Natalician

Natalician
Nataledhi
Flag of the Natalician Republic
Pronunciation	[na.ta.le.di]
Created by	Hazer
Date	2021
Native to	Natalicia; Firenia and the Kontamchian Islands
Ethnicity	Natales
Native speakers	37,123,487 (2021)
Language family	Tinarian Kasenian North Kasenian Natalo-Kesperian Old Natalician Natalician
Writing system	Latin
Official status
Official language in	Natalicia, Firenia, Budernie, Nirania, Kannamie
Recognised minority language in	Espidon, Amarania (Dogostania)
Regulated by	The Natalician Academic Council for Linguistics
A map showing the distribution of (native and non-native) speakers of Natalician in Tinaria. Dark blue is native, light blue is secondary language speaker, and cyan is minorities.

Natalician (/nəˈtɑlɪʃən/ or /ˌnɑteɪˈlɪʃ.ən/; endonym: Nataledhi [na.ta.le.di] or Natal Rettive /na.tal re.tːive/) is a North Kasenian language mainly spoken in Central East Tinaria, primarily in Natalicia, Firenia and North-East Nirania. Outside of Natalica, it is recognized as an official language in Budernie, Nirania, Kannamie and as a minority language in East Espidon and the Dogostanian community in Eastern Amarania. Natalician is closely related to other North Kasenian languages such as Espidan and Niranian.

Modern Natalician gradually developed from Old Natalician, which in turn developed from an extinct unnamed language spoken by the Natalo-Kesperian tribes. Today, Natalician is one of the most important languages in the world, and is the most spoken Kasenian language, both natively and as an additional language. About 65 million people speak Natalician worldwide, 37 of which are natives.

Natalician is a language characterised by the lack of cases, the absence of genders, nearly no irregularity and a systematic grammar and an orthography with no digraphs, dipthongs or anything of the like, making it such a straightforward language to read and learn.

History

The earliest traces of the Natalician language date as far back as the year 334, with a much different vocabulary and grammar as that of the modern descandant, sub-dividing the Natalician language's history into 3 timelines - Classic Natalician (334 - 1203), Old Natalician (1203 - 1540) and Modern Natalician (1540 - present). The language is estimated to be 1687 years old as of 2021.

Classic Natalician

Also known as the Poetic Natalician or the Natalo-Kesperian Language, the only recorded evidences of the earliest traces of the language are found in ancient poetries and old writings on recovered artifacts. These evidences however are deemed not enough by the NACL to be considered a valid or complete written evidence of the Natalo-Kesperian spoken language, as illiteracy was dominant in the pre-Killisic era and the chosen vocabulary choice is said to be too formal. Classic Natalician's vocabulary has many direct elements from the early Proto-North-Kasenian language which was later ambolished due to the migratory era, culture clashes and the increase of loanwords.

There is no known documents for Classic Natalician that have survived. No known evidence of the development of the language during the primary era have been found.

Old Natalician

Reširi ägsös nör på tånåka if kelševi wezzen fölsi sos.
“The people have the right to write and say what they please.”

“

”

The first quote from the famous Ulun Cilesli Irkete's 1210 language guide

When the Killistic era entered, the Natale tribes have recieved access to knowledge brought by the proclaimed king of the Natales, Ribel Zömeri. It was the era where literacy skyrocketed in the newly born and united Natale monarchy [1203 - 1834], and printed evidence of the Natalician language have surfaced and bloomed. The first recorded book containing written evidence comes from the book "Natåltïå kočåculaï orūnza" (Natalician Guide Book) by late author Ulun Cilesli Irkete, written and published in year 1210. Following that have come multiple documents that have been preserved through generations and found as artifacts in the Natalician Grand Museum of Literature and Artifacts in Celicia.

A recovered old copy of Prof. Irkete's Old Natalician guide book

Many scholars of history and literature have claimed that Classic and Old Natalician are the same language, but lack of evidence weakened the claims. Scholar Iček Friktinäm quotes: "Old Natalician may be the result of intervention of new local loanwords and the varieties of dialects may have caused a deviation of Kasenian roots from the standard spoken Natalician at that time."

Old Natalician features a drastically different grammar and vocabulary from that of the Natalician of today, the most notable difference is vowel harmony and cases. The old language features 4 vowel harmony types and 3 grammatical cases: Nominative, Accusative and Genetive. The different suffixes and verb conjugation are majorly notable differences aswell.

