Dwendish
Pictish is a language isolate spoken by some 33 million speakers primarily on Pictland, the second largest of the British Isles, by the Picts, an ethnic group belonging to the European Pygmy or Thurse Phenotype. The language is in a sprachbund with the Celtic languages and shares features such as VSOX word order and initial consonant mutation.
Introduction
The intent of Pictish is to have a non-Celtic language being in a sprachbund with the Celtic languages without being too obviously Celtic in aesthetics. The main inspiration was Jörg Rhiemeier's article on the British Isles Linguistic Area in the League of Lost Languages section on Frathwiki. The main part of the phonology was influenced by Valarin Quenya and Láadan. Irish and Breton influenced Pictish initial consonant mutation.
Pictish is not the historical Pictish which is currently thought to be a Brythonic language allied to Welsh, Cornish and Breton. This is an ahistorical, fictional Pictish, descended from a language spoken alongside historical Brythonic Pictish by the Thurse group known in Classical sources as the Picti, before they were largely driven from Caledonia by the invading Scots.
Thurse is the usual term in English for any of the various ethnic groups possessing the European Pygmy phenotype. This phenotype is believed to have originated in the Hercynian forest zone of Central Europe before spreading all over the continent. Their most striking features are short stature and pointed ears. Uniquely, the Picts have striped skins which were generally attributed by Classical authors to the practice of tattoing hence their Latin sobriquet, Picti, the Painted Ones. The Thurse speak a variety of languages from a variety of language families, some of which are shared with other Europeans, some of which, such as Pictish, are not. Pictish is a language isolate spoken by some 33 million Picts in Pictland, the second largest of the British Isles, as well as the odd isolated pocket in eastern Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Phonology
Orthography
Pictish is written in a Latin script. The letters "b", "c", "e", "j", "o", "p", "s", "v", "w", "y" and "z" are not used.
Pictish Alphabet
"a" = /a/
"d" = /ð/
"dh" = /θ/
"f" = /w/
"fh" = /xʷ/
"g" = /j/
"gh" = /ç/
"h" = /h/
"i" = /i/
"k" = /k/
"l" = /l/
"l" = /ɬ/
"m" = /m/
"mq" = /ᵑɡʷ/
"n" = /n/
"ng" = /ɲ/
"nk" = /ᵑɡ/
"nr" = /ŋ/
"nt" = /ⁿd/
"nx" = /ᶮɟ/
"q" = /kʷ/
"r" = /ɣ/
"rh" = /x/
"t" = /t/
"u" = /u/
"x" = /c/
Note:
The glottal stop only occurs word-initially and its radical form is not written.
Consonants
NASAL: /n, ɲ, ŋ, m/
PLOSIVE:
-surd: /t, c, k, kʷ/
-prenasal: /ⁿd, ᶮɟ, ᵑɡ, ᵑɡʷ/
FRICATIVE: /θ, ɬ, ç, x, xʷ/
CONTINUANT:
-liquid: /l, ɣ/
-approximant: /ð, j, w/
GUTTURAL:
-stop: /ʔ/
-resonance: /h/
DENTAL: /θ, ð/
ALVEOLAR: /n, t, ⁿd, ɬ, l/
PALATAL: /ɲ, c, ᶮɟ, ç, j/
VELAR: /ŋ, k, ᵑɡ, x, ɣ/
LABIAL: /m, kʷ, ᵑɡʷ, xʷ, w/
GLOTTAL: /ʔ, h/
NOTE: /c/ is articulated with a velar attack
Vowels
HIGH: /i, u/
LOW: /a/
Allophony
1) /ɲ/ is realised as [dʒ] in word-final position
2) Surds are aspirated in word-initial position
3) /c/ is realised as [tʃ] in word-final position
4) /kʷ/ is realised as [p] in word-final position
5) Prenasals are realised as plain voiced plosives in word-initial position
6) /ⁿd, ᵑɡ/ are voiceless in word-final position
7) /ᶮɟ/ and /ᵑɡʷ/ are realised as [ᶮtʃ] and [ᵐp] in word-final position
8) /ɣ/ is realised as [ʃ] in word-final position
9) High vowels are lowered to [ɛ, ɔ] after a palatal or labial onset
10) High vowels are lowered to [ɛ, ɔ] before a word-final liquid
Prosody
Stress
Pictish polysyllables bear the primary stress on the second syllable.
