Old Kvalian

Old Kvalian /ˈkveɪ̯liən/ (natively: Kvæltilo /ˈkvaltilo/, "common tongue") is descended from Proto-Kertha and was spoken by the descendants of the Northern Men, the Central Men and the Dwarves in Kertha.

Phonology

Consonants

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m /m/			n /n/
Plosive	p /p/ b /b/			t /t/ d /d/			k /k/
Fricative		f /f/ v /v/	þ /θ/ ð /ð/	s /s/	sj /ʃ/	gh /ç/		h /h/
Affricate	pf /p͡f/
Approximant						j /j/	w /w/
Trill				r /r/
Lateral				l /l/

Vowels

	Front	Back
Close	i /i/ í /iː/ y /y/ ý /yː/	u /u/ ú /uː/
Mid	e /e/ é /eː/ ø /ø/ ǿ /øː/	o /o/ ó /oː/
Open	æ /a/ ǽ /aː/	a /ɑ/ á /ɑː/

Unlike Proto-Kertha, Old Kvalian possessed diphthongs. In these diphthongs u represents /ʊ̯/ and i /ɪ̯/.

Vowel harmony

Old Kvalian possessed regressive vowel harmony, that is that the vowel of the desinence (if there are two vowels then vowel harmony acts regressively from the first) can change the vowels in the rest of the word. These changes happen regardless of the length of the vowel and so only short vowels are shown in the table below.

Desinences		Affected vowels		Result
æ a	+	æ a	→	æ a
	+	e ø o	→	æ æ a
	+	i y u	→	e ø o
e ø o	+	æ a	→	e o
	+	e ø o	→	e ø o
	+	i y u	→	e ø o
i y u	+	æ a	→	e o
	+	e ø o	→	i y u
	+	i y u	→	i y u

This can be seen in the declension of the Old Kvalian words karða ("earth") and, to a lesser extent, suþu ("ash"):

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	karða	korðøn	karðæns
Accusative	karðæn	korðøn	karðanøn
Genitive	korðe	korðene	karðane
Dative	karðæt	karðæs	karðǽs
Instrumental	korðoim	korðǿm	karðǽm
Locative	korðéa	korðói	korðámi

	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	suþu	suþyn	suþyns
Accusative	suþoun	suþyn	suþinøn
Genitive	suþi	suþine	suþuni
Dative	soþout	suþys	suþýs
Instrumental	soþoim	soþǿm	soþoum
Locative	suþíu	soþói	suþúmi

History

The table below outlines the regular sound changes that occurred between Proto-Kertha and Old Kvalian.

Proto-Kertha to Old Kvalian
Proto-Kertha	Environment	Result	Example	Translation
Vowels
a	in an open syllable	a	*tyafa > tafa	gift
	in a closed syllable	æ	*faphar > favær	dry
ā	in an open syllable	á	*tāror > dáror	old
	in a closed syllable	ǽ	*tāk > dǽk	year
e	in an open syllable	e	*mekwa > mekva	head
	in a closed syllable	ø	*phen > føn	father
ē	in an open syllable	é	*thēlu > þélu	tail
	in a closed syllable	ǿ	*nēr > nǿr	black
i	in an open syllable	i	*sĭpina > spina	feather
	in a closed syllable	y	*ferit > feryt	louse
	before y	disappears	*tiyen > djøn	to speak
ī	in an open syllable	í	*īrol > írol	ear
	in a closed syllable	ý	*tṟkhīr > tarkýr	dragon
	before y	disappears + VL	*kīya > gjá	when
o	in an open syllable	o	*kolor > golor	new
	in a closed syllable	oi	*sătom > stoim	husband
	before r	o	*kolor > golor	new
ō	in an open syllable	ó	*śōror > sjóror	yellow
	in a closed syllable	oi	*twōn > tvoin	wing
	before r	ó	*kyōr > kór	green
u	in an open syllable	ou	*suthu > suþu	ash
	in a closed syllable	ou	*kyup > koub	leaf
	before r	u	*ur > ur	x
ū	in an open syllable	ú	ūsōa > úsóa	all
	in a closed syllable	ou	lūl > loul	river
	before r	ú	*ūr > úr	x
ă	in an open syllable	disappears	*tărōn > troin	road, path
	in a closed syllable	a	*kwăr > kvar	skin
ə	in an open syllable	i	*thəsa > þisa	hand
	in a closed syllable	e	*pəl > bel	belly
	word initial	e	*ərar > erær	right(-hand)
ĭ	in an open syllable	disappears	*pĭrina > brina	flower
	in a closed syllable	i	*enĭt > enit	animal
ŭ	in an open syllable	disappears	*pŭlut > blout	meat
	in a closed syllable	u	*khŭn > kun	glass
Syllabic consonants
ḻ		el	*mḻta > melda	mother
ṟ		ar	*kṟtha > garða	earth
Consonants
m, n, f, s, r, l, w		no change
p		b	*pouko > bougo	dog
ph	inter-vocalic	v	*phipha > fiva	thirty
	elsewhere	f
py		p	*pyiska > pyska	blood
pw		pf	*pwos > pfois	stick
t	final	t	*pŭlut > blout	meat
	elsewhere	d	*tiso > diso	man
th	post-consonantal	ð	*festha > føsða	life
	elsewhere	þ	*suthu > suþu	ash
ty		t	*tyako > tago	king
tw		tv	*twela > tvela	money
ś		sj	*śōror > sjóror	yellow
y		j	*ayeri > ajeri	wind
k	final	k	*warăk > warak	self
	elsewhere	g	*lōko > lógo	away
kh		k	*khepa > keba	mountain
ky		k	*kyina > kina	one
kw		kv	*kwāna > kvána	there
h	initial, final	gh	*hōpo > ghóbo	rope
	elsewhere	no change
Special cases
declensions		see declensions
infinitives and conjugations		see conjugations

