Maryan Coptic

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Maryan Coptic
ϯⲙⲩⲧⲭⲏⲙⲉ
timutkʰēme
Maryancopticflag.png
Pronunciation[/tɪˌmutˈkʰeːmə/]
Created byCastillerian
Dialects
  • Standard
  • Nahlic
  • Cholevic
Language codes
ISO 639-3mcp
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.

Maryan Coptic (ϯⲙⲩⲧⲭⲏⲙⲉ, tr. timutkʰēme) is an a posteriori language created by conlanger Castillerian. The initial intent of this language is to envision a modernized variant of Classical Coptic while preserving most of its grammar, vocabulary, and estimated phonology.

The first drafts of what would become the Maryan Coptic language were created in March 2018, initially called 'New Coptc' and 'Neo-Egyptian'. Early drafts detailed a modified Latin alphabet as the language's primary writing system, and its phonology more atone with modern-day Greco-Bohairic Coptic. Discontent with the language's current state, the creator redrafted all its core phonology and grammar in May 2019, along with its entire lexicon.

Phonology

Maryan Coptic's phonology bears immense resemblance to Bohairic Coptic, aside from the theory of Bohairic Coptic not retaining long vowels.

Orthography

Coptic alphabet

Maryan Coptic is chiefly written in a modified Coptic alphabet, which in return is a modified Greek alphabet augmented by Demotic-based glyphs. The script contains 32 pairs of glyphs (each pair containing one majuscule and one minuscule form) and 3 individual minuscule glyphs, adding up to 67 total glyphs. 48 of these glyphs originate from the Greek alphabet, while the remaining 19 originate as augmentations from the Demotic script.

In the earliest drafts dating back to March 2018, Maryan Coptic initially used a modified Latin alphabet, until a secondary script utilizing Coptic glyphs was introduced a month later in April. By July of the same year, the Latin script ceased all future and current usage, as all remaining texts which still used the Latin script were replaced with the more polished Coptic script.

Coptic alphabet
Letter Numeric
value
Name Transliteration Standard
Pronunciation
Ⲁ ⲁ 1 alpha, ⲁⲗⲫⲁ a [ä] ~ [äʔ]
Ⲃ ⲃ 2 beta, ⲃⲏⲧⲁ b [β] ~ [ɸ] ~ [b]
Ⲅ ⲅ 3 gamma, ⲅⲁⲙⲙⲁ g [k]
Ⲇ ⲇ 4 delta, ⲇⲉⲗⲧⲁ d [t]
Ⲉ ⲉ 5 ei, ⲉⲓ e [ɛ] ~ [ɛʔ] ~ [ə]
6 sou, ⲥⲟⲩ
Ⳣ ⳣ wau, ⳣⲁⲩ w [w]
Ⲍ ⲍ 7 zeta, ⲍⲏⲧⲁ z [s]
Ⲏ ⲏ 8 eta, ⲏⲧⲁ ē [eː] ~ [e]
Ⲑ ⲑ 9 theta, ⲑⲏⲧⲁ [tʰ]
Ⲓ ⲓ 10 iota, ⲓⲟⲧⲁ i [iː] ~ [i] ~ [ɪ] ~ [j]
Ⲕ ⲕ 20 kappa, ⲕⲁⲡⲡⲁ k [k]
Ⲗ ⲗ 30 laula, ⲗⲁⲩⲗⲁ l [l]
Ⲙ ⲙ 40 me, ⲙⲉ m [m]
Ⲛ ⲛ 50 ne, ⲛⲉ n [n] ~ [ŋ] ~ [m]
Ⲝ ⲝ 60 ksi, ⲝⲓ x [ks]
Ⲟ ⲟ 70 o, ⲟ o [ɔ] ~ [ɔʔ]
Ⲡ ⲡ 80 pi, ⲡⲓ p [p]
Ⲣ ⲣ 100 ro, ⲣⲱ r [ɾ] ~ [r]
Ⲥ ⲥ 200 sima, ⲥⲓⲙⲁ s [s]
Ⲧ ⲧ 300 tau, ⲧⲁⲩ t [t]
Ⲩ ⲩ 400 u, ⲩ u [uː] ~ [u]
Ⲫ ⲫ 500 phi, ⲫⲓ [pʰ]
Ⲭ ⲭ 600 khi, ⲭⲓ [kʰ]
Ⲯ ⲯ 700 psi, ⲯⲓ ps [ps]
Ⲱ ⲱ 800 ou, ⲱⲩ ō [oː] ~ [o]
Ϣ ϣ shai, ϣⲁⲓ š [ʃ]
Ϥ ϥ 90 fai, ϥⲁⲓ f [f]
Ϧ ϧ xai, ϧⲁⲓ [x]
Ϩ ϩ hore, ϩⲱⲣⲉ h [h] ~ [ɦ] ~ [ç]
Ϫ ϫ canga, ϫⲁⲅⲅⲁ c [t͡ʃ]
Ϭ ϭ chima, ϭⲓⲙⲁ [t͡ʃʰ]
Ϯ ϯ ti, ϯ ti [tiː] ~ [ti] ~ [tɪ]
hat, ϩⲁⲧ ' ∅ ~ [ʔ]
900 sampi, ⲥⲁⲙⲡⲓ

