Moshurian
Moshurian | |
---|---|
uthilikh | |
The Moshurian endonym(uthilikh) written in Moshurian script. | |
Pronunciation | [ˈuðˌilix] |
Created by | Jukethatbox |
Setting | Radael |
Native to | Moshurian Empire |
Ethnicity | Moshurians |
Native speakers | ~450,000,000 (400 UH) |
Yeldhic
| |
Early forms | Kóftąbriác Yeldha
|
Standard form | Taráhus Moshurian
|
Dialects |
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| |
Official status | |
Official language in | Moshurian Empire Iśatúr Confederacy |
Recognised minority language in | Eastern Gegfen Alliance |
Regulated by | Ministry of Linguistic Regulation |
Map of Moshurian speakers. Dark green represents a Moshurian-speaking majority and light green represents a significant minority. | |
Moshurian(endonym: uthilikh; Moshurian: [ˈuðˌilix]) is a Tulooric language spoken in mostly Talkoch. It is the most spoken language in Talkoch, and also has significant minority communities on Etzeán Island and the Eastern Gegfen Alliance, also called the Dmuriékh(lit. "far away east"). It is the sole official language of the Moshurian Empire, and is thoroughly used administratively and academically in the Moshurian Empire, no matter what one's mother tongue is.
It is one of the only surviving languages indigenous to the Munsanukh Valley, which is generally considered, alongside Tuloor Lake, to be the birthplace of the Moshurian race, culture and language.
Origin
The Moshurian culture originates in the Paleoyeldhic cultures that initially settled Munsanukh Valley, who's indigenous inhabitants had been pushed further south. A landslide blocked off the exits of the Valley, leading to an extended period of isolation from other Paleoyeldhic cultures, eventually forming into Koftábriąc Yeldha. Koftábriąc Yeldha then split into the Tulooric and Najmunsaic branch, where Early Moshurian developed in the Tulooric branch from Proto-Tulooric, while languages such as Aquq and Hátuli developed in the Najmunsaic branch from Proto-Najmunsaic.
Etymology
Endonym
The Moshurian endonym, uthilikh, is most likely derived from Moshurian mythology, in which the god of creation's daughter, Khaurnán, sent her son, Uthiliran, to lead the Moshurian people. Etymologically, the word is probably derived from the Proto-Yeldhic word pˤliqʷ, which most likely meant "small lake" or "pond", possibly referring to Tuloor Lake, which is deduced to be the Moshurian homeland.
Exonym
Their exonym of Moshurian comes from a nomadic legend of the god of travel and nomads, Dündŵęk, who traveled to Tuloor Lake(the homeland of the Moshurians) in search of an inn to rest. The Moshurians had plenty of inns(möşhüř as they are called in Ancient Yeldha), and Dündŵęk was finally able to rest. After departing, he thanked the Moshurians, and later mentioned them to the other gods as simply möşhüřiànöřmà, or "inn people". This exonym stuck within nomadic circles, who then passed the exonym to the more settled peoples of Talkoch.
Phonology
Orthography
Moshurian has its own script that is read right-to-left, top-to-bottom. Each symbol can be easily deciphered by simply looking at how high or low the symbol is. If the symbol goes down below the line on the paper, it is a consonant.
The sound /h/ is represented with the〈kh〉glyph, and the /ɸ/ sound is represented by the 〈fh〉dipthong, transcripted as ⟨fkh⟩.
Abjad form
The Moshurian alphabet can be written in an abjad form, although this is mostly used by Kutic traders who adapted the Moshurian alphabet to a structure similar to their own native Kutic script, which itself is an abjad.
The form mostly follows the rules of the Kutic abjad, such as no inset vowels being represented, although the glyphs for ⟨a⟩ and ⟨á⟩ are used in an onset position.
The Moshurian Empire does not officially recognise the abjad form, and even in traditionally Kutic-dominated territories, such as along east to west trade routes, children are taught the alphabetical form of the script when learning Moshurian.
Origin
The origin of the Moshurian alphabet is heavily debated. According to the Gécheb Bizörith, the Moshurian alphabet was designed by a secret society called Akhakuöm, who took inspiration from the Tiragii military cuneiform. Eventually after the bust of Akhakuöm by the Moshurian state, the script was changed to fit the standard Moshurian dialect and re-issued as the government Moshurian alphabet.
In the Sóvók religion, one of the books in the Idērigidwi claims that a man named Udeldoi presented a script to the king of Moshuria so as to record military victories for propaganda.
Both of these interpretations are considered simply as urban legend, as orthographic analysis of the Izkanà(one of the earliest Moshurian documents) by calligraphers showed that the early Moshurian alphabet had many similarities with the logographic Oalanii[1] script, which may have influenced Munsanukh orthographies as a whole.
The glyphs for /b/ comes from Oalanii *ʕbạn, while the glyph for /d/ comes from Oalanii *dḕmsir.
