨v⟩

|⟨x⟩||/n/||⟨n⟩

|⟨v⟩||/t/||⟨t⟩

|⟨ʌ⟩||/ɹ/||⟨r⟩

|⟨ɴ⟩||/h/||⟨h⟩

|⟨z⟩||/l/||⟨l⟩

|⟨ʜ⟩||/ŋ/||⟨q⟩

|⟨n⟩||/k/||⟨k⟩

| ⟨u⟩ || /j/||⟨j⟩

|⟨h⟩||/i/||⟨i⟩

|⟨hh⟩||/eɪ/||⟨ī⟩

|⟨ɥ⟩||/ɛ/||⟨e⟩

|⟨ɥɥ⟩ || /aɪ/||⟨ē⟩

|⟨b⟩||/u/||⟨u⟩

|⟨bb⟩||/oʊ/||⟨ū⟩

|⟨q⟩||/ɑ/||⟨ɑ⟩

| ⟨qq⟩ || /aʊ/||⟨ā⟩

Magellanican has a total of 11 consonants which according to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Stucture is a small inventory. The most striking features of the inventory, according to WALS, are the presence of an initial velar nasal as well as the absence of phonemic fricatives. The consonants are displayed in the table below:

|  ||Labial||Alveolar||Dorsal||Glottal

|Stop||/p/||/t/||/k/||

|Continuant||/w/||/ɹ/||/j/||/h/

|Nasal||/m/||/n/||/ŋ/||

|Liquid||||/l/||||

Magellanican has a total of 8 vowels, 4 monophthongs and 4 diphthongs. The diphthongs pattern phonologically as long vowels. According to the World Atlas of Lanɡuaɡe Structures Magellanican has a small vowel quality inventory. Magellanican has a consonant to vowel quality ratio of 2.75 which according to WALS is a moderately low ratio. The vowels are displayed in the table below:

|  || Front Short||Long Front ||Short Back||Long Back

| Hiɡh || /i/||/eɪ/||/u/||/oʊ/

| Low || /ɛ/||/aɪ/||/ɑ/||/aʊ/

1) Stops are aspirated in word-initial position.

2) /p, t, k/ are realised as [f, ɬ, x] when in onset position after a coda stop.

3) /h/ is realised as [x] in onset position after a coda consonant of /ŋ, l/.

4) Geminate /m, n, ŋ/ are realised as [mb, nd, ŋɡ].

5) Geminate /l/ is realised as [ld].

6) The consonant clusters /ph, th, kh/ are realised as [f, ɬ, x].

7) In closed syllables /i, u/ are realised as [ɪ, ʊ].

1) Words in Magellanican bear primary stress on the initial syllable.

2) Magellanican words bear secondary stress on every odd-numbered syllable following the initial syllable.

3) Rhythm type is trochaic.

4) To an English speaker, Magellanican would appear to be spoken with a slower tempo than English is.

1) The syllable template is (C)V(C).

 

2) Permitted syllable coda consonants are /p, t, k, m, n, ŋ, l/.

3) Stops may not occur in the onset of a non-morpheme-initial closed syllable if that stop follows a short vowel, nasal or /l/.

4) Stops may not occur in the onset of a non-morpheme-initial syllable which contains a long vowel if that stop follows a short vowel, nasal or /l/.

5) Consonant clusters may not have more than two segments.

6) Consonant clusters only occur at syllable boundaries within the word.

7) Permitted consonant clusters as per the table below:

|P||T||K||M||N||Q||L||

|√||√||√||√||||||√||P

|√||√||√||||√||||√||T

|√||√||√||||||√||√||K

|√||√||√||√||||||√||V

|√||√||√||||√||||√||R

|√||√||√||||||√||√||J

|√||√||√||||||√||√||H

|||||||√||||||√||M

|||||||||√||||√||N

|||||||||||√||√||Q

|||||||||√||||√||L

8) /i, eɪ/ may not follow /j/.

 

9) /u, oʊ/ may not follow /w/.

 

10) /eɪ, aɪ/ may not precede /j/.

11) /oʊ, aʊ/ may not precede /w/.

12) Long vowels may not occur in closed syllables.

13) Vowel clusters do not occur.

14) Canonical morpheme syllable templates:

a) Roots: -(C)(C)V(C)- or -(C)V(C)CV(C)-

b) Prefixes: (C)V(C)- or (C)V(C)CV(C)-

c) Suffixes: -(C)(C)V(C) or -(C)V(C)CV(C)

d) Particles: (C)V(C) or (C)V(C)CV(C)

15) Monosyllabic roots are rare and mainly comprise pronouns and certain verbs such as pe 'to exist'.

