Nurian

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Nurian/Lexicon

Nurian
nūrimēn
Created byIlL
Quihum
Language codes
ISO 639-3qnr
This article contains IPA phonetic symbols. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Unicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, see Help:IPA.

Nurian (/ˈnʊəɹiən/, Nurian: gaffēn nūrimēn, Tíogall: an Núirimh) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Pali, Italian, and Lithuanian. Close relatives include Tíogall. Nurian is spoken in the western region of the continent called Cuadhlabh by Tíogall speakers. It is easily the most conservative Talmic language in both grammar and phonology, though with signficant influence from Dwischaric, in particular Dūsswaren.

Numbers: cēmyn, tithuor, nagge, δaube, saliθe, thāmyn, ruode, laθθe, bavve, ħiuor

Bīsynih ħē raraiθā ar cecionni.
speak-1SG about COL-love and COL-hate
I speak of love and hate.

Bīj-aurih entoracyn sión? = Are you saving it for me?

Biaunih cionni, avih aunih meggā siō nibbiā ȳnnaθā.

Historical phonology

  • -m > -n
  • -s > -h
  • Thn. cia ce ci cio ciu > ċia ċe ċi ċio ċiu
  • e ē ea eā > e ē ia iā /ʲa ʲaː ʲa ʲaː/
  • o, ō > a, uo

Cluster assimilations

Double consonants become single word-initially.

  • pl bl ml fl cl gl ngl > ppi bbi mmi ffi cci ggi ngi
  • ħl, ȝl > ħħ, ȝȝ
  • nl, rl > both ll
  • sp, st, sc, sȝ, sn, sl, sr > pph, tth, cch, ħħ, tth, nnh, llh, rrh
  • sb, sd, sg > bb, dd, gg
  • pr, fr, tr, θr, cr, ngr, ħr > pph, ff, tth, θθ, cch, ng, ħħ
  • br, dr, δr, gr, ȝr > bb, dd, δδ, gg, ȝȝ
  • mr > nn
  • cn, gn > ngh, ng
  • mn > nn
  • rC > CC
  • lC > :C
  • ct > tt

Numbers

Phonology

The Nurian sound system has around 57 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 quite phonologically conservative among Talmic languages.

Phonotactics

Nurian forbids all consonant clusters other than those of the form homorganic nasal + consonant. In compensation Nurian is rich in geminate consonants; word-medially, every consonant can be geminated except /j/ and /h/. Word-finally, usually only /n/, /ʔ/ (as an allophone of /r/), /h/, /s/ and vowels are allowed.

Dagȳne accent

Consonants

Consonant phonemes in Nurian (Dagȳne)
Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Radical Glottal
hard soft hard soft hard soft soft hard
Nasal voiceless mh m̊ˠ mhi m̊ʲ nh n̪̊ˠ nhi n̊ʲ nghi ŋ̊ʲ ngh ŋ̊
voiced m mi n n̪ˠ ni ngi ŋʲ ng ŋ
Stop tenuis p pi t t̪ˠ ti ċi ci c k -r ʔ
aspirated ph pˠʰ phi pʲʰ th t̪ˠʰ thi tʲʰ ċhi tʃʰ chi kʲʰ ch
voiced b bi d d̪ˠ di ġi gi ɡʲ g ɡ
Fricative voiceless f fi θ θˠ θi θʲ s si ħ, ħi ħ h, hi h
voiced v vi δ ðˠ δi ðʲ z zi
Trill voiceless rh r̥ˠ rhi r̥ʲ
voiced r ri
Lateral voiceless lh l̥ˠ lhi l̥ʲ
voiced l li
Approximant j j ȝ, ȝi ʕ
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 monophthongs. There is a considerable degree of allophony in low vowels.

Vowel phonemes
Front Central Back
short long nasal short long nasal short long nasal
Close /ɪ~ɪ̞/ /iː/ /ĩː/ /ʊ/ /uː/ /ũː/
Open [ɛ~æ] [æː] /a/ /aː/ /ãː/ [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]

Fiuġġēra accent

The Fiuggēra [fudˈdʒæːrˁɑ] accent turns hard consonants into uvularized consonants, and soft consonants into plain.

  • θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ
  • Non-rhotic

Consonants

Consonant phonemes (Fiuġġēra)
Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Radical Glottal
hard soft hard soft hard soft soft hard
Nasal voiceless m̊ʶ n̥ʶ ɲ̊ ŋ̊
voiced m n̪ʶ n ɲ ŋʶ
Stop tenuis p t k ʔ
aspirated pʶʰ tʶʰ tʃʰ kʶʰ
voiced b d g ɡʶ
Fricative voiceless f θ s ħ h
voiced ð z
Trill voiceless r̥ʶ
voiced r
Lateral voiceless ɬʶ ɬ
voiced l
Approximant w j ʕ


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 k g ħ ȝ h j
Hard /mˠ/ /pˠ/ /bˠ/ /fˠ/ /vˠ/ /nˠ/ /tˠ/ /dˠ/ /θˠ/ /ðˠ/ /sˠ/ /zˠ/ /rˠ/ /ɫ/ /ŋ/ /k/ /ɡ/ /ħ/ /ʕ/ /h/ /j/
Soft /mʲ/ /pʲ/ /bʲ/ /fʲ/ /vʲ/ /nʲ/ /tʲ/ /dʲ/ /θ/ /ð/ /sʲ/ /zʲ/ /rʲ/ /lʲ/ /ɲ/ /t͡ʃ/ /d͡ʒ/

Aspirated plosives and voiceless resonants /pʰˠ pʰʲ tʰˠ tʰʲ tʃʰ kʰ m̊ˠ m̊ʲ n̪̊ˠ n̊ʲ ɲ̊ ŋ̊ l̥ˠ l̥ʲ r̥ˠ r̥ʲ/ are written ph th ch mh nh ngh lh rh.

Final -r is pronounced /ʔ/.

Vowels

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

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


Grammar

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

Nouns

Sgv-clv-plv system.

Nouns and adjectives

Masculine nouns

θȳru 'bird'
Singulative Collective Plurative
Indefinite θȳru θyθȳru θȳrīh
Definite θȳrai θyθȳrai θȳrinny

Feminine nouns

gandā 'body'
Singulative Collective Plurative
Indefinite gandā gagundā gandār
Definite gandān gagundān gandāh

Neuter nouns

tettȳ 'child'
Singulative Collective Plurative
Indefinite tettyh tetettyh tettȳn
Definite tettȳh tetettȳh tettȳr

Mass nouns

jenāh 'water' (n.)
Singulative Collective
Indefinite jenāh jenenāh
Definite jenaȝeh jenenaȝeh

Verbs

TAM

Present
Person tussan "I pray"
(a-stem)
taren "I bloom, flourish"
(e-stem)
aillin "I love"
(i-stem)
cassyn "I eat"
(ablaut stem)
1SG tussan taren aillin cassyn
2SG tussar tarer aillir cassyr
3SG.M tussami taremi aillimi cassymi
3SG.F tussah tareh aillih cassyh
3SG.N tussa tare ailli cassy
1EX tussamē taremē aillimē cassymē
1IN tussanti tarenti aillinti cassynti
2PL tussaċċhi tareċċhi ailliċċhi cassyċċhi
3PL tussati tareti ailliti cassyti
Imperfect

Reduplication rules:

  • If word begins with C, redup first CV (V is shortened)
Preterite
Person tussan "I pray"
(a-stem)
taren "I bloom, flourish"
(e-stem)
aillin "I love"
(i-stem)
cassyn "I eat"
(ablaut stem)
1SG tussanne tarenne aillinne cēnne
2SG tussarȳ tarerȳ aillirȳ cērȳ
3SG.M tussamhi taremhi aillimhi cēmhi
3SG.F tussatthi taretthi aillitthi cētthi
3SG.N tussasa taresa aillisa cēsa
1EX tussamer taremer aillimer cēmer
1IN tussanter tarenter aillinter cēnter
2PL tussaċċher tareċċher ailliċċher cēċċher
3PL tussati tareti ailliti cēter

Syntax

Particles

  • ar (/arˠ/ or /arʲ/ before a vowel or /j/; /aC/ otherwise) = 'and'
    • ħuġġiah ar thādī = 'bread and milk'
  • nīh (/nʲiːh/) = 'not'