Nurian
Nurian (gaħēs nūrimēs /ˈgɐħeːs ˈn̪ˠʊɚrʲɪmʲeːs/) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Lithuanian, Russian, Italian and English. Nurian phonology and vocabulary has been signficantly influenced by Meetzarri. It is spoken alongside Meetzarric languages, Clofabic languages and New World Reber Wiebian.
Historical phonology
- Cl > Cj > Cʲ (Italian style)
- ħl, ȝl > ħħ, ȝȝ
- C1C2 > C2C2 (similarly to Italian)
- mlīd - conclusion, end > mīd /mʲiːdˠ/
Numbers
- 1: cēm /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠ/
- 2: tiħōr /tʲɪˈħɔɚ/
- 3: nargь /ˈnˠɑɚd͡ʒ/
- 4: dhaufь /ˈðˠɐʊfʲ/
- 5: saliħ /ˈsˠɐlʲɪħ/
- 6: stām /ˈsˠtˠɑːm/
- 7: rōdь /ˈrˠoːdʲ/
- 8: loreħ /ˈɫɔɚrʲəħ/
- 9: farvь /ˈfˠɑɚɹɪ/
- 10: ħiler /ˈħɪlʲɛɚ/ (influenced by Meetzarri ulyerre)
- 11: cēmara /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠɑɚrˠə/ (< Themsarian cēmiħioré, influenced by Zutarl emarra)
- 12: pidь /ˈpʲɪdʲ/ (Zutarl pirdi)
- 144: tarþь /ˈtˠɑɚsʲ/
- 1728: ūbyc /ˈuːbˠɪ̞k/
Phonology
Consonants
As a result of a series of historical palatalizations, Nurian has many consonants in hard (velarized) and soft (palatalized) versions, similar to Lithuanian and Russian. Radicals and /h/ cannot palatalize - however, they color the /a/ vowel as if they were soft.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Radical | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vel. | pal. | vel. | pal. | vel. | pal. | ||||||
| Nasal | mˠ | mʲ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ɲ~ɲ̄ | ŋ | |||||
| Stop | tenuis | pˠ | pʲ | t̪ˠ | tʲ | tʃ | k | ||||
| voiced | bˠ | bʲ | d̪ˠ | dʲ | dʒ | g | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | fˠ | fʲ | θˠ | θ | sˠ | sʲ | ʃ | x | ħ | h |
| voiced | ðˠ | ð | zˠ | zʲ | ʒ | ɣ | ʕ | ||||
| Trill | rˠ | rʲ | |||||||||
| Approximant | central | w | (ɹ) | j | |||||||
| lateral | ɫ | lʲ | |||||||||
[ɹ] occurs in the hiatus after r-colored vowels before another vowel.
Palatalization
Word-final soft consonants use a soft sign ь.
| 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/ | /w/ | /nˠ/ | /tˠ/ | /dˠ/ | /θˠ/ | /ðˠ/ | /sˠ/ | /zˠ/ | /rˠ/ | /ɫ/ | /ŋ/ | /k/ | /ɡ/ | /x/ | /ɣ/ | /ħ/ | /ʕ/ | /h/ | silent |
| Soft | /mʲ/ | /pʲ/ | /bʲ/ | /fʲ/ | /j/ | /nʲ/ | /tʲ/ | /dʲ/ | /θ/ | /ð/ | /sʲ/ | /zʲ/ | /rʲ/ | /lʲ/ | /ɲ/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /d͡ʒ/ | /ʃ/ | /ʒ/ |
r = r-coloring before a consonant or word-finally
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | rhotic | short | short | long | rhotic | ||
| Close | /ɪ~ɪ̞/ | /iː/ | /ɪɚ/ | /ʊ/ | /uː/ | /ʊɚ/ | ||
| Mid | [ɛ] | /ɛɚ/ | [ə] | /o/ | /oː/ | /ɔɚ/ | ||
| Open | [æː] | /ɐ/ | /ɑː/ | /ɑɚ/ | ||||
Diphthongs: /ɐɪ/ /ɐʊ/ /iə~iɛ/
- Short /ɪ/ is lowered to [ɪ̞] after hard consonants.
- ia and e both represent [ɛ], the allophone of /ɐ/ after palatalized consonants.
- [ə] occurs as a reduction of /ɐ/ and /ɛ/, and also occurs after word-final geminates.
Stress
Stress is phonemic in Nurian. Nurian stress can be derived by applying the following stress pattern in Thensarian and then Thensarian > Nurian sound changes:
- 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.
- If no heavy syllables, the 3rd from last is stressed.
- piudiinъ - final stress;
- piudiin - penult stress
Grammar
Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modifier-modified order.
Nouns
Sgv-clv-plv system.
Accents and dialects
Dialect 1
Polishy
- ci gi chi ghi = [tʂ dʐ ʂ ʐ]
- sci = [ʂtʂ]
- ti di si zi = [tɕ dʑ ɕ ʑ]
- fi > [ç]
- ni ngi > [ɲ]
Dialect 2
Conservative
- ci gi chi ghi = [kʲ gʲ xʲ ɣʲ]
- sci = [skʲ]
Dialect 3
Proto-clicky
- ci gi chi ghi = [kɧ gɧ̬ ɧ ɧ̬]
- sci = [ɧː]
- velarized labials and dentals become clicks
Dialect 4
Scottish Gaelic pseudo-gib