Nurian

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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.

Consonant phonemes in Nurian
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar Radical Glottal
plain pal. plain pal. plain pal.
Nasal n̪ˠ ɳ ɲ~ɲ̄ ŋ
Stop
/Affricate
tenuis t̪ˠ ʈ k
voiced d̪ˠ ɖ g
Fricative voiceless θˠ ʂ ɕ x ħ h
voiced ðˠ ʑ ɣ ʕ
Trill
Approximant central ɹ~ɻ
lateral ɫ ɭ


Consonant alternations
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.

Vowel phonemes in Nurian
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