Nouns

Old Kvalian nouns inflect according to case and number. There were three numbers: singular, dual and plural. The dual and plural forms are indicated in various ways depending on the ending of the original noun. There were six cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental and locative. Old Kvalian had three genders but this does not affect nominal morphology. However, as mentioned above, vowel harmony does affect nominal inflexions. Definiteness is specified by the suffix -døgh. The tables below show the different declension patterns.

-a
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-a	-øn	-æns
Accusative	-æn	-øn	-øn
Genitive	-e	-ene	-ane
Dative	-æt	-æs	-ǽs
Instrumental	-oim	-ǿm	-ǽm
Locative	-éa	-ói	-ámi

-b, -k, -t
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-b, -k, -t	-bøn, -gøn, -døn	-bs, -gs, -ds
Accusative	-n	-ne	-nøn
Genitive	-ne	-ne	-nu
Dative	-ǿk	-ois	-ois
Instrumental	-oim	-ǿm	-oim
Locative	-é	-bói, -gói, dói	-ómi

-e
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-e	-ǿn	-ǿns
Accusative	-øn	-ǿn	-enøn
Genitive	-i	-éni	-eni
Dative	-øt	-ǿs	-ýs
Instrumental	-oim	-ǿm	-ǿm
Locative	-íe	-ói	-émi

-gh
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-Vgh	-oin	-oins
Accusative	-Vn	-oin	-onøn
Genitive	-Vn	-one	-onu
Dative	-Vt	-ois	-ois
Instrumental	-Vm	-ǿm	-oim
Locative	-é	-ói	-ómi

-i
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-i	-oun	-ouns
Accusative	-yn	-oun	-unøn
Genitive	-o	-une	-inu
Dative	-yt	-ous	-ous
Instrumental	-oim	-ǿm	-ým
Locative	-úi	-ói	-ími

-l, -r
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-l, -r	-ls, -rs	-lm, -rm
Accusative	-ln, -rn	-lnøs, -rnøs	-lme, -rme
Genitive	-ne	-nøn	-nǿn
Dative	-nør	-nøs	-nǿs
Instrumental	-noim	-nøm	-nǿm
Locative	-ǿl, -ǿr	-nói	-némi

-m, -n
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-m, -n	-ne	-nøn
Accusative	-ne	-nøn	-nǿn
Genitive	-nør	-neni	-néni
Dative	-t	-nøs	-nǿs
Instrumental	-noim	-nøm	-nǿm
Locative	-é	-nói	-noim

-o
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-o	-oin	-oins
Accusative	-oin	-oin	-onøn
Genitive	-u	-ónu	-onu
Dative	-oit	-ois	-ous
Instrumental	-oim	-eim	-oim
Locative	-úo	-ói	-ómi

-u
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	-u	-yn	-yns
Accusative	-oun	-yn	-inøn
Genitive	-i	-ine	-uni
Dative	-out	-ys	-ýs
Instrumental	-oim	-ǿm	-oum
Locative	-íu	-ói	-úmi

Adjectives

Adjectives inflect for number, case and gender. Old Kvalian adjectives only have one basic group and decline in the same manner as nouns. The ending -(y)r is masculine, -(n)a feminine and -(n)e neuter. The example given below is nimør (meaning "nasal").

nimør
	Masculine			Feminine			Neuter
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	nimør	nimørs	nimørm	nemana	nemenøn	nemanæns	nemene	nemenǿn	nemenǿns
Accusative	nimørn	nemørnøs	nemørme	næmanæn	nemenøn	nemanøn
Genitive	nemene	nemenøn	nemenǿn	nemone	nemenene	næmanane
Dative	nemenør	nemenøs	nemenǿs	næmanæt	næmænæs	næmanǽs
Instrumental	nemenoim	nemenøm	nemenǿm	nemonoim	nemenǿm	næmanǽm
Locative	neméør	nemenói	nemenémi	nemonéa	nemenói	næmanámi