1) Consonant clusters resulting from affixation undergo sandhi as per the table below:

| P||T ||K||M||N||Q||L||

|pp||tp||kp||mp||mp||mp||lp||P

|pt||tt||kt||nt||nt||nt||lt||T

|pk||tk||kk||qk||qk||qk||lk||K

| pv||tv||kv||mv||mv||mv||lv||V

|pr||tr||kr||nr||nr||nr||lr||R

|pj||tj||kj||qj||qj||qj||lj||J

|ph||th||kh||qh||qh||qh||lh||H

|mp||nt||qk||mm||mm||mm||lm||M

|mp||nt||qk||nn||nn||nn||ln||N

|mp||nt||qk||qq||qq||qq||lq||Q

|lp||lt||lk||ml||nl||ql||ll||L

a) Latin transliteration used for clarity.

b) First consonant of consonant cluster runs along be top of table, second consonant of consonant cluster runs down riɡht of table.

2) If a three-segment consonant cluster results from suffixation then an epenthetic /i/ is inserted between the first and second segments of the cluster.

4) If a long vowel occurs in a closed syllable due to affixation then that long vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

5) If a long front vowel occurs before /j/ due to affixation then that long front vowel is reduced to its corresponding short vowel.

1) External sandhi only occurs between words in the same phrase.

2) A word-initial stop is realised as its fricative allophone if it follows a word-final stop.

3) A word-final nasals assimilates to the place of articulation if it precedes a word-initial stop, continuant or nasal.

4) A word-initial nasal is realised as its corresponding voiced plosive if it follows a word-final nasal.

5) Word-initial /l/ is realised as [d] if it follows a word-final /l/.

1) Consonant gradation comes into effect once sandhi has been resolved.

2) Consonant gradation is the lenition of stops under particular circumstances.

3) The conditions under which consonant gradation is triggered are:

b) When the stop is a word-final coda and becomes the onset of a closed syllable owing to suffixation.

4) Once these conditions are met the affected stop lenites to its corresponding continuant.

5) Prefixes are not affected by consonant gradation.

6) Morpheme-initial stops are not affected by consonant gradation.

1) The morphological cateɡories used in Magellanican are summarised in the table below:

| Category || Description|| Inflected?

|Affix||Prefixes and suffixes expressing adjunction, verbal modality, inflection or derivation||No

2) Hyperborean is an affixal polysynthetic lanɡuaɡe and only one root per word is permitted.  

4) According to the World Atlas of Language Structures, Hyperborean has a moderate preference for suffixinɡ.

demonstrative or possessive prefix + adjectival prefix(es) + nominal or verbal root + derivational suffix(es) + number suffix + case suffix

1) There are two main systems of nominal number in Magellanican:

a) Sinɡular-Plural

2) Singular nouns are singular by default and take the plural suffix to indicate more than four instances.

 

3) Collective nouns indicate more than four instances by default or are mass nouns. They take the singulative suffix to indicate a singular instance or a very small part of the whole.

4) Magellanican also has a paucal number which is used to mark nouns that are greater than one or fewer than five in number. Also indicates matched sets of entities of any number.

5) Number suffixes are summarised in the table below:

| Number || Suffix

| Plural || -at

|Singulative || -in

| Paucal || -uk

2) Magellanican cases are summarised in the table below:

| Case || Abbreviation || Suffix (Allomorph)||Functions

| Ergative || NOM || -qu (-q)||a) Indicates A argument of a transitive verb

|Dative||DAT||-hē||a) Marks beneficiary of action

b) Indicates purpose or intent

| Instrumental || INST ||-tik||a) Marks use of tool or instrument

b) Indicates proximal cause

| Equative || EQU || -te (-t)||a) Indicates similarity in function, manner or behaviour

 

 

c) Made or consisting of a particular substance

d) Indicates the comparative

| Comitative || COM || -pe (-p)||a) Marks physical proximity or social connection to someone

 

 

d) Indicates possessor when copula used in 'have' construction

| Locative || LOC || -li (-l) ||a) Indicates place where

b) Marks time when

| Allative || ALL || -va ||a) Marks motion towards

b) Indicates time until

c) Marks destination or goal

| Ablative || ABL || -jā||a) Indicates motion away from

 

 

d) Marks aversion to or opposition to

e) Indicates the source of comparison

| Perlative || PERL || -am||a) Marks motion across, along, through or by way of

b) Indicates duration

c) Marks mode or means of transport or transmission

d) Indicates reason, motive or ultimate cause

e) Marks topic of conversation

1) Magellanican personal pronouns and their associated possessive suffixes are summarised in the table below:

| Person || Abbreviation ||Pronoun||Possessive Prefix

| 1st Person Singular || 1SG||ni || niq-

| 2nd Person Singular ||2SG||ki ||kiq-

|3rd Person Singular||3SG||ti||tiq-

|4th Person Sinɡular||4SG||li||liq-

|1st Person Paucal Exclusive||1PC EXCL||nuk||nuqku-

|1st Person Paucal Inclusive||1PC INCL||muk||muqku-

| 2nd Person Paucal||2PC||kuk||kuqku-

|3rd Person Paucal||3PC||tuk||tuqku-

|4th Person Paucal||4PC||luk||luqku-

|1st Person Plural Exclusive||1PL EXCL||nat||nantu-

|1st Person Plural Inclusive||1PL INCL||mat||mantu-

| 2nd Person Plural || 2PL||kat|| kantu-

|3rd Person Plural||3PL||tat||tantu-

|4th Person Plural||4PL||lat||lantu-

2) Personal pronouns take case in the same manner as nouns.

