Qazhrian
Qazhrian (/kɑːʒriən/ KAHZH-ree-uhn; natively: Qazhrem /ˈqaʒrem/ or kje Lazhrem /ce ˈʟaʒrem/) is a Talmic language spoken in Qazhra (from Thensarian Ȝactrasē), a Talman country. It is the third-largest Talmic language in terms of number of speakers, after Eevo and Anvirese.
Qazhrian is descended from central and southern dialects of 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 Albanian and Breton. The name "Qazhrian" is the name of one of Praimhín's old sketches.
Ideas
- Breton-ish but not too gibby. Get more palatal consonants.
- /ts, dz/ from Thensarian /θ ð/
- d and dz both lenite to z
- /q/ lenites intervocallically to /ʟ/
- /m/ does NOT lenite.
Diachronics
- i ī u ū e o ē ō a ā e ae ao ei eo iu oe ui > i e ou u ë o ō ē a ō ai au e ou u e
Phonology
Consonants
| Labial | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m /m/ | n /n/ | nj /ɲ/ | ng /ŋ/ | |||
| Plosive | voiceless | p /p/ | t /t/, c /ts/ | kj /c/ | k /k/ | q /q/ | |
| voiced | b /b/ | d /d/, x /dz/ | gj /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 | w /w/ | y /j/ | |||||
p is found in loanwords (e.g. from Clofabic and Windermere).
Auslautverhärtung operates for plosives and is reflected in the orthography: aqet 'to jump; jump!' vs. aqedëv '[X] jumps'.
Vowels
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i /i/ | u /y/ | ou /u/ |
| Close-mid | e /e/ | ë /ə/ | o /o/ |
| Open-mid | ē /ɛ/ | ō /ɔ/ | |
| Open | a /a/ |
Diphthongs: ai au /əi əu/; ië uë ouë /iə yə uə/ from loans
Morphology
Mutations
Qazhrian has three types of mutations: soft, nasal, and hard.
| Radical | p | f | t | c | s | sh | kj | k | q | ħ | b | d | x | z | gj | g |
| Soft | b | f | d | x | s | sh | gj | g | l | ħ | v | zj | z | z | y | gh |
| Nasal | p | f | t | c | s | sh | kj | k | l | ħ | m | n | x | z | nj | ng |
| Hard | p | f | sj | s | c | sh | kj | c'h | ħ | ħ | p | t | c | s | kj | k |
| Radical | m | n | nj | w | l | rr | y |
| Soft | m | n | nj | w | l | r | y |
| Nasal | m | n | nj | w | l | rr | y |
| Hard | m | n | nj | gw | gl | gr | gj |
Examples:
- The definite article kje-S triggers soft mutation.
- The relativizer re-N triggers nasal mutation.
- The complementizer yemm-H triggers hard mutation.
Nouns
Qazhrian lost grammatical gender and all nominal inflections except number and construct state.
There is no indefinite article. The definite article is kje (< φinom), and it triggers the soft mutation:
- tëzh 'a child'; kje dëzh 'the child'
- rronn 'a man'; kje ronn 'the man'
- kavër 'a woman'; kje gavër 'the woman'
Construct state is usually formed with -ët:
- tëzhët kje ronn 'the man's child'
Adjectives lenite after definite nouns: rronn garv 'a heavy man'; kje ronn gharv 'the heavy man'.
Verbs
There are finite verbs, but auxiliaries are also important
- Aqedëv kje nous lelëzh mrēsh krok kje sauv zrōmëran.
- /aˈqedəv ce nus ˈʟeʟəʒ mrɛʃ krok ce səuv ˈzrɔməran/
- jump-3P.NARR the fox brown quick over the dog lazy
- The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
- Rëv stiëvi bēs qōtsav de nec kjouganēr.
- AUX-3P.PRES idea-PL green color-without at sleep.VN furious-ADV
- Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.