Nurian/Old

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Nurian is diglossic; this page describes Standard Nurian. For basilectal Nurian, see Nurian/Low.

Nurian/Lexicon
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Nurian/Old
nūrimai
Pronunciation[/ˈnˠuːrʲɪmˠɐɪ/]
Created byIlL
SettingVerse:Tricin
Quame
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: gaffai nūrimai /ˈgɐfˠːɐɪ ˈnˠuːrʲɪmˠɐɪ/, Eevo: Nwrib or brits Nwrée) is a Talmic language descending from Thensarian, aesthetically inspired by Pali, Italian, Lithuanian and Arabic. Nurian is the official language of the island country of Nūrei in Cualuav. Standard Nurian is extremely conservative, and contains few loanwords. It used to have less conservative sisters whose words were absorbed into Eevo during the Old Eevo period, and modern Nurian, especially basilectal Nurian, is also a source of loans for Modern Eevo.

Todo

  • Did Thensarian have intensive noun/adjective suffixes that Nurian preserves?
  • -tl-, -dl- > -ċċ-, -ġġ- used mainly in names
  • -tą = instrument/patient suffix
  • massah = dark
  • Tamīħinai = Wen Dămea
  • ħammih = wheat
  • dallhatuh = strife
  • hienaθini = sleep soundly
  • -zzah = deverbal noun
    • muoġiazzah = food
  • hnuobai = jaw

Historical phonology

  • -am -em -im -om -um -ām -ēm -īm -ōm -ūm > -ą -ę -į -ą -ų -ą -ę -į -ų -ų
  • -s > -h
  • Thn. cia ce ci cio ciu gia ge gi gio giu > ċia ċe ċi ċio ċiu ġia ġe ġi ġio ġiu
  • e ē ei ea eā > e ē ei ia iā
  • o, ō > a, uo; word final -uo >
  • ae oe ui ao eo iu > ai ȳ ui au iuo iū

Cluster assimilations

Nurian is rich in geminate consonants, most of which arise from the following historical assimilations. Geminate consonants become degeminate word-initially.

  • bl ml fl tl dl θl δl cl gl ngl > bbi mmi ffi ċċi ġġi ṡṡi żżi kki ggi ngi
  • ħl, ȝl > ħħ, ȝȝ
  • nl, rl > both ll
  • sp, st, sc, sȝ, sn, sl, sr > pph, tth, kkh, ħħ, tth, nnh, llh, rrh
  • sb, sd, sg > bb, zz, gg
  • pr, fr, tr, θr, cr, ngr, ħr > pph, ff, tth, θθ, kkh, ng, ħħ
  • br, dr, δr, gr, ȝr > bb, dd, δδ, gg, ȝȝ
  • mr > mm
  • cn, gn > ngh, ng
  • mn > nn
  • rC > CC
  • lC > :C; lv > vv
  • ct > tt
  • VN + fricative > V[+nasal] + fricative
  • tv dv θv δv > pp bb ff vv

Co-reflexes with Eevo

  • aw ~ uo, ā, a+C
  • ia ~ ei
  • i ~ ȳ, ī, ē, a/e/i+C

Numbers

Phonology

The Nurian sound system has a large inventory of around 58 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.

There are two major accents of Standard Nurian.

Phonotactics

Nurian forbids all consonant clusters other than those of the form homorganic nasal + consonant. Word-medially, every consonant can be geminated except /j/ and /h/. Word-finally, usually only /n/, /l/, /ʔ/ (as an allophone of /r/), /h/, /s/, /t/, and vowels are allowed.

Dagȳnei 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 ki k k -r ʔ
aspirated ph pˠʰ phi pʲʰ th t̪ˠʰ thi tʲʰ ċhi tʃʰ khi kʲʰ kh
voiced b bi d d̪ˠ di ġi gi ɡʲ g ɡ
Fricative voiceless f fi θ θˠ θi θʲ s si ṡi ʃ ħ, ħi ħ h, hi h
voiced v vi δ ðˠ δi ðʲ z zi żi ʒ
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, three long and three nasal 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 ʊi/

Notes
  • /a aː/ each have three allophones:
    • [ɐ~ɑ ɑː] after non-radical hard consonants. /aː/ in this environment may be pronounced [ɔː] or [ʌː] by many younger speakers of the Fiuṡṡērah accent.
    • [ɛ~æ æː] after soft consonants, radicals and /h/
  • Allophony of /a aː/ is, however, reduced in the speech of many younger speakers of the Dagȳne accent, who pronounce both as [ɐ aː]

Fiuṡṡērah accent

The Fiuṡṡērah [fuʃʃæːrˁɑh] accent turns hard consonants into uvularized consonants, and soft consonants into plain.

