I Kronurum
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| I Kronurum | |
|---|---|
| "that which is spoken" | |
 | |
| Pronunciation | [/ˈʔi ˈkɾo̞.nu.ɾum/] |
| Created by | – |
| Native to | Marks of Ifarka (i-Étrir, ...) and exclaves under their influence |
| Native speakers | ? (2013) |
?
| |
Early forms | Ancient I.K.
|
The language known as I Kronurum is a conlang being created and developed by Nicolás Straccia since 2013 [It is part of a larger conworlding project. An in-world background description will follow].
Background
The language known as I Kronurum (IK) is a part of the Northern Languages linguistic family, which populates the northern region of the central continent.
Notwithstanding the several subgroups that have split from this branch at different stages, this central branch of the family has been studied as a continuity in which four main stages can be identified: Ancient IK (AIK), Old IK (OIK), Middle IK (MIK; together with Early-MIK, EMIK) and Modern IK (MoIK; together with Early-MoIK, EMoIK).
The developmental stage presented in this article is Middle-IK (MIK). At this stage, a group of OIK speakers has moved westwards from the AIK speaker's cultural Urheimat in the plains in the northern region of the central continent, constituting the main variety spoken in the region along the shores of the northern sea. The endonym of this region is Ifarka (/ʔi.ˈfɑɾ.kɐ/), which translates as "The land". It is divided in several administrative provinces, called Marks, which hold regular congress regarding whichever matters would affect the generality of their hold.
Phonology
Consonants
The consonants of I Kronurum
Consonant inventory
| Bilabial | Labio-dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ʔ | ||||
| Nasal | m | n | (ɲ) | (ŋ) | ||||
| Trill | r | |||||||
| Tap or flap | ɾ | |||||||
| Fricative | (β) | f | θ ð | s | ʃ | x (ɣ) | h | |
| Lateral fric. | (ɬ) | |||||||
| Approximant | w | j | ||||||
| Lateral app. | l |
Consonant allophony
· /p/ and /t/, except when result of a mutation, become aspirated when in initial position before a vowel (/pʰV/, /tʰV/)
· /ŋ/ is an allophone of /n/ before /g/ (eg. angr /ˈɑŋ.gɾ̩/, 1.s=”I”).
· ‹g› = /x/ only in coda after a front vowel (eg. ‹sig›, /ˈsix/, “until”).
Vowels
The vowels of I Kronurum
Vowel inventory
| Front | Near-front | Central | Near-back | Back | ||
| Close | 
| |||||
| Near‑close | ||||||
| Close‑mid | ||||||
| Mid | ||||||
| Open‑mid | ||||||
| Near‑open | ||||||
| Open | ||||||
Vowel allophony
· /ɑ/ becomes /ɐ/ in unstressed syllables and /a/ in word medial unstressed syllables.
· /e̞/ becomes /ɘ/ in unstressed syllables and /ɛ/ in word medial unstressed syllables.
Other contextual phonological phenomena
There are some morpho-phonological phenomena that need yet to be properly described. This is a sample of those:
· -ren-rin- → -relin-
· jw+u /jʷu/ → jub- /juβ/ [+labialization][+methatesis] sky juska /ˈjus.kɐ/, ó jubsken /ʔu̹.ˈjuβs.ke̞n/
· /u̜.j/ → /ui̯/ fish strójr /ˈstɾu̜.jɾ̩/ ; fish (pl.) strójran /ˈstɾui̯.ɾɐn/
· -/m/ /b/- → -/mb̥/- som breja /ˈso̞m.ˌb̥ɾe̞.jɐ/
Onset mutations
Onset mutations posit a great challenge for the diachronic analysis of I Kronurum. Since the previous stages of the language are not yet well documented, most of the information on this regard is a matter of scientific speculation.
Given the data available and the currently valid synchronic analysis, they are analysed as conforming a continuum of mutation grades from 0 to 2. The 0 degree of mutation is that of the onset consonant as it appears in the citation form of the root (nominative, unmarked). A first and second degree of mutation will be triggered by the prepositions governing the genitive and the accusative cases: the preposition ‹ó› governs the genitive (GEN) and triggers the first degree of mutation. The preposition ‹tró› governs the accusative (ACC) and triggers the second degree of mutation. Thus the mutations of ‹d› /d/, ‹ð› /ð/ and ‹þ› /θ/, are considered part of a continuum as in the example below.
Eg. duma {fox:nom}, ó ðumen {gen fox-gen}, tró þuma {acc fox-acc}
| Mutation grade | ||
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 |
| b- /b/~/β/ | p- /p/ | f- /f/ |
| d- /d/ | ð- /ð/ | þ- /θ/ |
| f- /f/ | p- /p/ | b- /b/~/β/ |
| h- /h/~/χ/ | k- /k/ | g- /g/~/ɣ/ |
| j- /j/ | jw- /jʷ/ | ñ- /ɲ/ |
| k- /k/ | g- /g/~/ɣ/ | h- /h/~/χ/ |
| l- /l/ | l- /l / | lh- /ɬ/ |
| m- /m/ | mw- /mʷ/ | w- /w/ |
| n- /n/ | nw- /nʷ/ | ñ- /ɲ/ |
| s- /s/ | þ- /θ/ | ś- /ʃ/ |
| t- /t/ | d- /d/ | ð- /ð/ |
| w- /w/ | gw- /gʷ/ | ƕ- /hw/~/hv/ |
Some of the occurring phenomena are nasalization, labialization, palatalization, velarization, fricativization, voicing and devoicing.
