Řeuŋnie

Řeuŋnie is an a priori conlang inspired by Czech, Dutch, and Cantonese.

todo

Words

euj = (literary) lo, behold

Diachronics

1. OSL
2. Czech-like depalatalization and hard/soft vowel splits
3. Palatalization-dependent GVS, then another depalatalization?
4. Old Řeuŋnie ć dź ś ź merge into c z s z
5. n- > l- (unless assimilating)

Test

Woeŋanies uistřivt melouk lo vahrádyvijŋ, ar mezryz wodmyce bacirnje řeunie aš ŋávej tjemzánisie. Evloedr wie doezanejne hář, po ryhoteuŋ.

Phonology

"Czech with more vowels and simpler phonotactics" or "Play up the Dutch in Czech"

Consonants

		Labial		Alveolar		Palatal(ized)		Velar
Nasal		m /m/		n /n/		nj /ɲ/		ŋ /ŋ/
Plosive		p /p/	b /b/	t /t/	d /d/	tj /c/	dj /ɟ/	k /k/	g /g/
Fricative		f /f/	v /v/	s, š /s/	z, ž /z/			ch /x/
Affricate				c, č /ts/
Flap				r /ɾ/
Trill				ř /r~r̥/
Approximant		w /β/		l /l~ɫ/		j /j/

Word-initial h is silent; ' is always silent (with no effect on pitch).

m n ŋ l can be syllabic; when syllabic they are written ḿ ń ŋ́ ĺ and have the same length as long vowels.

Voiceless stops are unaspirated as in Dutch and Czech.

Obstruent voicing assimilation as in Slavic.

Glottal reinforcement, but no gemination

/l/ has the same l~ɫ allophony as in RP; vocalization of dark L to [w] possible

In the Oeljanian accent, r is always a tap [ɾ]. In the Lo'edjeuan accent, r can be uvular.

In the Oeljanian accent, ř is realized as a voiceless trill [r̥] in voiceless environments (word-finally and adjacent to a voiceless consonant). In the Lo'edjeuan accent, ř is always voiceless [r̥]. In dialects, ř is variously pronounced like [r̝] (the Czech ř), [ʐ], [ʂ], [ʒ], [ʃ], or [ð], or merges with r.

In stylized or archaizing registers, ř, h and ' are still pronounced as [r̝ ʕ ʔ].

Notes on consonant diachronics

Řeuŋnie shows debuccalization of Proto-Idavic *g to h /ʕ/; compare Dutch, Czech and Ukrainian. Proto-Nabŋaic *b has shifted to v. /p b g/ are loan phonemes.

Proto-Idavic *ť ď has shifted to *č dž > c z.

Vowels

The spelling of Řeuŋnie vowels reflects a shift similar to the Great Vowel Shift (cf. Common Czech and Dutch), which also affects loanwords borrowed before the shift, such as most Netagin loans in Řeuŋnie.

a e/je i/y o u á é ij/ei ó ú ae eu/ui ie oe ou ŕ /ɐ ɛ ɪ ɔ ɵ aː ɛː ɛɪ~ɪj aː yː~ʉː ae œː ɪː oː~uː əʊ~əʏ ɜː/

Closer allophones [ɪj~eɪ] of /ɛɪ/ are more common after palatals /c ɟ ɲ/.

• je i ie í eu are palatalizing; all other orthographic vowels are nonpalatalizing.
  • For C = b p v f, Cje Ceu Cí denote /Cjɛ Cjœː Cjɛɪ/; mje meu mij denotes /mɲɛ mɲœː mɲɛɪ/.
  • For C = d t n, Cje Ci Cie Cí Ceu denote /ɟ c ɲ/ + vowel.
• ó mostly occurs in loanwords from Netagin.

Notes on vowel diachronics

Řeuŋnie has lost Proto-Nabŋaic vowel length. Pre-Proto-Nabŋaic i u e a ī ū ē ā become e o e a i y ě o when not lengthened. Some vowel devoicing has occurred (cf. Japanese), which gave Řeuŋnie more consonant clusters.

Long vowels result from open-syllable lengthening (OSL): **čettijn > *četijn; **četijn > *čétijn. OSL occurred before the devoicing, making the Ourefr distribution of long vowels somewhat similar to Czech.

Modern ie ý/í oe ú result from older 'ää ý/í ó ú. Old Řeuŋnie u, ú has shifted to i, ij after soft consonants j č ž š ň *ľ ř.

Palatalizing eu /œː/ is common in native words. Common sources are:

• Old Řeuŋnie /æː/ before velars or /l/: for example, řeuŋ /rœːŋ/ 'wind' comes from Old Řeuŋnie řa̋ŋ < PNab *rěŋu < PId *renwi.
• Old Řeuŋnie long /juː/, coming from PId /ew/ or /iw/.

Non-palatalizing ui /œː/ comes mostly from historical *ujV or loanwords.

Most speakers today are in the process of merging /ɜː/ into á /aː/.

As suggested by the spelling, ŕ /ɜː/ comes from syllabic r.

ae mostly comes from historical aje or awe.

Downstep

Řeuŋnie has pitch accent. Non-initial h (historically /ʕ/, from earlier /g/) is realized as suprasegmental pharyngealization which acts on a syllable level: vowels in affected syllables are lengthened, lowered, and pharyngealized, and the syllable gains a downstep. On the other hand, ' (historically /ʔ/) in the same position would indicate lack of a downstep. For example,

• Vh# or VhC indicates [+phar]ꜜ: ftoh /ftoꜜ/ 'riverbank; coast' is read as [ftɔː], but the genitive/dative sg. ftohy /ftɔˤːꜜɪ/ is pronounced [ftɔ̌ːɪ̀], and ftohta (instrumental/locative plural) is pronounced [ftɔ̌ːtà].
• VhV indicates V[+phar]ꜜV: ksaha /ksaꜜa/ 'stranger' is read as [ksâː], and the genitive sg. ksah /ksaꜜ/ is pronounced [ksǎː].

h also removes falling components from preceding diphthongs: aeh ouh ýh are pronounced [aːꜜ œːꜜ ɛːꜜ].

Historically hard-soft vowel pairs

• hard y ~ soft i
• hard u ~ soft i
• hard a ~ soft ě
• hard ei ~ soft ij
• hard á ~ soft ie/eu
• hard ou ~ soft eu
• hard ui ~ soft eu
• hard oe ~ soft ie
• hard ú ~ soft ij

Long vowels result from OSL ćettijn > cetijn; ćetijn > cétijn

Syntax

Lifted from Korean and Japanese; completely head-final except in poetry.

Poetry

Poetic forms are influenced by Netagin; piyyut-like rhyming (i.e. last syllables agree) is the most common way to rhyme two words.

Sample text

UDHR

Tkanje krotu na héčti kfa botsínae vo, oedḿŋo'il ze wakŕvil páčta navŕsínaes. Krotý na toudžḿnil rachúbiníl ze mačídil sfáším vo, iezoer oŋužeuv lama jŕmi ŋ́ku-teuzimi wášil wecsáš hoezách mienis.