Nurian

Nurian/Lexicon

Nurian
nūrimēs
Pronunciation	[/ˈn̪ˠʊ˞ːrʲɪmʲæːs/]
Created by	IlL
Language family	Quihum Talmic Nuric Nurian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qnr

Nurian (gathvēs nūrimēs /ˈgɐθvʲæːs ˈn̪ˠʊ˞rʲɪmʲæːs/) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Lithuanian, Arabic, and Italian.

Introduction

Nurian is spoken in the western region of the continent called Cuadhlabh by Tigals. It is easily the most conservative Talmic language, though with signficant influence from Dwischric, in particular Dūsswaren.

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; nl, rl > ll
• C₁C₂ > C₂C₂ (similarly to Italian)
• mlīd - conclusion, end > mīd /mʲiːdˠ/
• ar- > aC- (ar- before vowels); as- > s-

Numbers

• 1: cēm /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠ/
• 2: tithōr /tʲɪˈθˠɔɚ/
• 3: narge /ˈnˠɑɚd͡ʒɛ/
• 4: dhaufe /ˈðˠɐʊfʲɛ/
• 5: salir /ˈsˠɐlʲeɚ/
• 6: stām /ˈsˠtˠɑːmˠ/
• 7: rōde /ˈrˠoːdʲɛ/
• 8: lorethe /ɫɔɚˈrʲæθɛ/
• 9: farve /ˈfˠɑɚvʲɛ/
• 10: ħiōr /ˈħɔɚ/
• 11: cēmara /ˈt͡ʃæːmˠɑɚrˠɐ/ (< Themsarian cēmiħiore, influenced by Meetzarri emarra)
• 12: pide /ˈpʲɪdʲɛ/ (Zutarl pirdi)
• 144: tarthe /ˈtˠɑɚθɛ/
• 1728: ūbyc /ˈuːbˠɪ̞k/

Phonology

The Nurian consonant inventory contains around 42 consonants and 10 vowels. A notable feature of the phonology of most Nurian accents is phonemic velarization vs. palatalization in hard-soft pairs. All consonants except /ħ ʕ h j/ are members of a hard-soft-pair. /ħ ʕ h j/ color the /a/ vowel as if they were soft, and /ħ ʕ/ tend to lower adjacent vowels. Nurian is otherwise extremely phonologically conservative among Talmic languages, preserving vowel length and gemination.

Diaphonemes

Consonants

Hard	ṃ	ṗ	ḅ	f̣	ṿ	ṇ	ṭ	ḍ	θ̣	ð̣	ṣ	ẓ	ṛ	ḷ	ŋ	q	ġ	x	ğ	ħ	ʕ	h	y
Soft	m	p	b	f	v	n	t	d	θ	ð	s	z	r	l	ñ	č	j	š	ž

Vowels

a ā i ī u ū ia ua ai au

Dagȳne accent

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Nurian (Dagȳne)

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft
Nasal		/mˠ/	/mʲ/	/n̪ˠ/			/nʲ/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/pˠ/	/pʲ/	/t̪ˠ/			/tʲ/	/tʃ/	/k/
	voiced	/bˠ/	/bʲ/	/d̪ˠ/			/dʲ/	/dʒ/	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless	/fˠ/	/fʲ/	/θˠ/	/θʲ/	/sˠ/	/sʲ/	/ʃ/	/x/	/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/vˠ/	/vʲ/	/ðˠ/	/ðʲ/	/zˠ/	/zʲ/	/ʒ/	/ɣ/
Trill						/rˠ/	/rʲ/
Approximant	central							/j/		/ʕ/
	lateral			/lˠ/			/lʲ/

