Nurian
Nurian is a Talsmic language descending from Themsarian. It is spoken alongside Zutarlic languages, Clofabic languages and New World Reber Wiebian.
Historical phonology
Cl > Cj > Cʲ (Italian style)
Numbers
- 1: cēm /ˈt͡ɕæːm/
- 2: tiħōr /tʲɪˈħoːr/
- 3: nargь /ˈnɐɹd͡ʑ/
- 4: dhōfь /ˈðoːfʲ/
- 5: saliħ /ˈsɐlʲɪħ/
- 6: stām /ˈstɑːm/
- 7: rōdь /ˈroːdʲ/
- 8: loreħ /ˈlorʲɛħ/
- 9: farvь /ˈfɐɹvʲ/
- 10: ħiorь /ˈħorʲ/
- 11: cēmar /ˈt͡ɕæːmɐr/ (< Themsarian cēmiħioré, influenced by Zutarl emarra)
- 12: pirdь /ˈpʲɪɖ/ (Zutarl pirdi)
- 144: rtarþь /ˈʈɐʂ/
- 1728: ūbyc /ˈu:bɪ̞k/
Phonology
Arabo-Lithuanian
Consonants
As a result of a series of historical palatalizations, Nurian has many consonants in hard-soft pairs, similar to Lithuanian and Russian; however, many consonants (namely retroflexes, radicals, h and j) cannot palatalize.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Radical | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pal. | plain | pal. | plain | pal. | |||||||
| Nasal | mˠ | mʲ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ɳ | ɲ~ɲ̄ | ŋ | |||||
| Stop /Affricate |
tenuis | pˠ | pʲ | t̪ˠ | tʲ | ʈ | tɕ | k | ||||
| voiced | bˠ | bʲ | d̪ˠ | dʲ | ɖ | dʑ | g | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | fˠ | fʲ | θˠ | sˠ | sʲ | ʂ | ɕ | x | ħ | h | |
| voiced | vˠ | vʲ | ðˠ | zˠ | zʲ | ʑ | ɣ | ʕ | ||||
| Trill | rˠ | rʲ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | central | ɹ~ɻ | ||||||||||
| lateral | ɫ | lʲ | ɭ | |||||||||
| Grapheme | m | p | b | f | v | n | t | d | th | dh | s | z | r | l | rn | rt | rd | rs, rth | rdh | rl | ng | c | g | ch | gh | ħ | ȝ | h | j |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | /mˠ/ | /pˠ/ | /bˠ/ | /fˠ/ | /vˠ/ | /nˠ/ | /tˠ/ | /dˠ/ | /θˠ/ | /ðˠ/ | /sˠ/ | /zˠ/ | /rˠ/ | /ɫ/ | /ɳ/ | /ʈ/ | /ɖ/ | /ʂ/ | /ɻ/ | /ɭ/ | /ŋ/ | /k/ | /ɡ/ | /x/ | /ɣ/ | /ħ/ | /ʕ/ | /h/ | silent |
| Soft | /mʲ/ | /pʲ/ | /bʲ/ | /fʲ/ | /vʲ/ | /nʲ/ | /tʲ/ | /dʲ/ | /sʲ/ | /zʲ/ | /sʲ/ | /zʲ/ | /rʲ/ | /lʲ/ | /ɲ/ | /t͡ɕ/ | /d͡ʑ/ | /ɕ/ | /ʑ/ |
r = /ɹ~ɻ/ before a consonant
Word-final soft consonants use a soft sign ь.
Vowels
The spelling to the left is the "hard" vowel, and the spelling to the right indicates its "soft" counterpart. Both spellings are used after retroflexes and radicals, which cannot palatalize.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | y, i /ɪ~ɪ̞/ | ȳ, ī /iː/ | u, iu /ʊ/ | ū, iū /uː/ | ||
| Mid | o, io /o/ | ō, iō /oː/ | ||||
| Open | e/ia [ɛ] | ē/iā /æː/ | a /ɐ/ | ā /ɑː/ | ||
Diphthongs: ai, iai /ɐɪ/ au, iau /ɐʊ/
Short /ɪ/ is lowered to [ɪ̞] after hard consonants.
ia and e both represent [ɛ], the allophone of /ɐ/ after palatalized consonants.
Grammar
Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modifier-modified order.
Nouns
Sgv-clv-plv system.
Dialects
hard <l> in Nurian in one dialect can be /w/ while soft <l> is /l/ (as in polish)
nurian has /ɫ/ /lʲ/ /ɭ/ but no ordinary /l/!
hard <l> = /l/, soft <l> = /j/ is like kashoebian
also considering ȝ ~ ng merger to /ŋ/ / /ɲ/
thus i will have /q/ > /ɲ/
another idea: v = /w/ / /ɥ/
I should have <r> = /ɻ/ before a consonant in Standard Nurian
thus i'll have r-colored vowels!
it should be ok now that rencadian /r/ is a trill
that's how I could mix some English into Nurian!
but in a different way than how Rencadian does it
maybe one accent can lack retroflexes entirely and have r-colored vowels as phonemes instead!
another idea: soft f > palatal fricative?
for a dialect that does crazy things with slender consonants