One of the main functions of hat (ⳕ) is to modify and move the stress of a given word, usually placed after ei (ⲉ).

  • ⲁⲙⲣⲉⳕ (baker) - /amˈɾɛʔ/
  • ⲙⲉⳕⲣⲉ (noon) - /ˈmɛrrə/
  • ϧⲉⳕⲧⲉⲃ (kill [construct]) - /ˌxətəβ/
  • ⲥⲁⲓⲉⳕ (beautiful) - /saˈjɛʔ/

The letter can also stand in as a historical consonant left unpronounced in modern speech. In more dated vernaculars, instances of hat would sustain the following letter, whereas in modern vernaculars the pronunciation of the word is left unmodified. Instances of hat placed before ro (ⲣ) create an alveolar trill [r].

  • ⲓⲟⳕⲣ (canal): /jɔr/
  • ⲙⲁⳕⲃ (river): modern /maβ/, dated /maββ/)
  • ⲓⲁⳕⲧ (eyes): modern /jat/, dated /jatt/)
  • ⲁⳕϥ (fly): modern /af/, dated /aff/)

Chat script

Maryan Coptic utilizes an alternative script for efficient online communication known as picinsxai thyt (the united script). The script uses only base Latin glyphs and digraphs to represent the phonemes of Maryan Coptic, as the Coptic script remains semi-incompatible for most modern devices.

Latin chat alphabet
Letter Name Coptic
equivalent
A a alpha
B b byta
C c cagga ϫ
Ch ch chima ϭ
D d delta
E e ei
F f fai ϥ
G g gamma
H h hwre ϩ
I i iota
K k kappa
Kh kh khi
Ks ks
L l laula
M m me
N n ne
O o o
P p pi
Ph ph phi
Ps ps
R r rw
S s sima
Sh sh shai ϣ
T t tau
Th th thyta
Ti ti ϯ
U u u
W w wau
wu

X x xai ϧ
Y y yta
Z z zyta

An apostrophe (') can stand in as hat (ⳕ), but it can also be used to separate and prevent two glyphs from forming the aspirated digraphs (i.e. ϣⲉⲡϩⲙⲟⲧ (to thank) = shep'hmot, ⲛⲁϫϩⲉ (tooth) = nac'he, ⲧⲉⲕϩⲁⲗⲁⲕ (your ring) = tek'halak, ⲉⲧϩⲓϫⲉⲛ (one who is on) = et'hicen).

Consonants

Maryan Coptic's consonants remain the same among most Coptic dialects, even retaining the velar fricative /x/.

