Celabrian

Celabrian (Celabrian: gərṭeʒ [ˈɡəɾtʼɛd͡z]) is an Indo-European language.

Introduction

Etymology

The name Celabrian comes from the tribal name Celabri (Greek: Κελαβροί) < Proto-Celabrian *kelabʰras "warrior" (compare Modern Celabrian č̣łavr [t͡ʃʼɫavɾ]) < *kelas "spear" (< PIE *gʷelH- "to throw, pierce"; compare Modern Celabrian č̣ał [t͡ʃʼaɫ] "weapon") + *-bʰēr ~ -bʰras "bearer" (< PIE *bʰer- "to bear, carry").

The endonym gərṭeʒ comes from gər "Celabrian" (< PC *wīras "man" < PIE *wiHrós "man, warrior") + ṭeʒ "language" (< PC *tancūs "tongue" < PIE *dn̥ǵʰwéh₂s). The formal language is known as bonṭeʒ [ˈbontʼɛd͡z], from bon "clear, eloquent" (< PC *bʰānas < PIE *bʰeh₂- "to shine; to speak"). The classical language is known as akrəṭeʒ [ˈakʰɾətʼɛd͡z] (Classical Celabrian: akʰra tanci [ˈakʰɾa ˈtant͡si]), from akr "precise, sharp" (< PC *akʰras "sharp" < PIE *h₂ḱrós). The colloquial language is known as łøðṭeʒ [ˈɫ̪œtʼːɛd͡z], from łøð "masses, common folk" (< PC *aleudʰis < PIE *h₁léwdʰis "people").

Phonology

Orthography

Consonant phonemes of Standard Celabrian

		Labial	Dental	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Nasal		m [m]		n [n]		ň [ɲ]	ŋ [ŋ]
Plosive	voiceless	p [pʰ]		t [tʰ]		ḱ [cʰ]	k [kʰ]	q [q ~ ʔ]1
	voiced	b [b]		d [d]		ǵ [ɟ]	g [ɡ]
	ejective	ṗ [pʼ]		ṭ [tʼ]		ḳ́ [cʼ]	ḳ [kʼ]
Affricate	voiceless			c [t͡sʰ]	č [t͡ʃʰ]
	voiced			ʒ [d͡z]	ǯ [d͡ʒ]
	ejective			c̣ [t͡sʼ]	č̣ [t͡ʃʼ]
Fricative	voiceless	f [f]	θ [θ]	s [s]	š [ʃ]	x́ [ç]		x [χ ~ h]1
	voiced	v [v]	ð [ð]	z [z]	ž [ʒ]	j [ʝ ~ j]2		h [ɦ ~ ʁ]1
Approximant	central				ř [ɻ]
	lateral		ł [ɫ̪]	l [l]		ľ [ʎ]
Trill				ṙ [r]
Flap				r [ɾ]

Notes:

¹ The guttural consonants q, x, and h can be pronounced uvular or glottal depending on environment. The allophones are summarized in the table below. When two pronunciations are given, both are allowed but the first is more common.

Phoneme	In roots				In affixes
	Adjacent to consonant	Not adjacent to consonant
		initial	medial	final
q	q		ʔ ~ q		ʔ
x	χ	χ ~ h		h ~ χ	χ
h	ʁ	ɦ	ɦ ~ ʁ	ʁ	ɦ

² Pronounced [ʝ] syllable-initially and [j] otherwise.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of Standard Celabrian

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i [i]	y [y]	ə [ə]	u [u]
Mid	e [e]	ø [ø]		o [o]
Open	æ [æ]		a [ɑ]

Morphophonology

Vowel harmony

Celabrian has a vowel harmony system very similar to that of Turkish. There are two harmony systems: a simple one (only frontness) and a complex one (both frontedness and roundedness). These are shown in the table below:

Standard Celabrian vowel harmony systems

Harmony system	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Simple	e [e]		a [ɑ]
Complex	i [i]	y [y]	ə [ə]	u [u]

In this article, the following notation is used to represent the harmonizing vowels in affixes:

• a^H: simple harmonizing vowel (a/e)
• ə^H: complex harmonizing vowel (ə/u/i/y)
• ə^F: front allomorphs of complex harmonizing vowel (i/y)
• ə^B: back allomorphs of complex harmonizing vowel (ə/u)
• ə^R: rounded allomorphs of complex harmonizing vowel (u/y)
• ə^U: unrounded allomorphs harmonizing vowel (ə/i)

Most prefixes and suffixes harmonize with the nearest vowel in the word they are attached to. Vowels within a word do not necessarily have to agree in frontness/backness.

Some consonants only occur in certain environments. In native words, velar and post-velar consonants only occur adjacent to back vowels, and palatal consonants (other than j) only occur adjacent to front vowels. There are some exceptions, such as -q in the ergative suffix -ə^Hq/q. This rule does not apply to loanwords.

