Introduction
Terzemian is a PIE conlang spoken in the area immediately to the west of the Caspian Sea, that is, the Eastern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains.
History
Proto-Terzemian shares all the features that are common between Indo-Iranian and Balto-Slavic, though Old Terzemian is strictly neither Indo-Iranian or Balto-Slavic.
Writing
Terzemian is written in a variety of scripts.
The oldest is known as Terzemian Mnemonic Signs, which is a defective syllabary that distinguishes 12 consonants (around half the number present in Old Terzemian), but all 4 vowels that were phonemic at the time. Mnemonic signs use a bi-quinary numeral system, with separate digits for 0 through 4, and a "plus 5" diacritic. This method can be used to count from 0 to 99 on two hands, with the number of fingers extended being 0 to 4, and the extension of the thumb standing for the "plus 5" marker.
After Mnemonic Signs, the Arabic script was adopted and adapted.
During the Soviet era, Cyrillic was required.
A Yanalif reform movement existed briefly, before the modern-day Latin alphabet was designed. For roughly 20 years starting in the late 1980s, there was also "Internet Terzemian", which is a romanization typeable on a standard US keyboard, and representable in 7-bit X3.4-1968 (aka US-ASCII or Plain ASCII).
IPA
Consonants
|
Labial |
Interdental |
Alveolar |
Postalveolar |
Velar |
Glottal
|
| Stops |
p b |
|
t d |
|
k g |
ʔ
|
| Nasals |
m |
|
n |
|
ŋ |
|
| Affricates |
|
|
ts |
tʃ |
|
|
| Fricatives |
f v |
θ ð |
s z |
ʃ ʒ |
x ɣ |
h
|
| Liquids |
w |
|
ɹ l |
j |
|
|
| Trill |
|
|
r |
|
|
|
Strong Vowels
|
Fr Un |
Fr Rd |
Bk Un |
J Bk Un |
Bk Rd |
J Bk Rd
|
| Close |
i |
y |
ɯ |
ʲɯ |
u |
ʲu
|
| Non-Close |
e |
ø |
ɑ |
ʲɑ |
ɒ |
ʲɒ
|
Weak Vowels
|
Front |
Back
|
| Non Nasal |
ə |
ɞ
|
| Nasal |
ə̃ |
ɞ̃
|
Latin
Consonants
|
Labial |
Interdental |
Alveolar |
Postalveolar |
Velar |
Glottal
|
| Stops |
p b |
|
t d |
|
k g |
q
|
| Nasals |
m |
|
n |
|
ň |
|
| Affricates |
|
|
c |
č |
|
|
| Fricatives |
f v |
ş z̧ |
s z |
š ž |
x ǧ |
h
|
| Liquids |
w |
|
r l |
j |
|
|
| Trill |
|
|
ř |
|
|
|
Strong Vowels
|
Fr Un |
Fr Rd |
Bk Un |
J Bk Un |
Bk Rd |
J Bk Rd
|
| Close |
i |
ü |
y |
jy |
u |
ju
|
| Non-Close |
e |
ö |
a |
ja |
о |
jo
|
Weak Vowels
|
Front |
Back
|
| Non Nasal |
ǐ |
ŭ
|
| Nasal |
ę |
ą
|
Cyrillic
Consonants
|
Labial |
Interdental |
Alveolar |
Postalveolar |
Velar |
Glottal
|
| Stops |
п б |
|
т д |
|
к г |
ъ
|
| Nasals |
м |
|
н |
|
ң |
|
| Affricates |
|
|
ц |
ч |
|
|
| Fricatives |
ф в |
ҫ ҙ |
с з |
ш ж |
х ғ |
һ
|
| Liquids |
ў |
|
р л |
й |
|
|
| Trill |
|
|
ʀ |
|
|
|
Strong Vowels
|
Fr Un |
Fr Rd |
Bk Un |
J Bk Un |
Bk Rd |
J Bk Rd
|
| Close |
и |
ү |
ы |
ӥ |
у |
ю
|
| Non-Close |
е |
ө |
а |
я |
о |
ё
|
Weak Vowels
|
Front |
Back
|
| Non Nasal |
ь |
ә
|
| Nasal |
ę |
ą
|