Modern Natalician

Äg čan vizih zifekev if savekilivev ensei ťenałr nameš čan özev.
“Our history is filled with rich stories and leaders.”

“

”

Zafel Sörät Fortla, father of the Natales

During the beginning of the decline of the monarchy,

Etymology

The name of Natalicia, the Natales and the Natalician language comes from the tribes of Natalo-Kershenian

Phonology

Consonants

Consonant phonemes of Standard Natalician

		Labial	Dental/ Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar		Uvular	Glottal
						plain	labialized
Nasal		m	n
Plosive	voiceless	p	t			k
	voiced	b	d			ɡ
Fricative	voiceless	f	s θ	ʃ					h
	voiced	v	z ð	ʒ				ʁ
Affricate	voiceless			t͡ʃ
	voiceless			d͡ʒ
Approximant	semivowel				j		w
	lateral		l		ʎ
	Gorgia Toscana					(ɣ˕)
Flap			ɾ
Trill								ʀ

Consonant Harmony

Natalician orthography reflects voice sandhi voicing, a form of consonant mutation with two consonants that meet, and the second is voiced and the first is unvoiced. The first unvoiced consonant [p t f ʃ t͡ʃ θ k s] is voiced to [b d v ʒ d͡ʒ ð ɡ z], but the orthography remains unchanged. This usually does not include load words.

Vowels

Vowel phonemes of standard Natalician

	Front		Back
	unrounded	rounded	unrounded	rounded
Close	i	y		u
Near-open	æ
Open	e	œ	a	o

The vowels of the Natalician language are, in their alphabetical order, ⟨a⟩, ⟨ä⟩, ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, ⟨o⟩, ⟨ö⟩, ⟨u⟩, ⟨ü⟩. The Natalician vowel system can be considered as being three-dimensional, where vowels are characterised by how and where they are articulated focusing on three key features: front and back, rounded and unrounded and vowel height.

Notes

• When the vowels /i/, /u/ precede or succeed another vowel, they become /j/, /w/ respectively. If both vowels meet one another, only the /i/ will transform into a /j/ which the /u/ remains unchanged.
• The only diphthong in the whole language is the Object second person singular Ou (You), pronounced /uː/.

Vowel harmony

Natalician Vowel Harmony	Front Vowels					Back Vowels
	Unrounded			Rounded		Unrounded	Rounded
Vowel	ä	e	i	ö	ü	a	o	u
Type Ĕ (Backness)	e					o
Type Ĭ (Backness + Rounding)	i			ü		a	u

The principle of vowel harmony

1. If the first vowel of a word is a back vowel, any subsequent vowel is also a back vowel; if the first is a front vowel, any subsequent vowel is also a front vowel.
2. If the first vowel is unrounded, so too are subsequent vowels.

The second and third rules minimize muscular effort during speech. More specifically, they are related to the phenomenon of labial assimilation: If the lips are rounded (a process that requires muscular effort) for the first vowel they may stay rounded for subsequent vowels. If they are unrounded for the first vowel, the speaker does not make the additional muscular effort to round them subsequently.

Grammatical affixes have "a chameleon-like quality" and obey one of the following patterns of vowel harmony:

• Twofold (-e/-o): The article, for example, is -(v)e after front vowels and -(v)o after back vowels.
• Fourfold (-i/-a/-ü/-u): The verb infinitive suffix, for example, is -i or -a after unrounded vowels (front or back respectively); and -ü or -u after the corresponding rounded vowels.
• Type & 'and': The adjectival passive voice suffix, for example, is -t&t, the & being the same vowel as the previous one.

Practically, the twofold pattern (usually referred to as the type Ĕ) means that in the environment where the vowel in the word stem is formed in the front of the mouth, the suffix will take the e form, while if it is formed in the back it will take the o form. The fourfold pattern (also called the type Ĭ) accounts for rounding as well as for front/back. The type & pattern is the reppetition of the same last vowel. The following examples, based on the nominal suffix -zĭk, illustrate the principles of type Ĭ vowel harmony in practice: Čikelzik ("Wellness"), Okzuk ("Knowledge"), Ianzak ("Food"), Nörzük ("Living").

Exceptions to vowel harmony

These are four word-classes that are exceptions to the rules of vowel harmony:

1. Native, non-compound words, e.g. Ela "then", Čela "drink", Äga "by"
2. Native compound words, e.g. Pawez "for what"
3. Foreign words, e.g. many English loanwords such as Sertifikäht (certificate), Hospital (hospital), Komphuter (computer)
4. Invariable prefixes / suffixes:

Invariable prefix or suffix	Natalician example	Meaning in English	Remarks
–tüs	iantüs	"eating"	From ian "eat"
–(v)iš	üčiš	"exit"	From üč "leave."
öz-	özhaša	"to return"	From haša "to come"
gik-	gikögültüt	"unwanted"	From ögültüt "wanted"

Note

• A native compound does not obey vowel harmony: Ras+cezil ("city center"—a place name)
• Loanwords also disobeys vowel harmony: Kofi ("Coffee")
• Every grammatical prefix disobeys the vowel harmony aswell.

Orthography

Alphabet

Natalician has a straightforward orthography, meaning very regular spelling with no diphthong or digraph or anything of the sort. In linguistic terms, the writing system is a phonemic orthography. The following are exceptions:

• The letter that is called Girbit El ("Silent L"), written ⟨Ł⟩ in Natalician orthography, represents vowel lengthening. It never occurs at the beginning of a word or a syllable, always follows a vowel and always preceeds a consonant. The vowel that preceeds it is lengthened.
• The Object second person singular Ou is the only digraph in the entire language, making the sound of /uː/.
• The letter ⟨H⟩ in Natalician orthography represents two sounds: The /h/ sound, and the /j/ sound. If the letter ⟨H⟩ is located at the beginning of the word, it takes the /h/ sound, otherwise it takes the /j/ sound. (e.g. Hiloh /hi.loj/ "Hello", Konah /ko.naj/ "Beautiful", Haz /haz/ "This")

Standard Natalician alphabet

Letter	Name	IPA
Aa	a [a]	/a/
Ää	ä [æ]	/æ/
Bb	be [be]	/b/
Cc	ce [d͡ʒe]	/d͡ʒ/
Čč,	če [t͡ʃe]	/t͡ʃ/
Dd	de [de]	/d/
Ďď	ďe [ðe]	/ð/
Ee	e [e]	/ɛ/, /e/
Ff	ef [ɛf]	/f/
Gg	ge [ɡ]	/g/
Hh	ha [ha]	/h/, /j/
Ii	i [i]	/i/, /j/
Jj	je [ʒe]	/ʒ/
Kk	ka [ka]	/k/
Ll	el [ɛl]	/l/
Łł	girbit el [gir.bit ɛl]	/ː/
Mm	em [ɛm]	/m/
Nn	en [ɛn]	/n/
Oo	o [o]	/o/
Öö	ö [œ]	/œ/
Pp	pe [pe]	/p/
Rr	er [r]	/r/
Řř	eř [ɛʁ]	/ʁ/
Ss	es [s]	/s/
Šš	eš [ɛʃ]	/ʃ/
Tt	te [te]	/t/
Ťť	ťe [θe]	/θ/
Uu	u [u]	/u/
Üü	ü [y]	/y/
Vv	ve [ve]	/v/
Ww	wa [wa]	/w/
Zz	ze [ze]	/z/

A Natalician AZERTÖ computer keyboard layout.

Grammar

Luthic grammar is almost typical of the grammar of Romance languages in general. Cases exist for personal pronouns (nominative, accusative, dative, genitive), and unlike other Romance languages (except Romanian), they also exist for nouns, but are often ignored in common speech, mainly because of the Italian influence, a language who lacks noun cases. There are three basic classes of nouns in Luthic, referred to as genders, masculine, feminine and neuter. Masculine nouns typically end in -o, with plural marked by -i, feminine nouns typically end in -a, with plural marked by -ai, and neuter nouns typically end in -ȯ, with plural marked by -a. A fourth category of nouns is unmarked for gender, ending in -e in the singular and -i in the plural; a variant of the unmarked declension is found ending in -r in the singular and -i in the plural, it lacks neuter nouns:

Examples:

Definition	Gender	Singular nominative	Plural nominative
Son	Masculine	Fiġlo	Fiġli
Flower	Feminine	Bloma	Blomai
Fruit	Neuter	Acranȯ	Acrana
Love	Masculine	Amore	Amori
Art	Feminine	Crafte	Crafti
Water	Neuter	Vadne	Vadni
King	Masculine	Regġe	Regġi
Heart	Neuter	Hairtene	Hairteni
Father	Masculine	Fadar	Fadari
Mother	Feminine	Modar	Modari

Declension paradigm in formal Standard Luthic:

Number	Case	o-stem m	a-stem f	o-stem n	i-stem unm	r-stem unm
Singular	nom.	dago	geva	hauviþȯ	crafte	broþar
	acc.	dagȯ	geva	hauviþȯ	crafte	broþare
	dat.	dagȧ	gevȧ	hauviþȧ	crafti	broþari
	gen.	dagi	gevai	hauviþi	crafti	broþari
Plural	nom.	dagi	gevai	hauviþa	crafti	broþari
	acc.	dagos	gevas	hauviþa	craftes	broþares
	dat.	dagom	gevam	hauviþom	craftivo	broþarivo
	gen.	dagoro	gevaro	hauviþoro	craftem	broþarem

Pronouns

Luthic, like Latin and Gothic, inherited the full set of Indo-European pronouns: personal pronouns (including reflexive pronouns for each of the three grammatical persons), possessive pronouns, both simple and compound demonstratives, relative pronouns, interrogatives and indefinite pronouns. Each follows a particular pattern of inflection (partially mirroring the noun declension), much like other Indo-European languages. Although Luthic inherited a paradigm extremely close to Gothic (and Common Germanic), the Italic influence is visible in the genitive and plural formations.

PIE	Latin	Gothic	German	Luthic
*u̯ei̯ nom, *n̥s acc	nōs nom/acc	weis nom, uns acc	wir nom, uns acc	vi nom, unse acc

Personal pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	1st person	2st person	3rd person			reflexive
				masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	ic	þû	is	ia	ata	—
	acc.	mic	þuc	inȯ	ina	ata	sic
	dat.	mis	þus	iȧ	iȧ	iȧ	sis
	dat.	meina	þeina	eis	isai	eis	seina
Singular	nom.	vi	gi	eis	isai	ia	—
	acc.	unse	isve	eis	isas	ia	sic
	dat.	unsis	isvis	eis	eis	eis	sis
	gen.	unsara	isvara	eisôro	eisâro	eisôro	seina

Possessive pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	1st person singular			2st person singular			3rd person singular
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	meino	meina	meinȯ	þeino	þeina	þeinȯ	seino	seina	seinȯ
	acc.	meinȯ	meina	meinȯ	þeinȯ	þeina	þeinȯ	seinȯ	seina	seinȯ
	dat.	meinȧ	meinȧ	meinȧ	þeinȧ	þeinȧ	þeinȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ
	gen.	meini	meinai	meini	þeini	þeinai	þeini	seini	seinai	seini
Plural	nom.	meini	meinai	meina	þeini	þeinai	þeina	seini	seinai	seina
	acc.	meinos	meinas	meina	þeinos	þeinas	þeina	seinos	seinas	seina
	dat.	meinom	meinam	meinom	þeinom	þeinam	þeinom	seinom	seinam	seinom
	gen.	meinoro	meinaro	meinoro	þeinoro	þeinaro	þeinoro	seinoro	seinaro	seinoro

Possessive pronouns of Standard Luthic

Number	Case	1st person singular			2st person singular			3rd person singular
		masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter	masculine	feminine	neuter
Singular	nom.	unsar	unsara	unsarȯ	isvar	isvara	isvarȯ	seino	seina	seinȯ
	acc.	unsare	unsara	unsarȯ	isvare	isvara	isvarȯ	seinȯ	seina	seinȯ
	dat.	unsari	unsarȧ	unsarȧ	isvari	isvarȧ	isvarȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ	seinȧ
	gen.	unsari	unsarai	unsari	isvari	isvarai	isvari	seini	seinai	seini
Plural	nom.	unsari	unsarai	unsara	isvari	isvarai	isvara	seini	seinai	seina
	acc.	unsares	unsaras	unsara	isvares	isvaras	isvara	seinos	seinas	seina
	dat.	unsarivo	unsaram	unsarom	isvarivo	isvaram	isvarom	seinom	seinam	seinom
	gen.	unsarem	unsararo	unsaroro	isvarem	isvararo	isvaroro	seinoro	seinaro	seinoro

The pronouns unsar, isvar have an irregular declension, being declined like an unmarked adjective in the masculine gender and marked in the other genders. Every possessive pronoun is declined like an o-stem adjective for masculine and neuter gender, while its feminine counterpart is declined as an a-stem adjective

Interrogative and indefinite pronouns are indeclinable by case and number: