Qazhrian

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Qazhrian (/kɑːʒriən/ KAHZH-ree-uhn; natively: Qazhrem /ˈqaʒrem/ or he Lazhrem /he ˈʟaʒrem/) is a Talmic language spoken in Qazhra (from Thensarian Ȝactrasē), a Talman country. It is descended from Thensarian.

External history

This language was originally called Benocian and was Romance- and Ashkenazi Hebrew-inspired, and it had a strong Portuguese flavor. Recently I decided to rework it, basing the aesthetic more on Breton and Albanian.

Ideas

  • Breton-ish but not too gibby. Get more palatal consonants.
  • /ts, dz/ from Thensarian /θ ð/
    • or > /š ž/?
    • d and dz both lenite to z
  • /q/ lenites intervocallically to /ʟ/
  • /m/ does NOT lenite.
  • i ī u ū e ē o ō a ā ae ao ei eo iu oe ui
  • = I
  • wēr = you (sg)
  • tezh = child
  • rrond = man
  • yenal = water
  • welh [gʷec] = name
  • get initial zh from mutations
  • = in front of

Phonology

Consonants

Labial Alveolar Palatal Velar Labiovelar Uvular Glottal
Nasal m /m/ n /n/ nh /ɲ/ ng /ŋ/
Plosive voiceless p /p/ t /t/, c /ts/ ch /c/ k /k/ q /q/
voiced b /b/ d /d/, x /dz/ lh /ɟ/ g /g/
Fricative voiceless f /f/ s /s/ sh /ʃ/ c'h /x/ ħ /χ/ h /h/
voiced v /v/ z /z/ zh /ʒ/ gh /ɣ/
Liquid r /ɾ/
rr /r/
l /ɴ̆~ʟ/
Approximant y /j/ w /w/

p, f are found in loanwords (e.g. from Clofabic and Windermere).

Auslautverhärtung operates for plosives and is reflected in the orthography.

Vowels

Ancient Greek + Albanian vowels.

i, u, ou, e, ë, o, ē, a, ō /i y u e ə o ɛ a ɔ/

ai au /əe əo/

ië uë ouë /iə yə uə/ from loans

Morphology

Nouns

Qazhrian lost grammatical gender and all nominal inflections except number and construct state.

Article mutation example:

  • tezh 'a child'; he dezh 'the child'
  • rrond 'a man'; he rond 'the man'

Construct state example:

  • tezhet he rond 'the man's child'

Verbs

There are finite verbs, but auxiliaries are also important

Syntax