I Kronurum

I Kronurum
"that which is spoken"
Pronunciation	[/ˈʔi ˈkɾo̞.nu.ɾum/]
Created by	–
Native to	Marks of Ifarka (i-Étrir, ...) and exclaves under their influence
Native speakers	? (2013)
Language family	? I Kronurum
Early forms	Ancient I.K. Old I.K. Middle I.K.

The language known as I Kronurum is a conlang being created and developed by Nicolás Straccia since 2013 [It is part of a larger conworlding project].

Background

The language known as I Kronurum (IK) is a part of the Northern Languages linguistic family, which populates the northern region of the central continent.

Notwithstanding the several subgroups that have split from this branch at different stages, this central branch of the family has been studied as a continuity in which four main stages can be identified: Ancient IK (AIK), Old IK (OIK), Middle IK (MIK; together with Early-MIK, EMIK) and Modern IK (MoIK; together with Early-MoIK, EMoIK).

The developmental stage presented in this article is Middle-IK (MIK). At this stage, a group of OIK speakers has moved westwards from the AIK speaker's cultural Urheimat in the plains in the northern region of the central continent, constituting the main variety spoken in the region along the shores of the northern sea. The endonym of this region is Ifarka (/ʔi.ˈfɑɾ.kɐ/), which translates as "The land". It is divided in several administrative provinces, called Marks, which hold regular congress regarding whichever matters would affect the generality of their hold.

Phonology

Consonants

The consonants of I Kronurum

Consonant inventory

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b			t d			k g	ʔ
Nasal	m			n		(ɲ)	(ŋ)
Trill				r
Tap or flap				ɾ
Fricative	(β)	f	θ ð	s	ʃ		x (ɣ)	h
Lateral fric.				(ɬ)
Approximant	w					j
Lateral app.				l

Consonant allophony

· /p/ and /t/, except when result of a mutation, become aspirated when in initial position before a vowel (/pʰV/, /tʰV/)

· /ŋ/ is an allophone of /n/ before /g/ (eg. angr /ˈɑŋ.gɾ̩/, 1.s=”I”).

· ‹g› = /x/ only in coda after a front vowel (eg. ‹sig›, /ˈsix/, “until”).

Vowels

The vowels of I Kronurum

Vowel inventory

	Front	Near-front	Central	Near-back	Back
Close	i u (ʊ) (ɘ) e̞ o̞ (ɛ) (ɐ) (a) ɑ
Near‑close
Close‑mid
Mid
Open‑mid
Near‑open
Open

Vowel allophony

· /ɑ/ becomes /ɐ/ in unstressed syllables and /a/ in word medial unstressed syllables.

· /e̞/ becomes /ɘ/ in unstressed syllables and /ɛ/ in word medial unstressed syllables.

Other contextual phonological phenomena

There are some morpho-phonological phenomena that need yet to be properly described. This is a sample of those:

· -ren-rin- → -relin-

· jw+u /jʷu/ → jub- /juβ/ [+labialization][+methatesis] sky juska /ˈjus.kɐ/, ó jubsken /ʔu̹.ˈjuβs.ke̞n/

· /u̜.j/ → /ui̯/ fish strójr /ˈstɾu̜.jɾ̩/ ; fish (pl.) strójran /ˈstɾui̯.ɾɐn/

· -/m/ /b/- → -/mb̥/- som breja /ˈso̞m.ˌb̥ɾe̞.jɐ/

Onset mutations

Onset mutations posit a great challenge for the diachronic analysis of I Kronurum. Since the previous stages of the language are not yet well documented, most of the information on this regard is a matter of scientific speculation.

Given the data available and the currently valid synchronic analysis, they are analysed as conforming a continuum of mutation grades from 0 to 2. The 0 degree of mutation is that of the onset consonant as it appears in the citation form of the root (nominative, unmarked). A first and second degree of mutation will be triggered by the prepositions governing the genitive and the accusative cases: the preposition ‹ó› governs the genitive (GEN) and triggers the first degree of mutation. The preposition ‹tró› governs the accusative (ACC) and triggers the second degree of mutation. Thus the mutations of ‹d› /d/, ‹ð› /ð/ and ‹þ› /θ/, are considered part of a continuum as in the example below.

Eg. duma {fox:nom}, ó ðumen {gen fox-gen}, tró þuma {acc fox-acc}

Mutation grade
0	1	2
b- /b/~/β/	p- /p/	f- /f/
d- /d/	ð- /ð/	þ- /θ/
f- /f/	p- /p/	b- /b/~/β/
h- /h/~/χ/	k- /k/	g- /g/~/ɣ/
j- /j/	jw- /jʷ/	ñ- /ɲ/
k- /k/	g- /g/~/ɣ/	h- /h/~/χ/
l- /l/	l- /l /	lh- /ɬ/
m- /m/	mw- /mʷ/	w- /w/
n- /n/	nw- /nʷ/	ñ- /ɲ/
s- /s/	þ- /θ/	ś- /ʃ/
t- /t/	d- /d/	ð- /ð/
w- /w/	gw- /gʷ/	ƕ- /hw/~/hv/

Some of the occurring phenomena are nasalization, labialization, palatalization, velarization, fricativization, voicing and devoicing.