Consonants
Bilabial Labio-
dental
Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Labio-
velar
Velar Glottal
Nasal m n
Plosive modal p t k ʔ
aspirated
Fricative β f s ʃ x h
Affricate modal t͡ʃ
aspirated t͡ʃʰ
Approximant l j w
Flap ɾ

Vowels

The exact qualities of Bohairic Coptic's vowels remain unknown. Maryan Coptic's vowels were created largely from personal preference and some basis in Koine Greek spoken in the 1st Centiry CE.

Vowels
Front Near-front Central Back
Close i iː u uː
Near-close ɪ
Close-mid e eː o oː
Mid ə
Open-mid ɛ ɔ
Open ä
Diphthongs
IPA /aɪ/ /aʊ/ /ɛɪ/ /ɛʊ/ /eːɪ/ /eːw/ /əɪ/[1] /iːw/ /ɔɪ/ /ɔw/ /oːɪ/ /oːw/
Coptic script ⲁⲓ ⲁⲩ ⲉⲓ ⲉⲩ ⲏⲓ ⲏⲩ ⲓⲩ ⲟⲓ ⲟⲩ ⲱⲓ ⲱⲩ
Chat script ai au ei eu yi yu i iu oi ou w'i wu

Prosody

Stress

Maryan Coptic uses a lexical stress system. The primary stress is always found either on the penult or the ultima, depending on the vowels present, and the secondary stress is always found at least two syllables before the primary stress, usually in conjugated verbs and compound nouns. However, borrowed loanwords tend to break this pattern, as Maryan Coptic attempts to preserve the stress from the loanword's source language. Fortunately, inherited loanwords are constructed specifically to fit Maryan Coptic's native stress system, making their stress patterns more predictable than direct borrowings.

Every vowel, aside from ei (ⲉ), are called 'strong vowels' and can indicate the primary stress of a word. alpha (ⲁ) and o (ⲟ) are classified as 'short strong' vowels, and , , , and are classified as 'long strong' vowels. , and sometimes , are called 'weak vowels' and are primarily unstressed if a strong vowel is present. In verb forms, the verb root is always given the primary stress.

  • Ⲭⲏⲙⲉ (Egypt): /ˈkʰeːmə/
  • ⲃⲉⲣⲓ (new): /βəˈɾiː/
  • Ⲉⲥⲛⲟϥⲣⲉ (Esnofre [female-given name]): /əsˈnɔfɾə/

If multiple strong vowels are found in a word, usually from agglutination, then the final strong vowel or root word gets the primary stress, and any remaining long vowels are shortened. The main exception is if the final vowel is a strong u (ⲩ) and the penult vowel is either alpha (ⲁ) or o (ⲟ). Other exceptions may occur in more formal registers of speech, leaving long vowels in unstressed positions.

  • ϯⲙⲁ (to allow): /tiˈmaʔ/
  • ⲁⲙⲁⲓⲩ (seas): /aˈmajju/
  • ϫⲱⲣⲁⲥⲡⲉ (linguistics): colloquial /t͡ʃoˈɾaspə/, formal /t͡ʃoːˈɾaspə/
  • ⲧⲏϩⲓⲙⲉ (that woman): colloquial /teˈhiːmə/, formal /teːˈhiːmə/

If a short strong vowel is found on the penult and the ultima contains one onset consonant, then that consonant is duplicated and acts as the coda for the stressed syllable.

  • ⲥⲁϫⲉ (to speak): /ˈsat̚t͡ʃə/
  • ⳣⲟⲓⲉ (farmer): /ˈwɔjjə/
  • ⲃⲟⲛⲉ (bad [feminine]): /ˈβɔnnə/
  • ϣⲁⲣⲉ (to hit): /ˈʃarrə/

Intonation

Phonotactics

Morphophonology

Morphology

Syntax

Constituent order

Noun phrase

Verb phrase

Sentence phrase

Dependent clauses

Example texts

Other resources

  1. ^ Occurs in unstressed syllables if no morphemes are present (i.e. ϩⲃⲱⲓ ('ibises'), ϭⲥⲉⲩ ('lords').