Consonants

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/

Notes

• Voiceless stops and affricates are unaspirated.
• All hard consonants are velarized (especially /rˠ, lˠ, θˠ, ðˠ/, which are uvularized).
• All consonants are labialized before the back vowels /u, uː, uɔ/.
• /tˠ, dˠ, nˠ/ are laminal denti-alveolar [t̪ˠ, d̪ˠ, n̪ˠ].
• /tʲ, dʲ, nʲ/ are laminal alveolar [t̻ʲ, d̻ʲ, n̻ʲ].
• /θˠ, θ, ðˠ, ð/ are dental spirants [θʶ, θ, ðʶ, ð].
• /sˠ, sʲ, zˠ, zʲ/ are laminal denti-alveolar [s̪ˠ, s̪ʲ, z̪ˠ, z̪ʲ].
• /rˠ/ is uvularized apical alveolar [r̺ʶ] or postalveolar [r̠ʶ]. When not geminated, it can either be a trill [rʶ] or a flap [ɾʶ].
• /rʲ/ is palatalized alveolar flap [ɾ̪ʲ] and less commonly a trill [r̺ʲ]. It is always a trill [r̺ːʲ] when geminated.
• /lˠ/ is a uvularized apical alveolar [l̺ʶ] or uvularized laminal denti-alveolar [l̪ʶ].
• /lʲ/ is laminal alveolar [l̻ʲ].
• /ɲ/ is postpalatal [ɲ̄].
• /tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ/ are laminal palatalized alveolar [tʃʲ, dʒʲ, ʃʲ, ʒʲ].
• Before /k, ɡ/, /n/ is realized as velar [ŋ].
• /ħ/ has been variously described as pharyngeal [ħ] and epiglottal [ʜ].
• /ʕ/ is an epiglottal approximant [ʕ̞].
• /h/ is voiced [ɦ] after vowels and voiced consonants.

Vowels

Nurian has three short and three long vowels. There is a considerable degree of allophony in low vowels.

Vowel phonemes

	Front		Central		Back
	short	long	short	long	short	long
Close	/ɪ~ɪ̞/	/iː/			/ʊ/	/uː/
Open	[ɛ~æ]	[æː]	/a/	/aː/	[ɑ]	[ɑː]

Diphthongs: /aɪ aʊ iɛ uɔ/

Notes

• Short /ɪ/ is lowered to [ɪ̞] after hard consonants.
• /a aː/ each have three allophones:
  • [ɐ~ɑ ɑː] after non-radical hard consonants
  • [ɛ~æ æː] after soft consonants, radicals and /h/
• Allophony of /a aː/ is, however, reduced in the speech of many younger speakers, who pronounce both as [ɐ aː]

Fiuschēra

Fiuschēra [fuʃˈʃæːrˁɑ] accent (Arabic-esque)

• Hard consonants > pharyngealized; soft consonants > plain
• θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ
• Non-rhotic

Consonants

Consonant phonemes (Fiuschēra)

		Labial		Dental		Alveolar		Palatal	Velar	Radical	Glottal
		hard	soft	hard	soft	hard	soft
Nasal		/mʶ/	/m/	/nʶ/			/n/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Stop	tenuis	/pʶ/	/p/	/tʶ/			/t/	/tʃ/	/k/
	voiced	/bʶ/	/b/	/dʶ/			/d/	/dʒ/	/ɡ/
Fricative	voiceless	/fʶ/	/f/		/θ/	/sʶ/	/s/	/ʃ/	/x~χ/	/ħ/	/h/
	voiced	/vʶ/			/ð/	/zʶ/	/z/	/ʒ/	/ɣ~ʁ/	/ʕ/
Trill						/rʶ/	/r/
Approximant	central	/wʶ/	/w/					/j/
	lateral						/l/

Notes

• Hard consonants are uvularized, like Arabic emphatic consonants.

Orthography

Consonants

Consonants

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/

Velars (ng c g ch gh) remain hard before other consonants. The remaining consonants assimilate in palatalization before other consonants.

Vowels

• a: hard /a/ [ɐ~ɑ]
• ā: hard /aː/ [ɑː]
• ai: hard /aɪ/ [ɐɪ~ɑɪ]
• au: hard /aʊ/ [ɐʊ~ɑʊ]
• y: hard /ɪ/ [ë]
• y: hard /iː/
• o, u: hard /ʊ/
• ō: hard /uɔ/
• ū: hard /uː/

• ia, e: soft /a/ [ɛ]
• iā, ē: soft /aː/ [æː]
• iai: soft /aɪ/ [ɛɪ]
• iau: soft /aʊ/ [ɛʊ]
• i: soft /ɪ/
• ī: soft /iː/
• io, iu: soft /ʊ/
• iō: soft /uɔ/
• iū: soft /uː/
• ie: soft /iə/

Grammar

Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modified-modifier order.

Nouns

Sgv-clv-plv system.