Nurian

Nurian/Lexicon

Nurian
nūrimēn
Created by	IlL
Language family	Quihum Talmic Nuric Nurian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qnr

Nurian (gaffēn nūrimēn) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Pali, Italian, and Arabic.

Introduction

Nurian is spoken in the western region of the continent called Cuadhlabh by Tigalls. It is easily the most conservative Talmic language, though with signficant influence from Dwischric, in particular Dūsswaren.

Historical phonology

• -m > -n
• -s > -h

Cluster assimilations!

Double consonants become single word-initially.

• pl bl ml fl cl gl ngl > ppi bbi mmi ffi cci ggi ngi
• ħl, ȝl > ħħ, ȝȝ
• nl, rl > both ll
• sp, st, sc, sȝ, sn, sl, sr > pph, tth, cch, ħħ, tth, nnh, llh, rrh
• pr, fr, tr, θr, cr, ngr, ħr > pph, ff, tth, θθ, cch, ng, ħħ
• br, dr, δr, gr, ȝr > bb, dd, δδ, gg, ȝȝ
• mr > rr
• cn, gn > ngh, ng
• mn > nn
• rC > CC
• lC > uC/iC/:C
• ft, ct > tt

Phonology

The Nurian consonant inventory contains around 50 consonants and 10 vowels. A notable feature of the phonology of most Nurian accents is phonemic velarization vs. palatalization in hard-soft pairs. All consonants except /ħ ʕ h j/ are members of a hard-soft-pair. /ħ ʕ h j/ color the /a/ vowel as if they were soft, and /ħ ʕ/ tend to lower adjacent vowels. Nurian is quite phonologically conservative among Talmic languages, preserving vowel length and gemination.

Phonotactics

Nurian forbids all consonant clusters other than those of the form homorganic nasal + consonant. In compensation Nurian is rich in geminate consonants; word-medially, every consonant can be geminated except /j/ and /h/. Word-finally, usually only /n/, /h/ and vowels are allowed.

Dagȳne accent

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Nurian (Dagȳne)

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft
Nasal	voiceless	m̊ˠ	m̊ʲ	n̪̊ˠ			n̊ʲ	ɲ̊	ŋ̊
	voiced	mˠ	mʲ	n̪ˠ			nʲ	ɲ	ŋ
Stop	tenuis	pˠ	pʲ	t̪ˠ			tʲ	tʃ	k
	aspirated	pˠʰ	pʲʰ	t̪ˠʰ			tʲʰ	tʃʰ	kʰ
	voiced	bˠ	bʲ	d̪ˠ			dʲ	dʒ	ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	fˠ	fʲ	θˠ	θʲ	sˠ	sʲ			ħ	h
	voiced	vˠ	vʲ	ðˠ	ðʲ	zˠ	zʲ
Trill	voiceless					r̥ˠ	r̥ʲ
	voiced					rˠ	rʲ
Lateral	voiceless			l̥ˠ			l̥ʲ
	voiced			lˠ			lʲ
Approximant								j		ʕ

Notes

• Voiceless stops and affricates are unaspirated.
• All hard consonants are velarized (especially /rˠ, lˠ, θˠ, ðˠ/, which are uvularized).
• All consonants are labialized before the back vowels /u, uː, uɔ/.
• /tˠ, dˠ, nˠ/ are laminal denti-alveolar [t̪ˠ, d̪ˠ, n̪ˠ].
• /tʲ, dʲ, nʲ/ are laminal alveolar [t̻ʲ, d̻ʲ, n̻ʲ].
• /θˠ, θ, ðˠ, ð/ are dental spirants [θʶ, θ, ðʶ, ð].
• /sˠ, sʲ, zˠ, zʲ/ are laminal denti-alveolar [s̪ˠ, s̪ʲ, z̪ˠ, z̪ʲ].
• /rˠ/ is uvularized apical alveolar [r̺ʶ] or postalveolar [r̠ʶ]. When not geminated, it can either be a trill [rʶ] or a flap [ɾʶ].
• /rʲ/ is palatalized alveolar flap [ɾ̪ʲ] and less commonly a trill [r̺ʲ]. It is always a trill [r̺ːʲ] when geminated.
• /lˠ/ is a uvularized apical alveolar [l̺ʶ] or uvularized laminal denti-alveolar [l̪ʶ].
• /lʲ/ is laminal alveolar [l̻ʲ].
• /ɲ/ is postpalatal [ɲ̄].
• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are laminal palatalized alveolar [tʃʲ, dʒʲ, ʃʲ, ʒʲ].
• Before /k, ɡ/, /n/ is realized as velar [ŋ].
• /ħ/ has been variously described as pharyngeal [ħ] and epiglottal [ʜ].
• /ʕ/ is an epiglottal approximant [ʕ̞].
• /h/ is voiced [ɦ] after vowels and voiced consonants.