Assimilation

When a prefix beginning in an obstruent attaches to a word ending in an obstruent, the initial consonant of the prefix assimilates to the final consonant of the root in voicing. If their places of articulation are close enough, there may be complete assimilation. Similarly, a final obstruent in a prefix assimilates to a following obstruent. A similar process takes place with the first component of compound words, but this is not indicated in writing.

Historical phonology

PIE to Early Proto-Celabrian (PC)

*h1e > e
*a, *h2e > a
*(H)o, *h3e > a 
*ē, *eh1 > ē
*eh2 > ā
*ō, *oH, *eh3 > ō
*iH > ī
*uH > ū
stress shifts (often to penultimate syllable/mora)
*w, *y > Ø / in long diphthongs
*CHC > CaC
*HC- > aC- / #_
*r̥H > ra
*l̥H > la
*n̥H > na
*m̥H > ma
*r̥ > ri, ar
*l̥ > li, al
*m̥ > am
*n̥ > an
-m > -n / _#, _C (assimilates to place of articulation of following consonant)
labiovelar > plain velar
palatovelar > plain velar / _r, _l, _n, _s
*p; *t; *ḱ; *k > pʰ; tʰ; cʰ /t͡sʰ/; kʰ
*b; *d; *ǵ; *g > p; t; c /t͡s/; k
*ǵʰ > *ʒʰ /d͡zʱ/ (other voiced aspirates preserved)
sbʰ; sdʰ; sʒʰ; sgʰ > spʰ; stʰ; scʰ; skʰ
*s > š / r_, u_, K_, i_ (ruki sound law)

Transcription differences without significant sound change:
*y > j
*Vy > Vi
*Vu > Vu

Early PC to Late PC

ē > ī / _ns
ē > ā / otherwise
 In some dialects, this takes place after the palatalization of velars, affecting some words that were reborrowed into the standard dialect.
ei, eje > ī
e > i / with i in following syllable
s, š > Ø / _n, _m (lengthen preceding vowel, even if intervening consonant is present)
s > Ø / #_r, #_l
sr, šr > rr / non-initial
sl, šl > ll / non-initial
velar stop (k, kʰ, gʰ) > palatal stop (ḱ, ḱʰ, ǵʰ) / before front vowels or j - at this stage, palatalization is allophonic

Late PC to Old Celabrian

ḱ; ḱʰ; ǵʰ > č /t͡ʃ/; čʰ /t͡ʃʰ/; ǯ /d͡ʒʱ/
stop consonant + tʰ > ttʰ
-s, -t > disappear / _#
s- > ž / #_
-s- > h / V_V
sT; sP; sC; sČ; sK > θ; f; s; š; x
Kš > ččʰ
Ps, Ts > ss
sw > xʷ
w > gʷ / #_, after sonorant
Pj > *Pš > šš (where P represents any labial stop)
Tj > ČČ
Cj > CC
Čj > ČČ
nj; lj; rj; sj > ň; ľ; ř; š / #_, C_
nj; lj; rj; sj > ňň; ľľ; řř; šš / V_V
mj > mň
Kn > ň-, -ňň-
Tn > nn
Pn > mn
j > ǵ / #_
bʰ; dʰ; ʒʰ; ǯʰ > b; d; ʒ; ǯ
gʰ > g / adjacent to nasal
gʰ > ɣ / otherwise
e > ja / before a, in non-final closed syllables
e > je / except when final, in diphthong, or immediately followed by nasal
ō > vø̄-, -ø̄-
ū > vȳ, -ȳ-
ai > jē-, -ē-
eu > jø̄, -ø̄-
au > vø̄, -ø̄-
o (from loanwords) > vo / #_
e > je / #_
ē > jē / #_
ā > vā / #_

Transcription differences without significant sound change:
 w > ʷ / C_
 w > v / V_V

Old Celabrian phonology

Old Celabrian consonants Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar/ Palatal Velar Glottal Nasal μ m [m] ν n [n] νι ň [ɲ] (γ n [ŋ])1 Plosive aspirated φ pʰ [pʰ] θ tʰ [tʰ] χ kʰ [kʰ] tenuis π p [p] τ t [tʼ] κ, ϙ k [k] voiced β b [b] δ d [d] γι ǵ [ɟ] (γ g [ɡ])2, ϝ gʷ [ɡʷ]3 Affricate aspirated ξ cʰ [t͡sʰ] ξ čʰ [t͡ʃʰ] tenuis ͳ c [t͡s] ͳ č [t͡ʃ] voiced ζ ʒ [d͡z] ζ ǯ [d͡ʒ] Fricative voiceless cφ f [f] cθ θ [θ] σ s [s] σ š [ʃ] cχ x [x] c h [h] voiced ρσ ž [ʒ] γ ɣ [ɣ] Approximant λ l [l] ι j [j], λι ľ [ʎ] ϝ v [w] Trill/Flap ρ r [r] ρι ř [rʲ]

Old Celabrian vowels Front Back Close ι i, ει ī [i, iː] υι ȳ [yː] ου u, ου ū [u, uː] Mid ε e, η ē [e, eː] οι ø̄ [øː] ο o, ω ō [o, oː] Open α a, α ā [a, aː]

Notes:

¹ Allophone of n before nasals.

