Tefrian

Tefrian
پریشحشر
Prayešeḥšur
Flag of Tefria.png.png
Flag of the Shardarate of Tefria
Pronunciation[ˈpʰɾäɪ̯(ə)ʃəħˌʃʉɾ]
Created byVrianne
Date2024
SettingEarth
Native toTefria
EthnicityTefrian
Native speakers3.4 million ({{{date}}})
Asisic
  • West-Asisic
    • Tefrian
Early forms
Proto-Asisic
  • Proto-West Asisic
    • Old Tefrian
Tefrian speakers.png
Map of areas where Tefrian is spoken
  ...as a majority language
  ...as a minority language
  ...as the language of law
and government
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Tefrian (/təˈfɹiːən/ tə-ꜰʀᴇᴇ-ən), natively called دلسان پریشحشر (di'lisān Prayešeḥšur [dəlɪˈsaːn ˈpʰɾäɪ̯(ə)ʃəħˌʃʉɾ]), is a West-Asisic belonging to the Asisic language family. It is, excluding diaspora, spoken entirely within Shardarate of Tefria, wherein it is recognized as the sole official language. It is the most spoken and most influential West-Asisic language, with about 3 million native speakers.

Classification

Tefrian is a member of the West-Asisic branch of the Asisic languages.

Name

History

The known history of Tefrian can be divided into the following distinct periods:

Old Tefrian

Old Tefrian is thought to have began diverging from Proto-West Asisic during the 10th century BC, vaguely corresponding with the migration of Iranic groups into Modern-Day Persia. The oldest attestations of Tefrian are sparce inscriptions in Old South Arabian and Persian Cuneiform dated to the 8th century BC. Most of these inscriptions are of names or short prayers.

  • ˀmbˤl ḥfdn /ʔampaʕl ħafatan/ — "may Ambaal lift us"

Due to its location, situated in the southeastern portion of the Arabian Peninsula along the gulf coast, Old Tefrian would come into direct contact with Persians, South Semites, and Eastern Arab tribes, evident by the many loanwords entering the language during the Old Tefrian period.

Modern Tefrian Old Tefrian borrowed source English translation
شردار šerdār šartār Old Persian *xšaθradārah shardar
کلیڤ klayev kʰ(u)lāf Middle Persian kulāf⁠ hat
چر cur c(a)tūr Middle Persian čādur clothing
امفعل emfeˤel ampaˤl Yemenite Arabic am-baˤl Ambaal; master
شۆل šöwel šuyl Yemenite Arabic šuÿl affliction
اۆدت ȳdut yūtūtatʰ Eastern Arabic judūdat country
حینت ḥeyent ḫatʰan Old South Arabian ḫtn son-in-law
طاڤ ṭãv ṭanf Old South Arabian ṭnf cliff
مطر maṭṭar maṭṭar Old South Arabian mqṭr shrine

Modern Tefrian

The transition to the modern form of Tefrian was already complete by the 10th century AD, evident by the increasing number or Arabic-Script transcripts in Tefrian from that period onwards.

Phonology

Vowels

The Standardized Variety of Tefrian has 9 unique monophthongs, 5 diphthongs, and 5 triphthongs.

Tefrian monophthongs
Short Long
Front Central Back Front Central Back
unrounded rounded
Close i ◌ِ ʉ ◌ُ o̞ ~ u ◌ُ ی ۆ و
Mid ◌ِ (ə)
Open a ◌َ ا
Tefrian diphthongs and triphthongs
-ɪ̯ -ʊ̯ -ʊ̯̃ -ɪ̯e -ʊ̯e
a- aɪ̯ ـَی aʊ̯ ـَو ãʊ̯̃ اً aɪ̯e ـَیِ aʊ̯e ـَوِ
e- ẽʊ̯̃ ◌ٍ eɪ̯e ـِیِ
o- õʊ̯̃ ◌ٌ oʊ̯e ـُوِ
ø- øʏ̯e ـُۆِ