Consonants
Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar/ palatal |
Retroflex | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||
Stop | p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ||||||||
Affricate | t͡ʃ | |||||||||||||
Fricative | ɸ/f | (θ)[2] | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | x | h | |||||
Approximant | j | |||||||||||||
Lateral | l | |||||||||||||
Flap | ɽ |
Vowels
Front | Near-front | Central | Back | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Close | i | y | u | ||
Near-close | ɪ | ||||
Close-mid | e | ø | o | ||
Mid | ə̃ | ||||
Open-mid | ε | ||||
Open | a | ɑ |
Prosody
Stress
Stress in Moshurian is paroxytonic, meaning stress is placed on the penultimate syllable of a word, e.g. zazuŋ, pronounced [ˈzaˌzuŋ], or uthilikh, pronounced [ˈuð.ilix].
Phonotactics
Syllables in Moshurian typically follow the pattern of (C)(G)V(V)(G)(C)[3].
Morphology
See also: Moshurian/Swadesh list.
Nouns
Nouns in Moshurian have two forms: the infinitive and the accusative. The infinitive, like with verbs, is essentially the raw form of the noun, with no suffixes. The accusative is the infinitive + the suffix -géd, and is used when a verb is acting upon an object in a sentence. There are some exceptions, such as nouns who's infinitive end with /ŋ/, such as zazuŋ, and in this case the suffix changes from -géd to -éd.
Verbs
Verbs in Moshurian are inflected by default with the infinitve suffix -omh, and then the root of the verb (e.g. dáfhér in dáfhéromh, to eat) is inflected with a different suffix depending on the pronoun.
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
Infinitive | -omh | |
First person | -ék(-ïk) | -ékeŋ(-ïkeŋ) |
Second person | -ot | -(o)tuŋ |
He | -eź | -iŋź |
She | -aş | -aŋéş |
They | -iş | -éiméş |
Example
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
infinitive | dáfhéromh | |
First person | dáfhérék | dáfhérékeŋ |
Second person | dáfhérot | dáfhérotuŋ |
He | dáfhéreź | dáfhériŋź |
She | dáfhéraş | dáfhéraŋéş |
They | dáfhériş | dáfhéréiméş |
Numerals
Numerals in Moshurian are labelled as cardinal by adding the suffix -i to a number.
Moshurian | English |
---|---|
iyg | one |
oyamö | two |
tikré | three |
igoyà | four |
tikoyam | five |
Pronouns
Demonstrative
Personal
Personal pronouns in Moshurian are, for the most part, identical to their verb inflections.
Singular | Plural | |
---|---|---|
First person | ék | ékeŋ |
Second person | ot | otuŋ |
He | eź | iŋź |
She | aş | aŋéş |
They | iş | éiméş |
Possessive
Interrogative
Reflexive
Syntax
Constituent order
Moshurian uses an OSV(object-subject-verb) sentence structure.
Tenses
In Moshurian, there are four main tenses- the present, the future, the far future and the simple past. To indicate that a phrase is in a certain tense, an indicator is used just before the object, e.g. öş gersetigéd kestolék(I built a house).
Present | Future | Far Future | Simple Past |
---|---|---|---|
(uź) | ïş | ïşé | öş |
The present tense indicator, uź, is used like a natural in music. By default, no indicator is used to indicate the present in a non-contextual sentence, but as indicators are continuous, meaning that if an indicator is placed then all succeeding sentences will be in the indicator's tense until a new indicator appears, uź may be needed to clarify that a sentence does not follow the tense of the previous sentence.
Example: öş abáragéd udubék. budur ibiş. - I went to the park. It was[4] great.
ös abáragéd udubék. uź budur ibiş. - I went to the park. (The park) is great.
Noun phrase
- Sögéd kél mosok dáfhéréiméş.
- grass-ACC PL cow(PL) eat-3PL.
- Cows eat grass.
- grass-ACC PL cow(PL) eat-3PL.
in this sentence, sögéd is the object, mosok is the subject, and dáfhéréiméş is the verb with inflection. in noun phrases, Moshurian still uses the object-subject-verb structure.
Verb phrase
See also:Verbs.
- sögéd duà ché dáfhér!
- grass-ACC IMP no eat!
- Do not eat the grass!
In imperative verb phrases, the imperative indicator, duà, is put before the verb, as ché is still considered, at least grammatically, part of the verb when present. Additionally, verbs take on their root form, as opposed to their infinitive form in said sentence type.
In this sentence, sögéd is the object, and the verb is dáfhér. The subject does not appear and is instead implied to be the recipient of the imperative phrase.
Dialects
Standard dialect
The standard dialect of Moshurian is, according to the Ministry of Linguistic Regulation(MLR), officially the Taráhus dialect spoken in the capital, although Tárahus is so large that several districts have developed their own dialects, many of which who are vastly different from each other, so it is still unclear on which is considered the standard within the family of Taráhus dialects.