  • θˠ ðˠ > fˁ vˁ

Consonants

Consonant phonemes (Fiuṡṡērah)
Labial Dental Alveolar Postalveolar Velar Radical Glottal
hard soft hard soft hard soft soft hard
Nasal voiceless m̊ʶ n̥ʶ ɲ̊ ŋ̊ʶ
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 ʃ ħ h
voiced ð z ʒ
Trill voiceless r̥ʶ
voiced r
Lateral voiceless ɬʶ ɬ
voiced l
Approximant w j ʕ


Notes
  • Hard consonants are uvularized, like Arabic emphatic consonants.

Stress

Nurian stress is similar to Modern Standard Arabic:

  • Stress falls on the heavy (CV: or CVC) syllable closest to the end, if it is not the final syllable;
  • if neither the penult nor the antepenult are heavy, the antepenult is stressed.

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/

The pairs of aspirated plosives and voiceless resonants /pʰˠ pʰʲ/, /tʰˠ tʰʲ/, /tʃʰ/, /kʲʰ kʰ/, /m̊ˠ m̊ʲ/, /n̪̊ˠ n̊ʲ/, /ɲ̊ ŋ̊/, /l̥ˠ l̥ʲ/, /r̥ˠ r̥ʲ/ are written ph, th, ċh, kh, mh, nh, ngh, lh, rh.

Final -r is pronounced /ʔ/.

Vowels

  • a: hard /a/ [ɐ~ɑ]
  • ā: hard /aː/ [ɑː]
  • ą: hard /ãː/
  • ai: hard /aɪ/ [ɐɪ~ɑɪ]
  • au: hard /aʊ/ [ɐʊ~ɑʊ]
  • u: hard /ʊ/
  • ui: hard /ʊɪ/
  • uo: hard /uɔ/
  • ū: hard /uː/
  • ų: hard /ũː/

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


Morphology

Main article: Old/Morphology

Syntax

Nurian uses SVO, head-initial syntax. There are no articles.

Guoδati damibeh jāni betthar.
[ˈguɔðˠɑtʲi ˈdˠɑmʲɪbʲæh ˈjæːnʲi ˈbʲættʰˠɑɾ]
guoδ-ti tam-ibeh jāni betth-ar
remain-3PL leaf-PL.CST laurel.SG.ABS.NOM green-PL.F.ABS.NOM
Laurel leaves stay green.

Particles

  • kaC-, kat = 'and'
    • ħuġġiah kap pālei = 'bread and milk'
  • nīh (/nʲiːh/) = 'not'
  • /fʲiː/ = 'if'

Relative clauses

Nurian uses the resumptive pronoun strategy when the head is not the subject. A resumptive pronoun must be fronted, if it is not embedded in another clause within the relative clause.

Sample texts

UDHR, Article 1

Kakarai ħausį gatthāną kaθ θeθeivų di khussiū kat iġġiatū; ammimīdīnį nai ȝabbī kad dȳkaluttī, ṡiūȝą danθū hieθariākah ħaibatthah di helą venghimę.
[ˈkɐkɐrˠɐɪ ˈħæʊsʲĩː gɐˈtʰˠːɑːnˠɑ̃ː kɐθ θʲɛˈθʲɛɪvˠũː dʲɪ ˈkʰʊsʲːuː kɐʔ ˈɪdʒːætˠuː | æmʲːɪmʲiːˈdʲiːnʲĩː nɐɪ ʕæbʲːiː kɐd dˠiːkɐlˠʊtʲːiː, ʃuːʕãː dˠɐnθˠuː fʲɛɪtˠɐrʲæːkɐh ħæɪbˠɐtʰˠːɐh dʲɪ hælˠɑ̃ː vʲɛŋ̊ʲːɪmʲæ̃ː]
human.COL.DEF be.born-3SG.M.PRES free.COL.INDEF.M and equal.COL.INDEF.M in dignity-3SG.M and right-3SG.M; gifted-COL.INDEF.M INS reason and conscience, duty upon-3SG.M behave-INFV mutually in spirit-SGV.DEF brotherly-SGV.DEF.F
All humans are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act toward one another in a spirit of brotherhood.