Qazhrian
| Qazhrian | |
|---|---|
| Qazhrem, kje Lazhrem | |
| Pronunciation | [/ˈqaʒɾem/, /ce ˈʟaʒɾem/] |
| Created by | User:IlL |
| Setting | Verse:Tricin |
| Native speakers | 100 million L1 speakers (300 million L2 speakers) (fT 1670dd (2676)) |
Qazhrian (/kɑːʒriən/ KAHZH-ree-uhn; natively: Qazhrem /ˈqaʒɾem/ or kje Lazhrem /ce ˈʟaʒɾem/) is a Talmic language spoken in Qazhra (from Thensarian Ȝactrasei), a Talman country. It is the second-largest Talmic language in terms of number of speakers after Skellan, because most Qazhrian speakers reside in Cualuav.
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 - almost a Portuguese gib. So I found it dissatisfying and 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/; conversely, /ʟ/ > /q/ initially.
- /m/ does NOT lenite.
- Qe! = a greeting (from lăwey)? or 'Be quiet!'?
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
The following describes the prestige dialect spoken in Ħurighen.
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 /ˈaqet/ 'to jump; jump!' vs. aqedëv /aˈqedəv/ '[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
Stress
Stress is penultimate in native words, but always ultimate in 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 | zh | z | z | y | gh |
| Nasal | p | f | t | c | s | sh | kj | k | l | ħ | m | n | x | z | nj | ng |
| Hard | p | f | sh | s | c | sh | kj | c'h | ħ | ħ | p | t | c | s | kj | k |
| Radical | m | n | nj | w | rr | y |
| Soft | m | n | nj | w | r | y |
| Nasal | m | n | nj | w | rr | y |
| Hard | m | n | nj | gw | 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 /təʒ/ 'a child'; kje dëzh /ce dəʒ/ 'the child'
- rronn /ron/ 'a man'; kje ronn /ce ɾon/ 'the man'
- kavër /ˈkavəɾ/ 'a woman'; kje gavër /ce ˈgavər/ 'the woman'
- qe 'peace' > aun kje le 'make peace'
Construct state is usually formed with -ët in the singular and -ëv in the plural:
- tëzhët kje ronn /ˈtəʒət ce ɾon/ 'the man's child'
Plurals are always formed with -nj for nouns ending in vowels and -i for nouns ending in consonants.
Adjectives
Attributive adjectives lenite after definite nouns:
- rronn garv 'a heavy man'; kje ronn gharv 'the heavy man'
- kadër kjun xelem (flower blue beautiful) 'a beautiful blue flower', kje gadër gjun zelem 'the beautiful blue flower'
Verbs
There are finite verbs, but auxiliaries are also important. Most verbs have two principal parts at most.
- Aqedëv kje nous mrēsh lel krok kje sauv zrōmëran.
- /aˈqedəv ce nus mɾɛʃ ʟeʟ kɾok ce səuv zɾɔˈməɾan/
- 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.
- /ɾəv ˈstiəvi bɛs ˈqɔtsav de nets cuˈganɛɾ/
- AUX-3P.PRES idea-PL green color-without at sleep.VN furious-ADV
- Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.
Conjugation of aqet, aqedëv 'jump':
Infinitive; imperative: aqet
Narrative tense: aqedan, aqeder, aqedëv, aqedem, aqedent, aqedëg, aqedëv
Past tense: aqedezj, aqedëw, aqedo, aqedemër, aqedentër, aqedëgër, aqedo
Future: aqedōn, aqedōr, aqedō, aqedōm, aqedōnt, aqedōg, aqedō < aqedōdōn, aqedōdōr, ...