Nurian

Nurian/Lexicon

Nurian
nūrimēs
Pronunciation	[/ˈn̪ˠʊ˞ːrʲɪmʲæːs/]
Created by	IlL
Extinct	220 v.T.
Language family	Pfeuno-K'aitian Quame Talmic Q-Talmic Eastern Talmic Nurian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qnr

Nurian (gathēs nūrimēs /ˈgɐθæːs ˈn̪ˠʊ˞rʲɪmʲæːs/) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Lithuanian, Arabic, Italian and English.

Introduction

Nurian is spoken on the west coast of the continent called Kuderau by Wiebians. It is easily the most conservative Talmic language, though with signficant Meetzarric influences. It is spoken alongside Meetzarric languages, Clofabic languages and New World Reber Wiebian.

Historical phonology

• Cl > Cj > Cʲ (Italian style): pl bl ml fl cl gl ngl chl ghl > pi bi mi fi ci gi ngi chi ghi
  • Exceptions: ħl ȝl; nl, rl > ll
• C₁C₂ > C₂C₂ (similarly to Italian)
• mlīd - conclusion, end > mīd /mʲiːdˠ/
• ar- > aC- (ar- before vowels); as- > s-

Numbers

• 1: cēma /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠɐ/
• 2: tithōr /tʲɪˈθɔɚ/
• 3: narge /ˈnˠɑɚd͡ʒɛ/
• 4: dhaufe /ˈðˠɐʊfʲɛ/
• 5: salithe /ˈsˠɐlʲɪθˠɛ/
• 6: stāma /ˈsˠtˠɑːmˠɐ/
• 7: rōde /ˈrˠoːdʲɛ/
• 8: lorethe /ɫɔɚˈrʲæθɛ/
• 9: farve /ˈfˠɑɚvʲɛ/
• 10: ħiōr /ˈħɔɚ/
• 11: cēmara /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠɑɚrˠɐ/ (< Themsarian cēmiħiore, influenced by Meetzarri emarra)
• 12: pide /ˈpʲɪdʲɛ/ (Zutarl pirdi)
• 144: tarthe /ˈtˠɑɚθɛ/
• 1728: ūbyc /ˈuːbˠɪ̞k/

Phonology

The standard [Standard A] Nurian consonant inventory contains around 42 consonants and 12 vowels. A notable feature of the phonology of most Nurian accents is phonemic palatalization in hard-soft pairs, similar to Lithuanian; however, the Fiuschērian dialect or accent is an exception in that the hard-soft distinction is realized as pharyngealization versus lack of pharygealization. All consonants except /ħ ʕ h j/ are members of a hard-soft-pair. /ħ ʕ h j/ color the /a/ vowel as if they were soft, and /ħ ʕ/ tend to lower adjacent vowels.

Accent 1

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Nurian [Accent 1]

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft
Nasal		/mˠ/	/mʲ/	/n̪ˠ/	/nʲ/			/ɲ~ɲ̄/	/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/pˠ/	/pʲ/	/t̪ˠ/	/tʲ/			/tʃ/	/k/
	voiced	/bˠ/	/bʲ/	/d̪ˠ/	/dʲ/			/dʒ/	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless	/fˠ/	/fʲ/	/θˠ/	/θ/	/sˠ/	/sʲ/	/ʃ/	/x/	/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/vˠ/	/vʲ/	/ðˠ/	/ð/	/zˠ/	/zʲ/	/ʒ/	/ɣ/	/ʕ/
Trill						/rˠ/	/rʲ/
Approximant	central							/j/
	lateral			/lˠ/			/lʲ/

Notes

• /tˠ, dˠ, nˠ/ are laminal denti-alveolar velarized [t̪ˠ, d̪ˠ, n̪ˠ].
• /tʲ, dʲ/ are palatalized laminal denti-alveolar [t̪ʲ, d̪ʲ] with alveolar allophones [tʲ, dʲ] before /rʲ/.
• /nʲ/ has been variously described as palatalized laminal denti-alveolar [n̪ʲ] and palatalized laminal alveolar [n̻ʲ].
• /sˠ, sʲ, zˠ, zʲ/ are laminal alveolar [s̻ˠ, s̻ʲ, z̻ˠ, z̻ʲ].
• /lˠ/ has been variously described as pharyngealized apical alveolar [l̺ˤ] and velarized laminal denti-alveolar [l̪ˠ]. This article uses /l/ for simplicity.
• /rˠ, rʲ/ are apical alveolar [r̺ˠ, r̺ʲ].
• /tʲ, dʲ, nʲ/ are laminal alveolar [t̻ʲ^sʲ, d̻ʲ^zʲ, n̻ʲ]; as indicated in the transcription, in case of the first two the tongue is raised enough to produce slight frication.
• /lʲ/ is laminal alveolar [l̻ʲ].