Notes:

  • /i/ is near-close [ɪ] except in word-final open syllables.
  • Urban speakers pronounce /ʉ/ as near-close [ʏ] while rural speakers pronounce it as central [ʉ] or [ɨ].
  • Older rural speakers may distinguish between 2 close central vowels (such as [ɨ] and [ʉ]) which have merged for the majority of other speakers, including in the standard language.
  • /a/ is central [ä] but colored to [ɑ] by uvular and pharyngealized consonants.
  • The vast majority have weakened the final /-e/ element of triphthongs to [-ə̆] or even dropped it completely.
  • Rural speakers tend to monophthongize /øʏ̯e/ to [ø̞ː].

Consonants

The Standardized Variety of Tefrian has 30 unique consonants. Tefrian's is one of the only two West Asisic languages to retain pharyngeal and pharyngealized consonants, making its phonology semitic-like at face value.

Tefrian consonants
Labial Alveolar Post-alveolar Velar Uvular Pharyngeal Glottal
plain emphatic plain emphatic
Nasal m م n ن
Plosive voiceless p پ t ت ط t͡ʃ چ k ک q ق ʔ ء
voiced b ب d د (dˤ) d͡ʒ ج ɡ گ
Fricative voiceless f ف s س, ث ص ʃ ش ʃˤ ض x ~ χ خ ħ ح h ه
voiced v ڤ z ز, ذ ظ ʒ ژ ɣ~ ʁ غ ʕ ع
Rhotic r ر
Approximant l ل j ی

Notes:

  • /b d͡ʒ ʔ sˤ zˤ x ɣ/ occur only in loanwords.
  • /p t k/ are aspirated [pʰ tʰ kʰ], while /q/ is tenuis [q]. Some speakers, particularly in the Southwest, may also pronounce /p/ as tenuis [p].
  • /dˤ/ is a quite common allophonic realization of /d/ near uvular and pharyngealized consonants.
  • /d͡ʒ/ and /ʒ/ tend to be in free variation, with /d͡ʒ/ occurring in syllable-initial stressed positions and /ʒ/ occurring otherwise. Neutralization of /t͡ʃ/ and /ʃ/ in a similar fashion is also apparent in eastern urban speakers.
  • /r/ is pronounced as a tap /ɾ/ when not geminated.

Orthography

Grammar

Tefrian is a fusional language, meaning that it utilizes single inflectional morphemes to denote multiple grammatical, syntactic, or semantic features. The vast majority of Tefrian derivational and inflectional morphology relies on suffixation, with very few prefixes in between. Verbs are marked for person, number, tense, and mood (resulting in up to 36 conjugated forms per verb). Nouns exhibit a system of animacy, which is reflect in pluralization and pronoun agreement. Nouns are also marked for 2 numbers.

Word Order

Standard Tefrian has standard subject-object-verb (SOV) word order, with verbs typically being at the very end of a sentence or clause.

  • طو شفر زسوعمṭaw šufr zesaweˤem — "I saw that book"

The subordinate clauses precedes the main clause, beginning with either a conjunction or a relative pronoun.

  • یم ضیفڔ حۆ اچلد ادم زچیدمYem ċayfeṛ ḥöwe icild edem zecīdem — "My father told me that guests are coming today"

Yes-no questions are structured the same way as non-interrogative sentences. Interrogative sentences with interrogative pronouns place the interrogative pronoun in the object position.

  • قد ارد؟ — Qod ered? — "What is he eating?"
  • اش ارد؟ — ered? — "Who is eating?"

Nouns

Like other West-Asisic languages, all Tefrian nouns are grammatically classified as either animate or inanimate. Animacy is inherent to a word and is only indicated in the plurals of regular nouns. Neither verbs nor adjectives display animacy agreement with nouns. Nouns only change for number, as they are not marked for case.