Vowels

Nurian has three short and three long monophthongs. There is a considerable degree of allophony in low vowels.

Vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/ɪ~ɪ̞/	/iː/			/ʊ/	/uː/
Open	[ɛ~æ]	[æː]	/a/	/aː/	[ɑ]	[ɑː]

Diphthongs: /aɪ aʊ iɛ uɔ/

Notes

• Short /ɪ/ is lowered to [ɪ̞] after hard consonants.
• /a aː/ each have three allophones:
  • [ɐ~ɑ ɑː] after non-radical hard consonants
  • [ɛ~æ æː] after soft consonants, radicals and /h/
• Allophony of /a aː/ is, however, reduced in the speech of many younger speakers, who pronounce both as [ɐ aː]

Fiuggēra accent

The Fiuggēra [fudˈdʒæːrˁɑ] accent turns hard consonants into uvularized consonants, and soft consonants into plain.

• θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ
• Non-rhotic

Consonants

Consonant phonemes (Fiuggēra)

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft
Nasal	voiceless	m̊ʶ	m̊	n̥ʶ			n̥	ɲ̊	ŋ̊
	voiced	mʶ	m	n̪ʶ			n	ɲ	ŋʶ
Stop	tenuis	pʶ	p	tʶ			t	tʃ	kʶ
	aspirated	pʶʰ	pʰ	tʶʰ			tʰ	tʃʰ	kʶʰ
	voiced	bʶ	b	dʶ			d	dʒ	ɡʶ
Fricative	voiceless	fʶ	f		θ	sʶ	s			ħ	h
	voiced	vʶ			ð	zʶ	z
Trill	voiceless					r̥ʶ	r̥
	voiced					rʶ	r
Lateral	voiceless			ɬʶ			ɬ
	voiced						l
Approximant		wʶ	w					j		ʕ

Notes

• Hard consonants are uvularized, like Arabic emphatic consonants.

Orthography

Consonants

Consonants

Grapheme	m	p	b	f	v	n	t	d	θ	δ	s	z	r	l	ng	c	g	ħ	ȝ	h	j
Hard	/mˠ/	/pˠ/	/bˠ/	/fˠ/	/vˠ/	/nˠ/	/tˠ/	/dˠ/	/θˠ/	/ðˠ/	/sˠ/	/zˠ/	/rˠ/	/ɫ/	/ŋ/	/k/	/ɡ/	/ħ/	/ʕ/	/h/	/j/
Soft	/mʲ/	/pʲ/	/bʲ/	/fʲ/	/vʲ/	/nʲ/	/tʲ/	/dʲ/	/θ/	/ð/	/sʲ/	/zʲ/	/rʲ/	/lʲ/	/ɲ/	/t͡ʃ/	/d͡ʒ/

Aspirated plosives and voiceless resonants /pʰˠ pʰʲ tʰˠ tʰʲ tʃʰ kʰ m̊ˠ m̊ʲ n̪̊ˠ n̊ʲ ɲ̊ ŋ̊ l̥ˠ l̥ʲ r̥ˠ r̥ʲ/ are written ⟨ph th ch mh nh ngh lh rh⟩.

Vowels

• a: hard /a/ [ɐ~ɑ]
• ā: hard /aː/ [ɑː]
• ai: hard /aɪ/ [ɐɪ~ɑɪ]
• au: hard /aʊ/ [ɐʊ~ɑʊ]
• y: hard /ɪ/ [ë]
• y: hard /iː/
• o, u: hard /ʊ/
• ō: hard /uɔ/
• ū: hard /uː/

• ia, e: soft /a/ [ɛ]
• iā, ē: soft /aː/ [æː]
• iai: soft /aɪ/ [ɛɪ]
• iau: soft /aʊ/ [ɛʊ]
• i: soft /ɪ/
• ī: soft /iː/
• io, iu: soft /ʊ/
• iō: soft /uɔ/
• iū: soft /uː/
• ie: soft /iə/

Grammar

Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modified-modifier order.

Nouns

Sgv-clv-plv system.

Nouns and adjectives

Masculine nouns

θȳron 'bird'
	Singulative	Collective	Plurative
Indefinite	θȳron	θoθȳron	θȳrīh
Definite	θȳrae	θoθȳrae	θȳrinny

Feminine nouns

gondā 'body'
	Singulative	Collective	Plurative
Indefinite	gondā	gogondā	gondār
Definite	gondām	gogondām	gondāsa

Neuter nouns

tettȳ 'child'
	Singulative	Collective	Plurative
Indefinite	tetty	tetetty	tectȳn
Definite	tettyh	tetettyh	tectȳr

Mass nouns

jenā 'water' (n.)
	Singulative	Collective
Indefinite	jenā	jenenā
Definite	jenaȝeh	jenenaȝeh

Raddoppiamento sintattico

Some words or endings trigger a form of raddoppiamento sintattico on the next word, which is written as -r in the orthography.