Vowels

Nurian shows an unusual vowel system, with rhotic vowels and a relative lack of phonemic front vowels. There is a three-way contrast between short, long and rhotic vowels. There is a considerable degree of allophony in low short and rhotic vowels.

Vowel phonemes in Nurian [Accent 1]

	Front			Central		Back
	short	long	rhotic	short	rhotic	short	long	rhotic
Close	/ɪ~ɪ̞/	/iː/	/e˞ː/		[ɚ]	/u/	/uː/	/ʊ˞ː/
Mid	[ɛ~æ]			[ə]		/o/	/oː/	/ɔ˞ː/
Open		[æː]	[æ˞ː]	/a/	/a˞ː/		/aː/	[ɑ˞ː]

Diphthongs: /ɐɪ ɐʊ iɛ/

• Short /ɪ/ is lowered to [ɪ̞] after hard consonants.
• /e˞ː/ has two allophones:
  • [e˞ː] after soft consonants, radicals and /h/
  • [ɨ˞ː] after non-radical hard consonants
• /a aː a˞ː/ each have three allophones:
  • [ɐ~ɑ ɑː ɑ˞ː] after non-radical hard consonants
  • [ɛ~æ æː ɛ˞ː] after soft consonants and /h/
• Unstressed rhotic vowels have a tendency to reduce in colloquial speech: /ʲe˞ ʲæ˞/ > [ʲɚ], /ˠɑ˞ ˠe˞/ > [ˠɚ], /ɔ˞ ʊ˞/ > [o˞].

Accent 2

Mandarin pseudo-gib

• ci gi chi ghi = [tʂ dʐ ʂ ʐ]
• sci = [ʂtʂ]
• ti di si zi = [tɕ dʑ ɕ ʑ]
• thi dhi = [ts dz]
• ni ngi > [ɲ]
• li > [ʎ]
• ri > [ʐ]

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Standard Nurian [Accent 2]

		Labial		Dental	Alveolar	Retroflex	Palatal	Velar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft
Nasal		/m/	/mʲ/	/n/			/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/p/	/pʲ/	/t/	/ts/	/tʂ/	/tɕ/	/k/
	voiced	/b/	/bʲ/	/d/	/dz/	/dʐ/	/dʑ/	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless	/f/	/fʲ/	/θ/	/s/	/ʂ/	/ɕ/	/x/	/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/v/	/vʲ/	/ð/	/z/	/ʐ/	/ʑ/	/ɣ/	/ʕ/
Trill					/r/
Approximant	central						/j/
	lateral			/l/			/ʎ/

Vowels

Vowel phonemes in Nurian [Accent 2]

	Front			Central		Back
	short	long	rhotic	short	rhotic	short	long	rhotic
Close	/ɪ~ɪ̞/	/iː/	/i˞ː/			/ʊ/	/uː/	/oː˞/
Mid	[ɛ~æ]		[eː˞]	[ə]	/ɚː/	/ɔ/	/oː/
Open		[æː]		/ɐ/	/aː/		[ɑː]	[ɒː˞]

Many vowels are centralized after retroflexes: /a aː ɝ i iː ɪɚ/ become [ä äː ɐɚ ɨ ɨː ɘɚ]

Accent 3

Fiuschēra [fuʃˈʃæːrˁɑ] accent (Arabic-esque)

• Hard consonants > pharyngealized; soft consonants > plain
• o and ō are centralized
• θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ
• Non-rhotic

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Fiuschēran Nurian

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Postvelar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft
Nasal		/mˁ/	/m/	/nˁ/			/n/	/ɲ/	/ŋ̠/
Stop	tenuis	/pˁ/	/p/	/tˁ/			/t/	/tʃ/	/k̠/
	voiced	/bˁ/	/b/	/dˁ/			/d/	/dʒ/	/ɡ̄/
Fricative	voiceless	/fˁ/	/f/		/θ/	/sˁ/	/s/	/ʃ/	/x~χ/	/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/vˁ/			/ð/	/zˁ/	/z/	/ʒ/	/ɣ~ʁ/	/ʕ/
Trill						/rˁ/	/r/
Approximant	central	/wˁ/	/w/					/j/
	lateral						l

Vowels

Vowel phonemes in Fiuschēran Nurian

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/ɪ~ɪ̞/	/iː/			/ʊ/	/uː/
Mid	[ɛ~æ]		/ə/	/ɵː/	[ɤ]	[oː]
Open		[æː]	/a/	/aː/	[ɑ]	[ɑː]

/ɐɪ ɐʊ iə~iɛ iɚ uɚ ɛɚ ɔɚ ɑɚ/ = /ɐj ɐw iə iə uə ɛə~æə əː ɑə/

Accent 4

Conservative

• ci gi chi ghi = [kʲ gʲ xʲ ɣʲ]
• sci = [skʲ]

Accent 5

Scottish Gaelic pseudo-gib

Stress

Nurian stress is derived from a particular pattern of weight-sensitive stress (similar to Arabic) in a dialect of late Thensarian:

• A short final vowel cannot be stressed.
• Only one of the last 3 syllables can be stressed.
• the last heavy syllable is stressed if not the final syllable; if there is a final heavy syllable, the penult is stressed. (e.g. burgent [ˈbʊɚdʒænt])
• If no heavy syllables, the 3rd from last is stressed.

Stress is marginally phonemic in Nurian, due to the loss of vowel length preceding /r/.

Orthography

Consonants

Consonants

Grapheme	m	p	b	f	v	n	t	d	th	dh	s	z	r	l	ng	c	g	ch	gh	ħ	ȝ	h	j
Hard	/mˠ/	/pˠ/	/bˠ/	/fˠ/	/vˠ/	/nˠ/	/tˠ/	/dˠ/	/θˠ/	/ðˠ/	/sˠ/	/zˠ/	/rˠ/	/ɫ/	/ŋ/	/k/	/ɡ/	/x/	/ɣ/	/ħ/	/ʕ/	/h/	/j/
Soft	/mʲ/	/pʲ/	/bʲ/	/fʲ/	/vʲ/	/nʲ/	/tʲ/	/dʲ/	/θ/	/ð/	/sʲ/	/zʲ/	/rʲ/	/lʲ/	/ɲ/	/t͡ʃ/	/d͡ʒ/	/ʃ/	/ʒ/

r = r-coloring before a consonant or word-finally

Vowels

• a: hard /a/ [ɐ~ɑ]
• ā: hard /aː/ [ɑː]
• ar, ār, air, aur: hard /a˞/ [ɑ˞]
• ai: hard /aɪ/ [ɐɪ~ɑɪ]
• au: hard /aʊ/ [ɐʊ~ɑʊ]
• y: hard /ɪ/ [ë]
• y: hard /iː/
• yr, ȳr: hard /i˞/ [ɘ˞]
• o: hard /o/
• ō: hard /oː/
• or, ōr: hard /ɔ˞/
• u: hard /u/
• ū: hard /uː/
• ur, ūr: hard /ʊ˞/

• ia, e: soft /a/ [ɛ]
• iā, ē: soft /aː/ [æː]
• iar, er, iār, ēr, iair, iaur: soft /aɚ/ [æ˞]
• iai: soft /aɪ/ [ɛɪ]
• iau: soft /aʊ/ [ɛʊ]
• i: soft /ɪ/
• ī: soft /iː/
• ir, īr, ier: soft /i˞/ [e˞]
• io: soft /o/
• iō: soft /oː/
• ior, iōr: soft /ɔ˞/
• iu: soft /u/
• iū: soft /uː/
• iur, iūr: soft /ʊ˞/
• ie: soft /iə/

Grammar

Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modifier-modified order.

Nouns

Sgv-clv-plv system.