User:Celinceithir/Sairstíreg

Sairstír Celinese
Elíthec Sairstíroth Sairstíreg
Pronunciation	[ˈəˈlʲɨːθ̠əɣ sæʳˈʂʈɨːɹʊ], [sæʳˈʂʈɨːɹəɨ]
Created by	A. Ayres
Setting	Lômborin, Southern South Tygenoc, Lorech
Native to	Sairstír and Linheim, Elitho, Beichlë, Western Jinyero
Native speakers	16,417,890 (Sairstír); up to 6 million émigrés elsewhere (991)
Language family	Tygenoci Sairstír Celinese
Early forms	Proto-Tygenoci Early Olldrothoan Early Elithoan varieties Middle Borders Elithoan Old Aires
Writing system	Tygenoci Elithoan Romanisation Wyšovian
Official status
Official language in	Sairstír and Linheim
Regulated by	Several rival agencies, such as the Athecosoir go Wylombeir, Ronð go Lechlyfrírain Lônaig, GoSIC and the Ronð go Lorgwynel-Aimmon.
Language codes
CLCR	qce

Sairstír Celinese or Sairstirian (endonym: Elítheg Sairstíroth or Sairstíreg - sometimes referred to, particularly in Elitho, as Lônairesc [ˈlo̝ːnæɹəʂ]) because of its complex links with the language of Aír, is a broad term used to refer to those varieties of Modern Southwestern Elithoan Celinese spoken in the Free Commonwealth of Sairstír.

A common three-way distinction is drawn between mailsairstíreg (lit. Soft Sairstirian), spoken in Wylombeir and the northern seaboard, stairsairstíreg (Broad Sairstirian, lit. Hard Sairstirian), a more divergent form from Standard Elithoan Celinese that has not undergone Elithoan sound changes and has conserved features of Old Airesc Celinese, and Eilíonlyn, a very conservative Southern Celinese variety spoken on the island of Eilíon and the Darnorwach Peninsula. The term does not apply to minority languages spoken in Sairstír that derive separately from Proto-Tygenoci, such as Modern Old Tygenoci or the Linro languages.

Sairstír's Celinese varieties, particularly eilíonlyn and stairsairstíreg, are of great interest to scholars of the Tygenoci language family because of the contrast between their conservation of Old Tygenoci and Old Airesc traits lost in Standard Elithoan Celinese, and the divergence from the rest of the family with sound changes unique to SSG and a large pool of Sairstír-specific vocabulary, a lot of which is derived from the language of the Sett minority. In this article, we will mostly consider Broad Sairstírian (SSG) unless otherwise specified.

Phonology

Consonants

Broad Sairstír Celinese has a somewhat more complex vowel inventory than Standard Elithoan Celinese, but it does share some important divergent traits with other Celinese varieties. Like most varieties of Circassír Celinese, it is differentiates soft and hard pronunciations of <c> and <g>; it is one of the major varieties - alongside some Laurien and Western Islands dialects - that features patalalisation of liquids and fricatives in certain environments. It is also one of the very few Celinese varieties to have both word-initial and word-final affricates.

Sairstír Celinese Consonantal Inventory

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Alveolar-palatal	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	m	n						ŋ
Plosive	p b			t d				k g
Affricate					(ʈʂ) (dʐ)	(tɕ) (dʑ)
Fricative		f v	θ̠ ð̠	s (z)	(ʂ) (ʐ)	(ɕ) (ʑ)	ç	(x) (ɣ)		h (ɦ)
Approximant	ʍ w			ɹ̥ ɹ			j
Lateral Approximant				l

• <c> and <g> are pronounced [k] and [g] when preceding [ɑ o̝] and allophones, and as [ɕ], [ʑ] before [ɨ ʉ e y] and their allophones. [ɕ] and [ʑ] have retroflex allophones, [ʂ] [ʐ], which appear before [ɑ o̝] and are typically transcribed as <ce> (or <se>, <si> or <ci>) and <ge> (or <gi>, <re> and <ri>) - for example, in words such as rioc (bitter) [ʐɔɣ] or ciora (wine) [ˈʂoːɹɒ].
• Much like in the traditional dialect of Ioðinbêr, <t> and <d> become affricates before [ɨ ʉ e y] - tír (country) is [tɕɨːɐ̯] whilst dé (you, object) is [dʑeː]. <ti> (or <te>) and <di> (or <de>) are used to transcribe a similar pair of sounds, the retroflex [tʂ] and [dʐ], before all other vowel sounds - e.g. teo (what) [tʂoː] and deomleth (poison) [ˈdʐɔmləθ].
• Unlike SEC, but like many Elithoan dialects particularly in Laurien, palatalisation effects a number of consonants before [ɨ ʉ e y] - the above-mentioned fricativisation and affrication of <c g t d> is just one way in which this surfaces.

Glyph	Plain	Slender
m	mair (but) [mæɹ]	mirda (friend) [mʲɪʳdɒ]
n	noich (gas) [nœç]	neoir number) [nʲœɹ]
w	wolnor (wizard) [ˈwɔɫnʊɹ]	wyros (touch) [ˈvʲyɹʊs]
l	lauth (gas) [lɑʊθ]	lynn number) [lʲỹː(n)]
h	haíth (hour) [ˈɦai̯θ]	hylm (help) [çʏɫm]

• The Sairstír <r> sound is typically transcribed as [ɹ] or [ɻ], approximates that are quite different to the typical Elithoan tap [ɾ] or trill [r]. However, many varieties of SSG have the trill, particularly in the north of the country. <R> is typically vocalised as [ɐ̯] when syllable-final and preceding another consonant - e.g. arðoch (sincere) [ˈɑɐ̯ðʊç]. It is also often vocalised in word-final position: têr (God, [tɕeɹ] or [tɕeɐ̯].
• <d> is usually lenited to [z] in word-final position: wŷand [ˈvʲyːænz]. Final <c> and <g> are also lenited to [ɣ] and [ɨ̯]: soc (support) [sɔɣ], noreg (black) [ˈnoːʐəɨ̯].

