Řeuŋnie

Řeuŋnie (lit. "of the windy region") is an a priori conlang inspired by Czech, Dutch, Cantonese, and Na'vi.

Loëdeu /lɔ.ɛ.ɟœ:/ and Oeljan /u:ʎɐn/ are the two main regions of the Řeuŋnie-speaking world.

todo

Oebych oebych chál etjech /u:bɪx u:bɪx xa:l ɛcɛx/ 'we have a lot of mountains'

Words

• etj 'there is', etjech 'there are'
• chál 'mountain'
• 1: mál, 2: saep, 3: gej, 4: ádoš, 5: oez, 6: veunt, 7: ilem, 8: louč, 9: mutj, 10: báj
• euj = (literary) lo, behold
• čeudj 'town'
• oebych oebych = (ideo) plentiful
• uistř 'self'
• uistřft 'independence'
• beuklopán 'fractal; microcosm'
• beuklop 'to repeat on a smaller scale'
• čétijn 'always'
• ŋoeáj = to approach
• ŋoeáján = (mathematics) limit
• achop = to approximate
• ach- = near
• ze = and (Polish i)
• de = and (Polish a)
• Naëŋ = Naeng
• neu 'sea'
• neuákoeŋ 'coast'
• ŋoëft 'pathos, grieving'
• Loëdeu /lɔ.ɛ.ɟœ:/, Oeljan /u:ʎɐn/ --- the two main regions of the Řeuŋnie-speaking world
• ŋok 'wild goose'

Diachronics

1. w is lost leading to hiatus, kw gw xw -> w
2. OSL
3. Czech-like depalatalization and hard/soft vowel splits
4. Palatalization-dependent GVS, then another depalatalization?
5. Old Řeuŋnie ć dź ś ź merge into c z s z
6. n- > l- (unless assimilating)

Test

Woeŋanies uistřeft melouk lo vahrádyvijŋ, ar mezryz wodmyce bacirnje řeunie aš ŋávej tjemzánisie. Evloedr wie doezanejne hář, po ryhoteuŋ.

Phonology

"Czech with more vowels and simpler phonotactics" or "Play up the Dutch in Czech"

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Palatal(ized)		Velar
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/		nj /ɲ/		ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive		p /p/	b /b/	t /t/	d /d/	tj /c/	dj /ɟ/	k /k/
Fricative		f /f/	v /v/	s, š /s̠/	z, ž /z̠/			ch /x/	g /ɣ/
Affricate				c, č /ts̠/
Flap				r /ɾ/
Trill				ř /r~r̥/
Approximant		w /w/		l /l~ɫ/		j /j/, lj /ʎ/

m n ŋ l r can be syllabic; when syllabic they are written ḿ ń ŋ́ ĺ ŕ and have the same length as long vowels.

Voiceless stops are unaspirated as in Dutch and Czech.

Obstruent voicing assimilation as in Slavic.

Glottal reinforcement, but no gemination

/l/ has the same l~ɫ allophony as in RP; vocalization of dark L to [w] possible

In the Oeljanian accent, r is always a tap [ɾ]. In the Loëdeuan accent, r can be uvular.

In the Oeljanian accent, ř is realized as a voiceless trill [r̥] in voiceless environments (word-finally and adjacent to a voiceless consonant). In the Loëdeuan accent, ř is always voiceless [r̥]. In dialects, ř is variously pronounced like [r̝] (the Czech ř), [ʐ], [ʂ], [ʒ], [ʃ], or [ð], or merges with r.

Notes on consonant diachronics

Řeuŋnie shows debuccalization of Proto-Idavic *g to h /ʕ/; compare Dutch, Czech and Ukrainian. Proto-Nabŋaic *b has shifted to v. /p b g/ are loan phonemes.

Proto-Idavic *ť ď has shifted to *č dž > c z.

Vowels

The spelling of Řeuŋnie vowels reflects a shift similar to the Great Vowel Shift (cf. Common Czech and Dutch), which also affects loanwords borrowed before the shift, such as most Netagin loans in Řeuŋnie.

a ae/e/je i/y o u á é ij/ei ó ú eu/ui ie oe ou /ɐ ɛ ɪ ɔ ɵ aː ɛː ɛɪ~ɪj ɔː yː~ʉː œː ɪː uː oʊ/

Closer allophones [ɪj~eɪ] of /ɛɪ/ are more common after palatals /c ɟ ɲ ʎ/.

• je i ie ij eu are palatalizing; all other orthographic vowels are nonpalatalizing.
  • For C = b p v f, Cje Ceu Cí denote /Cjɛ Cjœː Cjɛɪ/; mje meu mij denotes /mɲɛ mɲœː mɲɛɪ/.
  • For C = d t n l, Cje Ci Cie Cij Ceu denote /ɟ c ɲ ʎ/ + vowel.
• ó mostly occurs in loanwords from Netagin.

Notes on vowel diachronics

Řeuŋnie has lost Proto-Nabŋaic vowel length. Pre-Proto-Nabŋaic i u e a ī ū ē ā become e o e a i y ě o when not lengthened. Some vowel devoicing has occurred (cf. Japanese), which gave Řeuŋnie more consonant clusters.

Long vowels result from open-syllable lengthening (OSL): **čettijn > *četijn; **četijn > *čétijn. OSL occurred before the devoicing, making the Ourefr distribution of long vowels somewhat similar to Czech.

Modern ie ý/í oe ú result from older 'ää ý/í ó ú. Old Řeuŋnie u, ú has shifted to i, ij after soft consonants j č ž š ň *ľ ř.

Palatalizing eu /œː/ is common in native words. Common sources are:

• Old Řeuŋnie /æː/ before velars or /l/: for example, řeuŋ /rœːŋ/ 'wind' comes from Old Řeuŋnie řa̋ŋ < PNab *rěŋu < PId *renwi.
• Old Řeuŋnie long /joː/, coming from PId /ew/ or /iw/.

Non-palatalizing ui /œː/ comes mostly from historical *ujV or loanwords.

As suggested by the spelling, ŕ /ɜː/ comes from syllabic r.

Historically hard-soft vowel pairs

• hard y ~ soft i
• hard u ~ soft i
• hard a ~ soft ě
• hard ei ~ soft ij
• hard á ~ soft ie/eu
• hard ou ~ soft eu
• hard ui ~ soft eu
• hard oe ~ soft ie
• hard ú ~ soft ij

Long vowels result from OSL ćettijn > cetijn; ćetijn > cétijn

Syntax

Lifted from Korean and Japanese; completely head-final except in poetry.

Poetry

Piyyut-like rhyming (i.e. last syllables agree) is the most common way to rhyme two words.

Sample text

UDHR

Tkanje beušij na giečti kfa botsijné vo, oedḿŋoïl ze wakŕvil páčta navŕsijnéc. Beušij na toudžḿnil rachúbinil ze mačijdil sfášijm vo, iezoer oŋužeuv lama dŕmi ŋ́ku-teuzimi wášil ecsáš goezách mienic.