Nurian
Nurian (gaħēs nūrimēs /ˈgɐħæːs ˈn̪ˠʊɚrʲɪmʲæːs/) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Lithuanian, Russian, Italian and English.
Introduction
Nurian is spoken on the west coast of the continent called Kuderau by Wiebians. It is easily the most conservative Talmic language, though with signficant Meetzarric influences. It is spoken alongside Meetzarric languages, Clofabic languages and New World Reber Wiebian.
Historical phonology
- Cl > Cj > Cʲ (Italian style): pl bl ml fl cl gl ngl chl ghl > pi bi mi fi ci gi ngi chi ghi
- Exceptions: ħl ȝl > ħħ ȝȝ; nl, rl > ll
- C1C2 > C2C2 (similarly to Italian)
- mlīd - conclusion, end > mīd /mʲiːdˠ/
- ar- > aC- (ar- before vowels); as- > s-
Numbers
- 1: cēma /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠɐ/
- 2: tiħōr /tʲɪˈħɔɚ/
- 3: nargь /ˈnˠɑɚd͡ʒ/
- 4: dhaufь /ˈðˠɐʊfʲ/
- 5: saliħь /sˠɐˈlʲɪħ/
- 6: stāma /ˈsˠtˠɑːmɐ/
- 7: rōdь /ˈrˠoːdʲ/
- 8: loreħь /ɫɔɚˈrʲæħ/
- 9: farvь /ˈfˠɑɚvʲ/
- 10: ħiler /ˈħɪlʲɛɚ/ (influenced by Meetzarri ulyerre)
- 11: cēmara /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠɑɚrˠɐ/ (< Themsarian cēmiħiore, influenced by Meetzarri emarra)
- 12: pidь /ˈpʲɪdʲ/ (Zutarl pirdi)
- 144: tarþь /ˈtˠɑɚθʲ/
- 1728: ūbyc /ˈuːbˠɪ̞k/
Phonology
Consonants
A notable feature of Nurian phonology is phonemic palatalization, similar to Lithuanian and Russian. Radicals and /h/ cannot palatalize - however, they color the /a/ vowel as if they were soft.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Radical | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| vel. | pal. | vel. | pal. | vel. | pal. | ||||||
| Nasal | mˠ | mʲ | n̪ˠ | nʲ | ɲ~ɲ̄ | ŋ | |||||
| Stop | tenuis | pˠ | pʲ | t̪ˠ | tʲ | tʃ | k | ||||
| voiced | bˠ | bʲ | d̪ˠ | dʲ | dʒ | ɡ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | fˠ | fʲ | θˠ | θ | sˠ | sʲ | ʃ | x | ħ | h |
| voiced | vˠ | vʲ | ðˠ | ð | zˠ | zʲ | ʒ | ɣ | ʕ | ||
| Trill | rˠ | rʲ | |||||||||
| Approximant | central | (ɹ) | j | ||||||||
| lateral | ɫ | lʲ | |||||||||
[ɹ] occurs in the hiatus after r-colored vowels before another vowel.
Palatalization
Word-final soft consonants use a soft sign ь.
| Grapheme | m | p | b | f | v | n | t | d | th | dh | s | z | r | l | ng | c | g | ch | gh | ħ | ȝ | h | j |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | /mˠ/ | /pˠ/ | /bˠ/ | /fˠ/ | /vˠ/ | /nˠ/ | /tˠ/ | /dˠ/ | /θˠ/ | /ðˠ/ | /sˠ/ | /zˠ/ | /rˠ/ | /ɫ/ | /ŋ/ | /k/ | /ɡ/ | /x/ | /ɣ/ | /ħ/ | /ʕ/ | /h/ | /j/ |
| Soft | /mʲ/ | /pʲ/ | /bʲ/ | /fʲ/ | /vʲ/ | /nʲ/ | /tʲ/ | /dʲ/ | /θ/ | /ð/ | /sʲ/ | /zʲ/ | /rʲ/ | /lʲ/ | /ɲ/ | /t͡ʃ/ | /d͡ʒ/ | /ʃ/ | /ʒ/ |
r = r-coloring before a consonant or word-finally
Vowels
Nurian shows an unusual vowel system, with rhotic vowels and a relative lack of phonemic front vowels. There is a three-way contrast between short, long and rhotic vowels. There is a considerable degree of allophony in low short and rhotic vowels.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | rhotic | short | rhotic | short | long | rhotic | |
| Close | /ɪ~ɪ̞/ | /iː/ | /ɪ˞/ | /ʊ/ | /uː/ | /ʊ˞/ | ||
| Mid | [ɛ~æ] | [ɛ˞] | [ə] | /ɝ/ | /ɔ/ | /oː/ | /ɔ˞/ | |
| Open | [æː] | /ɐ/ | /ɑː/ | [ɑ˞] | ||||
Diphthongs: /ɐɪ/ /ɐʊ/ /iə~iɛ/
- Short /ɪ/ is lowered to [ɪ̞] after hard consonants.
- /a aː/ has two allophones:
- [ɐ~ɑ ɑː] after hard consonants
- [ɛ~æ æː] after soft consonants
- /ɝ/ has three allophones:
- [ɑ˞] after hard consonants (in or before a stressed syllable)
- [ɛ˞] after soft consonants (in or before a stressed syllable)
- [a˞] after radicals
- [ɝ] in posttonic positions
- [ə] occurs as an epenthetic vowel after word-final geminates except before another vowel.
Stress
Stress is phonemic in Nurian. Nurian stress can be derived by applying the following stress pattern in Thensarian and then Thensarian > Nurian sound changes:
- A short final vowel cannot be stressed.
- Only one of the last 3 syllables can be stressed.
- the last heavy syllable is stressed if not the final syllable; if there is a final heavy syllable, the penult is stressed. (e.g. burgent [ˈbʊɚdʒænt])
- If no heavy syllables, the 3rd from last is stressed.
- piudiinъ - final stress;
- piudiin - penult stress
Grammar
Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modifier-modified order.
Nouns
Sgv-clv-plv system.
Accents and dialects
Dialect 1
Polishy
- ci gi chi ghi = [tʂ dʐ ʂ ʐ]
- sci = [ʂtʂ]
- ti di si zi = [tɕ dʑ ɕ ʑ]
- fi > [ç]
- ni ngi > [ɲ]
- li > [ʎ]
- θˠ ðˠ > fˠ vˠ
Dialect 2
Conservative
- ci gi chi ghi = [kʲ gʲ xʲ ɣʲ]
- sci = [skʲ]
Dialect 3
Fiuschēra [fuʃˈʃæːrˁɑ] accent (Arabic-esque)
- Hard consonants > pharyngealized; soft consonants > plain
- θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ
- Non-rhotic
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Radical | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| phar. | plain | phar. | plain | phar. | plain | ||||||
| Nasal | mˁ | m | nˁ | n | ɲ | ŋ̠ | |||||
| Stop | tenuis | pˁ | p | tˁ | t | tʃ | k̠ | ||||
| voiced | bˁ | b | dˁ | d | dʒ | ɡ̄ | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | fˁ | f | θ | sˁ | s | ʃ | x~χ | ħ | h | |
| voiced | vˁ | ð | zˁ | z | ʒ | ɣ~ʁ | ʕ | ||||
| Trill | rˁ | r | |||||||||
| Approximant | central | w | j | ||||||||
| lateral | l̪ˁ | l | |||||||||
Dialect 4
Scottish Gaelic pseudo-gib