² Allophone of ɣ adjacent to nasals.

³ All consonants can be labialized, but only gʷ behaves as an independent phoneme.

Old Celabrian to Classical Celabrian

cʰ; ʒ; čʰ > s; z; š / except after n, l
ž, ř > ř /ɹ/
ā > ō / except in final syllable
Unstressed final syllable vowels (does not affect monosyllabic words):
 short vowel > ə / when not followed by consonant, if dropping would lead to forbidden consonant cluster
 short vowel > disappears / when not followed by consonant, otherwise
 ā > a
 ī, ē, ø̄, ȳ > i
Stressed final syllable vowels (including in monosyllabic words):
 ȳ; ø̄ > ī; ē

Classical Celabrian to Standard Modern Celabrian

a > ə / before nasal in closed syllable
-ə > disappears / word-finally
final unstressed -a > -ə
ē > æ / _C
long vowel > short
a; ə; e; o; u > e; i; i; ø; y / when followed by /i/ in following syllable
ji > i / C_
velar > palatal / before front vowel or j
e; i; ø; y > a; ə; o; u / Cʷ_ (but not v_)
Cʷ > uC / after stressed, open vowel
Cʷ > C / otherwise
j > disappears / after palatal or post-alveolar consonant
v > disappears / after rounded vowel in unstressed syllables
u > f/v / V_C (agrees with following consonant in voicing)
final unstressed -i > disappears
b; d; ǯ; g > v; ð; ž; ɣ / V_, r_
mb; nd; nʒ; nǯ; ŋg > m; n; n; ň; ŋ
mp; nt; nc; nč; ŋk > b; d; ʒ; ǯ; g
mpʰ; ntʰ; ncʰ; nčʰ; ŋkʰ > nasal is dropped
p; t; c; č; k > ṗ; ṭ; c̣; č̣; ḳ / #_
p; t; c; č; k > b; d; ʒ; ǯ; q / V_, r_, l_
h, x > x /χ ~ h/
r > ṙ /r/ / when initial or geminated
r > r /ɾ/ / otherwise
l > ł /ɫ/ / between vowels
ɣ > disappears / before sonorant
mn > m
mň > ň
geminate consonant > single consonant
Tr > Č (in some dialects, preserved or instead > Ḱ)
Kl, Tl > Ḱ
pre-tonic vowel loss whenever possible, otherwise generally > ə (but sometimes preserved)
 Forms consonant clusters that are resolved as follows:
  nasal + obstruent > nasal assimilates to place of articulation of obstruent
  obstruent clusters assimilate to voicing of final obstruent
  ṙ > r / in clusters
  N + r/ř/l/ł > stop homorganic to nasal is inserted (but ň + r > ndr; n/ň + l > ŋgl; n/ň + ł > ŋgł)
  N + ľ > ňǵ
  s + r/ř/l/ł > str/stř/skl/skł
  š + r/ř/l/ł > štr/štř/škl/škł
  z/ž + r/ř > epenthetic -d- inserted
  affricate + stop > affricate becomes corresponding appropriately voiced fricative
  ř + consonant > ř becomes post-alveolar fricative
  T + s/z > c/ʒ
  Č + s/z > č/ǯ
  etc
vowel harmony:
  unstressed vowels harmonize with stressed vowel in frontedness and sometimes roundedness (especially with high vowels)
   back (a; ə, u) <-> front (e; i, y)
   unrounded (ə, i) <-> rounded (u, y)
  frontedness of stressed vowel may be affected by adjacent consonants (details TBD)
  stressed a sometimes > æ
l, ł, ľ > merge before obstruents - become ł before velar/post-velar, ľ before palatal, and l otherwise

Transcription differences without significant sound change:
 ɣ > h /ɦ ~ ʁ/
 Cʰ > C

Morphology

Pronouns

Personal pronouns

Celabrian personal pronouns

Person and number			Absolutive	Emphatic	Ergative	Dative	Genitive	Ablative	Locative	Instrumental	Adverbial	Vocative	Possessive suffix
1st	Singular		jam	jamam	jaməq								-aHm
	Plural		vom	vomna	vomuq								-naH
2nd	Singular	Informal	tjev	tjevdə	tjeviq								-təH
		Formal	řan	řanga	řanəq								-ga/ǵe
	Plural		vym	vymǵe	vymyq								-ga/ǵe
3rd	Singular	Common
		Neuter
	Plural	Common
		Neuter