Phonotactics
The structure of the longest possible syllable is (C)(C)(C)nu(C)(N/R), where the nucleus nu must be either a vowel or a syllabic [R] or [N]. In coda position, a cluster can end either with a nasal [N] or an r' [R].
Grammar
Morphology
Pro-drop
A/N
Nominal morphology
Nouns are marked for number and gender.
Marking hierarchy
The marking of the nouns happens according to the following hierarchy:
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| √noun | det | pl | and | nom, gen, akk, dat, inst, loc, all |
In the genitive and accusative cases, the root is preceded by a preposition.
Declension particles and other affixes
Case marking
| Case | Marker | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nom | Nominative | ∅ | ∅ | - | The nominative case is not marked |
| gen | Genitive | ó(r) _-(e)n | /ˈʔu̹ɾ/ _-/e̞n/ | preposition, suffix | Triggers mutation 1. Excrecent r before a vowel: ór okren /ˈʔu̹ɾ ʔo̞.kɾe̞n/ |
| akk | Accusative | tró | /ˈtɾu̹/ | preposition | Triggers mutation 2 |
| dat | Dative | -(r)is | -/ɾis/ | suffix | |
| instr | Instrumental/Commitative | -(n)ion | -/nio̯n/ | suffix | Inanimate nouns: instrumental. Animate nouns: commitative |
| loc | Locative/Adessive ("with", "by", "at") | -(a)ftó | -/f.ˈtu̹/ | suffix | þaneftó /θɐ.nɘf.ˈtu/, “at the house”, “at home” |
| all | Allative | -(o)rion | -/o̞.ɾio̯n/ | suffix | þanerion /ˈθɑ.nɘ.ɾio̞n/ "homebound" |
Other particles and derivational affixes
| Function | Marker | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| nlz | Nominalizer | i | /ˈʔi/ | preposition | Mostly paired with the determiner suffix <-rum>
kronur “I speak” 1s.pres.ind i kronurum, {i kro-nur-rum} [NMLZ to.speak-1s.pres.ind-det] = "was ich spreche", “that what I’m speaking”; speech, language. |
| det | Determiner | -rum | -/ɾum/ | suffix | "the x" (instead of "a x") |
| and | Coordinator | -ór | -/u̹ɾ/ | preposition | "and" |
| advm | Adverbializer | -(r)is | -/ɾis/ | suffix | "x-ly", "in the maner of x"
turns nouns into adverbs of manner turns verbs of motion in adverbs of manner |
| pers | Associated person | -rir | -/ɾiɾ/ | suffix | Forms actor nouns from verbs and nouns; from ríra, “person”
hlajur v. to.make, hlajrir n. maker. assa n. forge, assarir n. smith. |
| tool | Associated artifact, tool | -(e)nar | -/ɘnɐɾ/ | suffix | From nara, “thing, artifact, contraption”
iltur “to.rest” > ilturenar “chair” |
| col | Colective noun | -hir | -/hiɾ/ | suffix | From hitr, “pack, herd”
sigra “drop” > sigrahir “rain” |
| adj | Adjetivizer | -rin | -/ɾin/ | suffix | Forms adjectives of quality. sigr "ash", agor-ó-śigrelin "ash-coloured" |
| ? | ? | -(u)rur | -/u.ɾuɾ/ | suffix | ? |
Verbal morphology
Verbs are marked for tense, mood, aspect, number and, in the third person, also gender.
Particles and affixes
| Function | Marker | Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| caus | Causative | -a- | -/ɑ/- | affix | Derives a causative verb from a noun after the template [noun.root]-caus-[verb.declension]
nimr water; nimrajur to.make.moist,to.water (a plant,etc) |
Marking hierarchy
The marking of the verbs happens according to the following hierarchy:
| -2 | -1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Passive voice marker | Aspect marker prefix | √verb | Conjugation affix for person, number and mood | Aspect marker suffix |
Regular conjugation paradigms
There are four different regular conjugation classes, labeled i, ii, iii and iv
Samples
| ó pagrumórn, undrumórn, faŕumen | |||||
| /ˈʔu̜ | ˈpɑ.gɾu.mu̜ɾn | | | ˈʔun.dɾu.mu̜ɾn | | | ˈfɑ.ru.mɘn/ |
| ó(r) | {b>p}aga-rum-ór-(e)n | unda-rum-ór-(e)n | fara-rum-(e)n | ||
| gen | tree-det-and-gen | bird-det-and-gen | horse-det-gen | ||
| "of/about the tree, the bird and the horse" (a tale) | |||||