Plural

A given noun is grouped into one of three categories depending on how its plural is formed:

  1. Regular animate nouns, which regularly form their plurals with the ـڔ -(e)ṛ suffix.
  2. Regular inanimate nouns, which regularly form their plurals with the ـݦ -(e)ṃ suffix.
  3. Irregular nouns, which could be either animate or inanimate, and form their plurals by changing the root itself.
singular plural
regular animate دیڤ dayev
"sister"
دیڤڔ dayeveṛ
"sisters"
inanimate گشر gušir
"island"
گشرݦ gušreṃ
"islands"
irregular ڤر vir
"man"
ڤیع veyeˤ
"men"
ارض eraċ
"land"
اراض erāċ
"lands"

Pronouns

Tefrian is a pro-drop language, meaning subjective personal pronouns are normally omitted. Tefrian Pronouns come in three forms:

  1. Direct or Full, which are idependent standalone pronouns.
  2. Reflexive, which are used in reflexive senses.
  3. Clitics, which are used when the antecedent is the object or possessor.
Tefrian personal pronouns
singular plural
1st 2nd 3rd animate 3rd inanimate 1st 2nd 3rd
direct چی cay طا ṭā سو saw طو ṭaw' ڤی طار ṭār طور ṭawer
reflexive چم cim طش ṭiš سد sod طد ṭod ڤن vin حر ḥer طلد ṭold
clitic ـم -(e)m ـش -(e)š ـد -(e)d ـن -(e)n ـر -(e)r ـلد -(e)ld
Tefrian relative pronouns
singular plural
animate inanimate
direct ير yer يم yem يس yes
reflexive سس sis سس ses
clitic ـ(ـڤـ)ـر -(v)ir
Tefrian interrogative pronouns
singular plural
animate inanimate
direct اش قد qod حر ḥor
reflexive قح qoḥ حح ḥoḥ
clitic ـ(ـڤـ)ـح -(v)oḥ

Tefrian doesn't have the so-called "T–V distinction" between familiar and formal modes of address.

3rd-person pronouns also double as demonstratives.

  • طو شفرṭaw šufr — "this/that book"

Verbs

Tefrian verbs conjugate for person, number, and mood, and express things such as tense and negation using prefixation.

Conjugation of عف ˤef
Active Passive
singular plural singular plural
1st person عفم ˤefem عفن ˤefen عفمر ˤefmer عفنت ˤefnet
2nd person عفش ˤefeš عفر ˤefer عفشر ˤefšer عفرت ˤefret
3rd person عفد ˤefed عفلد ˤefeld عفتر ˤefter عفلت ˤeflet

Verbal Prefixes

Negation

The prefix ناـ nã- is used to negate verbs.

  • عفم ˤefem, "I make"ناعفم nãˤfem, "I do not make"
Tense

The prefix زـ ze- is used to put verbs in the simple past tense.

  • عفم ˤefemزعفم zeˤfem, "I made"

And the prefix اـ i- is used to put verbs in the simple past tense.

  • عفم ˤefemاعفم iˤfem, "I will make"

The aforementioned negation prefix also combines with the tensal prefixes.

  • ناعفم nãˤfemزاعفم zãˤfem, "I did not made"
  • ناعفم nãˤfemایعفم ẽˤfem, "I will not make"
Preverbs

Preverbs express adverbial senses such as location, direction, time, and relation. Preverbs go after negation/tense prefixes. Below are some common preverbs:

  • حـḥi- — "in, within, inside, into, here, herein"
  • شـši- — "there, therein, thereto, towards"
  • مـmu- — "together, not alone, with the assistance of someone or something"
  • دـda- — "again, one more time"
  • رـre- — "out of, outside, outside of, outwards"
  • ادـed(e)- — "to, towards, in the direction of"
  • حڤـḥev- — "away, away from, far, far away"
  • ڤرـvor- — "for, in order to"

Vocabulary

Example text

See also