Phonotactics

The structure of the longest possible syllable is (C)(C)(C)nu(C)(N/R), where the nucleus nu must be either a vowel or a syllabic [R] or [N]. In coda position, a cluster can end either with a nasal [N] or an r' [R].

Grammar

Morphology

Pro-drop

A/N

Nominal morphology

Nouns are marked for number and gender.

Marking hierarchy

The marking of the nouns happens according to the following hierarchy:

0	1	2	3	4
√noun	det	pl	and	nom, gen, akk, dat, inst, loc, all

In the genitive and accusative cases, the root is preceded by a preposition.

Declension particles and other affixes

Case marking

Case		Marker			Notes
nom	Nominative	∅	∅	-	The nominative case is not marked
gen	Genitive	ó(r) _-(e)n	/ˈʔu̹ɾ/ _-/e̞n/	preposition, suffix	Triggers mutation 1. Excrecent r before a vowel: ór okren /ˈʔu̹ɾ ʔo̞.kɾe̞n/
akk	Accusative	tró	/ˈtɾu̹/	preposition	Triggers mutation 2
dat	Dative	-(r)is	-/ɾis/	suffix
instr	Instrumental/Commitative	-(n)ion	-/nio̯n/	suffix	Inanimate nouns: instrumental. Animate nouns: commitative
loc	Locative/Adessive ("with", "by", "at")	-(a)ftó	-/f.ˈtu̹/	suffix	þaneftó /θɐ.nɘf.ˈtu/, “at the house”, “at home”
all	Allative	-(o)rion	-/o̞.ɾio̯n/	suffix	þanerion /ˈθɑ.nɘ.ɾio̞n/ "homebound"

Other particles and derivational affixes

Function		Marker			Notes
nlz	Nominalizer	i	/ˈʔi/	preposition	Mostly paired with the determiner suffix <-rum> kronur “I speak” 1s.pres.ind i kronurum, {i kro-nur-rum} [NMLZ to.speak-1s.pres.ind-det] = "was ich spreche", “that what I’m speaking”; speech, language.
det	Determiner	-rum	-/ɾum/	suffix	"the x" (instead of "a x")
and	Coordinator	-ór	-/u̹ɾ/	preposition	"and"
advm	Adverbializer	-(r)is	-/ɾis/	suffix	"x-ly", "in the maner of x" turns nouns into adverbs of manner turns verbs of motion in adverbs of manner
pers	Associated person	-rir	-/ɾiɾ/	suffix	Forms actor nouns from verbs and nouns; from ríra, “person” hlajur v. to.make, hlajrir n. maker. assa n. forge, assarir n. smith.
tool	Associated artifact, tool	-(e)nar	-/ɘnɐɾ/	suffix	From nara, “thing, artifact, contraption” iltur “to.rest” > ilturenar “chair”
col	Colective noun	-hir	-/hiɾ/	suffix	From hitr, “pack, herd” sigra “drop” > sigrahir “rain”
adj	Adjetivizer	-rin	-/ɾin/	suffix	Forms adjectives of quality. sigr "ash", agor-ó-śigrelin "ash-coloured"
?	?	-(u)rur	-/u.ɾuɾ/	suffix	?

Verbal morphology

Verbs are marked for tense, mood, aspect, number and, in the third person, also gender.

Particles and affixes

Function		Marker			Notes
caus	Causative	-a-	-/ɑ/-	affix	Derives a causative verb from a noun after the template [noun.root]-caus-[verb.declension] nimr water; nimrajur to.make.moist,to.water (a plant,etc)

Marking hierarchy

The marking of the verbs happens according to the following hierarchy:

-2	-1	0	1	2
Passive voice marker	Aspect marker prefix	√verb	Conjugation affix for person, number and mood	Aspect marker suffix

Regular conjugation paradigms

There are four different regular conjugation classes, labeled i, ii, iii and iv

Samples

ó pagrumórn, undrumórn, faŕumen
/ˈʔu̜	ˈpɑ.gɾu.mu̜ɾn	|	ˈʔun.dɾu.mu̜ɾn	|	ˈfɑ.ru.mɘn/
ó(r)	{b>p}aga-rum-ór-(e)n		unda-rum-ór-(e)n		fara-rum-(e)n
gen	tree-det-and-gen		bird-det-and-gen		horse-det-gen
"of/about the tree, the bird and the horse" (a tale)