Qasunattuuji

Qasunattuuji
Qasunattuuji
Pronunciation	[qasunatˈtuːʐi]
Created by	GJS
Date	2023 - present
Setting	Alt-history North America, Western portion of Alaska
Native to	Tuujiyumix Ilihuu
Language family	Indo-European Qasunattuuji
Writing systems	Latin Cyrillic Braille
Official status
Official language in	Tuujiyumix Ilihuu

Qasunattuuji is an Indo European language (classification pending feedback) spoken in the country of Tuujiyumix Ilihuu (real-life Alaska), where it enjoys an official status. Although its words are derived from PIE, its phonology and most of its morphology show traces related to the Inuit languages, as it's polysynthetic and has only the vowels /a/, /i/, and /u/, with length distinctions. It was created for an alternate history timeline where some PIE-speakers migrated all the way from Eastern Europe to Alaska and where the Russians made Alaska a protectorate instead of a colony.

Etymology

The name Qasunattiiji means real people or true people, while Tuujiyumix Ilihuu means Land of all Peoples. The name of the country was chosen to replace the old 'Greater Alaska' in order to distance the new country from Russia shortly after its independence in 1917.

Phonology

Phonological history

• Clipping en masse
• bʰ → pʰ → ɸ → h → q
• gʰ → dʰ → x → q
• ɣʷ → ɢ
• ɢː → ʁː
• gʲʰ → gʰ → dʰ → x → q
• tʲ → tʃ → ʃ → ʂ
• gʲ → dʒ → tʃ → ʃ → ʂ
• kʲ → tʃ → ʃ → ʂ
• gʷ → w → v
• gʷʰ → gʷ → kʷ → p
• dʰ → tʰ → t
• kʷ → p
• {e,o}j → iː
• {eː,oː}j → aː
• {e,o}w → uː
• {eː,oː}w → uː
• {eː,oː} → {iː,u}
• epenthetic /a/ appears to break invalid consonant clusters
• epenthetic /i/ appears before [l ʐ ɢ] if they occur in the beginning of words.

Consonants

Consonant phonemes

	Labial		Alveolar		Palatal		Retroflex		Velar		Uvular
Nasal		m		n						(ŋ)
Stop	p		t						k		q	ɢ
Fricative	f	v	s				ʂ	ʐ			χ	(ʁ)
Lateral				l
Approximant						j

Notes:

• Before /n/, /ŋ/ /ʁ/ are the allophones of /k/ and /q/, respectively.
• /ŋ/ also appears in Inuit borrowings.
• /ʁ/ is also used in verbal morphemes that are borrowed from Inuit. Its geminated version is equivalent to a /ɢː/.

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i(ː)	u(ː)
Open	a(ː)

Prosody

Stress falls always on the penultimate syllable.