Tefrian

Tefrian
پریشحشر Prayešeḥšur
Flag of the Shardarate of Tefria
Pronunciation	[ˈpʰɾäɪ̯(ə)ʃəħˌʃʉɾ]
Created by	Vrianne
Date	2024
Setting	Earth
Native to	Tefria
Ethnicity	Tefrian
Native speakers	3.4 million ({{{date}}})
Language family	Asisic West-Asisic Tefrian
Early forms	Proto-Asisic Proto-West Asisic Old Tefrian
Map of areas where Tefrian is spoken   ...as a majority language   ...as a minority language   ...as the language of law and government

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.

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 ◌ُ		iː ی	yː ۆ		uː و
Mid	e̞ ◌ِ
Open		a ◌َ					aː 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	tˤ 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	sˤ ص	ʃ ش	ʃˤ ض	x ~ χ خ		ħ ح	h ه
	voiced	v ڤ	z ز, ذ	zˤ 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.

Grammar

Tefrian's 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 زسوعم — ṭaw šufr zesaweˤem — "I saw that book"

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

• یر ضیفڔ حۆ اچلد ادم زچیدم — Yer 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؟ — Uš ered? — "Who is eating?"