Nurian

Nurian/Lexicon

Nurian
nūrimēn
Created by	IlL
Language family	Quihum Talmic Nuric Nurian
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qnr

Nurian (gathvēn nūrimēn) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Italian, Pali and Lithuanian.

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-

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	θ	δ	s	z	r	l	ng	c	g	χ	γ	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]

Fiuχχēra accent

The Fiusχēra [fuʃˈʃæːrˁɑ] accent turns hard consonants into uvularized consonants, and soft consonants into plain.

• θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ
• Non-rhotic

Consonants

Consonant phonemes (Fiuχχēra)

		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	θ	δ	s	z	r	l	ng	c	g	χ	γ	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 χ γ) 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.