1) Adnominal demonstratives are suffixes attached to the noun as per the table below:

|Name  || Locus || English Equivalent||Prefix

| Proximal || Near speaker ||this, these||hi-

| Medial|| Near listener(s) ||that, those|| hu-

| Distal || Away from speaker and listener(s) || yon||ha-

These are no dedicated emphatic pronouns but as verbs mark A, S and O arguments, the use of the pronouns correlating with these can be used for emphasis.

These are no dedicated reflexive pronouns in Magellanican and the appropriate absolutive verbal prefixes or oblique pronouns suffice.

1) There is one interroɡative pronoun: ye 'who, what' which is undifferentiated for number.

2) All other interrogatives are built from this by adding the appropriate case. Eɡ: jel 'where?', jep 'with whom?'

3) There is an interrogative pronominal possessive prefix: jen- 'whose?'.

4) Prefixing je- to a noun gives the sense of 'which?'.

5) The canonical word-order of Magellanican is VSOX. Interrogative pronouns or nouns taking an interrogative pronominal possessive prefix violate this by being fronted to before the verb.

There is one indefinite pronoun hamat 'somebody, something'.

1) If only pronouns are involved as the possessor then the possessum is marked with the appropriate possessive prefix.

2) If a noun is involved as the possessor then the possessum is marked with the appropriate prefix, most commonly 3rd or 4th person, and the possessor takes the ergative case.

1) The numerals of Magellanican are listed in the table below:

|Number||Cardinal||Ordinal

|0||tuhu||tuhujaren

|1||vat||vatjaren

|2||vik||vikjaren

|3||kirut||kirutjaren

|4||lavat||lavatjaren

|5||vatha||vathajaren

|6||heq||heqjaren

|7||hāpi||hāpijaren

|8||rāhu||rāhujaren

|9||vatrā||vatrājaren

|10||tammat||tammatjaren

|11||tamvat||tamvatjaren

|12||tamvik||tamvikjaren

|13||taqkirut||taqkirutjaren

|14||tanlavat||tanlavatjaren

|15||tamvatha||tamvathajaren

|16||taqheq||taqheqjaren

|17||taqhāpi||taqhāpijaren

|18||tanrāhu||tanrāhujaren

|19||tamvatrā||tamvatrājaren

|20||pajeq||pajeqjaren

|40||vikpaq||vikpaqjaren

|60||kirutpaq||kirutpaqjaren

|80||lavatpaq||lavatpaqjaren

|100||nun||nuqjaren

|200||viqkun||viqkuqjaren

|300||kiruntun||kiruntuqjaren

|400||lavantun||lavantuqjaren

|500||vathanun||vathanuqjaren

|600||hennun||hennuqjaren

|700||hāpinun||hāpinunjaren

|800||rāhunun||rāhunuqjaren

|900||vatrānun||vatrānuqjaren

|1.000||limmu||limmujaren

|2.000||vilkim||vilkiqjaren

|3.000||kirultim||kirultiqjaren

|4.000||lavaltim||lavaltiqjaren

|5.000||vathalim||vathaliqjaren

|6.000||henlim||henliqjaren

|7.000||hāpilim||hāpiliqjaren

|8.000||rāhulim||rāhuliqjaren

|9.000||vatrālim||vatrāliqjaren

|10.000||lakhe||lakhejaren

|20.000||vilkak||vilkakjaren

|30.000||kirultak||kirultakjaren

|40.000||lavaltak||lavaltakjaren

|50.000||vathalak||vathalakjaren

|60.000||henlak||henlakjaren

|70.000||hāpilak||hāpilakjaren

|80.000||rāhulak||rāhulakjaren

|90.000||vatrālak||vatrālakjaren

|100.000||ikral||ikraljaren

1) Verbs express actions, processes or states of being. Verbs are inflected for A, S and O arguments, aspect, valency and mood.

interrogative prefix + nominative pronominal prefix + auxiliary prefix + causative prefix + verbal or nominal root + derivational suffix(es) + applicative suffix + aspect suffix + adverbial suffix(es) + absolutive pronominal suffix

{| class="wikitable"

| 1st Person Plural Exclusive|| -nat || nantu-

| 1st Person Plural Inclusive || -mat|| mantu-

|2nd Person Plural||-kat||kantu-

|3rd Person Plural||-tat||tantu-

|4th Person Plural||-lat||lantu-

NB: Parenthesised forms are word-final allomorphs employed after a short vowel.

1) Transitive verbs in Magellanican have three voices:

2) These are indicated by the presence or absence of verbal pronominal affixes as per the table below:

{| class="wikitable"

|Active||ACT||Yes||Yes||N/A||N/A||No topicalisation of either argument

|Agentive||AGT||Yes||No||NOM||DAT||Topicalisation of A argument

|Patientive||PAT||No||Yes||ABS||INST||Topicalisation of O argument

3 Intransitive verbs have two voices: