Tulvan
Tulvan is a language developed to be in the far future in an imaginary time-line. As such, it showcases a very degraded noun morphology, erosion of compounds, relexification and other such traits. A particular characteristic is that words have become more and more specific in their meanings, thus countering a leveling in morphology with a diversification in semantics. The speakers of Tulvan are thought to be in a post-apogee civilization that values culture and cientific knowledge above all, although they fail to their own aims at times.
Introduction
One of the main goals of the language was to experiment with having few to no declensions in a language tending to isolation and analytical morphosyntax. Of course some remnants of an older system remain, so it is not purely one thing or the other, but denotes a state of flux in the language continuum.
Phonology
Consonants
Bilabial | Dental | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Labio-Velar | Glottal | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Stop | p b | t d | k g | q | kw gw | h | |
Fricative | f v | th [θ] | c [x] | cw [xw] | |||
Sibilant | s z | ||||||
Nasal | m | n | nw | ||||
Liquid | l r | ||||||
Approximant | j | w |
In modern times the series <c, q, k> are merging in many dialects into one single /k/ phoneme, although some also present aspirated variants.
Vowels
Front | Central | Back | |
---|---|---|---|
Close | i | u ʲu | |
Mid | e ʲe | o ʲo | |
Open | a ʲa |
The only distinction in vowels is between regular vowels and palatized ones, these last ones written: <ä ë ö ü>