Nurian
Nurian is a Talsmic language descending from Themsarian. It is spoken alongside Zutarlic languages, Clofabic languages and New World Reber Wiebian.
Phonology
Arabo-Dravido-Hiberno-Lithuanian
Consonants
Nurian has many consonants in hard-soft pairs, similar to Lithuanian and Slavic; however, many consonants (namely retroflexes, radicals, h and j) cannot palatalize.
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Radical | Glottal | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| plain | pal. | plain | pal. | plain | pal. | |||||||
| Nasal | m | mʲ | n̪ | nʲ | ɳ | ɲ~ɲ̄ | ŋ | |||||
| Stop /Affricate |
tenuis | p | pʲ | t̪ | tʲ | ʈ | tɕ | k | ||||
| voiced | b | bʲ | d̪ | dʲ | ɖ | dʑ | g | |||||
| Fricative | voiceless | f | fʲ | θ | s | sʲ | ʂ | ɕ | x | ħ | h | |
| voiced | v | vʲ | ð | z | zʲ | ʑ | ɣ | ʕ | ||||
| Trill | r | rʲ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | central | ɻ | ||||||||||
| lateral | ɫ | lʲ | ɭ | |||||||||
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hard | /m/ | /p/ | /b/ | /f/ | /ʋ/ | /n/ | /t/ | /d/ | /θ/ | /ð/ | /s/ | /z/ | /r/ | /ɫ/ | /ɳ/ | /ʈ/ | /ɖ/ | /ʂ/ | /ɻ/ | /ɭ/ | /ŋ/ | /k/ | /ɡ/ | /x/ | /ɣ/ | /ħ/ | /ʕ/ | /h/ |
| Soft | /mʲ/ | /pʲ/ | /bʲ/ | /fʲ/ | /ʋʲ/ | /nʲ/ | /tʲ/ | /dʲ/ | /sʲ/ | /zʲ/ | /sʲ/ | /zʲ/ | /rʲ/ | /lʲ/ | /ɲ/ | /t͡ɕ/ | /d͡ʑ/ | /ɕ/ | /ʑ/ |
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.
| Front | Central | Back | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| short | long | short | long | short | long | |
| Close | y, i /ɪ/ | ȳ, ī /iː/ | u, iu /ʊ/ | ū, iū /uː/ | ||
| Mid | o, io /o/ | ao/ō, iō /oː/ | ||||
| Open | ia/e [ɛ] | ae, ē /æː/ | a /ɐ/ | ā, iā /ɑː/ | ||
ia and e both represent [ɛ], the allophone of /ɐ/ after palatalized consonants.
Diphthongs: ai, iai /ɐɪ/ au, iau /ɐʊ/
Grammar
Somewhat unusually, Nurian is verb-final with prepositions and modifier-modified order.