Ciètian

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Ciètian
i hAnvirav
Created by	User:IlL
Setting	Verse:Tricin
Native speakers	100 million L1 speakers (300 million L2 speakers) (fT 1670dd (2676))
Language family	Quihum Talmic Thensaric Tigolic Ciètian

Ciètian (ahn-ver-EEZ; natively i γgaaħ hAnvirav /i ɣaːħ ˈhanviɾəv/) is a Talmic language (in the Tigolic subbranch of Talmic, which also includes Eevo). On the planet of Tricin (Ciètian: i Samąx /i səˈmɔːx/), it is an analogue of German in terms of influence and grammar. It is inspired by Irish, Arabic, Persian, Polish, Romanian and German. Ciètian is the official language of the Talman nation Anvir and of former colonies in Cualuav and Txapoalli; after Eevo, it is the second-largest Talmic language in terms of number of speakers, though most modern speakers know Eevo. Like most modern Talmic languages, Ciètian is a descendant of Thensarian. Like with German, there is a Standard Anvirese and various regiolects.

Thanks in large part to the printing press, Modern Ciètian rapidly gained prominence over a larger area in Northern Talma and came to serve as a lingua franca for northern mainland Talma. Today, Ciètian still enjoys status as a "cultured" language and is one of the most widely taught foreign languages.

This language began as Tíogall, which was a thought experiment posing the question "What would Irish look like with umlaut instead of palatalization?". For a while it developed as an Irish-German hybrid. At one point I decided to remove all "giblangs" from modern Tricin, or languages with the aesthetics of one natlang (unless the premise was funny, like Bhlaoighne or Clofabosin). Since Tíogall was basically an Irish with German characteristics, it was abandoned. I still felt that Talmic languages needed somewhat more internal diversity (in particular, a "German" analogue to Eevo's "English"), so I decided to revive this project. Since I don't want a German analogue to be so obviously Hiberno-German, this time I'm eschewing obviously German features in the aesthetic such as front rounded vowels, and I'm trying a somewhat Romanian, West Slavic and Arabic aesthetic. Also grammar-wise, while keeping a somewhat Celtic grammar (e.g. mutations, head-initial syntax), I'm playing with decidedly non-Celtic grammatical features such as split-ergativity (which was in my original Tíogall), and a singulative-collective-plurative system.

Todo

• Single vs. double negatives: use both
• Vdh > lowered vowels - a source of /ɛ: ɔ:/ in addition to Old Eevo ae ao
• need vowel changes from Old Eevo
  • a > ea, e > eo, i > iu in certain conditions - what type of pal'n do these new vowels trigger
    • e.g. cell 'small' > *cĕoll > chow /tʃow/
  • already have eo éu iu íu/iú
• Actually palatalization is NOT as simple as this. y ø a o u vs. i ie vs. ia io iu vs ja jo ju je/ĺa ĺo ĺu ĺe affect consonants differently.
• Get rid of initial clusters:
  • CrV- > CVrV-
  • sX- > asX- (X = obstruent)
  • sR- > sVR- (R = m, n, ń, ŋ, r)
• non-initial -gh might die
• mee in aavaħ (this DEF book) = 'this book'
• Revise Thensarian declension based on Ciètian
• Have a separate schwa phoneme a /ə/?
• -ac is cognate to Eevo -ahd (both from Old Eevo -aitt)
• -z is one plural suffix (often used for nouns ending in vowels; from palatalized lenited -dh)
• cht > c à la Wenedyk, final slender -t > -cy
• slender b > j?
• sk palatalizes to sh
• Words starting with f- are reanalyzed to start with p-: nonstandard dialects don't have this
• Etymological doublets from Tigol absolute-conjunct verb forms.

Notes

Symbols

• ^L - lenition/aspiration
• ^N - eclipsis

Phonology

The following describes Ciètian as spoken in Ascemmiin.

Stress

Stress is not phonemic and is weight-sensitive. The rule is: the last long vowel is stressed. If there is no long vowel the first syllable is stressed.

In most compound words, primary stress falls on the first member and a secondary stress falls on the second member. Place names are sometimes exceptions to the preceding rule: for example, the element -vę is always stressed.

Consonants

Ciètian has a large consonant inventory (about 37 consonants).

Ciètian consonants

		Labial	Dental/Alveolar	Postalv.	Palatal	Velar	Pharyngeal	Glottal
Nasal	plain	m /m/	n /n/		ny /ɲ/	ŋ /ŋ/
	geminate	mm /m:/	nn /n:/		nny /ɲ:/	ŋŋ /ŋ:/
Stop	fortis	p /p/	t /t/			k /k/
	lenis	b /b/	d /d/			g /g/
Affricate	fortis		c /ts/	ch /tʃ/	cy /tɕ/
	lenis		j /dz/	jh /dʒ/	jy /dʑ/
Spirant	unvoiced	f /f/			hy /ç/	x /x/	ħ /ħ/
	voiced	v /v/				γ /ɣ/
Sibilant	unvoiced		s /s/	sh /ʃ/	sy /ɕ/			h /h/
	voiced		z /z/	zh /ʒ/	zy /ʑ/
Liquid			r /ɾ/ rh /r/
Approximant		w /w/			y /j/

Notes

• An initial /ʔ/ can be added to null initials (but is not mandatory).
• Voiceless stops are aspirated syllable-initially; voiced stops devoice after voiceless sounds.
• Ciètian has a form of Auslautverhärtung: voicing is neutralized for word-final stops but not word-final fricatives.
• /n, t, d/ are usually dental [n̪, t̪, d̪].
• /s/ is laminal alveolar [s].
• /ŋ, k, g/ are usually velar [ŋ, k, g].
• /ŋ, k, g, x, ɣ/ are prevelar before front vowels.
• In dialects and classical singing and drama, /w/ is pronounced as [ɫ].
• After a vowel, /ɣ/ colloquially disappears with compensatory lengthening of the vowel if the vowel is short (unless the /ɣ/ begins a stressed syllable.)

Vowels

Ciètian has a moderately large vowel system (7 vowel qualities).

Ciètian vowels

	Front		Central		Back
	unrounded		unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	i /ɪ/	ii /iː/			u /ʊ/	uu /uː/
Mid		ee /eː/	[ə]			oo /oː/
Open-mid	e /ɛ/	ę /ɛː/			o /ɔ/	ą /ɔː/
Open			a /a/	aa /aː/

There are also two diphthongs: ia /iə/ and ua /uə/.

Unstressed /əw/ becomes /ɔ/. This is not reflected in the transcription.

Phonotactics

Unlike Eevo and Rhythoed, Ciètian doesn't like initial clusters. All initial clusters are prohibited except those of the form /Cw/. Geminate nasals are also not allowed word-initially.

Final clusters are allowed, however.

Prosody

Ciètian has a distinctive intonation paradigm. It originates from discursive uptalk in older stages of the language, which has since generalized to all declarative sentences. A few accents, such as the Tumaka accent, do not use this pattern.

• In declarative sentences, the stressed syllable of the focus word (if there is no focused constituent, the last word) has a lower pitch than the immediately preceding syllable. ("...mid ꜜ LOW mid...")
• In interrogative sentences, the stressed syllable of the focus word has a higher pitch than the syllable immediately before. ("... mid ꜛ HIGH mid ... ?")
• In exclamations, the stressed syllable starts low and receives a rising intonation ("... mid ꜜ LOW-HIGH mid ... !"), possibly with a gradual drop to low pitch in the end. Angry or indignant questions also use an exclamatory intonation.

Loanword phonology

Initial /θ/ and /x/ in loans are rendered /t/ and /k/ respectively (cf. German pronounces initial ch in Greek loans as /k/). Non-initial /θ/ and /x/ become /ħ/ and /x/.

Stress is usually as in the original language; non-initially stressed words lengthen the stressed vowel. Example: bintawisraaw /bintəwisˈraːw/ 'republic'.

Morphophonology

Mutations

Consonant mutations

Root consonant	m /m/	p /p/	b /b/	f /f/	t /t/	d /d/	cy /tɕ/	jy /dʑ/	s /s/	sy /ɕ/	sh /ʃ/	k /k/	g /g/	ch /tʃ/	jh /dʒ/	0 /Ø/, y /j/
Lenited	vm /v/	fp /f/	vb /v/	hf /h/	ħt /ħ/	d /d/	scy /ɕ/	zjy /ʑ/	hs /h/	sy	sh /ʃ/	xk /x/	γg /ɣ/	sch /ʃ/	zjh /ʒ/	add h' /h/
Eclipsed	m /m/	bp /b/	mb /m/	vf /v/	dt /d/	nd /n/	jcy /dʑ/	njy /ɲ/	zs /z/	zsy /ʑ/	zsh /ʒ/	gk /g/	ŋg /ŋ/	jch /dʑ/	njh /ɲ/	add n' /n/

Palatalization

• e/i-palatalization
  • l not affected

• ä-palatalization

• ia/io/iu-palatalization
  • l softens to /j/

• soft L-palatalization
  • k, t > cy

• initial vs. non-initial pal'zn

Umlaut

i-umlaut often operates in inflections and derivation:

o oo u uu ua > nonpalatalizing e ee i ii ia

a > somewhat palatalizing e

Generally i-umlaut is triggered by Old Eevo post-tonic -(a)e-, -(a)é-, -(a)i- and -(a)í- if there does not intervene another syllable between the root and these post-tonic vowels. There are sporadic exceptions.

Dialectology

Ciètian is subject to a fair amount of accent and dialect variation.