Inner Taráhus dialect
The Inner Taráhus dialect is generally considered by Moshurian linguistics to be what the MLR constitution means in the line:
"[...] The dialect spoken around the capitol and the [MLR] shall be considered the dialect to be used for the transmission of necessary information to Moshurian citizens. For non-Moshurian areas of the Empire, the standard [dialect][5] of the most prominent non-Moshurian language shall be used to convey said information."
However, this quote can be considered quite vague, as the MLR and the wider capitol has changed location many times in Taráhus. One year, the MLR headquarters was located in the district of Oźmaneli, where a borderline unintelligible dialect of Moshurian is spoken, and, for that year, the bizarre Oźmaneli dialect was considered the standard, causing great confusion to non-Oźmanelis.
Oźmaneli dialect
The Oźmaneli dialect is a dialect spoken in the inner city district of Oźmaneli. It has garnered much attention from linguists, as its pronunciation is widely different from typical pronunciation.
Additionally, it is the only dialect to utilise the zero copula, an effect where the verb "to be" is not used in a statement, e.g. instead of "I am tired" it would be "I tired".
Phonetic differences
In general, the pattern seems to be that voiceless consonants tend to get voiced, but this is not always the case.
- /ŋ/ is pronounced [ɳ] or [ɟ][6]
- /x/ is pronounced [ɣ]
- /ð/ is pronounced [θ][7]
- /b/ is sometimes pronounced [ʙ] before a /ɽ/.
- Speaking of /ɽ/, it is pronounced [ɬ]
Morphological differences
- mosok ⇒ Oźmaneli mudźuk.
- pusadi ⇒ Oźmaneli bsédodifh.
- uthilikh ⇒ Oźmaneli utuɟul.
- surus/zazuŋ ⇒ Oźmaneli şild/soéş.
Oźmaneli rhyming slang
Very similar to Cockney rhyming slang in London, Oźmaneli has its own rhyming slang, that often leaves many non-Oźmanelis stringed(confused).
- abaza(football) rhymes with dzul iz upaza(colour and shape) → dzul
- zebatalomh(confuse) → usuŋtua sibatal(stringed instrument) → usuŋtua
Oalan dialect
The Oalan dialect is the specific dialect of Moshurian spoken in the city of Oalan and its surrounding suburbs. The Oalan dialect is not as different from the Taráhus dialect, although /ð/ is pronounced [θ], which is a conventional pronunciation among most non-standard dialects.
Loïha dialect
The Loïha dialect is the dialect of Moshurian speakers who reside in the Golden Plain. Loïha is possibly the most distinct but still intelligible dialect of Moshurian. This is because there are very few morphological differences, but quite large sound changes.
Notably, the Loïha dialect can be split into two groups: the Western and Eastern dialects. Western Loïha tends to be a bit more distant from the standard, whereas Eastern is the opposite. However, what is universal across both dialects is that glottal stops are incorporated in everyday speech.
Sound changes
- From /ð/ → [ð](Western) or [θ](Eastern)
- From /x/ → [ʁ](Western) or [χ](Eastern)
- In diphthong C̥V → /ʔV/.
Odezyë dialect
The Odezyë dialect is phonetically not very different from standard Moshurian, but it does have a bizarre mannerism that cannot be found in any other dialect- that being the suffix -áktu. It is placed directly after any sort of proper noun, including names. The origin of this is heavily debated- although the most prominent theory claims that it may come from the Aquq genitive suffix -ḗC̥ə̹.
Far East dialect
The entire existence of the Far East Moshurians(Dmuriékh; Moshurian: [dˈmuɽi̯ˌex]) is shrouded in mystery, but they seem to speak a certain dialect of Moshurian that only slightly varies from the standard Taráhus dialect.
Phonological differences
- [u] → [ʊ] or [ɯ] in some cases
- [VC̃][8] → [Ṽ].
Sépenzg dialect
Example texts
Moshurian Swadesh list
Other resources
- ^ Oalanii is an archeological term used to describe the Proto-Taskaric inhabitants of what is now the city of Oalan. Although the Oalanii had their own script, no surviving documentation mentions their actual endonym, so they are called the Oalanii after the city where the first archeological remains of ancient Oalan were found.
- ^ Only used in certain dialects. Still orthographically represented as 〈th〉.
- ^ Velar fricatives(/x/) can not be followed by glides(/j/).
- ^ Note the continuous past tense.
- ^ The original constitution uses the word "edition"(kuchbarà) to refer to standard dialects of minority languages, which is kind of confusing.
- ^ Why /ŋ/ is pronounced [ɟ] is one of the greatest mysteries of Moshurian.
- ^ The pronunciation of /ð/ as [θ] is a consistent pattern among most non-standard dialects of Moshurian, although some Oźmanelis pronounced /ð/ as [ɕ].
- ^ Vowel before nasal consonant. Quite common in the Eastern subgroup of dialects.