Qazhrian
Qazhrian (/kɑːʒriən/ KAHZH-ree-uhn; natively: Qazhrem /ˈqaʒrem/ or zhë Lazhrem /ʒə ˈʟaʒrem/) is a Talmic language spoken in Qazhra (from Thensarian Ȝactrasē), a Talman country. It is descended from 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.
Ideas
- Breton-ish but not too gibby. Get more palatal consonants.
- /ts, dz/ from Thensarian /θ ð/
- or > /š ž/?
- 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, f are found in loanwords (e.g. from Clofabic and Windermere).
Auslautverhärtung operates for plosives and is reflected in the orthography.
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 | kj | kj | c'h | ħ | ħ | p | t | c | s | kj | k |
| Radical | m | n | nj | w | l | rr | y |
| Soft | v | 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 hë triggers soft mutation.
- The relativizer re triggers nasal mutation.
Nouns
Qazhrian lost grammatical gender and all nominal inflections except number and construct state.
There is no indefinite article. The definite article is zhë (from φinom), and it triggers the soft mutation:
- tëzh 'a child'; zhë dëzh 'the child'
- rronn 'a man'; zhë ronn 'the man'
- kavër 'a woman'; zhë gavër 'the woman'
Construct state is usually formed with -ë:
- tëzhë zhë ront 'the man's child'
Verbs
There are finite verbs, but auxiliaries are also important