Intonation
Pictish polysyllables bear secondary stress on every alternate syllable after the one bearing the primary stress. Rhythm type is iambic.
Phonotactics
1) Syllable template is CV(C)
2) Permitted codas are nasals, plosives and liquids
3) Consonant clusters are not permitted
4) /ʔ/ may only occur in word-initial position
5) Affixes must have the following shapes:
a) prefixes: CV(C)
b) suffixes: (C)VC or CV(C)
Morphophonology
Initial Consonant Mutation
1) Initial consonant mutation is of three types:
a) Lenition or Soft Mutation
b) Eclipsis or Nasal Mutation
c) Provection or Hard Mutation
2) Lenition affects nasals, plosives, and /ʔ/
3) Eclipsis affects surds, continuants and /ʔ/
4) Provection affects nasals, prenasals, continuants and /ʔ/
5) Mutation is triggered at:
a) the beginning of nouns or verbs by preposed particles or pronouns
b) the beginning of adjectives or postpositions by gender concord
c) morpheme boundaries by sandhi
6) Consonant mutation is indicated in the orthography. The mutated forms of /ʔ/ are set apart from the rest of the word it belongs to by a hyphen
7) Lenition:
n > l
ɲ > j
ŋ > ɣ
m > w
ⁿd > n
ᶮɟ > ɲ
ᵑɡ > ŋ
ᵑɡʷ > m
t > ɬ
c > ç
k > x
kʷ > xʷ
ʔ > h
8) Lenition commonly occurs as follows:
a) at the beginning of adjectives or postpositions following a gracile noun
b) at the beginning of gracile nouns following the gracile nominative particle na
c) at the beginning of robust nouns following the robust absolutive particle hi
d) at the beginning of all nouns following the locative particle tu
9) Eclipsis:
t > ⁿd
c > ᶮɟ
k > ᵑɡ
kʷ > ᵑɡʷ
ð > n
l > n
j > ɲ
ɣ > ŋ
w > m
ʔ > m
10) Eclipsis commonly occurs as follows:
a) at the beginning of adjectives and postpositions following a robust noun
b) at the beginning of robust nouns following the robust nominative particle u
c) at the beginning of all nouns following the dative particle nxi
d) at the beginning of all nouns following a singular possessive pronoun
11) Provection:
n > ⁿd
ɲ > ᶮɟ
ŋ > ᵑɡ
m > ᵑɡʷ
ⁿd > t
ᶮɟ > c
ᵑɡ > k
ᵑɡʷ > kʷ
ð > θ
l > ɬ
j > ç
ɣ > x
w > xʷ
ʔ > k
12) Provection commonly occurs as follows:
a) at the beginning of gracile nouns following the gracile absolutive particle mi
b) at the beginning of all nouns following the ablative particle qa
c) at the beginning of all nouns following a plural possessive pronoun
Sandhi
1) Sandhi occurs at morpheme boundaries, either through affixation or compounding.
2) Morpheme-final consonants are classified into three categories:
a) Soft: liquids
b) Nasal: nasals
c) Hard: plosives
3) At consonant-consonant morpheme boundaries the final consonant of the first morpheme is elided. The first consonant of the second morpheme mutates as follows:
a) following a soft consonant it lenites
b) following a nasal consonant it eclipses
c) following a hard consonant it provects
4) At consonant-vowel or vowel-consonant morpheme boundaries, the consonant lenites
5) At vowel-vowel morpheme boundaries, the first vowel is elided