Vowels

	Front	Near- front	Central	Near- back	Back
Close	y ɨ ʉ (ɪ)(ʏ) (ɪ̈)(ʊ̈) (ʊ) e o (ə) ɛ (œ) ɔ æ ɑ
Near-close
Close-mid
Mid
Open-mid
Near-open
Open

• All vowels in Sairstír Celinese have allophonic nasal counterparts - vowels are nasalised before n, m and ŋ. The nasal consonant is sometimes omitted if it does not precede a vowel - so in cyn nothín (no idea), both ns are only optionally pronounced - [ɕʏ̃(n) nʊθ̱ɨ̃(n)] - whilst in cyn ôlth (no problem), the nasal consonant must be pronounced [ɕʏ̃n o:ɫθ̱].
• Unlike SEC, but in common with many Elithoan Celinese dialects, there is a robust system of vowel reduction that impacts some unstressed vowels. When <e>, <i>, <o>, <u>, <y> and <a> (usually [ɛ~e], [ɨ], [o̝], [ʉ], [y] and [ɑ]) appear in a closed syllable directly before or after a stressed syllable, they are reduced to [ə], [ɪ], [ɔ~ʊ], [ʊ̈], [ʏ] and [æ]. This also applies to <e>, <i> and <u> in open syllables directly before a stressed syllable.
• In stressed, closed syllables, [ɨ ʉ e o y] are usually lowered to [ɪ ʊ ɛ ɔ ʏ], unless modified with a circumflex or acute diacritic: compare cyn (no) [ɕʏ̃(n)] with gŷn (family) [ʑỹː(n)].
• The vowel in stressed syllable that is open or marked with a circumflex or acute accent is almost always pronounce long. Compare lena (inside) - [ˈlɛna] in Elithoan but [ˈlʲeːˌnɒ] in Sairstírian - or wylo (wave), [ˈwɪlɔ] in SEC but [ˈvʲyːlo̝] in SSG.
• Whilst by convention they are denoted as being pure vowels, [e ɨ ʉ o] are in many dialects usually diphthongised as [ei̯ ɨi̯ ʉu̯ ou̯], particularly in the cities of the southern triangle - compare northern SSG lôn [lõː(n)] with southern [loʊn].

Sound correspondences with Standard Elithoan Celinese

• mh: <mh> in Middle Southern Elithoan became <f> [f~v] in Elithoan Celinese, but became [ʍ] in initial position and [m] elsewhere in most Sairstír Celinese varieties. Compare SEC sofen with SSG. somman, hwair with fair, hwyðí to fyðí syfoth with symoth, and lefrë with lemra.

• ɣ: Early Elithoan Celinese's /ɣ/ became unvoiced <ch> ([x] and later [χ]) in SEC - but became silent in Sairstír, often having a lengthening effect on vowels before it. Compare EEC's oɣt (from) to SEC och and SSG ô (Soft Sairstírian: ôth) or SEC sinocht (snow) to SSG synôth [ɕyˈno̝ː].

• No Pre-alveolar [a] raising: Most early middle Elithoan Celinese varieties saw [a] raised to [æ] (Modern <e> [e]) before word-final d, l, n and r. This sound change did not occur in Sairstír, and thus is not reflected in the orthography - hence hyrân [çyˈɹɑ̃ːn] (red) instead of SEC's hyrèn or mayar instead of SEC maier. Before l and sometimes r, [ɑ] is raised and rounded to [ɔ], in itself reduced to [ʊ] when unstressed. Compare SSG lârol [lɑːɹʊɫ] and SEC lairel or SSG somor with SEC sofer.

• Word-final voicing: Unlike SEC, Sairstír Celinese does not allow for word-final unvoiced plosives - so the likes of SEC sop, pyp and lofot become sob, pyb and lowod. This means that feminine plurals, -ot in SEC, end in -d in SSG: compare séilot with sêlod (days) or mildot with mirdod (friends).

• Absence of affricate-fricative mergers: Compared to most Celinese varieties, Sairstír Celinese is rich in affricates. The /pf/-/f/ merger that affected nearly every other dialect did not impact SSG: thus, trefí (meet) [tʐ̊ɛˈfɨː] and trephí (fall) [tʐ̊ɛˈpfɨː] are distinguished. Many common words such as phancast (latter) and phechoth (fish) conserve initial /pf/.

• ƍw: <ƍw> in Early Middle Southern Elithoan - believed to be pronounced [çʷ] or [ɕʷ] - became /χʷ/ <chw> or /ʍ/ <hw> in most Elithoan Celinese varieties, but became a delabialised [ɕ] in most environments in Sairstírian. Compare the Elithoan word for salt, chwor [χʷɔʐ], with SSg. seor [ɕɔʳ] or oak: SEC. hwaith [ʍai̯θ] and SSg. ceôth [ɕoːθ].

• Monophthongisation: By Middle Sairstíreg, the only diphthongs that had remained /ɑi̯ aʊ̯/, /ei̯ eʊ̯/ /oi̯ oʊ̯/ - became /ɑː/, /eː/ /oː/, a process reflected in the way in which these sounds were rewritten as â, ê and ô: nêl, thôth and pafâch from neil, thôuth and pafaich.