Common dialectal features

• /x ɣ/ realized as uvular [χ ʁ]
• Native words in f- retained

Morphology

Pronouns

	I	you (sg.)	he	she	it	we (exc.)	we (inc.)	you (pl.)	they	you (semi-polite)	you (polite)
Emphatic	gonin	gonas	gonu	gonyi	gona	gonav	gonid	gonax	gonar	gonax	gonawaa
Genitive	naa	fiar	hu	hi	he	aav	geed	seed	haar	seed	waa
Accusative	moon	moos	moov	mooy	moo	moom	meed	moox	moor	moox	mowaa

Politeness

Modern Ciètian has three levels of politeness in pronouns:

• gonas, moos (sg.) is used for family members, friends, pets, inanimates, deities, and among blue-collar workers. It is becoming more common among young people.
• gonalaa, mowaa is used as a polite second-person pronoun (for both singular and plural) for strangers or persons in positions of authority. It is still considered acceptable for some professions, such as superiors in military or schoolteachers, to refer to their counterparts with the familiar pronouns gonas and gonax, although nowadays using gonawaa is becoming more common.
• gonax is roughly intermediate in formality between gonas and gonawaa. The pronoun gonax is used when an apprentice addresses their master, when university students address professors or when professors address students. In universities and some schools students use gonax for each other. (In vocational schools gonawaa is used for student-instructor conversation.) Strangers on the Internet and books intended for a general audience also use gonax.
  • In archaic Ciètian, gonax is used as a polite pronoun for persons of higher class (say nobles or royalty), or among the upper class.

Nouns

Ciètian nouns are quite conservative: they have three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), three numbers (singular, plural and collective), and three states (nominative, genitive and construct). Collective nouns take singular agreement with verbs and adjectives. Regiolects usually have less noun declension.

• The nominative singular, nominative plural, and genitive singular must be memorized for every noun. Feminine plurals tend to end in -r.
• The genitive plural is formed by affixing -ny to the genitive singular.
• The singular construct is formed by affixing -aħ to the nominative singular.
• The plural construct is formed by affixing -u to the nominative singular if the nominative singular ends in a consonant, and -v to the nominative singular if it ends in a vowel.

The article

The article inflects and triggers mutation based on number and gender.

The singular definite article i and i^N changes to in (with no mutation) before a noun starting with a V. For example:

• *i^N uar > in uar (masculine) 'the sense (nominative)';
• *i aavaħ > in aavaħ (neuter) 'the book (nominative)'.

But:

• i h'yowm (feminine) 'the star (nominative)'.

Collective nouns are by nature definite, and the collective of a noun is formed by using the collective article before the singular form.

To be revised:

Definite article

	singular			plural			collective
	m.	f.	n.	m.	f.	n.	m.	f.	n.
nom.	iN	iL	i	na	nar	naN	baN	baL	ba
gen.	naL	naL	iN	na	na	na	baL	baL	baN

Adjectives

Attributive adjectives must agree with nouns in gender, number and case. Adjectives also have nominative singular, genitive singular and nominative plural as principal parts. The genitive plural always ends in -ny.

Attributive forms of chow, chow, chowa 'small'

	singular, collective			plural
	m.	f.	n.	m.	f.	n.
nom.	jchow	schow	chow	chowa	chowa	jchowa
gen.	schow	jchow	jchow	chowany	chowany	chowany

Verbs

There is a closed class of about 20-30 auxiliaries which are conjugated for tense and person. The main verb is used as a verbal noun. (Verbal nouns do not decline.) Example:

Nyan garhiav lan dtarsiad ikaan xkarhii.

[ɲan ˈgar̝iəv wən daɾˈsiət iˈkaːn xəˈr̝iː]

PRES.1SG go.VN to-DEF.GEN.SG.N school.GEN.SG every.F day.GEN.SG

I go to school every day.

	I	thou	he	she	it	we (exc.)	we (inc.)	you (pl., semi-polite)	you (polite)	they	one (impersonal)
present1	nyan	nyer	nyav	nyas	nya	nyam	nyad	nyax	nyaw	nyaħ	nyar
past	kon	ker	kov	kos	ko	kom	kod	kox	koo	koħ	kor
future	pon	per	pov	pos	po	pom	pod	pox	poo	poħ	por

¹ from Old Eevo ar.nédh 'to dwell at'. (The verb acquired a meaning like Vietnamese ở 'be at' which then turned into a progressive construction with a verbal noun.)

Prepositions

If the prepositional object is a pronoun, the genitive form of the pronoun is used: wa naa = to me, for me.

Derivational morphology

• yir- = un-, non-
  • yirascooc, yirascooc (f) 'innocence', from ascooc (f) 'guilt'
• -gaan, -gaany, -gaany = -able?
• -ax, -asy, -axa (n) = verbal noun
• Unstressed initial prefixes are separated by an interpunct (·)

Poetic Anvirese

Anvirese poetry traditionally uses quantitative meters like Arabic or Sanskrit, or meters made of stressed anapestic feet.

Sample texts

UDHR

Nyav baa gew gkar asŋę gasaan ak ascii nę woŋŋacy ak nę vmarozh. Nyav ar·seciin nę na vmiishiin ak i n'astorŋax, ak nya ar hu wa poda baraaħanar nę na weesycy na syarbacy.

All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.